【文章內(nèi)容簡(jiǎn)介】 到他的朋友們?cè)?jīng)大肆討論過(guò)的各種紐約小飯館。單身人士可以“廣撒網(wǎng)”，找到他們朋友身邊和自己意氣相投的人。而求職者也更容易尋到為自己和心儀公司“牽線搭橋”的人。所有的這些，都能為目標(biāo)廣告提供充裕的素材。Some critics point out that the social network is very late to the search game. “It’s unbelievable that Facebook has taken so long to do something that should be table stakes online,” says Nate Elliott of Forrester Research. But Facebulls point out that Google, whose Google+ social network is still a shadow of Facebook’s, cannot match its rival’s prowess in “social” search. And they claim that Facebook’s move will help it counter the likes of Siri, a voiceactivated personal assistant for mobile devices from Apple, which is hoping mobile search ads will boost a share price that dipped below $500 this week, having been more than $700 in September.一些批評(píng)家指出，在搜索廣告方面，臉譜網(wǎng)的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)牌打得未免太晚了。弗雷斯特研究公司的Nate Elliott表示：“臉譜網(wǎng)竟然為它的網(wǎng)絡(luò)籌碼花了這么久，實(shí)在令人難以置信?！钡悄樧V網(wǎng)支持者們指出，谷歌的Google+社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)仍然是臉譜網(wǎng)呆板的仿制品，因此無(wú)法撼動(dòng)臉譜網(wǎng)在社交搜索中的霸主地位。同時(shí)，他們還宣稱臉譜網(wǎng)此舉將會(huì)為對(duì)抗來(lái)自于類似Siri【注2】（蘋果手機(jī)中一款聲控的個(gè)人用戶助手）產(chǎn)品的挑戰(zhàn)助上一臂之力。蘋果公司曾于去年九月股價(jià)突破700美元，本周股價(jià)卻跌破500美元，現(xiàn)在蘋果將股價(jià)飆升的希望放在移動(dòng)搜索廣告上。The social network’s gambit could have another benefit too. Many speculate that Facebook’s growth may have stalled in some rich countries, such as Britain, where according to one estimate it is now used by over half of the population. So the firm needs to persuade existing customers to visit it more frequently. A search engine that is actually useful would certainly help here, assuming that any privacy worries it raises can be calmed.臉譜網(wǎng)搶占社交搜索先機(jī)，還能有另一個(gè)好處。許多人預(yù)測(cè)，在一些發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家，臉譜網(wǎng)的增長(zhǎng)可能已經(jīng)面臨瓶頸。英國(guó)就是其中之一，據(jù)估計(jì)，英國(guó)臉譜網(wǎng)用戶現(xiàn)在已達(dá)總?cè)丝诘囊话胍陨稀Ｒ虼?，臉譜網(wǎng)需要做的就是促使現(xiàn)有用戶更加頻繁地訪問(wèn)網(wǎng)站。一款有實(shí)際效用的搜索引擎，自然會(huì)對(duì)此有所裨益，只要臉譜網(wǎng)不引起公眾在隱私方面的擔(dān)憂。Mounting an effective challenge to Google will still be tough, however, because most web searches are for things such as the weather and traffic conditions, where friends’ opinions are irrelevant. (Recognising this, Facebook has turned to Microsoft, whose Bing search engine will answer such queries in the social network’s service.) Moreover, many Facebookers don’t “l(fā)ike” their doctors, dentists, builders and other things that would help make social search more valuable. Without such material, Facebook’s new pillar will be built on a shaky foundation.然而，想要向谷歌發(fā)起強(qiáng)有力的挑戰(zhàn)仍然沒(méi)那么簡(jiǎn)單，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)人搜索網(wǎng)頁(yè)，都是為了查詢諸如天氣、交通等信息，在這方面，朋友的意見(jiàn)不太有指導(dǎo)意義（意識(shí)到這點(diǎn)之后，臉譜網(wǎng)尋求和微軟的合作，因?yàn)槲④浧煜碌谋貞?yīng)搜索引擎將會(huì)在社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)中給出這類搜索的答案）。此外，許多臉譜網(wǎng)用戶不“喜歡”他們的醫(yī)生、牙醫(yī)、建筑商以及其他讓社交搜索更有價(jià)值的事物。如果缺失這些內(nèi)容，臉譜網(wǎng)的新支柱將被建立在一個(gè)搖搖欲墜的基礎(chǔ)之上。Alibaba阿里巴巴Alibyebye?阿里拜拜？China’s leading internet entrepreneur, Jack Ma, springs a surprise中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)領(lǐng)軍企業(yè)家馬云語(yǔ)驚四座Jan 19th2013 | SHANGHAI |From the print edition“FELLOW Aliren,” begins the memo sent on January 15th by Jack Ma, the boss of Alibaba, using his pet name for his staff. “The internet belongs to young people…at 48, I am no longer ‘young’ for the internet business.” With those words Mr Ma, the founder and chief executive of China’s biggest emerce firm, announced he would step aside in May.“諸位阿里人，”1月15日，阿里巴巴的老板馬云在他的筆記中用他對(duì)員工的愛(ài)稱作為開(kāi)頭寫道，“互聯(lián)網(wǎng)是屬于年輕人的…48歲的我，在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)里已經(jīng)不屬于‘年輕人’的行列了?！卑殡S著這些文字，中國(guó)最大的電商企業(yè)的創(chuàng)始人兼CEO，宣布自己將在5月離任。Alizila, the firm’s official newsletter, declared that the news was “bound to send a shock through the emerce industry.” Indeed it has. Some worry about Mr Ma’s health, though he shows no sign of suspect a greater financial game is under way, and expect more surprises. All are puzzling over the timing of this, ing ahead of the firm’skeenly awaited flotation.該公司的官方新聞?wù)军c(diǎn)Alizila表示，這條消息“一定會(huì)震動(dòng)整個(gè)電商行業(yè)?！贝_實(shí)如此。雖然馬云看起來(lái)很健康，但是有些人擔(dān)心是因?yàn)樗纳眢w出了狀況。還有人懷疑更大的金融震動(dòng)會(huì)隨之而來(lái)，并等待著更多令人震驚的消息出現(xiàn)。馬云辭職的時(shí)機(jī)不免引人遐想，其中最讓人注意是公司正在熱切期盼著上市。Alibaba is privately held, and will not ment on when a public placement might happen. However, a deal struck last year to buy back half the40% stake in the firm owned by Yahoo!, an American internetsearch giant, gives powerful financial incentives for it to do so before the end of 2015.作為私人企業(yè)，阿里巴巴是不會(huì)就何時(shí)進(jìn)行公募做出評(píng)論的。然而去年雅虎（yahoo，一家美國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)搜索引擎巨頭）所持阿里巴巴40%的股票被阿里回購(gòu)了一半，這一舉措確實(shí)給了阿里巴巴帶來(lái)了強(qiáng)烈的財(cái)政刺激，促使其在2015年底前上市。A charitable view is that a fellow internet tycoon,Bill Gates, inspired Mr Ma’s move. The Microsoft founder also stepped back fromdaytoday running of his firm in his prime, keeping a hand in but mostly devoting himself to his philanthropy. The official story suggests Mr Ma will do something similar.另一種慈善角度的看法是，馬云受到了另一位互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭，比爾蓋茨的影響。微軟的創(chuàng)始人比爾蓋茨也是在巔峰時(shí)期，從每天為公司奔波忙碌的的日子中退居二線，雖然有時(shí)還會(huì)插手公司事務(wù)，但更多的是致力于慈善事業(yè)。官方的說(shuō)法認(rèn)為馬云也會(huì)做類似的事情。He will bee “executive chairman”, remaining involved instrategy and talent development, while pursuing his interests in innovative education and corporate dogooding. To give young managers more responsibility,the firm announced a restructuring this month that splits Alibaba into 25 insider is likely to be named as the new CEO by May. All of this, say some,helps prepare for an eventual flotation.他將成為公司的“執(zhí)行主席”，繼續(xù)參與公司政策制定和人才提拔，同時(shí)把個(gè)人興趣集中在創(chuàng)新型教育和聯(lián)合慈善方面。為了賦予年輕管理人更多責(zé)任，阿里巴巴宣布將在本月進(jìn)行重組，將公司拆分成25個(gè)事業(yè)部。接任的CEO可能來(lái)自內(nèi)部，將在5月被任命。有人認(rèn)為，所有這些都是在為最終上市做準(zhǔn)備。Perhaps. But not everyone is persuaded. Imagine howmuch messier Facebook’s IPO would have been if Mark Zuckerberg had stood aside on the eve of flotation. When Alibaba does go public, a big part of what punters will be overpaying for is the Jack Ma magic. Will they still do so ifhe is in the back seat rather than firmly in control of the wheel?也許吧，但也有人不認(rèn)同這種說(shuō)法。想象一下，如果馬克扎克伯格在Facebook上市前夕撒手不管了，F(xiàn)acebook的IPO工作會(huì)亂成什么樣。而當(dāng)阿里巴巴真正上市時(shí)，投資人愿意多掏錢買股票很大程度上就是因?yàn)轳R云的出色表現(xiàn)。如果到時(shí)候他不再牢牢掌控公司的船舵，而是退居二線了，投資人還會(huì)愿意掏錢嗎？Swiss watchmakers瑞士制表業(yè)Time is money時(shí)間就是金錢An industry ripe for a shakeup 行業(yè)面臨轉(zhuǎn)型期Feb 16th 2013 |From the print editionWorth the wait?值得等待？THE average Swiss watch costs $685. A Chinese one costs around $2 and tells the time just as well (see chart). So how on earth, a Martian might ask, can the Swiss watch industry survive? Yet it does. Exports of watches made in Switzerland have grown by 32% by value over the past two years, to billion ($ billion). Demand in the biggest markets (China, America