魔镜魔镜告诉我，今天天气怎么样

T-shirts that flash your latest Facebook status, beds that help you track the quality of your sleep: Welcome to the so-called 'Internet of things.'

能够显示你Facebook最新状态的T恤，追踪睡眠质量的床：欢迎来到“物联网。

The industry of Web-connected devices, or what some analysts call the 'machine-to-machine' market, is expected to vault in size in the coming years: CapGemini estimates that the world M2M market will be worth 27.4 billion (US$35 billion) by 2013. Not surprisingly, a growing number of entrepreneurs have rushed to cash in on the business─applying the notion of connectivity to ceilings, chairs and even washing machines.

联网设备产业──或某些分析师所称“机对机(M2M)市场──的规模预计将在未来几年大大增加。据凯捷咨询公司(CapGemini)估计，到2013年，全球M2M市场的价值将达到274亿欧元（合350亿美元）。难怪越来越多的创业者都已争先恐后地进入这个行当赚钱。他们把联网概念应用到天花板上、椅子上甚至是洗衣机上。

As of 2007, there were 500 million devices connected to the Internet. According to networking company Cisco Systems Inc., that number will be 50 billion by 2020, representing a huge growth that companies are eager to capitalize on.

截至2007年，接入互联网的设备总计有5亿台。据网络公司思科系统(Cisco Systems Inc.)估计，到2020年，这个数字将达到500亿。这是一个巨大的增量，企业都非常希望从中谋利。

Forget smartphones or sleek laptops. At this point, the number of regular objects connected to the Internet─smart parking meters, television sets, GPS systems, for instance─already outstrips the number of PCs and mobile devices connected to the Web, says information-technology and research advisory company Gartner.

忘了智能手机或超薄笔记本电脑吧。IT研究咨询公司Gartner说，目前接入互联网的常规物品（如智能停车咪表、电视机、GPS系统）的数量已经超过了连接网络的PC和手机。

According to analysts, the industry is growing to encompass everything from transport to health care to manufacturing, featuring an array of smart objects taking in sensory, temperature or location data and feeding it back over the Internet.

据分析师说，从交通到医疗到制造，这个行业将无所不包，林林总总的智能物体将采集体感、温度或位置数据，然后通过互联网将数据反馈回来。

If the Internet in the 1990s was all about connecting information, and the Internet of the 2000s was all about connecting people─think Facebook and Twitter─the Internet of this decade will be all about connecting things, says Gartner.

Gartner说，如果说20世纪90年代的互联网连接的是信息，21世纪头10年的互联网是连接的是人（想想Facebook和Twitter），那么这个10年的互联网连接的将是物。

Some of these innovations are already being pioneered by major companies: Nike Inc., for example, has engineered a pair of shoes that track your training and sync such info to your iPhone, while LG Electronics Inc. has a refrigerator that allows you to track its contents remotely via smartphone.

大公司已经开启这方面的一部分创新。比如耐克(Nike Inc.)曾设计出一款追踪训练情况、将信息同步到iPhone上的鞋子，LG电子(LG Electronics Inc)的一款冰箱允许你通过智能手机远程追踪所储藏的物品。

Smaller companies are also setting out to make their footholds known. Take, for example, James Law Cybertecture's current product, the Cybertecture Mirror. At first glance, the product looks like an ordinary mirror, but it's actually hooked to the Internet, as well as sensing pads that monitor your vital signs. It can broadcast your social network updates on its reflective surface, and has the ability to let you view superimposed images that lead you through exercises or stretching routines and visualize how you might age.

小公司也开始在这一领域崭露头角。科建公司(James Law Cybertecture)的新产品“智能魔镜(Cybertecture Mirror)就是一个例子。初看之下，这款产品跟普通镜子差不多，但它实际上接入了互联网，并带有监测生命体征的感应板。它可以在反光镜面上播放社交网络最新内容，并能够通过叠加影像引导你锻炼或做热身运动，或以视觉化的方式显示你可能会怎样逐渐地老去。

Other apps, says company founder James Law, are also under development. Mr. Law says that the mirror can also be used to stream TV programs, help you check news, weather and traffic, and even boot up the image of a digital robot that will urge children to brush their teeth. The company is one of 12 finalists in The Wall Street Journal's Asian Innovation Awards.

科建公司创始人罗发礼(James Law)说，其他应用程序也在开发之中。他说，“智能魔镜还可以在线播放电视节目，帮助你查看资讯、天气和交通，甚至构造出一个数字机器人的形象来督促孩子刷牙。科建公司是入围《华尔街日报》2012年亚洲创新奖最终决赛单元的12家公司之一。

So far, says Mr. Law, the company has sold about 500 such mirrors, from Greater China to India to the U.K. Local hotels and developers have been trying the product, he says, along with a Hong Kong-based hair salon.

罗发礼说，迄今为止，公司已经在大中华区、印度和英国等地售出了500面这种镜子。他说，一些地区的酒店和开发商，还有香港的美发沙龙已经在尝试使用这种产品。

The Cybertecture Mirror cost about HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) to develop, says Mr. Law, whose company began work on the product about three years ago. 'With all the development costs we, don't see ourselves breaking even unless we make dramatically huge sales,' says Mr. Law, who says the company took the project on as a 'semi-innovation venture' and isn't likely to break even for two to three years.

罗发礼说，“智能魔镜的开发成本大约为1,500万港元（约合190万美元），公司大约在三年前开始开发该产品。罗发礼说，由于开发成本较高，除非该产品能够拥有惊人的销量，否则我们根本无法收回成本。罗发礼说，公司把这个项目作为一个半创新的风险投资，两到三年内不太可能回本。

He sees a future in other related products, such as backpacks that help parents track whether children arrive safely at school, or chairs that monitor your health.

他还看到了开发其他相关产品的前景，比如帮助父母追踪孩子是否安全抵达学校的书包，或是能够监测人们健康状况的椅子。

The challenge for many of these products is how to bring them to consumers at an affordable price: The Cybertecture Mirror, for example, retails for US$5,000. The company is hoping to bring the price tag closer to US$1,000.

对于许多产品来说，如何使它们的价格被消费者接受才是挑战。例如，“智能魔镜现在的零售价是5,000美元，公司希望把价格降到1,000美元左右。

But while the costs may be high, analysts say, so is interest. Since May, when Spanish company iPavement launched its signature product─hotspot-enabled paving stones─more than 100 cities have already reached out to get more information on the product, the company says, 80% of them in the U.S.

分析人士说，虽然这些产品的开发成本可能很高，但人们的兴趣也很高。西班牙公司iPavement说，自从今年5月推出了主打产品──带有网络接入点的地砖之后， 超过100个城市已经对该产品产生兴趣，其中80%是美国的城市。

The cities interested, says iPavement's Javier Urrecha, include those with a strong tourist presence─that is, places that 'receive many people in short time asking for information in different languages.'

iPavement的尤利卡(Javier Urrecha)说，这些城市中包括一些旅游重镇，在这些城市会出现短时间内许多人用不同语言咨询信息的情况。

Other efforts have also received help in the form of government funding. For example, in San Francisco, home to a smart parking effort, funding for SFpark─which provides parking meters that offer real-time parking information to drivers, helping shorten the search for spaces─has been provided mostly via a $19.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Urban Partnership Program.

还有一些项目获得了政府的注资。例如，SFpark在旧金山推出了一个智能停车项目，该项目获得的资金大部分都来自美国运输部的城市合作伙伴计划(Urban Partnership Program)的1,980万美元补助金。SFpark提供的停车计时器可以向司机提供实时的停车信息，帮助人们减少找停车位的时间。

Likewise in China, the government announced in February it was working to speed new breakthroughs in related technologies and their application, especially in the fields of agriculture, logistics, electricity and public health.

中国的情形也是如此。中国政府2月份宣布，中国正努力加速在有关技术及其应用上的突破，尤其是在农业、物流、电力和公共卫生领域。

While at first blush, some of the objects may take on a tinge of the absurd─a WiFi-enabled washing machine, for example─Mr. Law, a strong advocate of smarter products, says that people shouldn't think about the industry in a one-dimensional way.

尽管有些产品乍一看可能有点滑稽，比如能够连接WiFi的洗衣机，但作为智能产品的坚定拥护者，罗发礼说，人们不应该用单向度思维来看待这个产业。

'What we want is to take everyday objects in our daily lives and empower them with the Internet and technology,' says Mr. Law. 'It's not about putting touch screens on everything.'

罗发礼说，我们想要改变我们日常使用的东西，用互联网和技术把它们变得更强大，而不是要给所有东西都装上触屏。

TE-PING CHEN