创业成功人士访谈录 第90期:我始终认为自己还是个初学者(1)

 　　Today I am lucky to have the opportunity to interview Pierre Bernard, founder¹ of Houdah Software, publisher of HoudahGeo and HoudahSpot.

　　今天我有幸能够采访到皮埃尔?伯纳德，Houdah软件的创始人，HoudahGeo 和HoudahSpot软件的发行者。

　　Pierre is just recently back from exhibiting at Macworld.

　　皮埃尔刚 从《苹果电脑世界》展会回来。

　　Pierre, how did Houdah Software get started?

　　皮埃尔，Houdah软件是如何创办的？

　　Houdah Software had a pretty slow start.

　　Houdah软件起步很慢。

　　At one point—while I still had my day job at the Central Bank in Luxembourg

　　有一点值得提一下，当我还在卢森堡的中央银行工作时

　　—I had this idea for a revolutionary web browser².

　　我曾想过要创造一个革命性的网络浏览器。

　　I started working on it with the idea of submitting it to the Apple Developer Awards Competition.

　　于是我开始动手，想着最后能用它参加苹果开发者大奖赛。

　　That was before the release of Mac OS X Tiger.

　　那时苹果机 OS X Tiger即将推出

　　The competition allowed for pre-release products to be submitted, provided they made intensive use of Tiger-only technologies.

　　竞赛要求所有提交的作品起码应该已经是预览版，并需要大量使用Tiger特有技术。

　　My web browser never made it past the alpha version that I submitted to the jury.

　　而我的浏览器即使在最后提交时仍未能达到内部测试阶段。

　　So I was looking for a good name for a web browser.

　　所以我想着给浏览器起一个好听的名字。

　　I wanted the name to say: better than Safari³.

　　这个名字听起来感觉应该是：比Saferi更好。

　　I figured that a ride on the back of an elephant must be better than a plain safari.

　　显然骑着大象旅行要比普通的旅行者要厉害不少

　　Hence houdah: a canopied⁴ seat placed on the back of an elephant.

　　因此我选择了Houdah，意即大象背上的轿子。

　　I liked the name so much that I named the browser HoudahWeb and kept the Houdah name for future use as a company name.

　　因为非常喜欢，我不仅将浏览器命名为Houdah网络，而且将后来的公司也命名为Houdah。

　　I had always assumed that to geo-code my photos I needed a GPS enabled camera.

　　我一直以为必须要有全球定位系统（GPS）功能的照相机才能使照片具有位置信息（geo-code )。

　　But HoudahGeo enables users to carry a separate GPS unit while they take pictures

　　但是 HoudahGeo让用户在拍照时只需额外携带单独的GPS设备

　　and it will synchronize⁵ the picture time stamps with the GPS log.

　　将照片的时间与GPS日志的时间相互匹配，从而实现这一功能。

　　How did you come up with the idea for HoudahGeo?

　　你是怎么想到这个点子的？

　　The basic idea behind HoudahGeo is pretty old.

　　其实背后的想法挺老的

　　I was not even the first one to have it.

　　我也不是第一个想到的人。

　　When I got the idea it seemed so obvious that I figured such a geocoding application must already exist.

　　我冒出这个点子的时候觉得这样的位置编码应用一定早就有了。

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。

4 canopied   

adj. 遮有天篷的

参考例句：

• Mist canopied the city. 薄雾笼罩着城市。
• The centrepiece was a magnificent canopied bed belonged to Talleyrand, the great 19th-century French diplomat. 展位中心是一架华丽的四柱床，它的故主是19世纪法国著名外交家塔列郎。

5 synchronize   

v.使同步 [=synchronise]

参考例句：

• The sound on a film must synchronize with the action. 影片中的声音必须与动作配合一致。
• You must synchronize your Inbox before selecting additional folders. 在选择其他文件夹前，您必须同步您的收件箱。