Old Fashioned Toy Meets High Tech Design オールドファッションのおもちゃがハイテクデザインを手に入れる

■キーワード
・legacy　　レガシー◆新しいものが出現したが、長年使われ、いろいろな事情で完全に捨てることができない古い技術や仕様など。
・date back　　前にさかのぼる
・more or less　　程度｛ていど｝の差はあるが、大体｛だいたい｝、おおよそ
・brick　　れんが

1クリックお願いします（ランキングサイト）

Old fashioned toy meets high tech design. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. Legos have quite a legacy….dating back some seventy years. The name Lego…in case you ever wondered….comes from a Danish phrase meaning play well. The company isn’t new to the Internet…its dot com site went up in 1996. What is new is what you can do there…using a free tool called Lego Factory. Lego’s executive producer of interactive experiences Mark Hansen…

”It’s a software package, it’s an application you can download to your computer you begin to build with. That’s the starting of it. And you can build anything that your heart desires. And then it moves into you can upload your picture into a gallery on the Internet and on that gallery you can show your pictures to many other people. The models are there in 3D form that you can build from. And these models..more or less.. you can buy them. The idea here is that they are customized models and you are the designer. And you can order them, get them at home, you have your bricks to make that plus thousands of others that will go with the bricks.”

So instead of a pre-packaged kit….you can design what you want to build on line…and then the folks at Lego will sell you the blocks and other materials you need to build your design. The price will depend on the size of the model you design. You can find more information at LegoFactory.com. You can find us at BootCamp.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

実際に探してみたら、ここでレゴのデザインアプリケーションがダウンロードできるようです。
http://www.lego.com/eng/factory/design/ldd.asp


英会話の不安を取りのぞく大ヒット！『英語耳』リスニング教材

Weather Bugging You? New Tool From WeatherBug 天気に悩まされてませんか？ウェザーバグから新しいツールが。

■キーワード
・bug　　〜を困らせる、イライラさせる、うるさく悩ます
・forecast　　予想、予測、予報、天気予報
・in conjunction with　　〜と連結して、〜とつないで、〜と併せて、〜とともに、〜と同時に

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Detailed storm tracking and alerts…on your PC. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. There are any number of places you can turn to on the Internet for weather information. The Weather Channel, WeatherBug and the National Weather Service are just a few. You can get current and long range forecasts from any of them. But for those who want more detail…for specific neighborhoods, WeatherBug has launched an update to its subscription application….WeatherBug Plus. Chief marketing officer John Saaty…

”What WeatherBug Plus is, we have the new version 6.1 out that we just launched. And it not only brings all the live, local neighborhood conditions that people come to expect from our live network of weather stations, but now we have included lightning maps for consumers that are interested in seeing where lightning is, it shows you where the strike is, how old the strikes are, if the strikes are headed in your direction. The product also has, for the first time actually, a neighborhood level forecast. In conjunction with NOAA, we are launching their, what they call the national digital forecast and we call it our WeatherBug Digital Forecast which provides live forecasts for local neighborhoods across the country. It’s at a level which nobody has seen so far. So it’s very accurate and very local.”

The price…under twenty dollars a year. There’s a free fourteen day trial at WeatherBug.com. You can find us at BootCamp.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

A Media Center... Sans Microsoft? メディアセンター サンズ、マイクロソフト？

■キーワード
・hook up　　 ホックで留める、据え付ける、取り付ける、組み立てる

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

A media center PC…that leaves Microsoft out of the picture. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. PCs that use the Media Center Edition of Windows XP from Microsoft are growing in popularity. They let you watch and record TV…and provide an improved interface for accessing your digital music and photos as well. But there is competition. A company called Video Without Boundaries has created what it calls its MediaREADY line….of Linux based boxes that hook up to the family room TV. Executive Vice President David Novak says the latest model is the 700 dollar MediaREADY 5000….

”It has DVD record capability, it’s got a television tuner so you can tune to television broadcasts and it comes with a program guide, very similar to how Tivo operates. The guide data is offered as part of the purchase of the box. It will work with any analog cable service, digital cable or satellite service that you may have.”

The box includes a120 gigabyte hard drive…a wireless keyboard and mouse…a Web browser and it lets you store and access digital photos and music. But unlike a Microsoft based PC….you won’t be able to use editing or other types of software. Video Without Boundaries …makes a handheld media player….that can work with or without the MediaReady box. The Flyboy sells for about 350 dollars….and can store up to 40 hours of movies or recorded TV….along with photos….and MP3s. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

注意。待ってください。催眠で“英語耳”は本当に、危険です！

この特訓には、危ない欠点があります。それは簡単に成果が出過ぎてしまう点です。

あなたは覚悟ができていますか？

New Digital Cameras...and Printers to go With Them 新しいデジタルカメラとともにプリンタも

■キーワード
・go with　　〜とともに進む、〜と一緒に行く、〜と同行する
・gig　　〈話〉ギガバイト
・dedicate　　専用の

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

New digital cameras and printers to go with them. Bloomberg Boot Camp a report on today’s technology. Canon has announced an updated line up of digital cameras and printers. The focus of the new cameras….is more megapixels for the money. Canon’s Tennille Lipson says there are seven new PowerShot models…including the S-80…

”That’s an 8 megapixel, the same form factor as the S-70, S-60 model. But it has a great movie feature. For the first time, there’s XGA quality movies at 15 frames per second, and that will run as long as your card will hold, up to a gig.”

Many previous models of digital cameras only were capable of taking short video clips. The list price of the 8 megapixel S-80….549 dollars. Canon also is introducing a 7 megapixel camera, the A-620…for under 400 dollars. On the printer side…the company will be selling its first dedicated photo printer for under a hundred dollars. But the CP510 does not include memory card slots or an LCD screen for viewing. Among the new, more traditional printers, is the IP5200R, designed to connect to a wireless home network. Marketing director Michael Duffett …

”It makes life very easy. You can position it in any room and with that network be able to print from the living room, from the bedroom, from the kitchen. Whatever’s easiest for you.”

Canon faces stiff competiton in the printer business from market leader HP, from Epson, Lexmark and lately from Dell. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

A Flashy New Media Player 派手な新しいメディアプレイヤー

■キーワード
・flashy　　派手な
・heap　　山、塊、積み重ねたもの、堆積
・competitive　　競争の、競合する、競争の激しい
・downside　　マイナス面、否定的な面、不利な面、弱み、弱点

1クリックお願いします（ランキングサイト）

A flashy new media player. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. With Apple at the top of the heap in the portable music player business, thanks mostly to its big capacity hard drive based iPods. Samsung is betting on flash memory to help it take some of that business away. Senior product marketing manager Mark Farish …

“Samsung’s competitive advantage is going to be in flash. A lot of our competitors actually purchase flash from Samsung. So really the direction we’re going to go is we’ll start to offer higher capacity flash based products in the future as well as now. Right now, we have in the market 2 gigabyte. In the future we’re going to be coming out with 4, 6 and hopefully even 8 gigabyte flash based pieces.”

Samsung brought in its cell phone design team to help build a new video and music player that uses flash memory instead of a hard drive…the YPT8…which is scheduled to arrive next month…

“It’s the perfect little piece to take out and around with the ergonomic design and just show people all of your favorite content. So it’s basically music, movies, text files, JPEG viewing and more. It’s going to be one of the first multimedia flash based devices that are going to be in market this fall.”

One of the downsides is Samsung did not build in a memory card expansion slot. A one gigabyte version of the player will sell for about 250 dollars. A model with double the capacity will be about 50 dollars more. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

英会話の不安を取りのぞく大ヒット！『英語耳』リスニング教材

Your TV Channels Can Follow You Anywhere あなたのテレビは、どこでも見れますか？

■キーワード
・attach　　付着する、付随する、帰属する
・whatsoever　　どんなものであれ、何であれ、いかなる
・tweak　　微調整する、手を加える、カスタマイズする
・router　　ルータ◆データの送信経路を決定する装置。アメリカ英語では「ラウター」と発音。
・compromise　　妥協、示談、妥協案、歩み寄り

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Your TV channels can follow you anywhere. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. For baseball fans…who may not want to miss a game during a penant race…while they’re away on business or vacation…it can be a life saver. A new device called Slingbox can plug into your cable or satellite box…and your broadband Internet connection….and let you watch shows from any laptop or desktop PC in the world ..provided it has a high speed Internet connection too. Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian…

”The Slingbox is a 249 dollar box that has no additional service fees attached to it whatsoever. And what this box does is basically redirects your living room TV signal… I don’t care if that’s analog, cable or cable set top box or satellite receiver or Tivo… it redirects that living room TV signal to a laptop or desktop PC anywhere you have a broadband Internet connection.”

You may need to tweak your router to allow the signal through…but once you do, the Slingbox works as advertised. Keep in mind only one remote computer can connect to it at a time….and if a person is trying to watch TV at home…there will have to be some sort of compromise on which program to watch. If you have a computer with a TV tuner card…free software from a company called Orb Networks provides an alternative. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Which PC Maker is Tops in Customer Satisfaction? 顧客満足がトップのパソコンメーカーはどこ？

■キーワード
・satisfaction　　満足、満足させること
・measure　　〜を評価する、判定する
・slip in　　滑り込む、つけ加える、書き入れる
・decline　　衰退、減退、低落
・overall　　全体に、全体で
　
１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Which computer maker is tops in customer satisfaction? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. The University of Michigan is out with the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, and when it comes to computers, the news is not very good for Dell, the biggest PC maker of them all. Index Managing Director David Van Amburg….

“Dell is the only company in the PC industry measured in the ACSI that had a significant change this year compared to last year. It dropped by five points to 74. It’s the first time that Dell has actually not been better than the industry average in the PC industry.”

Last year Dell was tied for the top spot in customer satisfaction with Apple. This year…Apple has that position all to itself followed by Dell, Gateway and then Hewlett Packard, which did see a slip in its Compaq brand. As for the reasons for Dell’s decline, Van Amburg says…

”Dell’s difficulties center around service quality. They center around the ability to provide good customer service to those who have purchased computers. And what you will find, often, in cases such as Dell where a company is growing in terms of its market share, in terms of its ability to deliver on product… they begin to have some fits and starts if you will, with keeping up delivering good service.”

Customer satisfaction with the PC industry overall remains unchanged from a year ago. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

注意。待ってください。催眠で“英語耳”は本当に、危険です！

この特訓には、危ない欠点があります。それは簡単に成果が出過ぎてしまう点です。

あなたは覚悟ができていますか？

A Ticket to the Moon 月へのチケット

■キーワード
・spare　　予備の
・or so　　〜かそこらで
・participants　　参加者
・confirm　　支持する
・implement　　実行する、行う、実施する
・potentially　　潜在的に、もしかすると、場合によっては
・exclusively　　排他的に、独占的に
・spacecraft　　宇宙船、宇宙探査機
・advisory board　　諮問機関、顧問機関、審議会

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

A ticket to the moon. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. If you happen to have a spare hundred million dollars or so and an adventurous spirit…Space Adventures would like to talk to you. The company, which has already arranged several space flights for millionaire tourists, has two seats available on a planned flight around the far side of the moon. When? CEO Eric Anderson…

”Depending on when our participants and our private explorers sign up and confirm to do it, we can actually implement this within the next three or four years. We could be flying by 2008 and I expect we would do so by 2010.” How many people potentially might want to spend a hundred million dollars to go around the moon and back? “I think that there are more people who might do this than you might imagine. There are not many, but certainly a few people who have multi hundred million dollar yachts and I know of a few people who have the financial ability and have already said they’re interested.”

Including Dr. Gregory Olsen…a Princeton, NJ businessman who is already scheduled to visit the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket in October. Space Adventures has been working exclusively with the Russian Space Federation. Why not NASA?

”NASA doesn’t have a spacecraft that can take us to the moon.”

Several former NASA astronauts, including Buzz Aldrin, are on the Space Adventures advisory board. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.


TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Is it the Next Google? 次世代のグーグルは？

■キーワード
・come up with　　思い付く、考え付く、考え出す、見つけ出す
・coin　　 （新しい言葉を）作る
・permanently　　永遠に、不変に、永久に
・increasingly　　ますます、だんだんと、次第に
・securely　　安全に、しっかりと

1クリックお願いします（ランキングサイト）

Is it the next Google? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. It’s another Internet company built by a couple of guys at Stanford University….Jan Jannink and Dalton Caldwell. What they’ve come up with is software to create what you could call virtual personal networks. They call their service Imeem, I-m-e-e-m….after a phrase coined by English biologist Richard Dawkins to describe the ideas that communities adopt and express. Imeem is a free service…supported by advertising. And, Caldwell says, it is designed to allow people to share things online….and choose their level of privacy….

”The way Imeem works right now, the first high level feature is blogging. And so we think there’s a really big opportunity right now where the problem of solving a widespread blog is solved. There’s a lot of great tools if you want to publish and show things to as many people as possible. What we bring to the table is people who would like to publish on a smaller scale. To just the family or just a group. People that are afraid of having the stuff be out there permanently.”

You can create different types of groups or meems. The software has its own messaging client…and allows you to share photos and other files….linking one computer to another over the Internet.

”Our lives are becoming increasingly digital. Where all the electronics we’re replacing…our old film cameras and our old film video cameras….they’re generating this stuff that gets turned into files that get left on people’s hard drives.”

Imeem, says Caldwell, gives people a way to share those files, securely. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

英会話の不安を取りのぞく大ヒット！『英語耳』リスニング教材

New Game Machines... New Add-Ons 新しいゲーム機と新しい付属品

■キーワード
・add-on　　付け加えたもの、追加物
・tinker　　いじくり回す、くだらない仕事で手間取る
・charger　　充電器
・protective　　保護する、保護用の、保護の
・flaw　　欠陥、不備、不具合
・cradle　　クレードル◆揺りかご状の受け台
・upright　　まっすぐな状態
・enhance　　（すでに質の良いもの・優れたものを）さらによくする

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

New game machines….new add-ons. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. Sony isn’t the only company betting on the success of the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. Lots of companies have been tinkering around making all kinds of add on devices for it. Nyko, for instance, a company best known for its game controllers….has created a charger case for the PSP. The case contains a built in rechargeable battery…..that can add five hours of play time or movie watching time. It sells for about sixty dollars. It’s a step up from a variety of other protective cases on the market. If there’s a flaw in the PSP…it’s probably the weakness of the built in speakers. Several companies are out with solutions for that problem. Logitech has the most stylish solution….that cradles the PSP upright for movie watching. But for gaming…Logic3’s Sound Grip…is a good choice. The company also makes a Sound System designed for movie watching on the device. Managing director Ashvin Patel…says the company focused on design…

”PSP is such an elegant product and we haven’t lost the design of it. We worked around it and made our products fit like a glove and enhanced the design of it. And they’re practical. Both products are practical. They do give you added features.”

The Sound Grip sells for about 35 dollars…while the Sound System is priced at about 80 dollars.

You can find more information at Logic3.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Staples Unleashes EMTs 止め金を開放されたEMTs

■キーワード
・household　　家族、家庭、一家、世帯
・beef up　　 （組織・設備・法律などを）増強する、強化する、補強する
・outsourcing　　アウトソーシング、外注、外部委託
・brew　　 起ころうとしている、計画されている
・certify　　保証する、認証する
・installation　　取り付け、据え付け、導入

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

IT help….in your home. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. As more and more households add things like wireless networks…and want to share digital photos and music on multiple PCs and their TVs….. there’s growing demand for help. Best Buy has been expanding its Geek Squad….CompUSA has been beefing up its tech support services…and now Staples has jumped into the game with its Easy Mobile Tech service or EMTs for short. Director of product services Bradley White says long waits to get help …and the outsourcing of many tech support lines by computer makers and others….have created demand for alternatives…

”I think that customers want service and they want it quickly. I think there’s a high level of frustration growing as technology continues to grow and expand…customers need help. We’re becoming a networked society right now. And networking is not necessarily an easy thing to install or understand. So having experts who can help you with this is very beneficial to the consumer.”

Staples says its EMTs already number in the hundreds….and there could be competition brewing for top notch techs. Best Buy, not long ago….announced plans to grow its Geek Squad by fifty percent….up to as many as 12 thousand staffers next year. Staples plan to compete….

”Every one of our technicians is certified. We bring the Staples brand to the customer’s house. And price is absolutely the best in the industry right now.”

The typical cost for the installation of a computer or a wireless network is about a hundred dollars. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

注意。待ってください。催眠で“英語耳”は本当に、危険です！

この特訓には、危ない欠点があります。それは簡単に成果が出過ぎてしまう点です。

あなたは覚悟ができていますか？

At Long Last.... Dataplay Arrives やっとのことで、データプレイがお披露目に。

■キーワード
・at long last　　（長い苦労の後）やっとのことで、どうにかこうにか、ついに
・postage stamp　　郵便切手
・optical　　光学の
・bankrupt　　破産者、破たん者、倒産者
・resurrect　　復活させる、よみがえらせる、復興させる
・affordable　　手ごろな価格の
・alternative　　代わりとなるもの、代替物
・expandable　　拡張できる

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

A day late and a dollar short….Dataplay arrives. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. Four years ago…tiny postage stamp sized optical discs under the name DataPlay won a best of award at the Consumer Electronics Show. But before the company was able to deliver on the promise….it went bankrupt. But the technology has been resurrected by Ritek…where Carol Warren says….the company is now selling a drive called the TOPY…which uses DataPlay discs…

”Right now the DataPlay discs that we’re offering are 512 megabytes. We’re planning on issuing a 1 gigabyte disc in September of this year. And basically, it’s a write once media, so that people on the go that need to store data, can just record the disc, slip it in your pocket and go.”

The miniature drive, which can be powered from a USB port…sells for about 125 dollars. The price includes three DataPlay discs. But because they are not re-writable, they may be a tough sell. USB flash drives and even small portable hard drives have been growing in popularity and falling in price. Still, Ritek believes, there is a place for the once ground breaking technology…

”I believe it’s an affordable alternative to the flash drives out there and because of the size of it, you can have an every expandable archive of data with you.”

A 512 megabyte Ridata USB flash drive by the way…sells for under thirty dollars. You can find more information at RitekUSA.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Flat Screen TVs in Demand 需要があるフラットテレビについて

■キーワード
・warehouse　　卸売店、問屋
・in demand　　需要がある
・steadily　　着実に、着々と、確実に
・retail　　小売り、小売店

1クリックお願いします（ランキングサイト）

Sales of flat screen TVs continue to rise. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. They’re everywhere you look these days…in consumer electronics stores, warehouse stores and even discount chains. Flat screen LCD and plasma TVs are in demand. At LG, the Korean manufacturer that has steadily gained market share, U.S. president Michael Ahn says the reason for the rising demand is simple…

”There is one big reason. The plasma TV 42 inch retail price was about last year four thousand U.S. dollars. Now it is about three thousand and two thousand five hundred. And maybe in September this year, it will go down to two thousand dollars. So people are buying a lot because of price reductions.”

Ahn says he expects sales of digital TVs in the U.S. to jump more than fifty percent this year. And LG is adding new technology to some new models….such as built in digital video recorders….

”I believe that we are the first company to introduce such a combination product.”

And in the stand alone DVR business, LG will be introducing a model this year that will use a Microsoft interface and program guide. It will give users Tivo-like capabilities, without having to pay a monthly subscription fee. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

英会話の不安を取りのぞく大ヒット！『英語耳』リスニング教材

Big Features...Small Cameras... Smaller Prices 様々な特徴、小さなカメラ、そしてより安い値段。

■キーワード
・resolution　　決意、決断、決定
・respectively　　 めいめいに、各自、それぞれ、各々

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Big features, small cameras and smaller prices. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. Consumers have been buying into digital cameras in a big way. Not having to buy film….and instantly seeing the results of what you’ve snapped …are features that are pretty hard to resist. And the trend towards improving the resolution and picture quality….at lower prices is continuing. At Casio, which makes the popular Exilim line of slim, pocket sized cameras, director of product development Scott Nelson…says the new Z-110 and Z-120 models…6 and 7 megapixels respectively…carry suggested prices of 279 dollars and 329. At the higher end of the line, Casio is adding MPEG 4 movie capability…

”What that brings you is the ability to capture a longer movie in good quality. So with our Z 750 and our S 500, with a one gigabyte card, you can get from 30 minutes to 1 hour of 640 by 480, or television quality video at 30 frames per second.”

The 7 megapixel Z-750 can be found for under 400 dollars. The 5 megapixel S500 sells for a similar price. What you’re paying for there…is style….

”It is just over a half inch thick. It has a 2.2 inch screen. It has a 3X optical zoom lens. Even with a small size, you don’t give up anything that you would normally have in your camera.”

In fact it adds some things…such as anti-shake technology…that you don’t usually find. The S500 also comes in several different colors….helping Casio challenge rivals such as Sony and Canon…in design. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Madden Takes the Field Again マッデンは再びフィールドを取る

■キーワード
・eagerly　　　躍起になって、熱心に
・await　　待ちもうける、待ち受ける、待つ
・roster　　名簿、勤務当番表
・ray　　放射線、光線、熱線

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Madden takes the field again. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. It is one of the top selling video games of all time….with the updates eagerly awaited by fans each year. So besides new rosters…what has Electronic Arts added to Madden Football ’06. Besides having Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles…on the cover, game producer Phil Frazier says…

“On the game play side of things we kind of took a step back and looked at a lot of older products and learned that passing really hadn’t been focused on in quite some time. So we chose passing as our focus and QB Vision and Precision is kind of the end result of that. The QB Vision aspect allows you to kind of look at your targets before you throw the ball. So it’s kind of a ray of light that you see on the field…and that’s where the quarterback is looking. And better quarterbacks have a better field of vision. Not so great quarterbacks have something that’s kind of small. And you need to look at your target before you pass it. And if you’re looking at your target, you can use the Precision element. And the Precision element actually allows you to place the ball around your target. And this we got from listening to broadcasts. You hear broadcasters all the time say he put the ball where only the receiver could get it.”

Another new feature…the NFL superstar mode….designed to let gamers live the life of an NFL player. Madden ’06 is available for PCs and consoles. A PSP version is due out in the fall….along with a version for Microsoft’s upcoming new console, the Xbox 360. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

注意。待ってください。催眠で“英語耳”は本当に、危険です！

この特訓には、危ない欠点があります。それは簡単に成果が出過ぎてしまう点です。

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Speech Recognition Turns Up the Volume 音声認識が注目されてきている

■キーワード
・recognition　　認識
・turn up the volume　　音量を上げる、ボリュームを上げる
・multimodal　　多様な
・Beyond that　　その上、そのほかに、まして
・embed　　埋め込む、組み込む、はめ込む
・clumsy　　不器用な、ぎこちない、不格好な

１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）

Speech recognition turns up the volume. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. It’s not quite to the point of Star Trek yet, but we’re doing a lot more talking to computers these days. Call just about any help line, airline or many other types of companies….and the first person you talk to …isn’t a person at all. And those computers that answer have gotten pretty good at understanding what we say. At IBM, the program director for multimodal and voice products, Igor Jablokov, says the technology is about to become what IBM would call pervasive. The company’s speech technology is already being used by Honda for navigation systems and by GM for its OnStar system…

”Beyond that, in the next two to five years, you’ll see it in consumer electronic devices where your remote control might have a microphone embedded into it and you could just say show me G rated content for my children to watch. Show me what football is playing this weekend, etcetera, and having that type of experience. Beyond that, you’ll have, look farther ahead, in the five year time frame, you’ll just have a vast quantity of Web sites that are speech enabled.”

Trying to navigate through Web sites on phones or PDAs today is clumsy at best. Using your voice to get the information you need should be much more simple. And…says Jablokov…imagine how much easier it would be to control a portable digital music player in your car…if you could tell it which songs or playlist you wanted to hear. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

A Computer Keyboard for One Year Olds? １歳のためのコンピュータキーボード

■キーワード
・toddler　　2〜4歳ぐらいの幼児、よちよち歩きの小児、歩き始めの子ども
・justifiably　　正当に、当然なこととして、当然に
・shudder　　身震い、震え、激しい震動
・banging　　激しく打つこと、どんと打つこと

1クリックお願いします（ランキングサイト）

A computer keyboard for one year olds? Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. It's not exactly a keyboard, at least not the kind that you're used to. And the idea of letting a toddler near your computer may justifiably make you shudder. But a product called the Comfy EasyPC Keyboard, makes it safe and fun. It's distributed by Imaginative Minds, where founder Gali Bar-Ziv says..

"Many children, until the age of about four, don't really have the motor skills to work a mouse, yet they show an incredible appetite to play with a computer at a very early age, sometimes as young as 10 months. Comfy designed a special keyboard that consists of big, colorful buttons, it works with software that interacts with a particular skill level of the child."

And in a wide variety of languages 16 in all. Software is available for one to five year olds. The idea is, you put your regular keyboard and mouse out of reach, put the Comfy keyboard in front of the child and forget your worries...

"The most amazing and fascinating thing to see is that they stop banging. And they start hearing all this audio and they start seeing all this animation and the eyes open wide and you see the excitement and they understand, it's me that is doing that."

The Comfy EasyPC Keyboard sells at a variety of specialty childrens' Web sites for under 80 dollars. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.

英会話の不安を取りのぞく大ヒット！『英語耳』リスニング教材

RCA Chases Apple RCAがアップルを追いかける

■キーワード
・chase　　追いかける
・glint　　輝き、閃光
・dominate　　他を圧倒する、優位を占める、優勢である
・subscription　　会費、予約申し込み、定期会員
・exclusively　　排他的に、独占的
・dominance　　支配、優勢
・categorize　　 〜を分類する、類別する
・bookshelf　　本棚、書棚

最高の英語学習のヒントがあります。（ランキングサイト）

RCA chases Apple. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. Five years ago, before iPods were even a glint in Apple's eye, RCA was making Lyra digital music players. Like lots of other companies, Thomson's RCA unit has watched Apple pass it by and dominate the market. But it is still battling. Rich Phipps is the company's general manager of audio/video business development..

"Well Apple's obviously a very aggressive competitor. The main difference is that our devices support a variety of services from different download sites. They're more flexible in terms of being able to work as both mass storage devices and devices that can support the subscription services. And there's differences in user interface and industrial design. And these are the areas that we compete in."

Among the latest devices is the Lyra RD2765. It's a slim 5 gigabyte model with a 1 and a half inch color screen that can display photos as well. You can find it for about 200 dollars. A less expensive model, without a color screen, is being sold exclusively through Wal-Mart. And while there's no argument about Apple's dominance of the digital music player business, Phipps says...

"We would still categorize this as the early stages. So we would say there's still a lot of growth here as there are increasingly other sources of content that don't rely necessarily on the PC."

For instance, RCA has just announced a bookshelf audio system that transfers music from CDs to a built in flash memory MP3 player, without the need for a PC. The price under 180 dollars. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

A Tiny Hard Drive in Your Pocket ポケットにも入る、極めて小さなハードドライブ

■キーワード
・tiny　　 とても小さい、ちっぽけな、極めて小さな
・popularity　　人気、大衆性、流行
・resemble　　〜のようである、〜と似ている
・padlock　　南京錠
・rubberized　　 ゴム引きの
・integrate　　統合する、一体にする、一体化する
・versus　　〜に対して


１クリックお願いします。（英語ランキングサイト）


A tiny hard drive in your pocket. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. Small USB drives that use flash memory have been growing in popularity as a way to easily move files from computer to computer. Now, Imation is out with Micro Hard Drives…that plug into USB ports in pretty much the same way. Personal storage media market development manager Steve Swenson says a two gigabyte version is on sale now…with a four gigabyte model on the way…

”The product is designed to resemble a padlock in form. It features a unique locking clip that is ideal for attaching it to a belt loop or a brief case or a backpack. It features a rubberized USB extension cable. It is fully integrated and can be plugged right into the USB port to power the drive.”

It’s the first commercial application of Toshiba’s tiny, less than one inch in size hard drive. No drivers or external power supply are needed. Is it cool? Sure. But why the need since flash memory drives are so readily available?

“What you’re going to see is a lower cost per megabyte versus flash. The 2 gigabyte will probably be about 30 percent less than a comparable 2 gigabyte flash drive. The 4, when that’s available, may be up to 40 to 50 percent less than a comparable capacity flash drive.”

Imation says the drive is shock resistant and should be as durable as flash memory drives as well. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！

Knowledge Adventure Lives On ノウレッジ アドベンチャーをライブで。

■キーワード
・combine　　〜を結合する、混ぜ合わせる
・doubt　　懸念、心配、不安
・delight　　楽しみ、楽しいこと、歓喜、喜び

英語上達のヒントがあります（英語ランキングサイト）

Knowledge Adventure lives on. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today’s technology. It’s a company that helped to pioneer educational software…as part of Davidson Software and various other corporate owners over the years. Now Knowledge Adventure is independent….and is updating some old favorites….such as the Jumpstart and Math Blaster line of programs. For beginning readers…there’s the all new Jumpstart Reading with Karaoke. Senior VP Leslie House….

”The Jumpstart Reading with Karaoke product came about after probably at least a year of research talking to parents and teachers and kids. And what we wanted to do was combine a play pattern that we know, without a doubt, that kids love. It’s karaoke. If a child can get a microphone, hear their own voice, it’s a great delight. We wanted to combine karaoke with early reading. Because we know that for kids to really be good readers, they’re going to need to use their voice to activate that learning.”

The songs are original…and a microphone is included…(sound) Parents get reports to track a child’s progress. JumpStart Reading With Karaoke sells for under thirty dollars. You can find more information on the line of education titles at KnowledgeAdventure.com. You can find us with a full archive of reports at Bootcamp.com. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I’m Fred Fishkin.

TOEICで750点保証するソフト！点数に満たない場合全額返金します！