5.Android's Text Messaging Bug
5.安卓系统的短信问题
Imagine using your smartphone to text something private or embarrassing to your significant other and finding out later that it was sent to your boss instead. Well, Android had a bug that did just that.
试想：你用智能手机向你的伴侣发送了一些隐私或者让人尴尬的信息，后来却发现发送给了老板。安卓系统曾有一个错误程序就是这样。
The bug was in the default Android Messaging Application. It was first reported to Android developers on June 28, 2010, but it wasn't acknowledged until January 5, 2011. In a comment on an online forum, an Android Open Source Project Member (probably a Google employee) wrote:"Thanks to everyone for your patience while we've been investigating these reports . . . some users have reported that their SMS messages are being delivered to the wrong people. It took us some time to reproduce this issue, as it appears that it's only occurring very rarely. Even so, we've now managed to both reproduce it and develop a fix that we will deploy."
这是因为安卓信息应用程序（Messaging Application）出现了故障。早在2010年6月28日，已经有人向安卓程序的开发人员指出了这个问题，但是直到2011年1月5日问题才被承认。安卓系统开源项目一位成员（很可能是谷歌雇员之一）在一个网上论坛里写到："多谢大家耐心等待我们调查这些问题……一些用户回馈说他们的即时信息（SMS）发送到了错误的人那里。重现这个问题花了我们一些时间，因为这个问题其实很少见。即便如此，我们正在努力再现问题，并开发将要部署的补丁。"
4.Prisoners Released Early
4.提前释放的囚犯
In 2011, California's prisons were getting overcrowded, so a decision was made to release some low-risk prisoners. Unfortunately, some computer errors caused them to release a few high-risk prisoners instead. One estimate was that approximately 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" were mistakenly released, along with "more than 1,000 additional prisoners presenting a high risk of committing drug crimes, property crimes and other offenses."In 2011, California's prisons were getting overcrowded, so a decision was made to release some low-risk prisoners. Unfortunately, some computer errors caused them to release a few high-risk prisoners instead. One estimate was that approximately 450 inmates with "a high risk for violence" were mistakenly released, along with "more than 1,000 additional prisoners presenting a high risk of committing drug crimes, property crimes and other offenses."
2011年，加利福利亚的监狱拥挤不堪，于是出现了一个决定：提前释放一些对社会危害性比较低的囚犯。不幸的是，计算机程序错误竟让他们释放了几个危险性很高的罪犯。有一项估计认为，约有450名"暴力倾向极其显著"的囚徒被错误地释放了，同时放走的还有"1000多个其他类别的犯人，他们吸毒、侵犯财产、进行其他犯罪活动的几率很高"。
What's more, the early-release program released the prisoners under "non-revocable parole," which meant that they didn't have to report to a parole officer. Even worse, nobody attempted to bring the prisoners back into custody after they were mistakenly released.A similar incident happened in Michigan, where a "flaw in computer programming" let 23 prisoners out early between 2003 and 2005. Those inmates were doing time for crimes such as embezzlement, drug trafficking, and check fraud.
更严重的是，提前释放的程序在"不可撤销的假释"的条目下将罪犯释放，这意味着他们根本不用向假释官员报告。还有更糟糕的，罪犯被误放后，竟然没有人着手重新拘禁他们。密歇根也发生过类似事件：一个"计算机程序里的错误"让23个罪犯在2003~2005年之间提前出狱了。这些人犯过的罪包括侵占财产、贩卖毒品和银行诈骗。
3.The $90 Million Power Bill
3.9000万美元的电费账单
Nigel and Linda Brotherton of Lancashire, England recently switched their electricity supplier from Scottish Power to Npower. Their first bill from Npower read, "Your monthly payment has increased from £87.00 to £53,480,062.00" (about $90 million US).
英格兰兰开夏郡的奈杰尔和琳达·布拉泽最近把他们的供电商苏格兰电力（Scottish Power）换成了英国可再生能源公司（Npower）。可再生能源公司给他们的第一份账单上写着："您的月付款已从87英镑涨到53480062英镑"（约9000万美元）。
What happened? Apparently, after switching to Npower, "a man was sent round to read their meter. When he entered a reading of 'zero,' Npower's computer wrongly assumed the dials must have gone all round the clock—and automatically flagged up the huge bill." Computers don't assume anything, of course. They just run software. Whoever programmed Npower's software didn't anticipate that another way for the meter reading to go to "zero" was for someone to set it there manually.In response to the whole thing, Nigel said, "It's a good job they didn't actually try to take all that money from my bank account. Not only would it have gone way over my overdraft limit, but it could have brought down the bank."
发生了什么事？很明显，换成可再生能源公司供电后，"有人被派来读取电表数据。当他输入读数'0'时，公司的计算机错误地认为刻度盘一直在转圈——自动形成了巨额账单。"计算机当然不会做出任何假设。他们只会运行软件。曾经为可再生能源公司编写软件程序的人没有预想到另一种让电表读数归"零"的办法——手动设置。奈杰尔回应这件事时说："还好他们没有真的从我的银行账户里拿走这笔钱。否则，不仅会超出我的账户透支额，还会让银行破产。"
2.Bill Gates's Windows 98 Demo Fail
2.比尔·盖茨展示视窗98失败
Microsoft Windows 95 came out in August, 1995. The Guardian called it "the world's first celebrity computer programme." It was a huge success, selling 40 million copies in the first year. Would Windows 98, its successor, be even better? The world would soon find out with a glimpse into the software at the 1998 COMDEX convention.
1995年8月，微软视窗95诞生。《卫报》将其称作"世上首款名人计算机程序"。它获得了巨大成功，第一年就卖出了4000万份。其后继者视窗98也会大获全胜，甚至胜出一筹吗？在1998年计算机经销商博览会（COMDEX）大会上，世人一瞥这款软件的表现，立即就会有所发现。
In those days, COMDEX was a huge computer trade show. All the tech reporters came to see the latest hardware and software. Microsoft used the 1998 Spring COMDEX to demonstrate their new beta version of Windows 98. The presenters were Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Chris Capossela, a Microsoft employee. The event was broadcast live on CNN.The demo started out well. Then it came time to demonstrate Windows 98's enhanced support for "Plug and Play" devices. They plugged a scanner into the computer. Windows 98 was supposed to notice the scanner and work with it. Instead, Windows 98 crashed. The computer screen showed the notorious Blue Screen of Death, indicating a fatal system error. The audience laughed, and Gates attempted a recovery, saying, "That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet."
当时，计算机经销商博览会是巨型计算机贸易展览。所有报道技术的记者都来围观最新的硬件和软件。微软利用1998年春季计算机经销商博览会展示其视窗98新的测试版本。解说员是微软公司的创建者之一比尔·盖茨和员工克里斯·卡波塞拉（Chris Capossela）。CNN对这件大事进行现场直播。展示开始很顺利。视窗98增强了对"即插即用"设备的支持。当展示这一功能时，他们在计算机上接入了一台扫描仪。视窗98应该注意到扫描仪，并与之一起工作。但是，视窗98崩溃了。计算机屏幕表现出臭名远扬的蓝屏死机状态，暗示致命的系统错误。观众大笑，盖茨希望再试一次，说到："这就是视窗98还没上市的原因。"
1.Fountains Of Cats In 'Minecraft'
1．"我的世界"（Minecraft）里的猫喷泉
Minecraft is a "sandbox" video game that's popular with kids. Players can build things with almost no limit in scope, including working computers and recreations of entire fictional cities.
"我的世界"是一种"沙盒"视频游戏，很受小孩子欢迎。玩家可以不受规模限制地创建事物，包括工作用的计算机和整座虚构城市的娱乐活动。
Basically, it's impossible to predict all the bizarre things that can be built in a sandbox video game. One of the most amusingly absurd things you can make in Minecraft is an infinite fountain of cats falling from the top of a stone pillar.One of the animal types in Minecraft is the ocelot. These can be tamed and, once tame, they'll become cats that follow you around. Normally, they walk behind you on the ground, but if you get far enough away, they will teleport to get closer to you. So if you're at the top of a tall stone pillar, your cats will teleport to the top of the pillar, walk around, and fall off in a never-ending stream. (Watch at about 1:30 in the video above.)
基本上无法预测沙盒视频游戏能构建的稀奇古怪的东西。"我的世界"能做出的一种最有趣的玩意儿是超乎想象的从石柱顶上向下掉的"猫喷泉"。"我的世界"里有一种动物，豹猫。它们能被驯化，一旦驯化后，它们将成为与人形影不离的猫儿。通常情况下，它们会跟在你后面走路，但是如果你走得太远，它们从远方遥望并奔向你。所以，如果你待在一根很高的石柱上面，你的猫儿遥望到柱头，急得团团转，然后跌进奔流不息的河流。
评论
打印
