YOURS TRULY 我

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watcher
yours truly

incubation phase

to be afoot

字句

Many Microsoft watchers, including yours truly, wondered if Midori would ever exit its incubation phase. But with one-time champion Rudder moving in November to a new advanced strategy post -- plus the move of the Midori team into Myerson's OS group -- something seems to be afoot.


解釋

watcher 觀察家

yours truly  本來是英文信件屬名前的結語。這裡指 "我"，所以文句的意思是 "有許多微軟的觀察家，包括我..."。

incubation phase  本來是指 "孵化期"。這裡指 "研發期"

to be afoot  進行中；醞釀中

Midori  一個微軟正在研發的新作業系統

ON THE HEELS OF 緊跟在後

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on the heels of 

discoverability

Webified version

not intuitive

文句

On the heels of rebranding its "SkyDrive" cloud-storage service to "OneDrive," Microsoft may be poised to make some additional related branding and discoverability changes.

Currently, consumers who want to use the free, Webified versions of Microsoft's core Office apps -- the suite known as "Office Web Apps" -- need to know to go to SkyDrive and click on the "Create" tab to find Word Web App, Excel Web App, PowerPoint Web App and OneNote Web App. It's not intuitive by any stretch.


解釋

on the heels of  緊跟著～之後，在此指：緊隨（重新命名商標）之後

discoverability  （容易）讓人發掘的程度

Webified version   網頁化版本。這裡指在網頁上直接使用的 Windows Office 的版本。類似谷歌雲端硬碟內提供的辦公室套件 Google document 的功能。

not intuitive   不直覺

MAKE PLAIN 清楚顯示

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first and foremost
FY

to make plain


文句

Microsoft officials, first and foremost, want to position the company as a devices and services power house, or at least well on its way to becoming one.

The reality, as the company's Q2 FY 2014 earnings made plain is Microsoft is still a software company. And a primarily enterprise software company, at that.


解釋

first and foremost  最首要地
FY  財政年度（Fiscal Year）

to make plain  清楚顯示

OVERHAUL 大修

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to overhaul

to sidestep 

mandate

in conjunction with

refined

aggressively flouting

文句

Chrome version 32 completely overhauls its “Windows 8 mode,” which allows Google’s browser to run as if it were a modern (Metro style) app. Under Microsoft’s rules, Metro-style browsers are able to sidestep requirements that apply to all other apps, including the mandate to be distributed through the Windows Store. The first Chrome release appeared in June 2012, in conjunction with a preview release of Windows 8. Chrome 32 is more refined, but it continues Google’s tradition of aggressively flouting Microsoft’s UI guidelines for Windows 8 apps. (The Windows 8 version of Firefox is still available only in beta channels.)


解釋

to overhaul  大修

to sidestep  閃避；迴避

mandate  要求

in conjunction with  與～共用；連用

refined  精緻的

aggressively flouting  帶有侵略性地藐視（微軟的使用者規範）

GOBBLE UP 大消耗

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to gobble up

voracious

unprecedented

uplink and downlink data

文句

JDSU Research (formerly Arieso) revealed this week the iPhone 5s, the high-end flagship device in Apple's tag-team smartphone line-up, gobbles up to seven times as much as the benchmark iPhone 3G...

Partly due to the device's 4G and LTE connectivity, the iPhone 5s was described as the most "voracious" device out of 150 devices tested, "with unprecedented increases in uplink and downlink data demands," according to the research paper's author Michael Flanagan.


解釋

to gobble up  狼吞虎嚥。這裡指大幅度消耗太多資源。

voracious  貪心的；饞食的

unprecedented  史無前例的

uplink and downlink data  上傳和下載資料

MUDDY THE WATERS 弄糟

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to muddy the waters
to hit the scene
to cater


文句

The Windows tablet experience improved quite a bit with the Windows 8.1 update. Rumors about what's coming next could muddy the waters if they turn out to be accurate.

Like many, I wasn't impressed with how Windows 8 worked on tablets when it was first released. That changed when Windows 8.1 hit the scene, as I found the touch tablet experience to be much better. Rumors are now appearing about features expected to be in the next big updates for Windows and if accurate, it appears Microsoft is sacrificing some touch tablet UX to cater to those using a desktop system.


解釋

to muddy the waters  將水弄混濁。在此是指新的更新會讓原先的功能變差或變糟。

to hit the scene  公開；在市面上販賣

to cater  迎合

SMART THERMOSTAT 智慧型調溫器

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smart thermostat

smoke alarm

rest assured that

to plug

treasure trove

文句

Google said Monday that it will pay $3.2 billion in cash for Nest, which makes smart thermostats and smoke alarms. Rest assured that Google is hoping to plug smart homes together with Android devices, its developer ecosystem and treasure trove of data.


解釋

smart thermostat  智慧型調溫器

smoke alarm  煙霧警報器

rest assured that  確定無疑的是；可以保證的是。"that" 後面接子句。

to plug  有 "插上插頭"、"通電" 的意思。這裡指 Google 買下 Next 後，將結合自身的行動技術和資料庫，打造一個智慧型的家庭應用環境。這便是 "Internet of Things" 的應用範例。

treasure trove  裝滿寶藏的寶庫

HYPERVISOR 虛擬機管理程序

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VM
hypervisor


文句

The new version of ConVirt adds Microsoft's Hyper-V to the virtualization technologies it supports. Besides Hyper-V it also supports KVM, VMware and Xen. You can then use this single point of control to manage the VMs and hypervisors on multiple cloud computing platforms, including Amazon EC2, Eucalyptus and OpenStack.

(文章出處)

解釋

VM  虛擬機器（Virtual Machine），是指一種特殊的軟體，他可以在電腦平台和終端用戶之間建立一種環境，讓終端用戶可利用這個軟體所建立的環境來操作軟體。就像是在真實機器上執行電腦的軟體實作。

hypervisor  虛擬機管理程序，又稱虛擬機監控器 Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM)。顧名思義，便是用來監控虛擬機效能的軟體。進一步參考。