This is my last column for The Wall Street Journal, after 22 years of reviewing consumer technology products here.
为《华尔街日报》评测科技类消费品22年后，这是我的最后一篇专栏文章。
So I thought I'd talk about the dozen personal-technology products I reviewed that were most influential over the past two decades. Obviously, narrowing so many products in the most dynamic of modern industries down to 12 is a subjective exercise and others will disagree.
所以我想来谈谈过去20年我评测过的12个最具影响力的个人科技产品。很显然，从这个最富活力的现代产业所生产的五花八门的产品中挑选出12个，这是个很主观的看法，别人也许会有不同意见。
Though most were hits, a couple weren't blockbusters, financially, and one was an outright flop. Instead, I used as my criteria two main things.
虽然大多数产品都一窜而红，但有几个却叫好不叫座，有一个更是一败涂地。在这里，我来讲讲我的两个标准。
First, the products had to improve ease of use and add value for average consumers. That was the guiding principle I laid down in the first sentence of my first column, in 1991: 'Personal computers are just too hard to use, and it's not your fault.'
首先，产品要能提高易用性，能为普通消费者增添价值。这也正是我1991年第一篇专栏文章中头一句话所提出的指导原则：个人电脑太难用了，这不是你们的错。
Second, I chose these 12 because each changed the course of digital history by influencing the products and services that followed, or by changing the way people lived and worked. In some cases, the impact of these mass-market products is still unfolding. All of these products had predecessors, but they managed to take their categories to a new level.
其次，我之所以选择这12个产品，是因为所有这些产品都改变了数码历史的进程，它们要么影响了后来追随而至的产品和服务，要么改变了人们的生活和工作方式。在某些情况下，这些大众产品仍在释放影响力。所有这些产品都有“前辈”，但它们做到了将其所属类别提升至一个新高度。
Some readers will complain that Apple is overrepresented. My answer: Apple introduced more influential, breakthrough products for average consumers than any other company over the years of this column.
一些读者可能会抱怨说，苹果(Apple)产品出现的频率过高。对此我的解释是，在我撰写本专栏的这些年里，相比其他任何一家公司，苹果面向普通消费者推出了更多具有影响力和突破性的产品。

1. Newton MessagePad (1993)

1. Newton MessagePad (1993)

This hand-held computer from Apple was a failure, even a joke, mainly because the company promised it could flawlessly recognize handwriting. It didn't. But it had one feature that foreshadowed some of today's most cutting-edge technology: an early form of artificial intelligence. You could scrawl 'lunch with Linda Jones on Thursday' and it would create a calendar entry for the right time with the right person.

苹果推出的这个掌上电脑不仅是失败之作，甚至可以说是个笑话，这主要是因为该公司当时承诺，这个产品可精准无误地识别手写体。但它并没有做到这一点。不过，它倒是的确有一项功能，可谓是如今一些最顶尖技术的鼻祖：人工智能的早期形式。你可以随手写一句“周四与琳达·琼斯(Linda Jones)吃午饭”，然后这个电脑就能对应正确的时间和正确的人生成一个日历项。

2. Netscape Navigator (1994)

2. 网景领航员(Netscape Navigator, 1994)

The first successful consumer Web browser, it was later crushed by Microsoft's Internet Explorer. But it made the Web a reality for millions and its influence has been incalculable. Every time you go to a Web page, you are seeing the legacy of Netscape in action.

这是第一款获得成功的消费者网页浏览器，后来被微软(Microsoft)的Internet Explorer (IE)浏览器击败。但它让数以百万计的人们上网的愿望成为现实，它所带来的影响不可估量。每次你浏览网页的时候，你会发现网景留下的遗产就在你的眼前。

3. Windows 95 (1995)

3. Windows 95 (1995)

This was the Microsoft operating system that cemented the graphical user interface and the mouse as the way to operate a computer. While Apple's Macintosh had been using the system for a decade and cruder versions of Windows had followed, Windows 95 was much more refined and spread to a vastly larger audience than the Mac did.

微软的这款操作系统将图形界面与鼠标结合起来，成了电脑操作的标准模式。尽管当时苹果的Macintosh电脑操作系统已经有10年历史，而且随后曾出现过更加粗糙的Windows版本，但Windows 95更为精致，用户远远超过Mac操作系统。

4. The Palm Pilot (1997)

4. The Palm Pilot (1997)

The first successful personal digital assistant, the Pilot was also the first hand-held computer to be widely adopted. It led to one of the first smartphones, the Treo, and attracted a library of third-party apps, foreshadowing today's giant app stores.

这是第一款获得成功的个人数字助理，它还是第一款广泛使用的手持电脑。它催生了第一批智能手机Treo，吸引了大量第三方应用程序，为今天的应用程序商店塑造出了原型。

5. Google Search (1998)

5. 谷歌搜索(Google Search, 1998)

The minute I used Google, it was obvious it was much faster and more accurate than previous search engines. It's impossible to overstate its importance, even today. In many ways, Google search propelled the entire Web.

从用上谷歌的那一刻起，我就明显地发现，它比此前的搜索引擎要快得多，也准确得多。谷歌搜索的重要意义怎么说都不过分，这话就算放在今天也依然成立。在很多方面，谷歌搜索推动了整个网络的发展。

6. The iPod (2001)

6. iPod (2001)

Apple's iPod was the first mainstream digital media player, able to hold 1, 000 songs in a device the size of a deck of playing cards. It lifted the struggling computer maker to a new level and led to the wildly successful iTunes store and a line of popular mobile devices.

苹果的iPod是第一款主流数字媒体播放器，这个相当于一副扑克牌大小的设备能存储1,000首歌曲。这款设备将陷入困境的苹果提升到一个新的层次，催生了取得巨大成功的iTunes商店和一系列流行移动设备。

7. Facebook (2004)

7. Facebook (2004)

Just as Netscape opened the Web, Facebook made the Internet into a social medium. There were some earlier social networks. But Facebook became the social network of choice, a place where you could share everything from a photo of a sunset to the news of a birth or death with a few friends, or with hundreds of thousands. Today, over a billion people use it and it has changed the entire concept of the Internet.

正像网景开创了网络时代一样，Facebook开辟了社交网络时代。尽管在此之前也有一些社交网络存在，但Facebook最终成为了人们的选择，在Facebook上你可以与一些、甚至是成百上千的朋友分享任何事，不论是一张日落黄昏的照片，还是新生儿诞生或者生命逝去的消息。目前，Facebook的用户数已超过10亿，已经完全颠覆了互联网的概念。

8. Twitter (2006)

8. Twitter

跟Facebook一样，推特改变了人们在数字时代的生活方式。

Often seen as Facebook's chief competitor, Twitter is really something different -- a sort of global instant-messaging system. It is used every second to alert huge audiences to everything from revolutions to interesting Web posts, or just to offer opinions on almost anything -- as long as they fit in 140 characters. Like Facebook, it has changed the way people live digitally.

推特通常被视为Facebook的头号竞争对手，它确实与众不同——有点像一个全球即时通讯系统。每一秒都有人使用推特向广大听众发送各种各样的信息，从革命消息到有趣的网站帖子，或者只是对任何事发表看法，但是长度不超过140个字符。与Facebook一样，推特也改变了人们的数字生活。

9. The iPhone (2007)

9. iPhone (2007)

Apple electrified the tech world with this device -- the first truly smart smartphone. It is an iPod, an Internet device and a phone combined in one small gadget. Its revolutionary multi-touch user interface is gradually replacing the PC's graphical user interface on many devices.

苹果凭藉iPhone震惊了科技界。这是第一款真正智能的智能手机，集iPod、互联网设备、手机功能于一身。iPhone带来了革命性的多点触控用户界面，在许多设备中，个人电脑(PC)图形用户界面正逐步被取而代之。

A year after it was introduced, it was joined by the App Store, which allowed third-party developers to sell programs, or apps, for the phone. They now number about a million. It has spawned many competitors that have collectively moved the Internet from a PC-centric system to a mobile-centric one.

iPhone问世一年后，苹果推出了应用商店(App Store)，允许第三方开发商在店内出售iPhone应用。现在，iPhone的应用数量已经达到约100万个。iPhone也催生了许多竞争对手，它们共同把互联网从一个以PC为中心的系统转变为一个以移动设备为中心的系统。

10. Android (2008)

10.安卓(Android) (2008)

Google quickly jumped into the mobile world the iPhone created with this operating system that has spread to hundreds of devices using the same type of multi-touch interface. Android is now the dominant smartphone platform, with its own huge selection of apps.

谷歌(Google)凭藉安卓操作系统迅速闯入了iPhone创造的移动世界，采用这一操作系统的移动设备已扩大到上百款，安卓也采用多点触控用户界面。安卓目前是主流的智能手机平台，有大量应用可以选择。

While iPhones have remained relatively pricey, Android is powering much less costly phones.

iPhone的价格一直相对昂贵，安卓手机价格要便宜的多。

11. The MacBook Air (2008)

11. 苹果MacBook Air (2008)

The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs introduced this iconic slim, light laptop by pulling it out of a standard manila envelope. It was one of the first computers to ditch the hard disk for solid-state storage and now can be seen all over -- on office desks, on campuses and at coffee shops. It spawned a raft of Windows-based light laptops called Ultrabooks. I consider it the best laptop ever made.

苹果共同创始人乔布斯(Steve Jobs)在推出MacBook Air时，从一个标准尺寸的马尼拉纸信封中缓缓抽出了这款标志性的轻薄笔记本电脑。它是第一批用固态硬盘取代传统硬盘的电脑产品之一。现在，从办公桌、校园到咖啡店，随处可见MacBook Air的身影。它推动了一批基于Windows操作系统的轻薄笔记本电脑（即Ultrabook）的诞生。我认为MacBook Air是有史以来最棒的笔记本电脑。

12. The iPad (2010)

12. iPad (2010)

With this 10-inch tablet, Apple finally cracked the code on the long-languishing tablet category. Along with other tablets, it is gradually replacing the laptop for many uses and is popular with everyone from kids to CEOs. Developers have created nearly 500, 000 apps for the iPad, far more than for any other tablet.

凭藉这款10英寸平板电脑，苹果终于在长期低迷的平板领域取得了突破。iPad与其他平板电脑一起在许多用途方面正逐步取代笔记本电脑，从儿童到CEO，人人都对iPad爱不释手。开发商已经为iPad开发了近50万个应用，数量远远超过了其他任何一款平板电脑。

As I sign off from this column, I want to thank The Wall Street Journal for giving me the freedom to write these reviews all these years. And I especially owe great thanks to the readers who have followed my work. I am not retiring -- I will still be doing reviews on a new online site. And the Journal will continue to offer tech reviews, penned by talented successors, which will continue to guide readers as consumer technology evolves.

在告别本专栏之际，我想感谢《华尔街日报》这些年给了我撰写这些评论文章的自由，尤其要感谢追随本专栏的读者们。我并不是退休——我将在一个新网站上撰文。《华尔街日报》将继续发布由出色的继任者撰写的科技评论文章，随着消费者技术的发展，继续为读者提供指南。