Google has laid out its most comprehensive vision yet for a post-smartphone era, as it unveiled a range of new software and services partly aimed at catching¹ up with rivals such as Facebook and Amazon.

谷歌(Google)为后智能手机时代规划了一幅迄今最全面的愿景，该公司公布了一系列新的软件和服务，部分目的是追赶Facebook和亚马逊(Amazon)等竞争对手。

At its annual developer conference, the world’s biggest internet company showed off a new voice-activated device for the home, while also outlining plans for virtual reality headsets, as well as wearable devices that no longer rely on being constantly tethered to smartphones.

在谷歌年度开发者大会上，这家全球最大互联网公司展示了一款新的家用声控设备，同时概述了虚拟现实耳机以及不再依赖于始终与智能手机连接的可穿戴设备的计划。

However, it also used the event to extend and revamp some of its main services for smartphones, including launching a new messaging app, in the latest bid to defend its core search business as mobile habits change.

然而，该公司还利用此次大会扩大和修补了一些主要智能手机服务，包括推出一款新的信息应用软件，随着移动习惯的改变，这一最新举措旨在保护其核心搜索业务。

Many of the technologies on display at the event, called Google I/O, will not be available to users for months or even years, though Google promised that several companies would sell VR hardware based on its technology before the end of 2016.

在此次名为谷歌I/O的大会上展示的多数技术需要用户等待数月，甚至数年时间，不过谷歌承诺，几家公司将在今年年底前销售基于其技术的虚拟现实硬件。

Showing off advanced technology plans like this was a sign of heightened pressure on Google and its rivals to demonstrate they were taking the lead in important new markets, he added.

展示这种高端技术计划表明，谷歌及其竞争对手面临的压力加大，要证明它们在新的重要市场上占据领先位置。

Sundar Pichai, chief executive, acknowledged that Amazon had stolen a march on Google and the rest of the industry with the Echo, a voice-activated device designed to be used around the home.

谷歌首席执行官桑德尔•皮查伊(Sundar Pichai)承认，凭借在家中使用的声控设备Echo，亚马逊已比谷歌以及该行业其他参与者抢先一步。

In response, Mr Pichai unveiled Google Home, a vase-shaped gadget² that can be used for voice searches, streaming music or connecting with apps.

作为回应，皮查伊公布了花瓶形状的谷歌家居(Google Home)，可用于语音搜索、播放在线音乐或与应用软件连接。

In another bid to catch up with rivals, Google also showed off a new messaging app called Allo.

在追赶竞争对手的另一次尝试中，谷歌还展示了一款新的信息应用Allo。

Google said it would open Allo to developers so that they could produce interactive³, “conversational⁴” apps that run on the service. The move echoes Facebook’s release last month of so-called chatbots to run on its Messenger service.

谷歌表示，将向开发者开放Allo，这样他们就能研发出在该服务中运行的交互性“对话”应用。此举是在回应Facebook上月公布的在其Messenger服务中运行的所谓聊天机器人。

The new products and services put artificial intelligence at the centre of Google’s efforts, with Mr Pichai outlining an optimistic vision of machine intelligence solving hard problems in fields such as healthcare. Key to several of the planned services, including Home and Allo, is a new “smart” assistant that runs in the background and is designed to make Google’s products more responsive and intelligent.

新的产品和服务将人工智能置于谷歌计划的核心，皮查伊概述了机器智慧解决医疗等领域难题的乐观愿景。几项已规划服务（包括谷歌家居和Allo）的关键是一个新的“智能”助手，它在后台运行，旨在让谷歌的产品反应更快也更智能。

The internet company also flexed⁵ its muscles with Android, the mobile software which is used in about 80 per cent of all smartphones.

这家互联网公司还展示了在约80%智能手机上使用的手机软件安卓(Android)的实力。

The software is being used as the platform for VR headsets due out later this year, a move that could be attractive to developers already used to producing apps for the software and give Google an advantage over companies that are further ahead in VR, such as Facebook.

该软件正被用作将于今年晚些时候推出的虚拟现实耳机的平台，此举可能对那些已习惯于为该软件制作APP的开发者颇具吸引力，而且可能会赋予谷歌相对于Facebook等在虚拟现实领域领先一步的公司的优势。