Newsletter No. 446

446 • 4.11.2014 5 字裏科技 Tech Talks 下午茶的高與低 The Highs and Lows of Afternoon Tea 享受英式下午茶，賣點通常是三層架上精巧得讓人不忍下口的美點甜食。鄭裕彤樓的The Stage最近推出的下午茶， 卻讓茶當上了主角。侍應在呈上悅目點心之前，會先向客人解釋茶與每道食物的關係。糕點再嬌俏，也是為了輔助茶 在味蕾上綻放恰到好處的魔力。 四個茶杯一字排開，餐廳經理建議依次挑選清新的茉莉花綠茶、香氣逼人的伯爵茶、酸甜的野莓果香茶，以及醇厚的 英國早餐茶。茶味先淡後濃，茶點的享用也應先鹹後甜。先吃最低層的三文治、炸蝦和春卷，以綠茶搭配鹹食；司空 鬆餅和瑪德蓮蛋糕質感較乾，喝一口果茶，酸味刺激口腔生津，糕點更易入口；最後以頂層的慕絲和馬卡龍作終結，配 伯爵或早餐茶，以中和甜味。 英式下午茶正統的叫法是「Afternoon Tea」，又可叫「Low Tea」，恰好與香港常說的「High Tea」相反，意思亦大異 其趣。下午茶本是貴婦在下午三四點的消閒社交活動，一般會在矮身的茶几上擺放精美茶點，因而稱為「Low Tea」； 相反，「High Tea」其實相當於勞工階層的晚飯，通常下午六點左右開始，以肉食、熱食為主，並在高身的飯桌上享用。 下午茶的高與低，原來只視乎一張桌子，與身分地位無關。 Afternoon tea is usually associated with scones and sweets on a three-tier silver stand. Yet The Stage cafe of Cheng Yu Tung Building is launching an afternoon tea menu that highlights the key role of a good brew. Before being presented with the fine food, the customers will receive instructions in tea pairing, so that the dainty delights served can let the beverage work its magic on their taste buds. For the four cups of tea, the restaurant manager suggests four varieties—jasmine, Earl Grey, wild berry, and English breakfast. As the tea goes from weak to strong, the snacks should go from savoury to sweet. Start with the sandwiches, fried shrimp and spring roll on the lowest tier—these are paired with green jasmine tea; next, the scones and madeleines, paired with berry tea, which works because it stimulates saliva flow to help buffer the drier texture of the baked items; lastly the mousse and macaron on the top tier, accompanied by Earl Grey or English breakfast, for the rich taste of the tea balances out the creaminess and sweetness. The proper name of this English tradition is ‘afternoon tea’ or ‘low tea’, which is quite the opposite of ‘high tea’ commonly misused in Hong Kong. Historically, afternoon tea was a ladies’ social occasion that took place around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Food and drinks were traditionally served on low tables, hence its name. High tea, on the other hand, was originally taken as a dinner substitute by the working class at around 6 pm on a high table, and consisted of heavier and hot dishes. The highs and lows of tea is actually not so much about social standing as about its serving stand. 舌尖上的中大 CUHK f+b 自攜裝置風潮 電子科技兩大巨頭公司最近先後推出新型號的智能手機，旋 即掀起搶購熱潮。蘋果公司的兩款 iPhone 6上市才三天，已 售出逾一千萬部。蘋果行政總裁庫克並預期，新一代智能手 機將引起新一輪更換手機潮。 智能手機真的是愈來愈「聰明」了，功能不斷提升，再複雜的 工作，也能應付自如。用家一機在手，不但可查閱電郵，更能 存儲、轉發和處理公司文件。IBM一項研究指出，八成二的 員工認為智能手機是工作的重要工具，無怪乎智能手機於眾 多自攜裝置中高踞榜首。 「自攜裝置」英文是BYOD—‘bring your own devices’， 這個詞語始見於2005年，意指員工自攜智能手機、手提電 腦及平板電腦等私人設備到工作場所處理公務。Juniper Research的調查顯示，「自攜裝置」會令機構得益，用家覺 得用自己的裝置會更得心應手，滿足感較大，效率自然也更 高，而機構也可減省購買裝置的成本。 過去十年間，「自攜裝置」已蔚然成風。不過，它亦是雙面刃 ─這些可連接至企業網絡的個人裝置一旦落到別人手中， 機密資料便有外洩風險。據 IBM另一調查發現，每九部行動 裝置便有一部被竊，而每十一部則有一部遺失。 也正因這樣，帶動了管理行動裝置的方案和配套應用程式的 發展，谷歌最近不單收購了一家行動裝置管理軟件開發商， 並提升了其遙控作業平台。 以智能手機為例，其中一項最新的應對方案，是給予同一部 手機兩個號碼，分作公務和私人用途，各自按語音、數據和 短訊使用量收費。這樣，僱員可隨意選擇公務或私人用途， 而無需攜帶兩部手機。要是手機未能與網絡連繫超過預定 時間，手機會自動刪除連繫賬戶。 4G網絡高速發展，國際數據資訊估計，2014年亞太區內已 有一億五千五百萬部智能手機和四百萬部平板電腦是供自 攜裝置用途。Juniper Research則預計，到了2018年，自攜 手機和平板電腦上班的人數將超過十億。自攜裝置風潮正 革新公務連繫途徑，看來大家要準備接受新的挑戰了。 BYOD and Related Trends While new smartphone models by the two digital giants were snapped up once they hit the market—Apple sold 10 million iPhone 6s just three days after the launch—Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, anticipated that the new phones could spark a massive upgrade cycle from consumers. With smartphones getting ‘smarter’, i.e., being able to perform more complex tasks, people can not only access e-mails, but also store, share and work on company documents. A study by IBM says that 82% of employees think that smartphones play a critical role in business, making it top on the list of devices on the BYOD list. Coined in 2005, the term BYOD refers to bringing your own devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets to the office and using them for business purposes. A report by Juniper Research found that BYOD has the potential to benefit organizations in terms of enhanced employee satisfaction and productivity as users are more comfortable with their personal devices. Over the last decade, the BYOD trend has picked up significant momentum. However, BYOD also poses a security threat to the business network as company data accessible by personal devices is jeopardized if the device falls into someone else’s hand. According to a research by IBM, one in nine mobile devices gets stolen and one in 11 gets lost. Such kind of concern triggered the drawing up of BYOD policy which led to the emergence of mobile device management software and applications. Google has recently bought a BYOD software developer, and also upgraded its existing remote device management platform. Take smartphones for example, one of the latest management solutions is to deploy both a business number and a personal number for one smartphone, with separate billing for voice, data and messaging usage on each number. Employees thus can switch between business and personal profiles easily without carrying two phones. It can be set to delete an inactive account from a smartphone automatically if it has not been synced for a predetermined number of days. Coupled with an explosion in 4G networks, the International Data Corporation expects that close to 155 million smartphones and four millions tablets will be used in the BYOD model across the Asia-Pacific region in 2014. Juniper Research has forecast that the number of employees using smartphones and personal tablets in the course of their work will exceed one billion by 2018. The growing trend of BYOD is redefining business connectivity, so be prepared for the challenge. Photo by ISO staff