Google Hangout with me? 关于流行：和我GOOGLE碰头吧？

What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen in the past six months? That’s one of my favorite questions to ask people because the answers tend to have so much variety. In thinking about my answer to this question, I thought about something that many of you have probably tried recently: Google Hangout. For those of you who have never tried Google Hangout, it is similar to Skype in that it allows face-to-face videoconferencing. However, the advantage of Google Hangout is that you can easily have up to 10 people “hangout” at a time, and Google Hangout will automatically “zoom-in” on the person speaking. What I like best about Google Hangout, however, is that it allows you to easily record the hangout for posting later, and even broadcast it live via Youtube to a much broader audience.

I first joined a Google Hangout a month or so ago when I helped organize one for the Cabot Entrepreneurship Series club I lead. My good friend, former hall-mate, and originator of the Cabot Entrepreneurship Series is currently working at a startup in Silicon Valley, and having been there for more than a year now, she generously volunteered to have a conversation with current Harvard students interested in entrepreneurship and life in the valley. Rather than inviting her to come speak at Harvard in person though, we organized a Google Hangout and broadcasted it live through Youtube for those who wanted to follow along.

After that initial pilot, I was thoroughly charmed by the technology. Over winter break I used Google Hangouts for more casual conversations with my roommates and blockmates to catch up. The possibilities, I think, are endless for ways in which we can use Google Hangouts to enrich our lives, our businesses, and our clubs (especially for those of us who have friends and family scattered throughout the world). For me, with my family scattered in various cities in China, Google Hangout has provide a unique opportunity for my family to have “family reunions” without even leaving our living rooms. Google Hangout could even be a major feature of China Personified in the future, as we bring all of you exciting hangouts with the Dreamers and Headliners who you know and love. That’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in the past six months.

在过去六个月里你看到的最酷的事情是什么？这是我最喜欢问人的问题之一，因为答案会各不相同。在思考关于这个问题，我给出的答案时，我想到了你们中的很多人最近都尝试过的事：Google Hangout（和Google 碰头），它类似于Skype，可以进行面对面的视频会议。然而，google碰头的优点是你可以很容易的一次最多让10个人一起视频群聊，Google Hangout会自动将视频汇聚于正在说话的人。但我最喜欢Google Hangout的是，它可以让你很方便地对视频进行保存，以便日后公开，甚至能够实时通过Youtube发送，让更多的人观看。

我大约在一个月之前第一次加入Google Hangout，那时我正在协助一个由我牵头的卡伯特企业家精神系列俱乐部组织的一个会议。我的好朋友，前任室友，卡伯特企业家精神系列的发起人，那时她正在硅谷进行启动工作，并且在那里呆了超过一年。她很慷慨的自愿和现在对硅谷企业家精神及生活感兴趣的哈佛大学学生进行会谈。我们不是邀请她亲自到哈佛进行演讲，而是组织了一次Google Hangout，并且实时通过Youtube给那些同样想要聆听的人进行播放。

在最初的试用之后，我是彻底对这项技术着迷了。在寒假期间我用Google Hangouts和我的室友以及邻居们进行了多次更加非正式的谈话。在我看来，我们能运用Google Hangouts来丰富我们的生活，我们的贸易以及我们的俱乐部（尤其是我们中间那些在全世界各地都有朋友和家人的人们）的可能性是无限的。对我而言，我的家庭成员分散在中国的不同的城市，Google Hangouts提供了一个独特的机会让我的家庭能够实现家人重聚，而我们甚至不需要离开我们各自的起居室。Google Hangouts将来甚至能够成为华人格化一个主要的特色——让我们带来所有你们感兴趣的那些梦想家们以及你们所知道并且喜爱的头条人物们激动人心的Hangouts。这就是我在过去的六个月里所见的最酷的事情。