孫子迷上無人機 巴菲特對此很感興趣
Welcome to the drone age. Drones are the key to future warfare, security experts say. Drones will soon deliver your Amazon (AMZN) packages, if CEO Jeff Bezos has his way. And the latest versions of the unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, are so user-friendly than an ordinary hobbyist can now buy one for $1,000 or so online and use it to film special moments, from adventure vacations to sporting events.
歡迎來到無人機時代。據安全專家表示，無人機將成爲未來戰爭的關鍵。很快，只要亞馬遜（Amazon）CEO傑夫o貝佐斯能夠找到解決辦法，無人機將被用於派送商品。而最新型號的無人機操作非常簡單，普通業餘愛好者現在可以花1,000美元左右在線購買，用於記錄冒險假期或體育活動中的特殊時刻。"It's the easiest thing," says Howard W. Buffett, who, granted, is no ordinary hobbyist. The 30-year-old Grandson of Warren Buffett is president of Buffett Farms Nebraska. With his dad Howard G. Buffett, who is Warren's elder son, Howard W. grows corn and soybeans on 400 acres that sit 50 miles north of Omaha. His billionaire grandfather famously bought the tract for a song -- $280,000, to be exact -- in 1986, and wrote about lessonsfrom his stellar real-estate investment in this year's letter to Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) shareholders.
霍華德oWo巴菲特表示：“它的操作十分簡便。”當然，他可不是普通的業餘愛好者。30歲的霍華德是沃倫o巴菲特的孫子，目前擔任巴菲特內布拉斯加農場(Buffett Farms Nebraska)的總裁。他的父親霍華德oGo巴菲特是沃倫o巴菲特的長子。霍華德在奧馬哈以北50英里佔地400英畝的農場裏與他父親一起種植玉米和大豆。1986年，他的億萬富翁爺爺以非常便宜的價格購買了這一大片土地——準確地說是280,000美元，還在今年致伯克希爾o哈撒韋公司(Berkshire Hathaway)股東的信中總結了這筆一流房地產投資的經驗。The young Buffett was perusing a tech blog in April when he read about the DJI Phanton 2 Vision+ RTF Quadcopter, a four-rotor flying camera that he figured could help him "tell a story of a mid-sized farmer practicing conservation-based agriculture."
四月份，霍華德在閱讀一篇科技博客的時候，讀到了DJI Phanton 2 Vision + RTF四軸飛行器。這是一種四旋翼飛行攝像機，他認爲這款設備可以幫助他“記錄一箇中等規模的農民從事保護性農業的故事。”
He bought the Phantom 2 Vision+ for $1,299 on a site called Dave's Discount Motors. Compact and light enough to fit in his backpack, the drone required just two test flights before Buffett, four days after getting it in the mail, set it aloft above his acreage. By himself, with no crew or assistant, he maneuvered the UAV by remote control and shot 80 minutes of video. "It doesn't record audio, so I did the narration afterwards and laid it on post-production," Buffett explains.
於是，他在一個叫Dave's Discount Motors的地方，以1,299美元現場購買了Phantom 2 Vision+。這款無人機結構緊湊，非常輕巧，可以放在他的雙肩包內。巴菲特只進行了兩次試飛，就在購買四天之後把它在農場上放飛。他自己使用遙控器操控無人機，拍攝了80分鐘的視頻。巴菲特解釋道：“它無法錄製音頻，所以我之後錄製瞭解說詞，進行了後期製作，還增加了一些新內容。”The final product, a dazzling three-minute video, is due to air on Memorial Day on a popular show called Ag Day on cable network RFD-TV.
最終的作品是一段長三分鐘、令人眼花繚亂的視頻。這段視頻將在美國陣亡將士紀念日當天，在有線電視網絡RFD-TV的一檔知名節目Ag Day中播出。The Buffett scion's first foray into aerial videography might lead to a new career. "I showed the video at our family brunch. Grandpa seemed impressed," he says. In early May, during Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting weekend, his dad had him show the film to a few of the company's board members. "We talked about flying the quadcopter above next year's annual meeting," says young Howard, "though it's noisy and sounds like a small leaf blower. Maybe next year, they'll make one that's quieter."
霍華德的航空攝影處女作可能會催生一種新的職業。他說：“在家庭便餐上，我在家庭聚餐上播放了這段視頻。爺爺似乎很感興趣。”五月初，在伯克希爾o哈撒韋的年度大會週末上，他的父親讓他爲公司的董事會成員播放了這段視頻。小霍華德說：“我們說要在明年的年度大會上使用四軸飛行器。雖然它有些吵，聽起來像是吹風機。或許明年，他們能會讓它變得更安靜。”
