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ePaper To Be Used For Newspapers and Magazines
rustbear writes "The Guardian reports that cheap, paper-thin TV screens that can be used in newspapers and magazines have been unveiled by German electronics giant Siemens. The firm says the low production costs could see the magazine shelves in newsagents come alive with moving images vying for the customers' attention as they move along the aisle. The Siemens spokesman said that one square metre of the material costs around £30, and scientists working on the screens said they should be available by 2007."
It's about bloody time. It's hard to imagine, but newspapers will be modular, dynamic, constantly updating. Don't judge a book by it's cover: especially since it was something else five minutes ago. Some error in publication? It's been recorrected. Information becomes a wiki, constantly edited, by thousands of hands. The transition into paying for the content-makers, continues it's eclipse, while content becomes even less brick and mortarish.
is anyone else thinking wallpaper here ???
colour your livingroom to your mood, no more painting...
give room-wide slideshows...
I'm not seeing this as a death for regular paper. Let's say ePaper is adopted, I doubt that EVERY page of a newspaper will utilize it. In fact, I'd say only the front page would be used. I'm sure their new presses could still be put to good use.
This said, a lot of magazines are pretty pricey as it is, what'll they do to their prices if this new device is used on the cover of every issue, no matter what the cost of production? What if the main users of this device are a magazine's advertisers? How about you read an article if the adjoining page has a constantly moving ad? And is a moving image really better? A well composed still image can sometimes be more effective than a moving one. I am loathe to think that the likes of Newsweek or Time will turn into CNN lookalikes ith fancy current events themed graphics flying everywhere. I for one dread the advent of this ePaper. The only useful benefit I could see would be for a broadsheet newspaper to show a video of the top news story. That's it really.
Yup...
How about selling blank screens to customers, then have them download content? I mean, we don't throw away our computer screens at every page update. Does anyone know why this guy seems to think completely backwards?
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
How old were you when people stopped reading and started watching?
I admit I don't read much anymore except off a monitor, but reading requires thinking. A dog can watch and listen.
On a less serious note, this was already tried on cereal boxes in Minority Report, with mixed customer acceptance.
Or is the resolution/refresh rate too poor?
While the Harry Potter style pictures mentioned in the article sound cool, a low power, lightweight ebook reader could conceivably change publishing for the better. Maybe after high end advertising subsidizes the development of the technology enough, someone will release an environmentally conscious magazine format that can be refilled RSS style.
Since the pages only need to be powered when their updated, solar power might not be completely unrealistic. Would definitely face hurdles with the pulping industry . . .
It looks like at the moment its B&W, but colour is probably quite a quick upgrade. Resolution looks high, but with the electrode approach there will be a tradeoff I'm sure. Since it looks like the aim is a totally printed technology it should be possible to bring the cost right down.
The main market they seem to be targeting is the fast moving packaging market - fast moving so that printed batteries don't wear out. I would guess that they will seriously be looking at those large billboards as well. However, if you really let your imagination go to town there are many more opportunities for a cheap, large scale, printed display technology. When paired with the other devices which can be printed (chips, antenna, batteries, solar cells, keyboards, and flat panel speakers) you have the possibility of really putting computers anywhere and everywhere for the cost of the materials and a bit of printing. Think smart environment that your PAN interacts with as you move through it.
Techie heaven
I don't know how high the power requirements are, but what about something like the Kinetic Power for watches? Basically, they have self-winding main springs that are wound by the motion of the wearers wrist (spare us the obvious jokes). I don't have a link, but I know some of them can retain power for weeks, even after being removed from the wearer's wrist. They even had one that would go into lower pwoer mode if removed for a while, and would track the time for years. One flick of the wrist a year later and it would instantly snap to the right time.
Now, put one of these on an eNewspaper, and just carrying the thing in your briefcase might be enough to keep it charged.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
Seriously, I can see it now: some enterprising young hackers (in the tinkerer sense of the word) are going to hack those flat screens, add a bunch of electronics and a standard VGA/S-Video connector, improve the resolution, write an open-source driver and turn them into the largest high-res black and white screen ever seen. Think humonguous, wall-to-wall X11R6 display for 100 bucks, folks.
... And the next morning, all the newspapers concerned are going to sue the poor schmucks, invoking the DMCA and saying, in effect, that the users have a license to use these screens, but do not really own them.
The original website will be promptly slashdotted to death, 13 seconds after the project is released into the wild.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
So, far from going against this trend, they are actually ahead of it. They have just raised the stakes in daily print media - and Rupe is now trying to find a suitable site to build his own color press. Which will take at least 18 months of unwelcome competition. Given the innate conservatism of serious newspaper readers, and the realistic rate of adoption of e-paper, the Guardian's press is likely to have an effective life of at least 10 years. That sounds like a good investment decision to me.
Disclaimer - I work for a print consultancy but my views do not necessarily reflect those of the business.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.