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E-Paper On Cereal Boxes

coastin writes "Wired Mag has an article about electronics maker Siemens, readying a paper-thin electronic-display technology. They say it is so cheap it could replace conventional labels on disposable packaging. Imagine items on grocer's shelves that flash commercials at you as you walk by. From the article: 'When kids see flashing pictures on cereal boxes we don't expect them to just ask for the product, but to say, "I want it", said Axel Gerlt, an engineer at Siemens tasked with helping packaging companies implement the technology.'"

12 of 447 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by middlemen · · Score: 4, Funny

    I envision the day when porn will be flashed on the cereal boxes and the kid's Dad goes "I want it!"

  2. I can see it now... by Dan+Morenus · · Score: 5, Funny

    A disgruntled cereal packaging company employee quits, and a few weeks later at 5:00pm some fine Sunday all the boxes on the supermarket shelf simultaneously and inexplicably start flashing goatse...

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    -- Conserve binary trees; recycle your email. --
  3. Re:Epilepsy? by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

    Flashing stuff on boxes all over the supermarket? That's got to be a nightmare for those suffering from epilepsy.

    In this age of data mining, persons afflicted with a seizure at the supermarket will quickly receive a coupon for a free shake from Baskin Robbins.

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    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  4. Re:How utterly depressing by guitaristx · · Score: 4, Funny

    This could be a good thing if it gets parents more used to saying "Mo!" to their kids.

    Is that anything like saying "Ni!" to old women?

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    I pity the foo that isn't metasyntactic
  5. Medicine vials? by mypalmike · · Score: 4, Funny

    Miniature displays in color could appear on consumer-goods packaging, including medicine vials, in 2007, with a resolution of 80 dpi, Gerlt said.

    "You say the defendant, Local Pharmacy Inc., failed to warn your late husband about possible side effects of the drug?"

    "Yes, sir."

    "Show me the bottle. Let's see here. 'Not to be taken with alcohol. May cause dizziness, blindness, and death.' Clearly, if he had read the bottle, he would have known about the 'death' side-effect."

    "Sure, but the label didn't say 'death' until just an hour ago. It said 'headaches'."

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  6. Grassroots Press Story ca. 2099 by Zordak · · Score: 3, Funny
    Grassroots Press
    For Immediate Release.

    A recent conference of historians meeting in the bombed-out shell of a Hyatt hotel held a panel discussion on the cause of the downfall of human civilization as it was once known. The group uanimously traced the downfall of civilization to the following statement from the early part of this century:

    Imagine items on grocer's shelves that flash commercials at you as you walk by.
    "What were they friggin' thiking!" exclaimed noted historian Dulcinea Bumkis. "I mean seriously -- wasn't there anybody who looked at this and thought, 'That's the most idiotic idea I've ever heard.'" Another historian noted that a little-known insurrectionist going by the handle "Zordak" on a popular message board advocated just such a position, but he was quickly drowned out by a chorus of six-year-olds chanting for Cocoa Puffs.
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  7. Re:It's coming by Gabe+Garza · · Score: 5, Funny
    > Soon we'll have advertising on every inanimate surface.

    Why would we limit ourselves to inanimate surfaces? I envision a day when I go to a seafood restaurant and the oysters have a self-updating "I've been out of water DD HH.MI.SS" display attached to their shells; the lobsters have a "My claws currently weight WW ounces each, and I was harvested only HH hours ago" display on their carapaces; and the waiters have dazzling, dynamic pieces of flair attached to their uniforms that vibrantly inform me how much they love their job.

  8. Re:How utterly depressing by BobPaul · · Score: 3, Funny

    When kids see [snip] cereal boxes we don't expect them to just ask for the product, but to say, "I want it"

    They already do this. They're kids.

  9. And that is how western civilization crumbled... by The+Famous+Druid · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... in the Supermarket Riots of 2008.

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    Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
  10. Which is why there will always be two classes... by hackwrench · · Score: 3, Funny

    and why the proletariat will never be the ruling class or indeed revolt. The smart ones will move out of the proletariat, and it's the smart people that are disaffected in society that will rebel, both the rulers and the rebels using the proletariat as cannon fodder. It's a waste to prey on the misconceptions of the proletariat when there are more effective and economical ways to decrease their purchasing power and increase their utilizability.

  11. Re:Yeah, right by orasio · · Score: 4, Funny

    I work for a retail label printer.

    I feel your pain, brother. I work for a retail color laser printer. Printers are the worst bosses. This one pays me cash, the bank once said something about yellow dots in my money, and refused to accept a deposit.

  12. Re:How utterly depressing by jafuser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Altruism is a noble thing, but it's greed that makes the world actually turn.

    Actually, it's conservation of angular momentum.

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