A Video Ad, In a Paper Magazine

lee1 writes "The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine — Entertainment Weekly — in September. The video will be displayed on slim-line screens around the size of a mobile phone display and will have rechargeable batteries. The associated chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video, and uses technology similar to that used in singing greeting cards, playing the movie when the page is turned. The first clips will preview CBS shows and advertise Pepsi, but they will only be distributed in Los Angeles and New York. Imagine the fun hacking possibilities."

Comments

fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Em Emalb]

How long will it be before someone turns the page in the news paper and Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) in a VERY LOUD OBNOXIOUS TONE?

Not long, that's my guess.

Soon... Internet connection

[nomorecwrd]

Congratulations!! you are the 1.000.000 reader... push here to collect

Rechargeable batteries?

[bytethese]

Wait, so they expect user to recharge the screen so that they can watch ads? Doesn't seem too effective and easy to pass over...

Re:Rechargeable batteries?

[Whyte Panther]

The battery onboard is supposed to last for about 70 minutes of play. Assuming the mechanism for determining the pages are open works correctly, that should be sufficient for the average reader. And after a month the ads may no longer be relevant anyway.

Re:Rechargeable batteries?

[Anonymous Coward]

So why rechargeable?

Re:Rechargeable batteries?

[Desler]

Because some weird person might want to watch an ad over and over and over and over for the next 40 years of their life?

Re:Rechargeable batteries?

[Hal_Porter]

Wait, so they expect user to recharge the screen so that they can watch ads? Doesn't seem too effective and easy to pass over...

You'd be better off powering the adverts with a radiothermal generator. That way the bastards won't escape.

Hal Porter
CEO
Porter Nuclear Advertising Inc

Re:Rechargeable batteries?

[KDR_11k]

Maybe so the things can actually be used for productive purposes like including videos that match the articles in the paper?

So this

[BigJClark]

So this is the best usage for this technology they can find? How about changing 300lb university textbooks into paper thin alternatives? Updating libraries to use this new technology, increasing the life of the books... etc etc

Ad's? How.... capitilist..

Re:So this

[squoke]

Let the advertisers foot the bill for the technology. Eventually it will become cheaper and more efficient due to their use. Then academia can reap the rewards.

Re:So this

[BigJClark]

Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill? Has the cost of your movie tickets dropped since they've introduced a half-hour of commericals into the movie theaters? Has the cost of your video games dropped since the inception of inline video game ad's?

Hardly. Relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology so that academia can reap its benefits is knowledge probably gained from an academic institute that is relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology.

Re:So this

[Anonymous Coward]

Ad's? How.... capitilist..

I AGREE.

Re:So this

[east coast]

So this is the best usage for this technology they can find?

They're the ones paying the bills. I know, how capitalistic of me. But that's the system in play.

How about changing 300lb university textbooks into paper thin alternatives? Updating libraries to use this new technology, increasing the life of the books... etc etc

Fantastic ideas. How soon can we expect for you to get the betas out? The great thing about capitalism is that if think this is a good idea for the technology you can make a play at being one of the first ones to market with the product. Why are you waiting for someone else to take up the cause? If you're waiting for the government to take the lead, which I'm guessing you are by slighting capitalism, you are going to have a long wait.

Capitalism has a really cruddy underside because someone has to lose for someone else to win but it's also this same reason that people step up to challenges such as this. Having an incentive to produce has worked out pretty well. You can still champion the idea if you want to do it for "ethical" reasons and give your profits away. No one is stopping you.

Re:So this

[BigJClark]

I'm merely making social commentary. I don't wait for the government for anything, and do my own amount of volunteer work around the community. But be rest assured, that if I had the brain capable of inventing a device, good or process of some sort that either

A) benefited the large group of people for free
B) Made me disgustingly rich

I would choose (a). No, I've never been put in that place, and no I don't ask you to believe me.

Re:So this

[Tim4444]

You mean make everything digital so we can just read it on our own devices? Wow! What if we call them "computers." We can even have portable versions called "laptops," "netbooks," and "e-readers." Oh, we could even distribute the copies digitally - we'll call it "Internet"!! I can hardly wait!!! Then all we'd have to worry about is big companies like Amazon deleting books that I've already purchased. But they'd never do that, would they?

I don't think finding uses for technology is what's holding us back.

Ad's? How.... unprofitable... for the news media anyway

Re:So this

[ArsonSmith]

Hmm, let someone else pay for your products. how....socialist

Re:So this

[east coast]

All I'm really saying is that those who develop a technology should be allowed to get some benefit out of it. That was my social commentary.

And being rich doesn't mean that you can't help a large group of people. There are tons of win-win situations in technology. If I need to list some for you'll I'd have to first ask you to hand in your geek card.

Re:So this

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Ok, lets say you did invent this particular invention in your garage.
How do you implement it in a way that will benefit a large group of people for free?

Where the heck does the money for the factory or materials come from?

Don't get me wrong, I have a part time volunteer job. If you know of a better system for moving ideas from concept to communal good, I'm all ears.

Re:So this

[squoke]

Or........ we could look at the fact that the lion's share of the cost of a technology is wrapped into the conceptualization and production of the first unit brought to market. Then we could look at the fact that the cost of technology decreases as the "new hotness" factor wears off. Do you see where this is going?

Re:So this

[BigJClark]

This I know, from radio to television, internet to cars. Every time a new technology comes out, it seems to be subverted by advertisers. I guess its a necessary evil, one that I wish was holy unnecessary.

Re:So this

[Dalzhim]

Advertisers don't pay the bill for you. In fact, you are paying indirectly for the ads by using your wallet. Whenever you buy a coke or a pepsi, a fraction of the price you paid ends up being invested in a publicity somewhere.

Re:So this

[tlhIngan]

Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill? Has the cost of your movie tickets dropped since they've introduced a half-hour of commericals into the movie theaters? Has the cost of your video games dropped since the inception of inline video game ad's?

Hardly. Relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology so that academia can reap its benefits is knowledge probably gained from an academic institute that is relying on advertisers to lower the cost of new technology.

Except print media relies on ads to pay the bills, The cost you pay tends to pay a very tiny portion of the actual cost production - most of that cost is distribution (printing, shipping to distributors, distributor markup, shipping to retailers, retailer markup, etc), which is how they can easily make subscriptions 50+% off the cover price.

In this case, the ads pay for the technology behind this. If it's successful, more advertisers would want it in more magazines, which implies that developments would make the technology cheaper. And when the technology gets cheap enough, it'll be everywhere.

Advertisers are paying for this, plus the normal ad fees. If it succeeds, it forms a demand for this technology, making it cheaper so everyone else can add video to their pages for little extra cost.

Re:So this

[ottothecow]

Its not advertisers that drive new technology but rather pornographers. Think about how much digital video was pushed forward by the back office techies at porn distributers? They pushed dvds to their limits, pioneered steaming video formats, etc...

When playboy or other mens magazines take up this type of technology for themselves (or I suppose publishes advertising with this technology), you will begin to see production numbers come up and per unit costs drop as the technology improves.

Re:So this

[AvitarX]

Well the first flat screens I saw (plasma displays in the 30ish inch range for $18,000) were for advertising. The first widespread use of projectors I saw were for marketing presentations.

These advertising driven uses did bring the price down.

Re:So this

[gyrogeerloose]

Don't forget VCR. When Sony announced the first Betamax machine, sales languished--until the porn producers got on the bandwagon.

Re:So this

[calmofthestorm]

The great thing about capitalism is that if think this is a good idea for the technology you can make a play at being one of the first ones to market with the product.

Until someone patents it and starts stealing all his innovation with the big bludgeon of the law. You need some combination of lawyer money and defensive patents to actually create anything in this world.

Re:So this

[FrankSchwab]

pioneered steaming video formats

Best typo ever.

Re:So this

[CecilPL]

Yup. 5 years ago, movie tickets used to cost $14 at my local theatre. Now they cost $10.99 - a 30% drop after accounting for inflation.

Most new video games cost $59.99 - the same as new SNES games cost in 1994. That's another 30% drop after accounting for inflation, not to mention the hugely increased costs of development since then.

It stands to reason that if content producers can recoup some of their costs via alternative revenue models, competition will force the prices down.

Re:So this

[geekoid]

"Has the cost of your movie tickets dropped since they've introduced a half-hour of commercials into the movie theaters? "
The cost hasn't raised to meet inflation.

In this case, the people making the device for advertisers are doing the RnD. When the capacity gets large enough to hold a book, I'm pretty sure they'll be mooks.

This is how book reader should be anyways, cheap with easily loadable content.

Re:So this

[Dr. Spork]

Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill?

How about my email hosting, internet search and many other such services that I would definitely pay for if they weren't free. I certainly don't get billed by Google.

Re:So this

[TheUser0x58]

I don't think you understand how consumer technology works. Right now maybe one of these screens cost ~$1.00 each for advertisers, and $0.10 for the manufacturers. If the popularity of these screens grows, advertisers will press on manufacturers to lower their cost (to allow themselves greater profit) and manufacturers will invest in lowering their own costs to lure business away from their competitors. As volumes increase, manufacturers will also be able to bring costs closer to the actual per-unit cost, since they can still have sufficient profit to recoup the sizable upfront R&D costs.

No, the advertisers will not magnanimously decide to decrease their profits in order to make the technology cheaper. But the nature of technology is that more widgets == lower cost per widget. If it gets cheap enough it may become affordable for less profitable ventures than advertising. How else do you think libraries, one of the most underfunded and neglected public institutions around, will be able to afford this? Or universities, whose endowments/funding are getting slashed in the current economic meltdown?

Lastly, despite your smug use of "capitalistic" as a pejorative term, the fact is without "capitalistic" folks investing in technology none of us would be here on this website having this discussion.

Re:So this

[DragonWriter]

Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill?

Free-as-in-beer broadcast TV? Much of the free-as-in-beer content on the internet? A number of free-as-in-beer local newsweeklies? The vast majority of the cost of not-free print daily newspapers?

Re:So this

[Anonymous Coward]

On the other hand, I remember movie tickets only costing $5-6 compared to the $10-11 they cost now.

Re:So this

[Rising Ape]

Lastly, despite your smug use of "capitalistic" as a pejorative term, the fact is without "capitalistic" folks investing in technology none of us would be here on this website having this discussion.

I'm reading this via the World Wide Web (invented by a scientific research facility) on the Internet (government/military project). Yes, capitalists have been involved in shaping the internet we see today - sometimes even for the better - but are not required for technology development, and the fact that they have been involved is merely a reflection of the way our society is organised, not some fundamental requirement. You can hardly credit them for it. And yes, I do think it's regrettable that advertising has such power and influence and consumes such a large amount of wealth.

Re:So this

[mdwh2]

Well done for completely missing his point.

He's not saying a company reduces its own prices if they advertise - that's a straw man argument you're making.

What he said was, new technology requires early adopters to help pay for it, and then that helps drive down the price. You need examples for "Whens the last time" - you seriously doubt that prices of new initially expensive technology proucts have fallen?

Re:So this

[mdwh2]

Good for you. And the great thing about our society is that you are free to make that choice.

What would you do btw if that great invention cost money to develop, then produce?

And can you think of an actual example of an invention where the creator had the choice of those two possibilities?

Re:So this

[mgblst]

Yes, and they can spend that money on NBA stars, more billboards, and new slogans, or they can spend that money on commercializing technology.

I know where I want them to spend the money, how about you??

Re:So this

[lidocaineus]

PLEASE, for the love of God, learn to use an apostrophe.
http://www.angryflower.com/bobsqu.gif

Re:So this

[Idiomatick]

Patented. Seriously, I like the optimism but a quick google search gives enough things that would count as the ideas above. As an individual we cannot pursue those ideas. Only a company with deep wallets can. So I guess we get to wait. TY for bring up an example of why patent laws suck and hold back progress though. I appreciate the optimism though.

Re:So this

[Teancum]

This is also why ultimately the Betamax failed..... the porn producers (trying to cut to the most marginal costs... it was cheaper this way) selected the VHS standard for a vast majority of their content. This pushed early video tape adopters into the VHS standard, and ultimately left Sony high and dry with a device format that nobody wanted.

Having been involved with some early DVD-Video authoring efforts (I wrote the authoring software), the porn companies came out of the woodwork and waved millions in the direction of the company I worked for. Needless to say, I'm not a millionaire. As such is life.

Re:So this

[csartanis]

5 years ago, movie tickets used to cost $14 at my local theatre.

5 years ago, movie tickets used to cost $6 at my local theatre. Now they cost $9 - a 33% increase after accounting for inflation.

Re:So this

[LWATCDR]

Google
Slashdot
Hulu
HotMail
YouTube
Broadcast TV
Radio.

Re:So this

[wastedlife]

My local theaters went up from around $8 five years ago to between $10 and $12 now, this is purely anecdotal. Besides, most of ticket sales do not benefit the theater, they mainly profit from concession sales and advertisements (if they are the ones selling them, some distributors fine theaters for putting additional advertisements before the film and then put several on themselves). I worked for a theater chain for about 4 years, you'd be surprised at the amount of bullshit expenses. For example, many union projectionists make more than theater managers, who are also required to run and maintain projectors and build film reels in addition to running the rest of the operations.

I'll give you SNES games though, I recall some games selling for upwards of $80. However, I would not say that inline advertisements are purely responsible for that. It is much more likely that the drastic increase in sales in the past 15 years for video games has drastically reduced prices. Also, increased competition and the move to much cheaper optical media (ROM carts are freaking expensive) likely played a big role. I recall reading that during the Playstation and Nintendo 64 generation of consoles, N64 carts cost manufacturers around $30 each and the Playstation CDs cost around $5 each. Someone please correct me if I am mistaken here.

Re:So this

[illumin8]

Whens the last time you can think advertisters have footed the bill?

One word: Google.

Re:So this

[BigJClark]

Google was massive WAY before they started introducing inline ads. But things have gotten sidetracked. I don't really care to analyze the business model of the adverts or decrypt the decades of data to provide counter-statistics to inflation-economy arguments. Really, I am just a bit overwhelmed with the amount of adverts that seem to plague us everywhere we go, and now, it just seems a terrible waste of fine, advanced technology to put it in some supermarket rag.

Re:So this

[onemorechip]

Even today, they still used to cost $6.

Re:So this

[Anonymous Coward]

Ya! Subsidize it with tax dollars! 500 billion should do nicely, and probably create or preserve at least 500 green jobs! This is such a good deal, we must act now!

Re:So this

[Ironica]

Google was massive WAY before they started introducing inline ads.

But were they profitable?

Re:So this

[east coast]

Sorry that there isn't a workshop stocked with lawyers so that anyone with an idea can run off and get the patent. You have to invest in yourself in this system.

The fact of the matter is that those who invent should have legal protection to reap the rewards instead of having do nothings take as they please. You've got to be fast. You need to step up to the challenge instead of waiting for opportunity to find you.

Even with your rant against the patent system I'm just as optimistic about the system. Those who invest themselves should gain reward for their work. Those who sit on their duff hoping that they get a chance to get ahead are left behind by design. This isn't random chance and it's still the best system I've ever seen in action. If you have a better one feel free to mention it. We're all ears.

Re:So this

[FreshlyShornBalls]

Capitalism has a really cruddy underside because someone has to lose for someone else to win but it's also this same reason that people step up to challenges such as this. Having an incentive to produce has worked out pretty well. You can still champion the idea if you want to do it for "ethical" reasons and give your profits away. No one is stopping you.

I know you're arguing FOR capitalism here, but it seems you've still had a bit too much of the Kool-Aid® Obama's been selling. Does the government / socialist system work differently? I can't think of a government program that doesn't have the same "cruddy underside".

Re:So this

[east coast]

I can't think of a government program that doesn't have the same "cruddy underside".

I wouldn't disagree with this either. I feel that government dickering is part of the problem.

Re:So this

[Cytotoxic]

Capitalism has a really cruddy underside because someone has to lose for someone else to win

I hate to flame a post that I generally agree with, but this point is completely wrong. Nobody has to lose in capitalism. I buy my broccoli at the farmers market and nobody loses. I get to eat broccoli without having to grow it myself and the retailer, shipper and farmer get my cash. It is a win/win.

Re:So this

[Idiomatick]

I'm just saying, if this werent patented by someone sitting on it and doing nothing. We could have had this AVAILABLE a few years ago now. I sometimes wonder if patents should be reserved to only things that took actual research rather than 'an idea'. I can understand some tech costs millions to research, that I understand protecting. E-ink sure protect that. But using e-ink for textbooks as an idea thats fucking bullshit and should be unpatentable.

Re:So this

[pimpimpim]

And as a side advantage, you can drop in 15 mins late at the cinema and still be on time for the movie! In germany they even turn on the lights between the last ad and the start of the movie and sell ice. Some sort of long-standing tradition, I suppose.

Now what is bad is commercials inbetween movies on tv. I'd really rather pay to rent a dvd then to spend twice as long watching the movie, and seeing the same commercials over and over again. I get so very tired!

Let me know...

[squoke]

when Playboy starts using them.

Re:Let me know...

[Desler]

Do you need some penis pills, sonny?

Re:Let me know...

[Goaway]

What's a Playboy? Is that like a Playstation?

Re:Let me know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sort of. The games are typically only one player though. And once you start playing, the game is over in a few minutes.

Re:Let me know...

[RichardJenkins]

A little, doesn't vibrate though.

Re:Let me know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Neither one is recommended for more than 4 hours of continuous use.

Re:Let me know...

[networkBoy]

yes, but for boys too young for the playstation. It's controller is much simpler, just a joystick.

Re:Let me know...

[dubbreak]

What's a Playboy? Is that like a Playstation?

Yes. But Playboy only offers single player action.

Re:Let me know...

[Rude Turnip]

You'd have to be pretty experienced to last that long!

Re:Let me know...

[geekoid]

Yes, and it comes with one joystick that is bio-enhanced.

Re:Let me know...

[SmlFreshwaterBuffalo]

Actually it's more like playing with your Wii.

Re:Let me know...

[Idiomatick]

Nah Wii is fun for the whole family and that is just something I don't want to think about.

Re:Let me know...

[DaVince21]

No, more like a Gameboy.

Pics?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is it that more often than not, articles about this sort of thing just go with a stock picture instead of the actual product being described?

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[qortra]

I searched in vain for anything in the article that says something about sound. Even if the ad will have audio, I don't think it will last long in that form. From what I understand, the technology to put relatively cheap audio ads in print periodicals has been around for sometime - nobody uses them for a reason. It would make the periodical a menace for any environment where quiet is valued (e.g. doctor's office or library). Pure video, on the other hand, does not suffer from this problem.

Moreover, I'm sure that if they can make a small flexible screen, then can probably also make a small "unmute" button that allows the user to choose to listen to the ad.

Cost?

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Isn't this insanely expensive? I thought the return on ads was already very low. How is this going to be any better.

Re:Cost?

[east coast]

You kidding? People are going to buy this nonsense rag just for the novelty alone. They'll make a killing on sales and be able to charge more for other ads at the same time.

Re:Cost?

[Itninja]

Well I imagine for news of an add in Entertainment Weekly to trickle all the way down to us nerds, it's got to already be buzztastic in Hollywoodland. Sure it cost them several orders of magnitude more to run the ad, but I bet they will get the same in returns.

Re:Cost?

[camperdave]

It's an ad for e-ink advertizing technology.

Re:Cost?

[qortra]

Exactly! I was going to say this if nobody else did.

I bet this is going to be a collectors item. Everybody in LA and New York will have to buy one. So, not only will EW get a huge sales boost, but there will be millions of people who are pushing, clawing, and begging just to watch the ads for their novelty. How many other ways can you get people to seek out your advertisement rather than have it forced upon them? I bet USA and Pepsi are paying through the nose for this.

Of course, the novelty aspect only works once. My guess is that we won't see this regularly until the technology becomes significantly cheaper (if even then).

Re:Cost?

[zerosomething]

yea and i'll take 50 so I can get the screens and batteries to make my next Burning Man costume. Adds? I'll never see em I'll use the Mags to fuel my woodgas generator to recharge the batteries.

Re:Cost?

[Lawand]

Wait, the battery is rechargeable? If this is an ADVERTISEMENT in a paper magazine, why would you want to recharge it beyond the novelty? What good is this, and with a battery of 70min, wouldn't they ALL have no power by the time you get it off the shelf?

The battery might be charged using solar energy

Re:Cost?

[Yvan256]

yea and i'll take 50 so I can get the screens and batteries to make my next Burning Man costume. Adds? I'll never see em I'll use the Mags to fuel my woodgas generator to recharge the batteries.

P.S.: please buy another 100 or so, then sell them on eBay for those of us not living in one of those two cities.

Re:Cost?

[supernova_hq]

Good lord, the thought of literally buying used advertisements on ebay is kind of mind-blowing...

Re:Cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

You kidding? People are going to buy this nonsense rag just for the novelty alone. They'll make a killing on sales and be able to charge more for other ads at the same time.

And there'll be a whole lot of disappointed newsstand customers. It's being sent to some subscribers in LA and NY.

Re:Cost?

[suomynonAyletamitlU]

Oh America, how I love thee, let me count the ways.

You produce thousands or millions of throwaway video displays, speakers, and batteries for no other purpose but so that a percentage of people who come across them will buy some unrelated product;

Food is plentiful enough that most need not worry, and many have grown fat and complacent;

And somehow you can't take that money, that labor, and that food and give it to people who need it the world over.

Re:Cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't this insanely expensive? I thought the return on ads was already very low. How is this going to be any better.

The thing is, this kind of advertisement seems extremely aggressive, people are way more likely to notice ads with (annoying) sound effects and video than a passive little ad banner.

Advertising is not about having an appealing message, its just about getting yours through before someone else does.

Re:Cost?

[snuf23]

Yeah we are terrible. What with being the number one donator of foreign aid in the world.

Re:Cost?

[dangitman]

Why would they advertise e-ink publishing using an LCD screen?

Re:Cost?

[Jared555]

Or it could, you know, have some form of sensor to detect when the magazine is closed.

Re:Cost?

[david duncan scott]

It's not precisely unprecedented. Toulouse-Lautrec's posters outgrew eBay some time ago.

Re:Cost?

[The_mad_linguist]

Yeah, it's a real shame that those warlords and petty dictators end up intercepting the aid, and general corruption prevents it from getting to the people it's intended for.

Re:Cost?

[WNight]

I'm waiting for the lawsuits against people who resell these, hack them, etc.

When one of these ends up on a lamp-post in Brooklyn with a timer on it who will the department of homeland security waterboard? Putting electronics in the hands of terrorists is a serious charge.

Totally baseless of course because bombs don't need fancy timers and a cheap ipod device, like many manufacturers make for almost nothing, could do the same if you wanted a timer, but hey, when has law been about reason?

I've got popcorn.

Re:Cost?

[Migala77]

Actually it costs tens of dollars to produce per item (I read in my local newspaper), much more than the cost of the magazine, and probably more then the advertiser paid for it. But it will only be available in a couple of thousand magazines, so the total cost is likely a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

And now think of the advertising value. In my local newspaper, on slashdot, ....
Way higher than you could hope to get spending that much on a traditional advertisement.

Re:Cost?

[zippthorne]

So.. We should live like ascetics until everyone can eat, and not care about destroying "lesser" economies to accomplish the goal?

Here's a thought: before deriding American's charitable giving, why don't you look it up. On a per-capita basis. And factor in non-charitable giving (i.e. giving at the point of a gun), too, since a lot of people's favorite charity these days is the government, it seems.

Re:Cost?

[Anonymous Coward]

If they become common, maybe that'll be the time to stop reading paper-based media... WWW advertisements can at least be blocked with NoScript and Adblock Plus.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Again]

How long will it be before someone turns the page in the news paper and Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) in a VERY LOUD OBNOXIOUS TONE?

No need for Flashblock, just read with a hammer next to you.

So what toxic materials are in it

[rminsk]

What toxic materials are in this screen? Most of the magazines will end up in a landfill instead of being recycled by a proper electronics recycler.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[sherriw]

Just what I was about to say.

Oh mod points where art thou?

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[non0score]

You're totally right. I just hope every one of those "panels" gets slapped with a $30+ garbage tax. I'd rather see this kind of "land-fill material (literally) that lasts no more than one week off the shelf" not take off at all.

And let's face it, the vast majority of the readership aren't geeks, so they won't be hacking these things.

And to hell with my karma. It's for garbage like these that I can afford to burn it.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[Anonymous Coward]

How many baby seals were brutally clubbed to death to make this magazine you monstrous, technology-consuming vampire sheep? Gaia murderers.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[The Living Fractal]

Your statement seems to be in conflict with the +5 insightful above you, which says "I bet this is going to be a collectors item."

Landfills?

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[maxume]

You are very serial. The "I loves the planet" angst juxtaposed with the karmic self-obsession is pretty good though.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[taucross]

Collectors item ultimately means landfills. It just takes longer to get there.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[makapuf]

totally approve (no mod points, but plz mod parent up). the point of this media is to be secondary to the main medie (ie print) that is to be disposed once read. What next ? Movies sold with their own throwable screen ?

This is ecological nonsense. Economically, I'm not sure about the cost of those things once the novelty wears off. Let's hope it's only one shot. (remember those Charlie Chaplin IBM ads with blipping and blinking leds in the 80s? Those were the rage.

Yes, however, the hacking opportunity is appealing.

Re:So what toxic materials are in it

[Anonymous Coward]

If I had modpoints, I would mod you down just for that stupid karma comment.

Article Light on Details

[Silentknyght]

Seems great, but TFA seems light on details that would seem to come to most peoples' minds:

• Is it actually an insert into the magazine, or is it part of a page, itself?
• How durable is it? And its corollary:
• How flexible is it?
• Is it always on, or can you turn it off?
• Wait, the battery is rechargeable? If this is an ADVERTISEMENT in a paper magazine, why would you want to recharge it beyond the novelty? What good is this, and with a battery of 70min, wouldn't they ALL have no power by the time you get it off the shelf?
• Can I rip it out of the magazine and keep the screen/device and repurpose them for something actually useful?

FYI, here's what it does list:

• Screen uses liquid crystal display (LCD) technology
• Each is 2.7mm thick with 320x240 resolution Can store 40mins of video
• Battery can be recharged via mini-USB
• Rechargeable battery lasts up to 70 mins
• Developed by LA-firm Americhip

Re:Article Light on Details

[Mal-2]

First of all that's 70 minutes of runtime. Standby wouldn't be nearly as draining.

I have to wonder though -- presumably one reads a magazine in reasonable lighting. Couldn't the ad be solar powered, with only a small battery to make sure it wakes up when it needs to?

Mal-2

Re:Article Light on Details

[elrous0]

It's just a publicity stunt. Let me know when they can actually distribute these things en masse, and not just in a few hundred copies in two selected cities.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Silentknyght]

First of all that's 70 minutes of runtime. Standby wouldn't be nearly as draining

I wouldn't expect the standby capacity of that to be much longer than the time it would take insert the device into the magazine, finish production, box up the magazine(s), and ship them to the point of sale. Can you imagine needing dozens upon dozens of USB power cords to recharge these things at your local bookseller? I'd imagine someone is paying for that kind of ridiculous service to ensure that this very expensive advertising venture delivers as promised to the target audience.

Re:Article Light on Details

[blackbear]

Wait, the battery is rechargeable? If this is an ADVERTISEMENT in a paper magazine, why would you want to recharge it beyond the novelty? What good is this...

Because if they didn't include a rechargeable battery then you would complain that "The damned thing doesn't even have a rechargeable battery! What good is this..."

Re:Article Light on Details

[Migraineman]

From ECN:

The inserts are being distributed to EW subscribers in NY and LA. Newsstands and other subscribers will get regular versions. The success of Video-In-Print could stimulate more widespread video print ads, but as of now, the prohibitive cost of these items (especially compared to traditional motionless ads) prevents wider distribution.

So don't expect to buy one off the shelf.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Anonymous Coward]

Um few million copies.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't expect someone like you to be commenting on an article like this when they clearly don't know what they're talking about. You'd know, right off the bat, from the article summary that it uses a mechanism similar to that of greeting cards with sound chips in them. That means THERE IS NO STANDBY MODE. It's either ON. OR OFF. The tab that is pulled when you open the card, and in this case... the advertisement fold itself, removes the complete power short that prevents the battery from powering the device at all.

You can't possibly think a battery is going to drain that fast. I have greeting cards from 3 years ago that still play the samples as loud as I first opened them. They're your standard CR232 cells inside... so they don't even recharge.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Silentknyght]

I wouldn't expect someone like you to be commenting on an article like this when they clearly don't know what they're talking about. You'd know, right off the bat, from the article summary that it uses a mechanism similar to that of greeting cards with sound chips in them. That means THERE IS NO STANDBY MODE. It's either ON. OR OFF. The tab that is pulled when you open the card, and in this case... the advertisement fold itself, removes the complete power short that prevents the battery from powering the device at all.

You can't possibly think a battery is going to drain that fast. I have greeting cards from 3 years ago that still play the samples as loud as I first opened them. They're your standard CR232 cells inside... so they don't even recharge.

/feed the troll Unlike your CR232 cells, rechargeable batteries dissipate even when not being used, reportedly a couple percent a day. Besides, I didn't even bring up "standby mode." At least troll properly next time! Thanks for playing.

Re:Article Light on Details

[steelfood]

They should stick a wi-fi chip in it and have the screen stream the ad in realtime. CBS broadcasts in digital TV. They can piggy-back off of that signal.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Degro]

It looks pretty bad from the youtube clip on wired. I was expecting some kind of e-ink animation without sound, similar to minority report... This looks like trash.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Anonymous Coward]

WWAAAH!!! I call you a troll because I can't admit I was an idiot for what I said! WAAAHHH!

*ALL* batteries dissipate, you dumbass.

Re:Article Light on Details

[pgn674]

Each is 2.7mm thick

That's 30 sheets of copy paper.

Re:Article Light on Details

[Jared555]

But at different rates per day/month.

Re:Article Light on Details

[CAIMLAS]

Here's what I want to know: what is the point of this? I mean, I get the novelty and buzz, but this seems kinda half-assed to me. Why not just sell your magazine in an eBook format for the Kindle (or similar) and sell video ads on there?

Re:Article Light on Details

[elrous0]

The circulation for EW is only 1.7 million for the *entire country*. The NYC and LA circulation is a small subset of that. And they never even said they would include it in *all* of the copies in NYC or LA. It's just a publicity stunt.

Re:Article Light on Details

[waives]

posting to undo insightful mod meant for gp

Hi, this is...

[ilkensai]

Hi, this is Vince with Slap Chop... watch this, you're gonna love my nuts...

Re:Hi, this is...

[chord.wav]

Don't miss the Rap Chop

Re:Hi, this is...

[YourExperiment]

Nor the Scout Chop, for all you Team Fortress 2 fans!

It is believed that...

[jonnythan]

Best line I've read all day.

"It's believed the new technology will cost much more than normal print ads."

That's the kind of biting, insightful comment I love from big media.

Re:It is believed that...

[JohnFluxx]

Notice that they put the qualifier "It's believed". As in, some people believe that. They don't even commit themselves to a "We believe" let alone taking the huge leap of faith of just "The new technology will cost more",

The key question

[Zhe Mappel]

How long before I can play Doom on my copy of Entertainment Weekly?

Re:The key question

[EkriirkE]

You though thtis, too?
Every time I see "320x240" as a resolution I think "Doom!"

Re:The key question

[AdamTrace]

ModeX FTW!

Re:The key question

[Anonymous Coward]

Since there's already a version for the screen size, more than likely, just as soon as someone figures out how to transfer the video from a mobile phone to the LCD via the miniusb plug

Re:The key question

[maxume]

How pedantic are you?

If only a little, you could use the Entertainment Weekly as a stool and you would be all set.

Re:The key question

[dangitman]

It's Entertainment Weekly. Just reading it spells doom for all concerned.

Re:The key question

[YourExperiment]

About as long as it takes for some genius to pack it full of adverts.

Very effective in at least one area

[lumenistan]

The fools at the Academy for the Slightly Evil laughed at me when I introduced my doctoral dissertation proposal last month, but now look, the winds are shifting in my favor! This is going to go far to aid my goal of getting as many batteries as possible into the landfills that service Los Angeles and New York.

1. Average Joe gets/reads/disposes of newspaper
2. Batteries get dumped along with newspaper
3. ???
4. Profit!

Looks like I WILL get my D.Ev after all!

You know,

[zygotic mitosis]

I see those fucking musical birthday cards, and now this, and I wonder what kind of metals are in those little batteries. We're not poisoning the land fills any more for this crap, are we?

Re:You know,

[CAIMLAS]

You're kidding, right?

The answer is: no, not to any appreciable degree.

You do know what happens to all those 9V, AA, and AAA batteries you see in grocery stores after people use them up, right? How about the batteries in laptops? Yeah, that's right: the average person throws them away. As in, in the landfill.

If they don't throw them away when they die, they throw them in the trash when they're doing some housecleaning or getting ready to move. Even in the locations where recycling batteries is possible and suggested, batteries are accepted at the dump/landfill. Especially for something like a car battery: people will throw that sucker away if they can (and can't get it exchanged for a discount on the new one).

I don't know if this is the product but...

[east coast]

For your intellectual edification:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE

and they wonder why...

[Tim4444]

If newspapers devoted this much energy to the actual content and quality of journalism, maybe they wouldn't be hurting so much for revenue.

Re:and they wonder why...

[R2.0]

"Interesting"? Try "Funny [unintentional]": Entertainment Weekly isn't a newspaper, it's a glossy magazine. And, despite the lack of gravity of the subject matter, they cover it pretty competently.

Re:and they wonder why...

[liquidsin]

just so we're clear here, you're talking about quality journalism and content from entertainment weekly...right?

Re:and they wonder why...

[dangitman]

If newspapers devoted this much energy to the actual content and quality of journalism,

It's Entertainment Weekly we are talking about. It's not a newspaper or journalism, it's a PR outlet. So this fits perfectly, as the publication is not about content or quality, it's pure advertising.

Rip to DivX?

[Cryogenic Specter]

Now we just need a way to rip the video to DivX and put it in a torrent on The Pirate Bay!

Harry Potter

[greymond]

was first

but really this direction just seems like it is destined to fail because of cost and the lack of people already buying physical things to read.

Re:Harry Potter

[Rastl]

Bzzt. Cultural reference fail.

Neal Stephenson got there before Harry Potter with The Diamond Age and e-paper.

I'm sure others will be along later with prior art. FYI - The Diamond Age was published in 1995 so go from there.

Re:Harry Potter

[geekoid]

And the wicked witch had her mirror.
The idea of things talking to use or giving us information is quite old.

Re:Harry Potter

[sjs132]

It's really amazing what those muggles will come up with trying to duplicate wizarding technology... I just hope they can't duplicate flue powder or the Five Elves delivery and expiditing CO would be done out for sure.

RIP Print Media

[swanzilla]

Nice try, but I'll continue to pass. For what it is worth, egotastic keeps me up (unintentional pun) with the only celebrity news that is worthwhile.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[R2.0]

"Jimbo from Jimbo's Used Cars and Ammo starts screaming about his amazing auto deals (free ammo with every car!) "

Really? How many rounds? And what caliber? And will they take my Prius in trade?

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[gnick]

The only problem is that, at least in my experience, when I'm sitting down reading and spontaneously start pounding my lap with a hammer everyone looks at me like I've lost my mind. Anyone else have this problem?

Yeah

[rodrigoandrade]

Because paper mags are the ultimate means of conmmunication and we should all be spending millions of dollars on this booming new media!!

Just wondering, will the mags also be equipped with AdBlock??

Youtube video of the product...

[f8l_0e]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[Ephemeriis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE

That looks awfully bulky for a magazine insert...

Maybe it'd work as a standalone advertising pamphlet for some expensive toy... But as a magazine insert?

Yeah, I understand that folks will run out and buy this magazine just for the advertisement. Just for the novelty. But... The thing depicted in that video is easily as thick as a magazine.

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks pretty chunky really. I can't image that in a zine.

help desk software

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[Silentknyght]

Agreed. This isn't "video in print", this is "we've taken your typical hardcover book and put a ridiculously small screen with a bad interface inside it. Other content, what other content?"

If I a device like the one shown in the youtube vid, I'll just take one that's not bound in cardboard, thanks.

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[EkriirkE]

This is just a mock up, the video you see is edited in. As they pan/zoom around the video disconnects from the window.

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[Archangel Michael]

Okay, the Geek in me wants to take the YouTube Video of this thing, and put it ON this thing, make a video Youtube of the new video on the thing, and then video that and put it on it and then get a video of that, and put it on it ....

Re:Youtube video of the product...

[bigdavex]

My connection is pretty slow. Would you mind printing out that video and mailing it to me?

Yeah.

[Black Parrot]

...and will have rechargeable batteries.

In case you want to watch the commercials over and over again.

Good morning Jim

[Starteck81]

Looks like one of the Mission Impossible guys decided to go work for an ad agency. :-P

Re:Good morning Jim

[omnichad]

Oh great, so my magazine is going to burst into flames at the end of the ad.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Em Emalb]

Yes, really. a box, of 50, 9mm, and hell no, they won't take your Commie-Liberal Hippy wagon. Are you nuts?

Wasn't this done like two years ago?

[hesiod]

First? I swear I read a /. article quite a while ago about this exact same thing... It was the cover of some magazine.

Re:Wasn't this done like two years ago?

[mrchaotica]

The thing from a while ago was animated E-ink, not video.

Re:Wasn't this done like two years ago?

[Anonymous Coward]

How about ya use search, genius? Wanna knuckle sandwich?

Recycling...?

[Itninja]

So now, not only can I not toss the magazine into recycling without a thought, but in many municipalities it will be a crime to even throw it in the regular trash due to the electronics. Thanks Hollywood!

Re:Recycling...?

[Ephemeriis]

So now, not only can I not toss the magazine into recycling without a thought, but in many municipalities it will be a crime to even throw it in the regular trash due to the electronics. Thanks Hollywood!

But it's ROHS compliant!

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Hurricane78]

Wait for Goatse to appear on those ads!

I'm stunned it didn't already happened on one of those screens at Times Square in New York. But I'll get right to it. Just a sec... ;)

Just wait

[darCness]

Until they're spread on sidewalks the way those little ad cards are now.

Until people complain that they're getting them in their mailboxes.

Until people complain that they opened their curtains and saw them stuck on the window, facing in.

Until they are on windshields and in clubs like flyers are now.

Until you hear the stories of people getting these things thrown at them by "drive by" marketers.

I can smell the lawsuits now.

Not more than a marketing trinket

[Anonymous Coward]

but interesting as a step towards mediatronic paper.

Oh Yeah?

[Relic of the Future]

Yeah, but how many click-throughs will it get?

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one that sees the insane waste in all this???

Re:Anonymous Coward

[chad.koehler]

No, you're not. There's a lot going into the manufacture and distribution of this, only to be put into a periodical (not even a good one) to be thrown away in a week. My earth hurts....

Magasine rickroll

[Anonymous Coward]

Cant I go into the shop with a laptop, plug it in and upload rickroll to these screens via the usb?

Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks

[EsJay]

Esquire had an E-ink cover last year. Was there any interesting re-purposing?

Google tells me it was possible but I didn't find any interesting projects.

Re:Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks

[Yvan256]

AFAIK that cover was fixed areas, kinda like those old LCD games, or a 7-segment display, etc. You can only turn areas on and off, it wasn't a pixel-based display.

Re:Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks

[hippo_of_knowledge]

I didn't bother to do anything with the issue that I bought, but I did notice that the thing kept going far longer than I expected it to. I think I bought the thing in September of last year and it was still going up until last week before giving up the ghost.

Re:Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks

[Anonymous Coward]

It couldn't be repurposed. It was a fixed layout Eink design. Nothing more than an overglorified LCD style animation, similar to those in the Tiger Electronics and Game & Watch systems. Portions became dark, those portions became light. The screen itself couldn't have been salvaged for anything because while it was Eink, it wasn't the kind of Eink that many people hoped it would be (individual granules acting as pixels.)

Re:Any interesting Esquire e-ink hacks

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought that Esquire

Esquire magazine

[gurps_npc]

So, what's up with talking about the Esquire bit but still claiming it's the 'first' ever?

Link to video demo

[Anonymous Coward]

This is what it looks like

Re:Link to video demo

[MeatBag PussRocket]

this reminds me of the childrens books with the sound buttons for farm animals. it looks fairly tacky, not the way i'd imagine. its does not appear to be flexible, it looks like an lcd that got slipped into a folded piece of paper with a window cut out on one side. i'm not saying i could necessarily do a _better_ job, but i think i could do at least as good a job with a cell phone screen and construction paper

Meh...

[argosian]

Let me know when full-motion color video comes to thin, flexible displays. eInk/ePaper isn't there yet and this doesn't even look like it's an advance in that direction, but rather off-the-shelf, conventional rigid LCD repackaged with a small battery and storage as a gimmick. Hardly more innovative than singing birthday cards.

Yes. With Sound.

[SeaFox]

Yes, there will be sound, no you can't set the volume, yes it plays with sound when you first open it, this is an advertisement after all -- they want you to attract the attention of those around you.

You should check out the Wired article. It has a YouTube clip.

Re:Yes. With Sound.

[Anonymous Coward]

My hammer and I disagree, we can, indeed, set the volume (or at least mute it).

Re:Yes. With Sound.

[easyTree]

This is such a great idea - far better than, I don't know, moving the whole newspaper online or onto an ebook reader.

Oh wait, the opposite of that.

Re:Yes. With Sound.

[VoltageX]

Even though this sounds really annoying, I want one. Any idea how to get one in Australia?

Re:Yes. With Sound.

[cybernanga]

You could post a request at http://www.buy-proxy.com/ Disclaimer: It's my own website, however, this is exactly why it was created

Re:Yes. With Sound.

[Anonymous Coward]

Simple solution - fold the magazine and sit on it before reading. ;)

Is there a point to this?

[orkybash]

Given how often I see articles claiming that "print media is in trouble, everything's online now", is investing R&D into video advertisements, not to mention increasing printing costs with this gimmick, REALLY the way to go? Are you trying to tell me that the only thing killing print media this whole time has been it's lack of flash ads!?

Wired Magazine Link

[Wisconsingod]

Wired magazine has quite an extesive review of the magazine, reviewing many aspects, from chip maker itself, the audio, to the rest of the page

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/cbs-embeds-a-video-playing-ad-in-a-print-magazine/

Some side notes for those that don't RTFA.
Audio - yes there is audio, and quite loud they note
Chip Maker - Americhip (the first 5 seconds is an promo for the chip maker)
Depth - the chip itself is 1/4 inch thick, not exactly paper thin.
Market - Sending to select subsribers in LA & NYC

I am still curious about the environmental impact of this technology on the garbage world

Hi, I'm Darth Harrington

[CMBJ]

INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS
INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS
INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS

Hi, I'm Darth Harrington of Darth Harrington's Intergalactic Proton Powered Electrical Tentacled Advertising Droids Emporium and Moon Base. Due to a garbled subspace transmission, I am currently overstocked on all Intergalactic Proton Powered Electrical Tentacled Advertising Droids, and I am passing the savings onto youuuuuuu!

Re:Hi, I'm Darth Harrington

[Anonymous Coward]

can't believe that here, of all places, a Futurama reference gets you modded troll. Have some mod points ^.^

Re:Hi, I'm Darth Harrington

[Ceseuron]

Pretty sure that's Family Guy: Blue Harvest spoof on Star Wars that the whole "INTERGALACTIC PROTON POWERED ELECTRICAL TENTACLED ADVERTISING DROIDS" thing comes from...

Re:Hi, I'm Darth Harrington

[Gulthek]

A running gag in Family Guy, yes.

http://www.wackywavinginflatablearmflailingtubeman.com/

Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a Beowolf cluster of video ads.

Imagine cardiac arrest from Grandma.

Yours In Novosibirsk,
K. Trout

Sigh

[cca93014]

What is the carbon footprint of this thing? I mean, jesus, I'm going to have some explaining to do to my daughter when she gets older about my generation and what it prioritised...

Waste of resources

[mmustapic]

Yes, the device is supposedly rechargeable and new content can be uploaded, but why would you make the effort to upload ads? How is this better than reading the same info on the internet, on a bigger screen and better interactivity? Whit will surely end in a landfill. How fucking wasteful.

Re:Waste of resources

[ruffled]

you dont know that. a lot of innovation has come through seemingly "useless and wasteful" forays. look at the iphone, netbooks, hybriod cars.. this may lead on to the next big thing: LCD-world here i come!

Re:Waste of resources

[DadLeopard]

Wait till your seat mate pulls one out that he has re-purposed to show his home video of the Wife and Kiddies, on your next flight!!

Re:Waste of resources

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, we'd be fools to go to the trouble to flash new ads onto the device. The good news is that if it was designed to have content added and batteries that can be recharged, its hacking/reuse potential goes up enormously.

Re:Waste of resources

[Anonymous Coward]

Could we take the magazines that haven't been sold yet, put meatspin on them, and put them back, to be sold to the unsuspecting?

Patent 5,275,285

[Beorytis]

Did you notice a patent number at the end of the video? I looked it up on USPTO, and the patent (from 1994) is for "Business card holder with sound generating microchip"!

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[dotancohen]

I searched in vain for anything in the article that says something about sound.

It does have sound. It this video posted by another commenter below, you can see the speaker at the 1:02 minute mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7GErbdNRrE

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[suomynonAyletamitlU]

That depends. Which kind of hammer?

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[operagost]

You can't beat the meters-per-grain efficiency of .30-06 ammo, BTW. It makes your Prius look like a Hummer. And when you hit your target, you often instantly curtail its ability to produce more carbon! HOW GREEN!

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Chyeld]

You make it a joke but...

How long until ...

[Jumperalex]

[queue article about malware distributing video magazine ad in 3...2...1...]

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[StikyPad]

Does "auto" refer to the cars or the weapons?

Nazi spazi

[CrashandDie]

The first-ever video advertisement will be published in a traditional paper magazine â" Entertainment Weekly â" in September

No. The first-ever video advertisement was published a long time ago. Also, no traditional paper magazine has video. Hence the reason they are traditional.

Try again.

"The first-ever video advertisement to be published in a paper magazine will..."

Or maybe they would...

[PylonHead]

The crisis in the newspaper industry:

a) They're all giving away their content for free on the internet, print subscriptions are falling through the floor.

b) No single paper can charge internet subscriptions, because people will just turn to other papers.

c) Web ad revenue brings in less money than print ad revenue used to.

d) Craig's List has completely destroyed the lucrative classified ads revenue source.

So basically, they haven't found a way to make enough money to do the journalism that we expect from them. The whole industry is sinking, from the best of them to the worst.

Re:Or maybe they would...

[geekoid]

except they WEREN'T doing the journalism we expect from them.
Physical papers and there websites can be complements of each other. No one is doing this, but it can happen. The newspaper does have advantages.

Re:Or maybe they would...

[Jason Levine]

Actually, the roots of the crisis started before the Internet took off with newspaper readers. Papers, looking to cut costs, started relying more and more on AP and other news wire services. When all papers began looking the same, loyalty to a particular paper disappeared.
.
In addition, one of the newspaper's cash cows is the classified ads section. The Internet can do classifieds much better with sorting, searching and filtering on a level printed classifieds could only dream of. Without a need for printed classifieds, people had one less reason to buy newspapers.

Personally, I get the newspaper 4 days a week. We only really use the Sunday paper (for the ads/coupons), but we get the others pretty much for free (over the weekend only price). Still, those papers normally go right from the doorstep to the recycling bin completely unread.

Re:Or maybe they would...

[u38cg]

That's not entirely true. The Economist maintains its own international staff and writes all its own material. Their sales have climbed year on year on year, and their (free to view current articles) website turns a useful profit as well. The Independent in the UK also does most of its journalism in house, and has also recorded increased sales for several years. I do tend to think the overall market for news may be contracting slightly, but the fact is that newspapers are their own worst enemies, becuase they put out garbage and complain no-one is reading it.

Re:Or maybe they would...

[MtViewGuy]

The Economist has done reasonably well because it is a magazine that is read widely around the world by anyone who has a vested interest in economic matters--especially political leaders and anyone involved in multinational financial services industries.

Re:Or maybe they would...

[u38cg]

That's a little circular: why is it read widely?

magazine from the leaky cauldron?

[Anonymous Coward]

science follows fiction, and sometimes fantasy.... Invented by J.K Rowling?

So, how do I get one!

[richardkelleher]

We need to have geeks in LA and NY buy up every issue in every newsstand and then put them up on ebay so the rest of us have a chance to buy one. I really want to take one of these apart.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Nidi62]

Ball-peen?

My name is Judge!

[billlava]

Thank you Arrested Development!

Is this necessary?

[thesolo]

in an increasingly competitive market, advertisers have realised that it is more important than ever to create attention for their product. The first clips will [...] show adverts by the drinks company Pepsi.

So Pepsi needs to create attention for their product? Is there anyone on this earth over the age of 2 that doesn't know what Pepsi-Cola is? I mean, I rarely drink cola as it is, but if I open up a magazine and a Pepsi ad starts shouting at me, you can be damned sure I will never drink that brand again.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is used ammo really that valuable to you?

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[DaFallus]

Yeah, but now you can finally punch Jimbo right in his stupid toothless smiling face without damaging your fist or your fancy plasma TV!

ubiquitous e-paper in Minority Report

[peter303]

15 years ago I wouldnt have imagined by now you could buy a fairly functional portable video computer for $5 at 7-11. Then toss it when something breaks or the battery dies. But thats what my "spare" Virgin Mobile 16-color cellphone is.

If they ever get economies of scale in flexible e-paper up to this level, I see e-paper as ubiquous and cell-phone LCD screens someday. In refrigator magnets, cereal boxes, news-sheets, and so on.

Cheap display for wearable computers

[mhajicek]

So someone needs to pick up a bunch of copies of this magazine, as subsidized by the advertiser, and repurpose the hardware for better applications.

Re:Cheap display for wearable computers

[gujo-odori]

Nah, somebody's gonna get a bunch of them, repurpose the hardware for Pr0n and put them back on the shelf. Hilarity ensues.

Re:Cheap display for wearable computers

[mhajicek]

Good idea. Hentai video trading cards! You can make a trading card game out of them too, supported by a cartoon, a line of toys, and a couple movies! Oh good, I got the Tentacle Monster card!

Obligatory...

[dufachi]

Does it run Linux?

Cover price?

[Fantastic Lad]

I wonder what the cost of that particular issue is.

The line blurs between computers and print and soon we'll be living in "Minority Report". Oh my!

Or perhaps. . .

It's just another one of those silly floppy square 45's in a magazine.

Whatever. Pepsi is getting the market awareness they wanted with this stunt. The best I can hope for is that the technology gets a boost towards something cool because sheeple drink black fizzy sugar water.

-FL

Re:Cover price?

[argent]

It's just another one of those silly floppy square 45's in a magazine.

You figured out the code!

just like magazines in Harry Potter!

[NoBozo99]

Sorrry, Muggles! You're late to the party again.

Re:just like magazines in Harry Potter!

[maxume]

You are going to look like a real dill-hole when you make fun of the guy that flies to Mars using an energy drive and you mock him for getting beat to it by Star Trek.

Re:just like magazines in Harry Potter!

[geekoid]

People do realize those weren't actually working devices, correct?

I mean you like then 30th person to post this, it's kind of scary. I mean you potter fans are stating to become worse then Tolkien fans.

For the record, I enjoyed both but for different reasons.

Interesting when people talk about LotR the mention Tolkien, but when they talk about the Harry potter books, they refer to them as the Potter books.

No one refers to LotR as the Frodo books.

Hell, now I'm drawing a blank on the name of the Potter author.

Re:just like magazines in Harry Potter!

[Quiet_Desperation]

People do realize those weren't actually working devices, correct?

I'm guessing he does from his use of the term Muggles. I'm sensing snark. I know. It's hard to tell around here. Snark and stupid can hit with equal frequency and with little warning.

I mean you like then 30th person to post this, it's kind of scary. I mean you potter fans are stating to become worse then Tolkien fans.

Seen the documentary We Are Wizards? Be afraid.

No one refers to LotR as the Frodo books.

Well, Potter's name is in the titles of all seven book and, except for a few scenes, they are all told from Potter's 3rd person POV. People also talk about Sherlock Holmes novels or Superman comics where the main character is iconic.

Hell, now I'm drawing a blank on the name of the Potter author.

Hunter S. Thompson

Re:Jimbo? Don't forget Sambo!

[mcpkaaos]

Well, pointing at your ass could convey a variety of meanings.

Now that I think about it, so might pointing at your wrist. Just don't point to one and then the other and I think you'll be okay.

Entertainment Weekly

[Sloppy]

I hate these asshole spammers. I started getting their crap about a year ago. Every damn week, one of these things. I rent a mailbox and only check it about once a month. Now it physically fills up with their unsolicited junk mail. Fuck you, Entertainment Weekly.

I tracked down how it happened. Turns out Ticketmaster sold me out -- they're who Entertainment Weekly got my snailmail address from (and email address, that's how I caught 'em -- Entertainment Weekly sent spam to tm@example.com). So: fuck you too, Ticketmaster. You'll never hear from me again.

Re:Entertainment Weekly

[narcc]

[quote]You'll never hear from me again.[/quote]

That'll show 'em. They'll rue the day they sold your name and address!

Oh good - sound in a novelty item...

[musefrog]

I sense that, if this catches on, you'll get a similar problem to cards and other novelty items which make sounds - malfunctions which cause them to NEVER - SHUT - UP! I had this very experience at a birthday party I was at recently. The novelty candle thingie was cool at first, but no-one could get it to stop playing its cheesy tinny music. It got shut in another room, but we could still hear it... not sure what terrible fate finally silenced it...

Save the trees and ink...

[cfa22]

Why not upload page images to it and just sell the screen without the paper?

Not worth going to LA

[rickb928]

For damned sure...

Don't like it but want the magazine? Easily done!

[kheldan]

Just fold the magazine sharply and firmly in half. No more annoying ad!
Seriously though, if it's possible to erase the ad content and use the mini-player for other video, I think I (and at least half of /.) would buy the mag just to dink around with the player.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[MadnessASAP]

I use a bodymans hammer.

I can see it now... annoying, loud, obnoxious.

[Doug52392]

Imagine this: A person is quietly reading a magazine in a quiet and peaceful room. Suddenly, as he flips the page, a video advertisement is played, displaying the Pepsi logo, filling the room with a low-quality, low-bitrate sound of the Pepsi jingle so loud everyone in the room turns and looks at him. And, guess what? NO WAY TO STOP THE DAMN AD!

Come September, this will be a reality.

First TV ads got louder and louder and annoyed the shit out of me to the point where I can't even watch TV anymore. Then Internet ads did the same. Now fucking paper ads will annoy me.

I, for one, will not purchase a product whose developers chose to advertise in this manner, nor will I purchase magazines that have these ads. Fuck you, spammers!

Re: I can see it now... annoying, loud, obnoxious.

[^_^x]

I agree... I imagined this earlier today and I figure if I were in a quiet place with other people and one of these ambushed me, I'd probably punch the screen forcefully, and if it keeps making noise, rip out the page and wad it up. ...but hey, maybe that's what they want. If it happened in a bookstore I'd kind of have to buy the magazine!

Re: I can see it now... annoying, loud, obnoxious.

[bstender]

nor will I purchase magazines that have these ads.

not even Penthouse?

The great thing about this..

[SlashDev]

.. is that I can turn the page. Can't do that with video ads on 'live' TV.

Re:The great thing about this..

[dreamer.redeemer]

You know, the TV has an off button. It's the damnedest thing, you press it once and suddenly you have all kinds of time. Soon you realize that you don't have to waste your life watching television, that instead of approaching a comatose state in front of the blinky-flashy hypno box you are Free to pursue personally rewarding and meaningful activities. FSM knows the next Thomas Edison isn't going to be a TV watcher.

Re:The great thing about this..

[Anonymous Coward]

You could change the channel

Re:The great thing about this..

[The_mad_linguist]

Quite the contrary. If you compare their business practices, level of involvement in their companies, et cetera, you'll soon realize that Bill Gates is already the next Thomas Edison, except slightly more ethical.

Re:The great thing about this..

[SlashDev]

TV can be very beneficial, there are some great programs, and I'm not talking about soap operas or reality shows, I'm talking about educational programs, right in your home. I personally think it's great. But I agree with you, your average TV watcher is basically a zombie-consumer.

Re:The great thing about this..

[dreamer.redeemer]

You've got me there, Cosmos pretty much changed my life, so I guess I owe television some credit.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[chucklebutte]

Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man! Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man! Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man! Hi I'm Al Harrington, president and CEO of Al Harrington's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man Emporium and Warehouse! Thanks to a shipping error, I am now currently over-stocked on Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men, and I am passing the savings on to yoooooooouuuu! Attract customers to your business! Make a splash at your next presentation! Keep Grandma company! Protect your crops! Confuse your neighbors! African American? Hail a cab! Testify in church! Or just raise the roof! Whatever your Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man needs are! So come on down to Al Harrington's Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man Emporium and Warehouse! Route 2 in Weekapaugh!!! lol like this ad every time you turn your page!

Thye reason for the batteries

[geekoid]

are rechargeable is because you can load new content onto the device. This is an AD for the very device they are using to advertise it.

This could become the ultimate eBook reader we have been waiting for. Cheap, easily loadable, light.
I can't wait to get my DnD books in the format.

Re:Thye reason for the batteries

[Zerth]

I see a cheap component for a wearable computer.

You created me mum

[taucross]

so I guess you're to blame
for the love that I feel
just from hearing your name.
You're tender as roast beef
and warm as pastrami...
I love my my mummy!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH NIGHT TERRORS

An awesome use for this...

[grodybottlestein]

As a guy who works in the video / graphic design / multimedia design arena, let me just say: I think I just figured out how I'm gonna be distributing my portfolio.

Pffft

[Anonymous Coward]

What happens when the high energy density battery gets knocked around?

Fire!

Then the warehouse burns down and nobody gets to see it.

Neat!

[commodoresloat]

No wait; I meant that other thing ... Annoying!!!

Battery disposal?

[blg42]

If this caught on, it it might have some serious environmental ramifications. I'm not sure about the screen itself, but depending upon what they use in the batteries, disposal could become an issue. It's hard enough to get people to dispose of things properly -- let alone recycle them. This sounds like it could just make things worse.

kids, bah

[zogger]

...and I remember indoor movie tickets costing *35 cents* and there were two movies, plus cartoons, plus a newsreel. And it was about the only place that had air conditioning. [lawn,off, and etc]. And cokes were a nickle and calls from a payphone were a nickle. No shyte.

But it's better now even if you only get one movie and it costs ten bucks. (mostly because you really don't have to go there and you can get the movie for less than ten bucks and watch it at home)

    I wouldn't swap the internet and electronic miniaturization and so on for all that old tech. It was good enough, but it's better now in a lot of ways. Now I like older cars and trucks because they had some personality to them, but that tech is better now too. More complicated, but better.

    *Some* old tech is still good and useful, but progress is progress. The tech then in the 35 cent movie days was a lot better than the 1800s. Stuff gets better because people want it better and we have a ton more smart guys working on stuff now. I have no flying car or hawt babe amazon warrior robot army...but all in all it's a lot better now. My major beef is a lot of stuff is really unfixable for most practical definitions of fixable. It works or chunk it, that part I don't like and I still hang onto way too much broken stuff now from inertia, because everything used to be somewhat fixable by joe average with a box of tools, or there was some dude on the corner with a shop and he could do it, cheap. That's pretty much gone now.

Re:kids, bah

[Teancum]

I know this is going waaay off topic, but I beg to differ that modern consumer equipment must be unrepairable.

Oh, I grant you that it is, and that is also something frustrating to me to no end. I'm just suggesting that this is by design, and that some company... if they really want to assert that they are green and not just give lip service... could design equipment to be repaired by an ordinary technician trained at a 2-year community college. Unfortunately that might take more than a simple start-up to get it to work out, and would take a radical change in current manufacturing processes to make it happen.

I worked for a manufacturing company that mostly did business to business products, where the products simply had to be repairable in order to meet the customer's needs. Computer equipment that was over 20 years old continued to live on (running on MS-DOS, interestingly enough... and some early CP/M variant for some of the equipment) and even serviced. The largest problem was simply trying to find chip manufacturers who were even willing to supply parts for stuff that old if it broke. Electronics produced in the 1990's is actually harder to find parts for than stuff made in the 1980's, as it turns out.

The local second hand stores (aka Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc.) stopped any kind of repair program about 20 years ago and have all but stopped even accepting electronics, unless you can turn them on and prove they still work. There are some specialized electronics recyclers, but that is an exception rather than a rule for these stores. This includes more mundane consumer appliances like toasters, televisions, and waffle irons that are even hard to repair any more, but used to be routinely repaired in earlier decades.

Annoying cardboard insert...

[marciot]

Did you see the size of that cardboard insert? It's already annoying enough having to tear out those small subscription cards that are bound into the magazine.

Don't get me wrong, the tech is cool, and I probably wouldn't tear *this* one out, but in a few years, when *every* magazine has this, it'll be a different story.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Froboz23]

I've preemptively gouged my eyes and ears out. Just to be safe.

BUy it - hack it

[Anonymous Coward]

>>If this is an ADVERTISEMENT in a paper magazine, why would you want to recharge it beyond the novelty? What good is this, and with a battery of 70min, wouldn't they ALL have no power by the time you get it off the shelf?

OH yeah...cheap screen! perfect timing can't wait to hack it!

Sounds like a great business opportunity to me

[Anonymous Coward]

Put coin-operated microwave ovens outside newsstands...

If the thing did something more useful...

[Dr. Spork]

OK, for one thing, this screen and memory are basically the two most expensive parts of a cell phone. So here is what I'm thinking: Why stick this thing in a magazine? Why not just send it to whoever wants one, except make the thing into a proper unlocked cell phone that runs ads on its screen (maybe downloads a new one each month)? If the phone is good and the ads are mostly skipable (and don't get in the way of functionality), I think this might be an interesting business model. Ditto if the thing were just a portable media player. Sure, it's adding more junk to the world, but the coup for an advertiser is to make an ad that users would actually want to keep around. This might just be the way to do it.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd buy a car from him if I got free ammo, do you have any idea how hard it is to find ammo these days?

Sell content as? You mean re-license Reuters?

[Ilgaz]

Man I am sure a Perl or even more advanced Haskell etc. genious can code today's mainstream newspaper generator easily. Just add couple of leftist/rightist/shadowy columnists who writes no better than your IRC bot, all you need is a A3 printer to go.

I really think it should be done, just to show how worthless they have become internationally, yes, ALL newspapers except always lower selling intellectual types can be generated dynamically. You can even add some sort of "evil layout AI" to promote/demote stories based on your agenda. All you need is to show it to a boss like Murdoch. "Here Mr. Murdoch, my little program can do what 10000 people you employ does."

All they do is copy/paste Reuters etc. stories, add a bit of own insert/edit and post it to Indesign or Quark. Nothing else. Look to NY Times archives of 1950s, 1960s... They sent real people to go after real stories and investigate ground breaking stories just by telephone and knowing the right people.

IT media is going in same direction too... You can easily predict which stories with what kind of taste would appear on IT media. In 5 years they will start whining too.

Since it is just a tiny,cheap LCD screen

[Ilgaz]

Based on Youtube video which was linked here, it is just a tiny LCD screen with horrible colour and seriously thicker compared to an actual page.

It is not like some page actually showing video.

I didn't like the attitude of the company making it too, why should I care about its patent number? "don't steal?" well, I am sure nobody is stupid enough not to check the patents before implementing some similar idea.

They should ask themselves: "If a person buys a magazine instead of watching 200 free channels on TV, does he/she really want to see video inside magazine?". It is like advertising your product via animated gif on Flashblock official page.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Anonymous Coward]

when are comics going to start using this. someone owes tom hanks an apology.

Bade Taste comment

[ghmh]

Looking at the youtube video it's just some 'nice looking' people talking.

They could have at least made it exciting by, say, setting one of their faces on fire?

Oh, wait...

FWIW, I prefer Coke zero

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[rockNme2349]

* Flips open magazine *

Hello, you have been selected to win a free ipod!

Makes me wonder...

[thewils]

When the porno mags will get hold of an idea like this.

..annnnd they're off!

[Fishbulb]

First person to build a smoking jacket out of these and hacking the memory to play a bunch of different random stuff wins. Bonus points for being photographed wearing it at an all night rave at Burning Man.

novel idea

[Tom]

The more ads I see, the more I get pissed at advertisement in general.

I have a truly novel idea. Maybe I should patent it. How about we charge for the actual content, save a lot of money on all the staff and equipment that doesn't have to negotiate, draft, implement, print, etc. all the advertisement anymore, and end up with a smaller, more content-dense product? I'll call it "business purpose re-engineering".

You see, when your business has slowly eroded from informing your customers to selling your customers, and your customers have started to notice and are leaving you in droves, it might be time to change back, instead of speeding up.

Re:novel idea

[Overzeetop]

This causes two problems. First, it makes the magazines more speculative, since a larger portion of revenue comes from sales which occur after the magazine goes to print. Second, it increases the cost of the magazine significantly. Are you ready to pay $15-$20 (or more) for an issue that used to cost you $6, purely for the privilege of not having ads? Do you think >90% of consumers are?

I honestly see this as a nonstarter for most magazines, as much as I would like it. I believe Cooks Illustrated is done this way, so it does work for certain demographics. The cost of a yearly subscription is about 3-4 times what a similar ad-based pub is on a per-issue basis, IIRC.

Re:novel idea

[aicrules]

Novel ideas don't permeate "the establishment" too often. They've clearly gotten to used to the idea of advertising subsidized content. People are used to it too, and with the internet, the large scale readership is very sensitive to any increase in cost. It will take years to transition to a model where the consumer pays for content at a higher rate without losing massive numbers of subscribers. A lot of them have waited too long to start making a change though, so it's going to come down to a matter of what heroics can they pull off to buy themselves time to make the shift. Further complicating it, most of them don't have the expertise within their ranks to even begin to plan that sort of shift.

Re:novel idea

[Tom]

Are you ready to pay $15-$20 (or more) for an issue that used to cost you $6, purely for the privilege of not having ads?

Yes

Do you think >90% of consumers are?

No.

But if you want my money, you play by my rules. That other 90% market is pretty much saturated anyways. So why not get a large share of the 10% market, instead of a tiny share of the 90% market? Your overal market share may end up to be higher.

But, of course, in this time of hyper-capitalism, nobody is happy with owning a factory or a shop or selling to a specific audience anymore. It's got to be international corporations, franchises and chains and when it comes to market, the key word is "dominating", not "pleasing".

I'm not worried...

[costinel]

I'm sure one of the next versions of Flashblock, NoScript or Adblock Plus will take care of this.

Just Can't Wait...

[Anonymous Coward]

...For the pornographic ads. :>

Harry Potter

[Sam the Nemesis]

This technology is already patented by The Daily Prophet.

Win for hobbyist

[Stachel]

I see: a win for electronics hobbyist: cool screens for hobby projects against a price that's likely to be less than currently available screens due to the high numbers.
The waiting is for the first programmable microcontroller projects that use this screen (Arduino, for example).

I'm afraid most of the electronics will end up being trashed (burned, landfill) when the paper is read, unless there's a recycling program for them (which TFA didn't mention)...

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[TheRaven64]

Great, now I need to microwave my magazine before reading it. Or not, since the ad-to-content ratio was what stopped my buying print publications in the first place...

Build your own Hi-Res monitor

[mooterSkooter]

How about this:

1. attach lots (and lots) of these together
2. send them all a small portion of a film (the picture not different parts of the film!)
3. then stick them all together, ensure they play in sync (somehow).

Hey presto! Huge hi-res LCD display...for free (I mean, all the left over magazines will be useful...maybe make a paper mache housing for your new 'TV')

guess the password

[Anonymous Coward]

To see their portfolio on their website, you need a password. Just for fun, see how many times you have to guess to get it right. I got it in 1 guess...

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Ironica]

Great, now I need to microwave my magazine before reading it. Or not, since the ad-to-content ratio was what stopped my buying print publications in the first place...

That's why I read Cook's Illustrated. No ads! Seems like such a skinny magazine for $7 (newsstand, much cheaper subscription) but I'm probably getting more content than your typical ad-laden publication.

Missed my point

[SlashDev]

Both anonymous coward and dreamer.redeemer missed my point, maybe I didn't explain it properly. I want to continue watching live TV, without changing the channel and skip the commercial.

Ugh...

[DaVince21]

Imagine the fun hacking possibilities.

Imagine the huge waste of technology.

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[infinite9]

I'm afraid of the 900 number ads in the backs of magazines.

Wow, what technology!

[garry_g]

Kudos for bringing it out ... wonder how long some appear on Ebay, and how long till some how-tos appear on how to put your own video on it ...

Now, imagine, in the future they might be able to move a whole magazine to - say - a mobile computer pad instead of dead trees ... isn't that mind-bogling? Wonder if the technology will ever exist ...

Re:fun hacking? Er..no. Imagine the annoyance...

[Mr. Freeman]

As soon as these ads become popular, people will stop looking at you funny for smashing your magazine.

Clarke's Third Law

[Anonymous Coward]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Take that, Daily Prophet!