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E-Ink Cover For Esquire Magazine

The first E-ink cover for a magazine will come out with the September issue of Esquire, according to editor-in-chief David Granger. A prototype version of the cover is shown below.


(Esquire E-ink cover prototype )

The cover display will flash "the 21st Century Begins Now." The cover will have enough energy to run for about 90 days.

“Magazines have basically looked the same for 150 years,” Mr. Granger said. “I have been frustrated with the lack of forward movement in the magazine industry.”

“The possibilities of print have just begun. In two years, I hope this looks like cellphones did in 1982, or car phones.”

Science fiction readers have been looking forward to this for a long time. Greg Bear had a very clear view of the Esquire E-ink cover in 2003 in Darwin's Children; take a look at the e-paper covers with speaker chips.

For those who like to see their future, recall the e-paper newspapers from Stephen Spielberg's 2002 movie Minority Report.


(Minority Report E-Paper Newspaper)

I'm sure someone will remind me about the mediatron from Neal Stephenson's 1995 novel The Diamond Age.

But my favorite (and the earliest mention of the general idea, as far as I know) is the glorious battery-powered 3D comic book from Philip K. Dick's The Zap Gun (1965).

With this Emanator, the Blue Cephalopod Man threatened the Fiendish Dirt-Thing as it attempted to carry off Miss Whitecotton, the mammate girlfriend of the Blue Man. It had succeeded in unfastening Miss Whitecotton's blouse so that one breast - and only one; that was International Law, the ruling applying severely to children's reading material - was exposed to the flickering light of Io's sky. It pulsed warmly, wiggled as Pete squeezed the wiggling-trigger. And the nipple dialated like a tiny pink lightbulb, upraised in 3-D and winking on and off, on and off ... and would continue to do so until the five-year battery-plate contained within the back cover of the mag at last gave out.
(Read more about battery-powered comic book)

Mr. Granger, please note the long battery life.

Take a look at what an e-ink display can do in this Philips Readius E-Ink Video as well as this e-ink cellphone display video. From News Flash From the Cover of Esquire: Paper Magazines Can Be High Tech, Too.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/22/2008)

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