Esquire Hopes To Keep Magazines Alive With Electronic Ink
from the gimmick-or-more? dept
News of Esquire's October magazine cover using eInk was released earlier in the summer, but the magazine has now hit the stands. The cover of the magazine has a 10 square inch screen that flashes a series of images, interspersed with "The 21st Century Begins Now." The magazine also has some more of the screens inside for advertisers to use. It's likely that this magazine will sell an awful lot of copies (I'm going to try to pick up one if I get the chance), but the real question is whether or not this is just a gimmick, or it really has some potential for magazines. It certainly can't be particularly cheap to get these e-ink screens in every magazine, so it hardly seems like a reasonable short-term solution for the magazine industry. But are more interactive magazines a possibility in the future -- or will it come from the other direction, where people will simply download "magazines" to devices like the Kindle, which uses similar technology for the screen? While I'm still not sold on ebook readers, it seems more likely that we're heading to a future where the magazine resides in the device, rather than the device residing in the magazine.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: eink, electronic magazines, esquire, gimmicks, magazines
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WTF
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Hack of the Day?
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For once, I'll be helpful...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmtorrone/2841259022/
I tried to buy one. They weren't in yet.
Boo-Hoo.
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Holography
In the context of print media, holograms were indeed a gimmick. However, holography as found many practical applications, notably in forgery-resistant identity documents. I'd guess that eInk will have a similar fate; it's killer app will bear little resemblance to the uses for which it is currently being touted.
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Disk Labeling.
This doesn't sound very grand, and nobody is going to get very rich from it, but there it is.
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Does not seem to be a matrix display :(
I'll still probably pick up 1 or 2 to play with anyway.
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21st Century Starts When?
They should've used "The Future of Magazines Starts Now" or something more vague and logical.
Anyhow, you talk of the cost. Hopefully, this will catch on and the more pages like this that the magazine publishers purchase, the lower the cost will become.
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Esquire
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Disappointing
The flexible displays are nice, but the not-very-revolutionary batteries and control board didn't spark my fire.
I also am sympathetic to the argument that we don't want to be adding to our already large pile of e-waste.
Still, this seems like a good first step and think it's pretty damned cool.
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Hi
Can you still find the electronic cover edition? I work for Esquire Romania and i would really need one...also my brother is a senior editor there and i would love to give it to him as a present. Do you think it is possible for you to send me one? I will send you the money in one way or another. Thanks a lot.
Andrei
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esq
i work for Esquire Romania and i am currently in Vancouver. I tried to find the electronic cover edition because i really really want it but i couldn't. Do you guys have any idea where i can get one from? Or if it is possible for any of you guys from the states to buy one and send it to me in Romania...i will transfer money in your bank...just please help me out on this one. :) Thanks a lot
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