Esquire's E Ink-infused magazine cover shown on video
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 8th 2008 2:06AM
posted Sep 8th 2008 2:06AM
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Question: Why the hell doesn't everyone else do this, like, all the time? Yes, it's rhetorical.
Because eink is expensive as shit still? And no its not rhetorical when there is a legit answer to the question :-P
In 20 years time, people will look back at our crude animated magazine covers and laugh.
j_g_puff: 20 years? I surprised anyone reads magazines today.
Maybe if they had a magazine version of Adblock...
@ j_g_puff I'm laughing at this right now!
its like those animated photos and news papers in harry potter
now imagine this, but a porno mag
Wow! Now imagine this propped up 90 degrees, with a mouse attached! OMG! The future.. is... now! the future is now! the... future is now... is now! Now is the future! The future is... now!
Heck, why not make every page an E-ink page? Is that wasteful? Maybe why not make just one page electronic, with a 'button' you can push to view the next page? So the magazine uses less materials to create? Somebody should create this ''tablet' thing and explore the possibilities of this fantastic new creation.
Randy.....Pandy. :)
This I have to say is pretty cool. Just curious is it just a video screen or is the texture that of paper? sorry if thats a dumb question I'm just curious because E-ink gives the impression that its some sort of special ink on normal paper.
EInk can't refresh fast enough to produce motion, so in that sense it can't be considered a video display. It is a type of "electronic display" though...
Basically the technology employees a bunch of tiny clear, fluid filled capsules. Floating within these capsules are positively charged white "ink" and negatively charged black "ink". Above and below each capsule is an electrode. When an appropriate charged is applied to each of these, one of the inks is pulled to the top, while the other is forced to the bottom. Afterward the ink stays in place until another charge is applied.
Not a dumb question it's a basically a matrix of little cells. Each cell contains free floating back and white spheres with opposite charges. The surface is charged (positive or negative) to pull up the appropriate color for each cell. This technology is mainly exploited in ebook readers. (Google Cybook Gen 3 for images and how it works) The main advantage is there is no back light and newer eink screens pass lcd monitors in clarity.
Traditional LCD use a backlight to illuminate the LCDs from Behind this method works by reflecting light, similar to the way paper works. This allows you to read with almost no glare and in direct sunlight.
Unfortunately there's only black and white screens. There are some color versions but they use a 4 way filter for red, green, blue and leave the black/white cell open. Imagine a square divided into for squares. Each one is covered with a color. The problem with this method is your resolution is cut to a quarter of the original.
WANT
A Playboy with flashing lights would hold my attention for even longer
Not all issues have e-ink display though, but approximate 1/6 of them. Be careful when you order.
Anyone know exactly when this hits news stands?
It the 21st Century Begins Now, where do I line up to collect my rocket pack?
Fuck that where the hell is that flying car the Jetsons promised me?
Wow, I wish this was more widespread.
Oh goodness no.
Wow. I had previously heard about this, but the end-result is actually more impressive than I had imagined.
Holy crap, where's a 'newstand' in Houston that sells this? I have a feeling that it would be a good idea to save this item and keep it in mint condition for like 30+ years and resell it for a high price!
Battery runs out.
You'd have one with nothing there instead.
Yeah but I'm sure a battery can be replaced easily...
I take it you own a iphone......?
yes, but it's in it's original box at the top of his closet. He's planning to keep it in mint condition for 30 years, sell it and retire.
Not trying to sound like a hippie or anything but as an owner of a Sony e-ink reader, I know it is not something any more environmentally friendly to throw away than a cell phone. So just out of curiosity, did they do something different to this display to make it ok to just toss it in the trash one day when I don't care to keep it anymore?
Note: Includes 6 button cell batteries and a PCB.
So no, unless you don't care about dumping electronics down the garbage.
worse yet, this magazine's cover is not recyclable
I think that the contents of the magazine is the biggest waste hazard...
get back in your tree you smelly hippy.
good point. I hope for a world where we get all our information (magazines, books, and so on) on a device like the Amazon Kindle. Ones which aren't one time use objects, such as this magazine. Not to mention I'm personally over the whole collection phase of my and man kinds life.
Man you couldn't be sounding LESS like a hippie even if you tried. that was the most non hippie phrase ever. More like a Yuppie with his Sony e-ink reader...
I want my Mattle hoverboard!
Here's an answer you didn't ask for: Because it's only by the grace of God that I can make it through the line at the super market without gobbling up all the Bubbletape and buying twelve nifty flashlight keychains. PLEASE don't tempt me with flashing magazines.
*ahem* In response to Jon Lam
excuse me
So? A whole lotta nothing special.
think they have these at walmart??? Just saying that's as far as I'm willing to go.
i actually just went and checked, they didn't even have esquire... so yea... there's that.
This is not new. At all. This technology has been around for years, they're called el-led sheets and they've been used in some bus stops adverts (intel dual core for one)bars,shopping malls,etc. I was expecting something new when I read the header....
This is not an EL-LED. EInk is a very different technology, that isn't related to LEDs in any way.
Is anyone else completely blown away? This is awesome!
Seems a bit odd that a throw-away magazine has a color one and the expensive full products are grey/black only.
Wwat - the display is not color, just the printing behind it.
I picked up all they had at the local B&N (4 of them). The folks at the checkout (in the cafe) all came around to look when I pointed out what the cover had on it.
D.
It's not color. They printed the color images on top of B&W e-ink, so it effectively brightens and darkens the color images.
"THREE HOURS LATER ON THE WEST COAST"
Hahahaha.
Yeah, I remember thinking the tag was awesome too when it first "came out".
Looks like in the near future, unless someone creates Adblock for print media, I'll need to go over all the ads with a sharpie before I can concentrate enough to enjoy an article.
That was supposed to read "the BLINK tag", which is apparently so evil Engadget won't even let me post it.
I went to a couple of 24 hour grocery stores here and they only have the September issue on display . I didnt feel like asking a clerk if they have the new one in the back somewhere.
...thanks for the update?
Well this certainly beats the small moving images on plastic cards that we used to get in our cereal 20 years ago.
So this is the updated lenticular printing for the 21st century ?
Gosh I miss those tacky gifts with my morning cornflakes ><
will they be doing this monthly,or is this just a one-off that we wont see until next year?
im really hoping for the former,so i can get one when i head to america in november.
Seems like (at this point) It's simply a more impressive version of the holograph. Looks like it's just refreshing a few images over and over again. none the less I like seeing it about (for the privileged) as long as we don't start tossing these things away like we do newspapers today.
All of this...
for a blink animation...
Animated gifs are back !
... print media fighting for it's life. it's gimmicky.
... ad agency fighting to be relevant. it's (as someone said before) a new version holograph.
Honestly, I think it may have been an error that I was able to get one at all. The Esquire website says there's still one day until the magazine is released. So maybe it was just a fluke that the Borders I visited had one out two days early.
And the cover is slightly thick, due to all the circuits and batteries in there. But when you take it apart a little bit and look, the E Ink displays themselves are unbelievably thin, all of the thickness comes from the circuit board and batteries.
There's a short blurb in the magazine about the cover, detailing how it was produced, etc. It gives the short tip of storing the magazine in the refrigerator or freezer to extend the lifespan, because apparently the E Ink screens draw a whole lot more power at higher temperatures. :-)
The idea of flashing Ads in the magazine is disturbing.
Does anyone else get the feeling this is distinctly underwhelming? What about all those promises that e-Paper would revolutionise the way we read printed media - where's the ability to erase and re-program the image to whatever you want, or is this just basically a powered, flexible LCD display with no significant differences from the many already in existence? And what about the colours - there appears to be none. Just a fixed, flashing grey-and-white background behind the printed colour picture. So what.
They'll have to do a lot better than this before they excite the market...
Now, regardless of the technology, keep in mind this product is *free* (or, *included with the price of the magazine*). It's not like you're buying a Kindle.
Does anyone know of a way to find out where the heck they're selling these things, i'd love to get one.
I'll take a go at hacking that.
Is that even e-ink? It's just flashing on and off, not changing. Show me the contents of the magazine scrolling by and I'll be a little more impressed....
It's like a game-and-watch LCD - it's a real LCD but the LCD is segmented into pre-defined graphics instead of a dot-matrix.
99,997 copies left... just picked up two :D
I found a copy!!!
I called around to the various Borders' stores in my area and found one after the 3rd try.
They're holding it for me. I had the store rep verify that it said "The World's First E-ink Cover" in the right corner.
I live about 30 minutes northwest of Detroit.
Will you be my friend?
I can't wait for the day when I'm flipping through a magazine and hear those fantastic words, "You've been selected for a free iPod..."
Moving, talking magazine ads, the only things worse than banner ads.
Now we just need that map from Babylon A.D. .......................................
Just got myself a copy; probably will never read the magazine though.
The last gasp of a dying medium.
In NYC, Borders on Park Ave. and 57th St. is bought out (someone bought the entire stack off the shelf). Barnes & Noble at 54th and 3rd has a bunch. The ones on the shelf are pretty banged up, but they have a separate display off to the side with some crisp ones.
In NYC, Borders on Park Ave. and 57th St. is bought out (someone bought the entire stack off the shelf). Barnes & Noble at 54th and 3rd has a bunch. The ones on the shelf are pretty banged up, but they have a separate display off to the side with some crisp ones.
Wow, a blink tag I can read on the crapper. We have certainly arrived.
21 centuries to perfect... the blink tag.
I wrote a complete teardown on the E-Ink gear in this Esquire issue at http://kelley.ca/wordpress/2008/09/08/esquire-75th-anniversary-e-ink-teardown/
Let me know what you think!
Kind of like them greeting cards you open and they play obnoxious music.
Step in a Hallmark store sometime. You'll know what I mean.
Interesting article. It would have been better reporting to at least explain how this technology is done. And it should have included the cost of the magazine and where to find it. Pretty basic reporting 101. Oh well.
I don't understand all the excitement. Seems to me that they took a usefull technology and made it useless. They use the e-ink as a glorified backlight for a couple of color transparencies. They print just a few words. The ad on the inside cover is a color transparency of a car. You might as well had a couple of flashing leds. I am unimpressed. this is no Kindle or Sony eReader. Would have been interesting if it actually displayed some content.