It may or may not be a disappointment... I can't see the thickness of the cover page, so if it is paper thin and flexible, it cool.

But if it is a bulky, rigid mess with a battery hanging around, then bad news Esquire: That is not e-ink, is a Tiger Electronics's Game taped to the cover!

Aegis2k

me likey. sure it just blinks, but it's so... near-futuristic.

judacris

Didn't the Esquire people say they were looking forward to the "hacking community" getting this magazine?

There's not much hacking you can do to a display that only has two or three blinking areas of predetermined words on it.

samuelk

ESQUIRE'S screen flashes The future beginnings now!

SANDURZ Now. You're looking at now, sir. Everything that happens
now, is happening now.

DeadWriter

Seems pretty cool to me, but I would have liked to see them bend it some in the video. Isn't the whole point of this to be able to put in on paper that you handle like, well...paper?

roberttravis

at least someone has tried to break some sort of actual new ground here. Concept to reality, at minimum they opened the door no matter how lackluster it is.

crewsm

Not with a bang...but a whimper...

strider_mt2k

Bring on the magazine hackers!

Mandatory_Field

@seishino: I was just about to say that.

If by "future" they mean 1997, then yes, they are successful in re-creating the famous blink tags

J. Nadeau

I can't help but be reminded of blink tags in CA 1997 website development. It's a neat trick designed to grab attention, but it seems somehow artlessly executed. The blink is offbalance, the pacing seems wrong, and the actual text itself is a noisy mess. None of the elements are balanced unless everything is on, and only then in one of the two color states.

Score one for technological progress, and marching towards the day where e-paper is a viable option. But let's bring some designers into the future.

seishino

My bit of clipped text would have been funnier if it was shorter and if I had put "The 21st century begins now!" which is like saying "now begins now".

I am looking forward to Gizmodo's first post about hacked covers.

DeadWriter

OK, well its pretty darn neat anyway.

MR OPTIMUS PRIME

Great, they've taken a fantastic idea and turned it into the Pepsi Clear of magazines.

Yarrr

@Aegis2k: My thoughts exactly. Were a few steps from some sweet Minority Report newspapers people! Minority Report!

PollockRoc

The cover is somewhat flexible. The screens themselves in there are fairly bendable, but the circuit board with the batteries is what prevents the entire cover from bending and flexing like a regular magazine cover.

And yeah, it is just a simple blinking screen, but it's the first to ever do that, and it only cost $5.99 so I had to pick one up. :-)

ryaninc

As a part of the "hacking community" who wanted to dissect this thing and play with it for my own purposes... what a disappointment! All it does is flash sections on and off? I thought it was supposed to change headlines. Ugh, I consider this an epic fail, at least for a hacker standpoint. I'm sure, though, it'll attract some of Esquire's target market.

mewyn dyner

The problem holding us back from "Minority Report" is now internet security. Remember how the newspaper self-updated itself in the movie? Does that mean I'm going to have to put passwords into each newspaper I buy? Even for free internet at Panera, you have to go their webpage and be allowed on. Am I going to have to do that just to get my futuristic newspaper updated? What a pain. Will I just need to buy one newspaper a year and let it self update or buy one daily?

Late_Night

Meh, you have to start somewhere... and they decided to start in the past...

I'd have to see the actually magazine. But it looks like those little holographic cards you get in your cereal.

lstar28

Oh wow... what will they think of next, maybe they could figure out how to put a speaker that plays music and flashing color LEDs in the magazine... oh wait, doesn't Hallmark already do that...

Poster99

Mikey likes it.

One small step for Esquire, one huge leap for....magazines.

On one hand, I love this thing. It is pretty amazing to me, perhaps I am too old for Giz anymore. I remember when black and white was the norm for magazines and newspapers. This is a little taste of sci-fi future for me.

On the other, I can't help but imagine going into my local bookstore and seeing a bunch of blinking magazines from wall to wall. Billboards shrunk down to magazine size. Oh hell, what am I saying. Pretty soon, bookstores won't exist anyway.

Can't wait to hack it though.

kaffeen

Wait until Playboy gets a hold of this bit of tech!!!
What will they have blinking???
I likey!!

DocLev

Hmmm...so I've had a moment to think about this, and I think it will harm magazine sales.

Imagine when they all do this. All of a sudden the magazine aisle has hundreds of electronic carnival barkers yelling at your eyeballs, peddling their wares. Just as most people get uncomfortable when they see a homeless dude 5 miles out and change their route, they'll avoid the magazine aisle for the same reason.

And just wait until the epileptics walk down the aisle! Pandelerium, I tell ya.

The world has enough noise already. Do we really need the bookstore to look like a poor man's Blade Runner?

Yarrr

@Yarrr:

nice!!!!! i could hear van halen in the background as i read that.

+1

godwhacker

I'm glad the did it, i hope more people start using this kind of stuff so the technology starts to evolve faster

it's great at least it's not the typical cover and it still a real magazine :)

mpar

I can't wait to get my hands on one or two to see if they are, in fact, pixels or unchangeable words. If it's pixels, step 2 is gonna be tear the magazines apart and start experimenting!

@Yarrr: "Pandelerium" - me likey!

FredicvsMaximvs

Thats kinda cool but I thought it was going to be a full page. The Ford ad is really weak!

midwestkel

I've thought about it a bit and have decided that it's pretty cool. I'm sure the next iteration by Esquire or any other publication will be much better.

and yeah the Ford ad is rather weak. I'm sure Esquire sold them that concept for a sweet price at the very last minute.

NagChampa

I just bought all but one in the newspaper stand. I have no life.

AlphaTeam

Cool, but I was expecting more. I would love to see it in person, but no book stores around here have it.

I figured a much more, dazzling design than just myspaceish "blinkin lights"

zenpoet

The 21st Century is going to ROCK!!

Akibake-

@zenpoet: Good reference.

Akibake-

@Akibake-: I'm a 21 century digital boy
I don't know how to read,
but the e-ink makes a great toy!
At my job, I'm a lazy middle class intellictual,
My cover for Esquire is so ineffectual.

Ain't life a mystery! dun dun dun dun dun.

zenpoet

This earns a giant MEH from me. It's just blinking lights! Wake me when the "21st Century Begins Now" message transforms into the scrolling full text of the article inside. This is just a fancy Lite Brite.

bilups

I think people are missing the idea: this is a historical first, and a harbinger of the future of "printed" publications whether we like it or not.

Sure the execution is limp and lacking any real "pop, whiz, bang!", but it's what it represents that excites the imagination.

For chrissakes, it's the first, direct to newstand, use of the E-Ink technology EVER! EVER, people! And for $6.00! $6.00 doesn't even get you into the movies any more in some cities. A gallon of gas is over $4.00. A happy ending runs over $90.

It's likely to end up in the Smithsonian for God's sake.

jhcovert

Now it's up to you and me to do it better. I've looked at this for years. can't wait to get my copy and rip it apart. Got some ideas for this.
If you don't like it. Do better, or shut up

nelsongeek

Deathwriter...awsome

bflaming55

FYI, I had also taken some close-up photos of the e-ink capsules.

just mike

Now it's like I'm taking a shit in the future!

UniComp

Well, it certainly is different... but I wouldn't say it's the future.

It's more like "The affordable present gimmick".

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

Does it have wi-fi built in for updates? ;o)

vandy1997

me likey. long live print... in digital form.

ny_effect

I have in my hands a copy of the 75th Anav. Esquire E-Ink edition magazine. I do have to say I completely disagree with gizmodo on this one. Here is why this is phenomenal.

First things first, reading the article about the process of how this magazine was put together (shipped and transported) makes me appreciate it much more.

Secondly, for $6 its pretty friggin neat. I mean, really- what could you have possibly expected? Wirelessly uploading stories?

I think it is a big step in the right direction. I mean, yea- all it does is blink, but to experiment with the possibilities helps us develop the next level of ingenuity.

coreyfriedman