Many people are claiming that these new Meganews Magazines autonomous newstands could save the print industry. That’s maybe a bit optimistic, but at the least they’ll help reduce the mountains of wasted paper from unsold magazines since the over-sized vending machine only prints publications when they’re ordered, in just two minutes.
The kiosk has access to a remote server where publishers upload the latest editions of their periodicals, and using a touchscreen interface customers can browse more than 200 different magazines, newspapers, or journals. When they come across an issue they want to buy, a simple credit card transaction results in a high-quality, freshly printed copy courtesy of a high-speed Ricoh printer on the inside. And the first machine has officially been installed in Stockholm, Sweden.
Not only does it reduce the amount of paper used, the Meganews Magazines kiosk takes up less space than a magazine store. So it can be installed and operated in places where retail space doesn’t already exist. It also ensures that not a single magazine sold is folded, crumpled, or mangled by browsers who are just killing time. [Meganews via Notcot]