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Esquire Expects You to Hack Their E-Ink Cover
Posted by Brian Lam at 6:33 AM on July 31, 2008
I was not impressed with Esquire's E-ink cover idea, but Joel Johnson at BBG has interviewed the Esky overlords and changed my mind a bit. Surprisingly, Esquire expects us to buy these mags and hack them. Second, Ford advertisements, also in E-ink, displaced some of the cost of production. That's good news for us. I still think its wasteful when they could do the same thing through Amazon or Sony's e-books for far less, but this interview goes a long way towards convincing me to buy one when they hit stands. A lot more at [BBG.]
I love stupid gimmicks, don't get me wrong. But this cover is one of the worst ideas I've heard from a publication in awhile. Said the editor to the NYTimes: "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." Maybe you should like, invest in putting premium content on your website, or in E-books sold on Amazon instead of spending six figures to design a battery small enough to fit into an magazine cover that will only last 90 days, without any major refreshing of content. They might as well have used one of those hologram stickers found in 25-cent vending machines in the 80's. 
How many concept products have we shown featuring some form of curved or oddly shaped E-Ink display? A pillion?* Thankfully, the good people at E-Ink have seen fit to make these dreams come true: New "ultra-moldable" E-Ink cells are 40% thinner, can be cut into unique shapes, and even curved. This doesn't mean they're bendy, but it does mean you will be one step closer to achieving that 
While those who are born into a world of e-books won't miss much, there are a few generations of paper-readers who might still need some convincing. The LIVRE, a concept for a more tactile friendly e-book, first looks like a chunky version of Sony's Reader. But the design is actually fairly inspired.
This e-paper bathroom scale idea from Duck Image Studio seems like a fantastic idea at first. It's e-ink, so it's thin, which means you can embed it into bath mats or floor tiles or maybe even into your shower. Imagine being able to see how much you weigh every time you bathed, or brushed your teeth, or took a leak (men only). You'd develop body image issues in record time. [
It seems like a cozy fit: Amazon.com, the beloved mega bookseller, plans to by Audible.com, the biggest (only?) digital distributor of audiobooks. The news release itself describes the terms of the deal (US$300 million in cash) but doesn't really outline Amazon's ultimate plans. Amazon does, notably, take this opportunity to plug the 
Hitachi has just debuted its W61H mobile phone, which packs a 2.7-Inch E-Ink display on its reverse side. The display, which has been dubbed the Silhouette Screen, will be able to show off one of 95 pre-set graphics, but beyond the aesthetics the E-Ink offering has, it seems to have little other utility. (No caller data, time, date or SMS information can be viewed.) Jump for another shot. 
Sony is offering both the colour pink and absurd romanticism in a special US$299 V-Day Sony Reader Bundle. Coming with a pink "Cross Your Heart" Reader skin and a coupon for 14 Harlequin Special Releases... let's just say that we'd never date anyone who accepted this gift in earnest. For those interested in what a real lady (my wife) thinks about the Sony Reader, hit up 
We have all doodled an idea or a bit of important information 
