I've been following the development of e-paper for some time. It's story has been one of slowly emerging promise but more recently it's taken several interesting leaps forward. Use of sophisticated plastics to make flexible displays like the bracelet media player pictured below are rapidly making e-paper look more like the kind of thin, flexible screen based technologies that are emerging alongside it.
E-paper is different to conventional flat screen displays in that it reflects light (like paper does) rather than using backlit pixels, so is easier to read and easier on the eye, and delivers a stable image which can be held without using electricity but which can still be changed later. Electrophoretic displays like those used by the kindle and the new Sony Reader, and the interestingly named electro-wetting technology, enable the image to change into multiple forms. Plug that into a wireless connection and it's pretty easy to see where this is headed. Digital versions of magazines and newspapers, retail displays, e-billboards and so on.
Esquire in the US is publishing 100,000 out of 720,000 copies of its 75th anniversary issue with an e-paper cover. The cover will flash the words "The 21st Century Begins Now" which reflects the future facing theme of the issue. Apparently, its just like heavy stock paper, except that it moves. How long is it before we start seeing real convergence between the physicality of print media and the immediacy of screen media? Much like the e-newspapers that everyone remembers from this scene of Minority Report.
Leave a Reply