There have been a lot of articles in the mainstream media recently about how the newspaper and magazine industries are suffering from declining subscription rates and circulation as people read more content online. These industries must adapt and embrace digital content or they'll suffer the consequences. If you are interested in reading more about the future of traditional print media like newspapers and magazines, and how new devices and services utilizing E Ink technology could be their saviors, here are two recent articles for your reading pleasure that I highly recommend.
Newspapers: The Future by Frank Ahrens at the Washingtonpost.com
A future written in electronic ink? by Ben Vershbow at
if:book
In Frank Ahrens' article, he talks about a scene from the futuristic movie
Minority Report, and how a concept device shown in the scene could be a preview of devices to come:
In the scene we're interested in, a Metro passenger is reading a USA Today. It LOOKS like a USA Today in that it's a full-page newspaper (called a "broadsheet") but instead of a handful of papers, it's a paper-thin video screen, thin enough to fold up and put under your arm. Instead of static photos and text, it's constantly changing text, video and perhaps sound. Think of it as a combination paper, television and Internet, presumably wirelessly connected to a futuristic Wi-Fi, perhaps the next generation of the new Wi-Max super hotspots that are rolling out and cover several square miles instead of several square feet.
Is such a device in our near future? Will technologies like e-ink, RSS feeds, Wi-Max, and streaming media make newspapers of the future that bear little resemblance to current formats?
Related:
Newspapers feeling the heat in the digital age,
E Ink goes color with new advanced electronic paper