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Hearst's Seattle PI to Test Market E-Paper

Posted by Zonk on Fri May 18, 2007 07:47 AM
from the they-get-all-the-rain-and-now-a-cool-epaper-too-bah dept.
Media The Media Technology
NewsCloud writes "The Hearst Corporation plans to use the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to test market LG Philipps' recently announced flexible color E-Paper. 'The electronic P-I will carry real-time news, same as the Internet, not yesterday's news like traditional papers. Readers will turn the e-paper's pages by touching the flexible screen. And when those readers head off to work, they will roll up the electronic P-I and stuff it in their pocket, purse, or briefcase.' The announcement comes amidst the recent settlement of bitter co-operating disputes between Seattle's two newspapers and Bill Gates' recent comments on the shifting of the advertising market away from traditional media." Update: 05/18 21:51 GMT by Z : Michelle Nicolosi, Assistant Managing Editor for the PI, emailed this correction: "Someday, Seattle P-I readers may be able to carry around their news in a bendable, electronic paper device -- but not any time soon. Hearst Corp., which owns the Seattle P-I, has no plans to use the Seattle daily newspaper to test a newly announced E-paper gadget." The original site linked apparently got it wrong.
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[+] Hardware: LG.Philips Develops World's First Color E-Paper 188 comments
An anonymous reader writes "LG.Philips LCD has announced it has developed the world's first 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper display, equivalent in size to an A4 sheet of paper. The 14.1-inch flexible color E-paper uses electronic ink from E-Ink Corp. to produce a maximum of 4,096 colors. It can be viewed from a full 180 degrees, so that images always appear crisp, even when the display is bent."
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  • When they begin making clothing of this stuff, I call dibs on being "Fred".

  • what about the Indiana PI? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Last I heard, they decided it was 3.

    Oh, there's an article?
    • They didn't actually legislate it to anything, and the legislation that was proposed (but never passed) would not have set the value to three, but to the result of some nonsensical computation that only a crank could understand.

      Of course, for many purposes, three is a perfectly good approximation to pi. It's only off by about five percent, after all.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by parkrrrr (30782)
          But much harder to multiply in your head, which is really what I was thinking of when I said "for many purposes." If I had a calculator handy, I'd have no problem recalling that pi is approximately 3.14159265358979323ish.

          Alternatively, if you want to do it in your head AND you need better precision, multiply by three and then add 5%. 5% is easy to calculate, because it's just a halving and a decimal shift. If you need more precision than 0.2%, you're probably not standing in the aisle at Home Depot wonde

  • Newspapers (Score:4, Insightful)

    by nelsonal (549144) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:01AM (#19177475) Journal
    The problem with most news papers isn't that they publish yesterday's news today, it's that there's aproximatly 0 usefulness accompanying the news. When the analysis exists, the papers continue to do well. Too many papers depended on their local monopoly on classified advertising for far too long and publish a shoddy product. That monopoly is fast loosing value to the internet and most firms were caught flat footed. E-paper isn't going to change that shift.

    • The problem with most news papers isn't that they publish yesterday's news today

      Most people are not like those that frequent Slashdot, they are not tied to the Internet by an IV, don't have Fox / CNN / Local News on the telly 24/7 droning away in the background. Yesterday's news this morning is quite adequate and timely for most people, who still enjoy the physical stimulation of turning the pages of a printed newspaper.

      We've been hearing for years that the printed word is dead, books should have been gone

    • What also isn't going to change is that people choose newspapers based on their niches, not because they are published via one medium over another. In the UK, the paper you read says, pretty much, who you are: the difference between a Sun reader and a Guardian reader is massive. I don't know the Seattle markets, but I suspect that the gap between a P-I reader and a Seattle Times reader has more to do with culture, socioeconomic class, and political affiliation than with how the content is distributed.
      • I'm not sure if there is a difference between the Times and P-I, they share many of the functions that separate the Sun from the Guardian.
      • There's no real difference between the two papers anymore. The PI was a more progressive paper once upon a time - and some percieve it to be today. The Times has a larger subscription base - I think because it was the morning paper and the PI was the afternoon paper.

    • What's going to stop people using the e-paper to read other things?
      I'm sure we'd all like something for reading documents on the move like reading from a book. If these guys want to generate buzz for their device, the should include a Project Gutenburg reader, extending the ad reach and revene sharing with the project would be good. I'd go for something like that.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by nelsonal (549144)
        A better answer would be to not compete by offering something the internet rarely offer's well, not news but thoughtful analysis (it's going to take time to generate that so the slower delivery is far less meaningful).
      • E-Paper has been in the works for a long time now and hasn't delivered on the promises. I doubt we'll have paper-quality E-Paper anytime soon. Besides, the print industry plants more trees than it cuts down and uses lots of recycled paper :)
        • >Besides, the print industry plants more trees than it cuts down and uses lots of recycled paper :)
          On some places, not everywhere, and even then it's not necessarily as good of a thing as you think.
          If you intend to get a lot of use out of it, durable and recyclable beats disposable and recyclable.
      • Exactly, I read every page of the Financial Times daily (with relish on Saturdays), and the Economist weekly. Both papers are doing quite well with revenue and circulation up, and profits for the group up 50% last year.
      • I read two papers daily, and one weekly paper (in dead tree form). I know that if the newspaper industry disappeared it would be very bad. However, most local city papers are pieces of crap, they need to change to survive, and not just because the internet threatens them. They grew very soft from the 1950s to the 1990s and were in a slow decline prior to the internet becoming a strong competitor to them, they'd already bleed most national accounts, and were holding on to their local ties.
        Most city pape
  • Has anyone determined the refresh rate on these things when pushed, aka playing video? I know the color's terrible (4 bits per component, 12-bit color) but I'm intrested if it'll handle 30fps video. Anyone? Beuler? Beuler?
    • No, last I heard the refresh was quite slow, and that's why it's being marketted as electronic paper, and not a flexible screen. It also happens to be VERY much like paper to the eyes as well.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by AmIAnAi (975049) *
      Fast refresh rate would have its downside too. Imagine trying to read the morning news while various adverts were flashing away round the page trying to grab your attention.

      At least with current online content you can block many of the ads with the browser or hosts. You can be sure that this would be DRM laden so you could not block the Ads.

      • Imagine trying to read the morning news while various adverts were flashing away

        You mean like every other advertising supported site on the web that is losing money?
  • here is a story on it [nwsource.com] and I remember when I was there seeing an add about it on the side of the bus(didn't have any internet equipped devices to test it out). So instead of a paper from a fixed source, couldn't you just as easily bust out your pda/psp/ds/iPhone/whatever on the bus and choose your source of news? These devices also let you do a lot of other things if you don't see any articles that are worthwhile.
    • Not all of our buses; the 'WiFi Bus' stuff is still being rolled out. 48 buses, scattered across 4 routes. Seems to be working well, though, and they plan to roll it out more widely if it proves popular; it mostly seems to be useful for people stuck in traffic on the way to work, so they can pull out a PDA or a laptop and deal with an e-mail or something.

  • Colleges (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jshriverWVU (810740) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:21AM (#19177683)
    I can see this being EXTREMELY useful in the college scene. Imagine walking into a classroom and a bluetooth or wifi transmitter sends todays lectures to your e-paper. Then you can sit at your desk and follow along and spend more time learning than trying to frantically write things down. I welcome our paper overlords :)
    • I can see this being EXTREMELY useful in the college scene. Imagine walking into a classroom and a bluetooth or wifi transmitter sends todays lectures to your e-paper. Then you can sit at your desk and follow along and spend more time learning than trying to frantically write things down. I welcome our paper overlords :)

      Ask yourself why this isn't the norm today with laptops, and some lecturers even ban the use of laptops in the classroom.
      And please don't come up with stupid reasons that it's because you ca
      • and some lecturers even ban the use of laptops in the classroom.

        Here is the reason I've been told, even though I dont agree with it. (Also depends on the school you're going to albeit) It's unfair to those who can't afford laptops.
        This world is cut-throat and the strongest or richest tend to win. I think we spend to much time trying to equalize things out, always catering to the lowest common denominator. Which can be good in some cases, but often abused to dumb down the college experience. This is one

        • Here is the reason I've been told, even though I dont agree with it. (Also depends on the school you're going to albeit) It's unfair to those who can't afford laptops. .... BTW I'm poor so I'm not flaming for those who can afford laptops, or private tutors, etc. I couldnt have those, but if they are available more power to those who can have them. Just more incentive for me to work harder.

          I don't understand however why you couldn't. We're not talking high school here I believe, but higher education. My brot
          • Think you answered your own question:

            But you need to spend such an amount monthly just for food, books and such.

            After paying for tuition, room, board, food, books, lab fees, daily parking, gas, incidentals, supplies, saving up $600 is hard. Plus when I was in college laptops were in the $1200+ range (circa late 90's early 00).

            But to my earlier post. E-paper would be useful. If it's mass produced (at least enough to replace a newspaper) then it would be cheap enough for college students, even the poor

            • Plus interaction. Imagine if you're in a lab class, if you could write on these e-paper then it could be an effective way of passing idea's concept back and forth between your partners, like a private dry erase board that clones itself.

              You can't write on it though. It's also not like a touch screen, I suppose the controls will be small spots on the side. Adding full touch-screen capability would mean it becomes more expensive, and thicker.

              I think people make those devices more complex in their mind than the
        • That might be the reason they give you, but that's not the best reason for YOU to ditch the laptop and take notes the regular way. Heck, even if they pass out pages of "lecture notes" you're still well advised to take your own notes for several reasons.

          1) there might be stuff talked about that isn't in the notes
          0) The essence of learning is repetition. By writing it down, you actually reduce the chance you'll need to look it up later.

          And don't get into a whole, argument about "well that's just learning by

    • Re:Colleges (Score:4, Insightful)

      by hal2814 (725639) on Friday May 18 2007, @09:24AM (#19178485)
      That writing does more to help you remember a topic than just listening to the lecture and reading e-notes afterwards ever could. Besides, if you are "frantically" writing, then you are doing something wrong. You don't have to write down every word that comes from the professors mouth. Most Universities offer a note-taking class of some sort. At my University, it only took two hours of my time and made me a much better note taker. I had to take the course before I could be a professional note taker for disabled students, but it was open to anyone.

      • Re:Colleges (Score:5, Informative)

        by Hatta (162192) on Friday May 18 2007, @10:32AM (#19179511) Journal
        Hardly, writing notes just distracts you. I found I did much better in classes when I didn't take notes, whether the prof handed out lecture notes or not. Paying attention and thinking about what's being said helps me remember a topic a lot more than playing stenographer does. When I pay attention, I come out of a class with a good understanding of the topic, when I take notes I come out of the class with a list of factoids. Besides, anything I would write down is in the book anyway.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by phaggood (690955)
      > I can see this being EXTREMELY useful in the college scene.

      Heck, it'd be useful in *middle school* where my daughter hefts a rolling suitcase full of books to/from school every day. An inexpensive e-reader containing all her texts would be a dream, especially if supplemented with free sources like Project Guttenberg. The OLPC is a nifty thing (got to handle on "in the flesh" at the recent Penguicon), but a cheap reader would be an even greater catalyst for transforming education. I wonder if the M
      • Well said, I had a teacher like you in college and he was one of my favorites. He had most of the material on his website, so prior to class we could download it, read it, research it, then when we came to class we'd already have a basic understanding of what's going on, so then we could use that time to fine tune the knowledge and ask questions.

        I find that a lot better than going to a lecture course of 500, and no one being able to ask questions and spend an hour, hour and a half being hammered by a raw

  • Imagine this... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FredDC (1048502) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:30AM (#19177765)
    An e-paper with a wireless connection (with widespread wireless connectivity) and a web browser.

    I could read slashdot on the way to work!

    • Re:Imagine this... (Score:4, Funny)

      by blue_moon_ro (973863) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:41AM (#19177903)
      Soooo, what am I supposed to do at work then?..... /ducks
    • Sweet! I've been wondering how to kill more brain cells during the work day for years now! First sniffing the fumes from all my markers and pens, then bashing my head up against the wall for hours at a time (reminds me of tech support...), and now I can get an early start by reading Slashdot on my commute!
    • And then imagine a train (or bus) full of people reading Slashdot on their e-paper, tightly clustered together.
      For no reason at all, let's call this train the Beowulf train.
      • Hmmm, you're right...

        Besides, reading slashdot while driving maybe isn't such a good idea afterall...
  • I'm surprised no one's mentioned how this might be unnerving for old people, who may not adjust well to the new paper. (Believe it or not, Seattle has old people too!) Keep in mind, these are the people who cost the government and local check depositors lots of extra money by refusing to switch their Social Security payments to direct deposit because they love the warm, fuzzy feeling of getting a check in the mail.

  • But.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by name*censored* (884880) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:56AM (#19178097)
    can you roll it up and use it to store fish and chips in?

  • Why e-paper? (Score:5, Informative)

    by CrankinOut (629561) on Friday May 18 2007, @09:03AM (#19178209)
    Four reasons:
    High resolution => more info/sq. inch
    High contrast => more legibility in ambient light without backlighting = longer battery life
    Static image (power only needed to change image) => longer battery life
    Light weight (no heavy glass screen or big batteries needed to create image)
    Having seen high quality e-paper on a working device, I can say that it looks like the image has been printed on a laser printer. The long battery life means that it's useful when the information changes on the order of minutes, not seconds, and you can carry it around easily because of the light weight.
    No, this is not a replacement for an active screen and GIF's and movies are not realistic uses for it.
  • Please wait while your ePaper updates over the Sub-Etha-Net.

  • Umbrella? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jimand (517224) *
    here [essortment.com] you go.
  • There is an umbrella [dailymail.co.uk] that allows you to "watch slide-shows". It has a built-in camera, and allows you to transfer pictures to flickr. It's also got a GPS and a compass. I don't quite think it is as practical as a hands-free umbrella [coolest-gadgets.com], but maybe if you combined the two, you'd have something.
  • ... can I put it in the bottom of my E-birdcage?
    • Considering that e-paper is a 'roll-up' computer display, I would imagine things like animated GIFs would be possible and even likely.

    • Re:paper with moving images on it (Score:5, Informative)

      by suv4x4 (956391) on Friday May 18 2007, @08:31AM (#19177779)
      I can't tell from the links if this "e-paper" will have moving images or if the images are static.

      The e-paper technology is optimized to hold a static image without electricity. This is where it excels. The image refresh rate is abysmally slow compared to even the older TFT screens.

      So if you're willing to keep your paper "on" to keep animating the images (which will waste far more electricity compared to when you only change pages and turn it off), and we're talking very low FPS image (2-3 frames per second) it may work.
        • I've played a little bit with Sony's Reader in the stores. If the technology base is the same, moving images would not be very feasible at all. To refresh the screen on the Sony, it first inverts the ENTIRE screen (possibly to 'unsettle' the ink) then writes new information. I'm pretty sure that any changes, no matter how small, required the entire page to 'flash' and refresh. Even then, there are some 'Etch-A-Sketch' style artifacts left behind. Unless they have a controller that can shake up only a portio
    • So modern paper technology has finally caught up with Harry Potter :)

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