It was just reported today at TheNextWeb.com that CBS will insert the world’s first paper-thin interactive video screen into copies of the September 18th issue of Time Inc.’s Entertainment Weekly:
“The screens will be around the size of a mobile phone display and have rechargeable batteries. When readers open the magazine to the ad pages, it will activate a chip used to store the video (similar to a singing greeting card), they will then see a small screen flicker on and start to load a video. By pressing one of five different buttons, readers can watch a video montage from a number of different CBS TV shows. Each chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video.”
While I’m usually a sucker for innovation, but am I the only one thinking this is looking pretty damned desperate? Folks like APE will surely agree. You?
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What's the purpose?
What happens, when you are finished with it? Throw it away? Yet another source of non recyclable waste.
There are enough interesting platforms developed or in development, which allow download of content.
This feels so 1980…
This information was actually available days ago from other photo blogs.
I agree. It seems so unnecessary.
well, depends on the costs I'd say.
A decreasing readership and the attempt of regaining some of them through such a gadget indicates desperation, whereas one could call it innovative if the videos are an addition to the already existing, good product.
michael
IDK it seems to much for too little… If I wanted to watch clips from CBS i'd hulu or cbs.com…
On the other hand, this could pioneer cheap video display technology. It reminds me of the 3rd Star Wars when they are in coruscant.
Should they instead do nothing to try to spark interest and (re)gain readership/viewers? For many traditional media companies times ARE desperate – I like that they're using a new approach and innovative technologies to create buzz and attention for their products/companies. I only dread the idea that I might one day soon buy a jacket that has a nike commercial sewn into the label…
I'd say it's an inovation. Just wait few years see what it will develop to, some cool stuff I hope. Just like if you see an advertising on interactive nowadays, it's more interesting than~say 5 or 10 years ago?
Bob said…
This information was actually available days ago from other photo blogs
wow bob you're so smart?????
chase i think this is crazy stuff, i buy books and magazines to read, not watch!
It's going to have the same impact as the first ever hologram magazine cover.
I vote innovation. That ad will have a big time impact.
I think this will be like the Apple Newton. First one out of the gate with potential, but not widely accepted. Front runners on this stuff usually get no credit and left behind. Eventually it will be done right after its reverse engineered and brought into the "green" realm.
Neat to see, but sustainable and interesting will be fleeting I am going to venture.
If it becomes like that annoying ads that pop up during youtube videos and other similar sites, I see it not being viable.
Ad structure and presentation needs to change, this may not be the right way.
I have to agree this has surpassed innovation and has made a bee line for desperation. seems kinda like a bad ad jingle to me!
Its kinda despi, not required but who cares.
I think if the video "screen" is as recyclable as the rest of the magazine and doesn't generate waste, I'd be all for it as a good way to innovate. Of course this is the first step to the death of print as we know it, since you'll be listening to stories rather than reading them now.
This seems a little weak to me, but hopefully in time this will lead the way for cool new technological developments. Minority Report anyone?
-Anthony
http://www.anthonygrimes.com
I see the potential, but you have to think beyond the print magazine. As e-readers evolve this technology will allow magazines to start selling their content again. Everyone thinks that web=free, so the media companies have kind of screwed themselves. If you can decouple the magazine content from the web and provide equivalent A/V capabilities then magazines can be back in the content sales business. This just happens to be a clunky example.
It's been said here before, but I look at this as an opportunity. Embrace change.
The concept is facinating, but to me not well exploited.
There is no interest in putting a screen in a magazine, instead they should the magazine in the screen.
For example: A4 format, one flexible retro-luminecent screen and wifi enabled. Kind a of a super-ebook reader but thin as a 200g sheet.
Does it make any sense to you?
I say innovation, at least the technological part. The execution on the other hand may be up for debate. Even riskier when you talk about cost to produce something like this. I would like to see this myself, wonder if it's as cool as describe or whether it'll be a let down.
I read back a couple of years ago about this kind of technology being developed and started thinking of possible uses. Especially if it can be reused. Much like an e-reader, imagine having a thin sheet of paper that you can download content. Maybe the future of newspapers & magazines. Pay a subscription, plug into the internet or wifi and you've got the morning paper that you can hold while enjoying your coffee. No paper waste. Newspapers need to evolve, and quickly to survive, this might be something they should look into.
Yes, we've got the iPhone, and I love mine, but I'd love to have something lightweight, portable and large enough without having to zoom into to read.
It'll be interesting to see how this kind of technology continues to develop and how it's application is executed. The first to do it well, and provide something the consumer wants, will make a lot of money (ex. iPod – not the first mp3 player, first to do it right and provide a great user experience).
I say the should go for it. If the video quality is good, I can see all kinds of wonderful hacks for a video display like that. Mwuah ha ha ha!
The technology is cool but the implementation is desperate.
Person from the 80s "Wow you mean they have interactive video inserts that are so small they can fit into a magazine, that's tubular! So I bet they use it for amazing things such as adding interactive video to great articles."
Nope they are using it to show clips of shows no one watches.
This makes me think of the abuses of 'real 3d' video. Yes we get it, it's stereoscopic 3d, you can stop throwing stuff at the viewer for no reason and do something interesting now.
All new tech needs a killer app, and TV shows are not the flat screen magazine killer app.
From what I am seeing, this could be huge in terms of marketing ones skills or products. Lets face it if we send out a CD with our images on it, eventually it will end up in a landfill too. But with this you can get your message to anyone without having to use a computer. It could also make for a great niche in the greeting card market. Just my two cents and change.
I would love to buy the Mag with this feature so I can put it aside on a shelf as the last feeble attempt of the printing media to survive.
Think photo books with video! Imagine sending grandma one of those internet-produced photo albums, embedded with a video of little Jimmy taking his first steps. Priceless!
I'm going to get one just to rip the device out and play with it. Is it an OLED screen or what is the deal? how are they doing this? I hope it is OLED, it will signify that the technology has finally matured costwise.
I think it is brilliant. It has the possibility of changing readers ideas about magazines. It is a hybrid.
I think it's stupid. What's the point? Why have a paper magazine be digital? Isn't that what a kindle is for? I dunno. Seems desperate to me.
The next step is video tatoos like in "Farewell Horizontal" by K.W. Jeeter.
Unfortunately this is a ploy and it likely will go no where. Not that an advertiser can control the medium of publishing any more than a seat belt manufacturer could drive changes to a chassis design.
The future is OLED displays. Flexible displays that can and as I believe ultimately replace magazines and newspapers. The video ad will be part of the larger whole. Right now its a bit backwards and just a PR stunt.
I may be dating myself a little with this comment, but this reminds me of those 'flexi disc' flexible phonograph records that used to be included in magazines back in the day. Good for a quick promo of some music or an audio example of something. Hardly great quality, but you couldn't NOT listen to it…it was free and cool. So why not? Probably a fad, but so is everything on a long enough timescale.
This looks like a step backward from that future-tech electronic paper we saw pictures of. A gigantic waste of a step back.
Dang Chase, I think Bob is trying to call you out. Gonna have to be faster to satisfy him!!! Am I the only one who thinks this is at all interesting. I realize it may be a desperate cry and completely understand the "un-greenness" of it, but I'm intrigued. Not sure how long my attention will be kept… but they have it right now.
It's innovative, but in a desperate way. Why do it that way, for ads. Why not showcase the technology as a cover element.
dumB.
Wonder if it is beginning of a new war between online and offline media. Online media has definitely grown massively and most of it is free for end user.
If it's not in 3D with Dolby 5.1 then I'm not interested…
I think the future will be that every available space will be utilized for moving adverts. Just like in the film Bladerunner!
Er. Not sure what to make of this. Being in Canada I probably won't get a chance to get my hands on it. It's the rechargeable batteries that will land in landfills that concerns me. The concept isn't bad. Portable electronic newspapers like we saw in Minority Report would be really cool, but fall shows? Nope.
The news business is dying and they've got to try something new, but I don't think this is it.
While I think it will attract interest as a novelty the first time, video has disadvantages compared to print. Typically, videos don't make sense without sound. I may be old 'n out of it, but I keep the sound off on most of my computers to defend myself and others around me from unbidden talking, music, etc waiting to ambush from web sites.
Second (and apologies to our gracious host who often uses video), video usually conveys information less efficiently than text and still images. There are stunning counter-examples to my statement but they are the exception.
I worked for a newspaper for a couple years and left a year or so ago. You can smell the death of newspapers and magazines ahead. We lost about 15% of our workforce in a year. We lost most of our outside jobs (coupon books, etc) to the internet. I left because I already knew what was going on.
This will not even help prevent the death of most magazines. Kindle and the ones that will come in the future will make sure of that.
I believe that magazines like HOW, PPA, and Range Finder will make it. Mainstream widely circulated magazines are the ones that will die out. Most of us are willing to pay $7-10 for a magazine relevant to our profession. Most people especially kids today are coming up with using the internet for everything… why wait for a magazine when they can read 10x the information online.
Awesome blog! Keep up the great work!
How long until someone finds a way to hack the device and repurpose it by loading in their own audio/video?
This is brilliant. A stepping stone towards Harry Potter-like newspapers. Really. Having the ability to include video in the magazine/newspaper/newsletter etc. just increases the breadth of what publishers can do to present information. How many people thought it was dumb when newspapers started including photos? "What's the point? Newspapers are meant to READ not LOOK AT. . . ." Or for that matter the internet? Anyone remember when the internet was text-only? It wasn't that long ago. . . .
Makes me think about Cinemascope, and all the hopes that it would save the cinema. Advertisers will love the chip, and start sending with print brochures to our snail mail boxes.
As a new publisher myself I think it is just the bridge between paper mag's to technologies like the kindle and so sort of flexible screen that acts like paper. It is going to cost quite a bit and I am not sure how impactful it will be in a world that sees this stuff all over the place anyway. Maybe if it was 10-15 years ago. It is defiantly getting them some attention now.
/mute Bob
Stop the World! I want to leave it!
Give it some time and see what the new technology can bring to the table. I say don't throw out the idea just yet. If they can mass produce these relatively cheaply, we may find some use for them.
Seems about as useful as watching a TV commentator read a magazine.
I'm interested in this only so I can find some way to hack it. It could be a cool portable photo album or something.
But frankly, I don't have that kind of time/desire to waste on an ad. I buy magazines to read, not watch TV.
What waste of money. People are going to bed hungry, and they're spending money on this crazy stuff.
I think I'd have to agree that the technology is impressive, but the execution leaves something to be desired.
It seems to me like people were sitting in a meeting saying: What can we do to save print? Video! The kids love video! Put some of that in there!
I feel like a lot of people use video for the sake of having it, and not because it's the best way to convey their message. When really, you need to first consider what am I trying to say? And then, how am I going to say it?
lol, that reminds me of the newspapers in harry potter
Coming from a stalwart like CBS it's desperate. Had it come from a small, hip publication it would be cool.
Stumbled upon this, http://tinyurl.com/qlhdcm. I wonder how much additional folks will pay for magazines containing video in print
Chase, these were only put in L.A. and N.Y. subscribed magazines.. and they are selling on Ebay for 100 plus dollars.
dang, and I am in Atlanta.
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