Belgian newspaper to become first 'paperless' daily

Via M&C Tech. Story by By Daniela Schroeder.


Antwerp - Spending hours reading the papers may be an ideal pastime on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

But what if your newspaper updated itself during the day? What if the pictures moved and the interviews could be listened to?

In Belgium, this is coming true - at least for a three-month trial period. The Antwerp-based daily De Tijd will soon become the world's first newspaper to publish a digital version on so-called 'electronic paper'.

Instead of buying your daily paper, from April 2006, 200 subscribers will be able to start the day by connecting a portable electronic device supplied by De Tijd to the internet and start downloading their daily paper. Updates will be automatic during the day, if subscribers have access to wireless technology.

The electronic newspaper costs an astronomical 400 euros - but those who sign up for the experiment are not being charged. The assumption is, however, that costs will come down when the electronic daily goes into mass production.

'If the testing period proves successful, we will draw up a business model based on the analysis,' the project manager Peter Bruynseels told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Media experts at Belgian universities will then analyze readers' evaluations.

The Belgian experiment reflects the newspaper's fight for survival in a world of increasing competition, declining circulation and rising newsprint costs.

De Tijd is providing readers with a portable device that holds a paper-thin screen the size of a newspaper page, filled with millions of black and white microcapsules.

When an electrical current with data is sent through the screen, these microcapsules form letters that are as sharp as regular newspaper print.

The electronic 'ink' has 16 levels of grey. When readers flip to the next page or choose a specific article, the particles scramble and rearrange.

The pliable screens do not flicker and can therefore be read either indoors or outdoors.

E Ink Corporation, a spinoff of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has developed the technology. The Dutch company iRex Technologies used the method for building a portable electronic reading device.

De Tijd will appear on several screens. 'One shows the complete page as in the printed paper, the second lists only the headlines and the third displays the single article,' Bruynseels said.

The display is the size of two laptops, but needs 100 times less energy than a normal laptop screen. Based on an average use of three hours a day, the battery runs for more than a week.

A storage space of 244 mega bytes is sufficient for filing one month of newspapers, plus 30 books, as well as office documents in different formats.

Bruynseels says there will also be savings because no paper is being used. Newspapers such as The Times or the Wall Street Journal can go through 200,000 tons of newsprint per year.

E Ink is currently working on adding some colour to the flexible black-and-white screen. Video and sound features are at most 10 years off, said chief executive Russell J. Wilcox.

Using a special marker, readers can write comments on articles and scribble their notes on the screen.

In addition, touching an interactive advertisement will direct the reader to the advertiser's website.

De Tijd is also thinking about publishing advertisement corresponding to the time of the day, Bruynseels said. Coffee and cereals in the morning, beer and snacks in the evening.

Other tools include extra buttons for financial news which steer a reader to in-depth information on the latest stock exchange rates. The e-paper also memorizes readers' criteria when searching for a job, an apartment or Mr/Ms Perfect

Three-Color Ink Proposed for Electronic Paper

An interesting review about color eink writen by Richard Gaughan at photonics.com

"The low cost and low power requirements of electronic paper displays promise to make them suitable for applications from variable price tags to wearable health monitors. But for the technology to fully realize this potential, the electronic ink employed must be completely reversible, must offer high contrast and must be available in three colors.

Progress in contrast and reversibility has been steady. And now scientists have proposed a compact, three-color electronic ink for use in electronic paper displays.

Researchers at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and at the University of California, Los Angeles, have designed a single dye compound that can display red, green or blue depending upon the applied voltage. It features bistable catenane, a molecule consisting of two interlocking rings. One ring is cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) (CBPQT4+). The other, larger ring is composed of spacer regions separating molecular components called TTF and DNP.

A voltage applied to the molecular substrate changes the oxidation state of the TTF and DNP. The optical absorption of catenane is determined by which segment of the larger ring is closer to the CBPQT4+. With no applied voltage, the CBPQT4+ is nearer to the TTF unit, which results in a peak absorbance at 854 nm and a green reflectance. Applying a specific voltage oxidizes the TTF, pushing the CBPQT4+ ring to the DNP and giving the dye an absorption peak at 473 nm and red reflectance.

Modifying the bistable molecule to get a tristable, three-color dye requires a balancing act, as the oxidation potential, binding energy and molecular orbital energy must allow for switchability and reversibility while providing the absorption peak appropriate for blue reflectance. William A. Goddard III of Caltech and his colleagues have calculated that adding another component, difluorinated benzidine, to the large ring should result in an electrochemically selectable three-color ink.
Using ab initio calculations and parametric fits verified by measurements on the bistable compound, Goddard’s team predicts that the new compound will have an absorption peak at 601 nm, providing blue reflectance.

Because the catenane design provides three colors, each physical pixel in an electronic paper display using the dye would be an image pixel, as opposed to designs that require separate red, green and blue elements. Operation of the bistable catenane has been demonstrated in a polymer matrix, and the researchers see no reason why this would not be possible for the three-color molecule."

De Tijd to test first epaper device on Blegium

200 abonnees from De Tijd , an economic newspaper that runs on Belgium, can test the newest technology by iRex Technologies. These lucky testers will be able to try the device for three months, from march to may 2006.

The Ifra eNews Initiative

eNews is a unique cross-disciplinary three year initiative, set up by Ifra, in response to the emerging mobile e-reading media market. In the project, Ifra partners with 20 of the world’s major publishing houses and a number of leading technology developers.

The project is about creating business opportunities based on early consumer behaviour in an emerging mobile e-reading world. Ifra and our partners are establishing a world first initiative, eNews, to be able to meet the new and changing needs of consumers, to create and sustain business, take control and adapt to new technology.

The project will allow its members to be proactive in responding to the needs of a mobile generation. Furthermore, by joining forces, the participants have an opportunity to act as a powerful lobby group vis-à-vis technology and service providers in the area of mobile e-reading.
The eNews project will run through 2008, during which time activities will include seminars, study tours and commissioning of consumer research.

Deliverables – Project Outcomes
The project activities will lead to outcomes, including:

• Identifying investment strategies for e-reading
• Providing a faster learning curve in new business and technology
• Allow preparation for the future, rather than prophecy
• Identifying how to develop strong and profitable products within mobile e-reading
• Identifying new business models for increased revenues
• Create impact on the development within mobile news, both internally and externally
• Identifying needs for achieving transparency and thereby making recommendations for business and technology standards
• Providing a lobbying force

Download (pdf file) Ifra eNews Initiative 2005–2008 – Executive Brief: How to create new business in mobile digital distribution.

Build your owr ePaper proptotype

Build your own ePaper prototype for just $3000. Get the kit from E ink here (pdf file).

20 leading publishers collaborate in eNews project

Cambridge, UK – 6 February 2006 – Plastic Logic announced today it is joining forces with more than 20 international publishing houses in a unique three-year initiative under the leadership of Ifra, the world’s leading organization for newspaper and media publishing. The eNews project, which also includes a number of other top technology developers in the area of mobile e-reading, has been set up to meet the new and changing needs of mobile media consumers, to create and sustain business, take control of markets and adapt to new technology.

Mobile media consumers today have access to connected devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops, for which business models for content providers are reasonably well developed. However, publishers have generally followed rather than lead in this market. With up and coming e-reading devices, several of which are being launched in the next couple of years, publishers will be presented with new business opportunities, and opportunities to take the initiative.

The eNews initiative will look at what opportunities there are for content providers, such as publishers, in the emerging eNews value chain. At the project’s initial three day seminar, Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach said: “Together the member companies will be exploring business opportunities and technologies, tracking consumer behaviour and expectations, exchanging experiences and building know-how. Newspaper publishers are in an excellent position to take advantage of this new market, and through the eNews initiative we aim to take the lead.” Plastic Logic CEO Stuart Evans added: “We are delighted to be working with the newspaper community to ensure our plastic electronics technology meets their requirements for mobile e-readers.”

Historically, it has been the developers of electronic consumer devices who have aimed, not just to sell the technology, but also to control the consumers, the marketplaces and the distribution. The current increase in mobile media channels offers content providers new business opportunities as well as challenges. The eNews initiative aims to provide publishers with know-how on business models as well as process technology, thereby allowing them to make well-founded strategic decisions. Furthermore, by joining forces, the participants have an opportunity to act as a powerful lobby group vis-à-vis technology and service providers in the area of mobile e-reading. Comments Stig Nordqvist, project leader: “The weight of the participating members means the group will be able to act as a significant lobby group. The project members are all top players in media convergence globally.”

The eNews project will run through 2008, during which time activities will include seminars, study tours and commissioning of consumer research.

eNews publishing members:
Bonnier/Expressen (Sweden), De Telegraaf (The Netherlands), Edipresse Publications (Switzerland), El País (Spain), Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. (Germany), New York Times Company (USA), Nordjyske Medier (Denmark), Orkla Media (Norway), La Parisienne (France), Rheinische Post (Germany), Sanoma Corp. (Finland), Schibsted/Aftonbladet (Norway/Sweden), Stampen/Göteborgs-Posten (Sweden), Styria Medien (Austria), TA Media AG (Switzerland), Telegraph Group (UK), Tribune Interactive (USA), Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei (Austria), Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany) and Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan).

eNews technology members:
Arena Partners (Finland), iRex Technologies (The Netherlands), Escenic (Norway) and Plastic Logic Limited (UK).

eNews project takes mobile e-reading lead

Ifra sets up unique cooperative initiative in response to the emerging mobile e-reading market

Darmstadt, 1st February 2006 – Ifra is joining forces with more than 20 of the world’s leading publishing houses in a unique three-year initiative. The eNews project, which also partners a number of top technology developers in the area of mobile e-reading, has been set up to meet the new and changing needs of mobile media consumers, to create and sustain business, take control of markets and adapt to new technology.

Mobile media consumers today have access to connected devices such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops, for which business models for content providers are reasonably well developed. However, publishers have generally followed rather than lead in this market. With up and coming e-reading devices, several of which are being launched in the next couple of years, publishers will be presented with new business opportunities, and opportunities to take the initiative.

The eNews initiative will look at what opportunities there are for content providers, such as publishers, in the emerging eNews value chain. The project’s first three day seminar opened this week in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Ifra CEO Reiner Mittelbach said: “Together the member companies will be exploring business opportunities and technologies, tracking consumer behaviour and expectations, exchanging experiences and building know-how. Newspaper publishers are in an excellent position to take advantage of this new market, and through the eNews initiative we aim to take the lead.“

Mike Patten, Managing Director Circulation Marketing at the New York Times, explained why the New York Times Company thinks it is important to take part in the eNews initiative: “The newspaper industry needs to act collectively in order to be able to determine what our future should be in mobile e-reading – together we carry a lot of weight.“

Historically, it has been the developers of electronic consumer devices who have aimed, not just to sell the technology, but also to control the consumers, the marketplaces and the distribution. The current increase in mobile media channels offers content providers new business opportunities as well as challenges. The eNews initiative aims to provide publishers with know-how on business models as well as process technology, thereby allowing them to make well-founded strategic decisions. Furthermore, by joining forces, the participants have an opportunity to act as a powerful lobby group vis-à-vis technology and service providers in the area of mobile e-reading. Comments Stig Nordqvist, project leader: ” The weight of the participating members means the group will be able to act as a significant lobby group. The project members are all top players in media convergence globally.“

The eNews project will run through 2008, during which time activities will include seminars, study tours and commissioning of consumer research.