It's cool for these kinds of magazines (where glossy pictures prevail over text content), but i can't help myself from thinking these are just like Flash only web pages.Reply
I don't see the big complaint over ads. It's a magazine - pick up any printed mag and count the ads - that's how these vehicles are paid for, not subscription fees. Do you think a publisher will just do this just for fun? And if you are in the creative/marketing business, this could give you more service options to offer advertising clients.Reply
@dzielinski: Because moving, animated ads are distracting. It's one thing to have a static image in a corner of the page and it's another thing to have an animated ad, like many Flash ads are on the web.Reply
Honestly, that seems like a really annoying way to read through a magazine article. It's like reading a webpage where a story is broken up into 10-pages in order to generate ad revenue. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if those animations and transitions were filled with targeted marketing and ads.
(Your magazine article will resume in 0:15).
Add to the fact that no writer/editor is going to go through that much time and effort to publish a simple magazine article. Maybe a static image covering the background, but just like in the video, color choice is a big issue. You can't just stick text on top of any old photo. Light text, dark photo or vise versa.Reply
@TailsNZ:
Not only that but I doubt a newspaper stand that is built out of discarded plywood is really the kind of place that can afford whatever that costs.
And what are you supposed to do when you want to buy your copy of Cat Fancy but one guy is bogarting the only terminal to to scan through dirty mags?Reply
I'm sorry but this is the dumbest piece of technology I've seen recently. This is why tech heavy engineers shouldn't be allowed to come up with the user experience. "It's all the inconvenience of the 20th century, updated for those with sub-par 21st century technology!"
There's a window of about 500 people and 6 months where this is actually useful.Reply
I figure there are going to be online stores for electronic magazines. Why is this needed? I mean it's cool and futuristic looking, but if I can purchase and download something while I'm waiting for the train... why would I need an electronic newsstand?
I don't go to the music store to put songs on my iPhone. Why would I go to the newstand to put mags on a connected tablet?
Why do we try to maintain past paradigms that clearly are no longer needed given the ability of the tech that has caused the shift from said paradigm?
The only argument I can see for this is if the person's device cannot connect to the internet either through wifi or a cellular network. Not sure most people would want such a device.
Here's what I could see... we figure out a way to make ultrathin flexible OLED based mags that would be capacitive and contain the contents of one issue of a certain number of mags. You find a way to make them dirt cheap... even disposable and recyclable. You put those on the rack... because maybe some people just couldn't be bothered with a tablet or other device for either reading (i.e. e-reader) or reading + other things (i.e. tablet).
Maybe the person keeps it, comes back and stands near the newstand and is able to browse all the new mags and pick and choose, hit purchase and be off. When the batteries wears off, they bring it back, get a replacement and the old one gets recycled and put back in circulation.Reply
I think they're just looking for a way to keep news stands viable. By the time it would be common for a store to have one (how would they pay for it?!), nobody will have wi-fi only tablets anymore.Reply
Nice system, but why bother with a Surface device at all? Seems like it's just a glorified store interface... which you could just run on the tablet in the first place. Except less useful because only one person can use the kiosk at a time.Reply
@Anonymoose: Don't worry, I'm sure that as long as little Tommy agrees to sign his new contract and be hooked up to a digital interface, he can still keep his job in the digital world!Reply
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree?
Travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's got to read something
This technology is straight out of a sci-fi comic book of some sorts. I never thought I'd see the day where two devices could communicate with each other to this extent. Well done.Reply
Needs a little refinement, but that's pretty awesome. It's a great option for those people who don't want to have to pay for cellular internet or to pay for internet at the airport.Reply
About the cat on the elevator.. look on the bright side. Maybe it's retarding the development of their natural super powers, but it's also educating them to operate some machinery... which will later lead to cats driving mechas!Reply
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