When I imagine what life will be like in ten, twenty, or thirty years time one of the few things I’m pretty certain of is that every flat surface will eventually turn into a video screen of some kind (and will probably be used to advertise stuff).

And here we have an early example of this trend from Esquire magazine:

To commemorate Esquire’s 75th Anniversary, we have published an experimental limited-edition of the October 2008 issue that features something called electronic ink, with moving words and flashing images … It is available at some major bookstores and newsstands.

The most elegantly-described science fictional use of electronic ink-like display technologies that comes to mind are the “mediatrons” in Neal Stephenson’s Diamond Age. Described here:

…a thin film of nanobar coupled with a layer of rod-logic nanocomputers and light filters to produce a flexible graphic displayer in the form of a piece of paper, a poster or even wallpaper. Cheap and plentiful, with a higher pixel-count than the human can resolve…

According to the information provided by Esquire we’re not at this stage yet, with the whole setup requiring elaborate arrangements to manufacture.

A helpful individual has created a flickr set showing detailed photographs and detailed video of the limited edition magazine.

[via Slashdot]