Here are a pair of interesting e-publishing-related videos that have come to my attention lately.

First, a look at a possible new technology for buying and synchronizing e-editions of magazines to tablet computers using a touch-sensitive tabletop surface screen. It looks like something out of Minority Report: the consumer places his tablet on top of the surface, which logs him in, then swipes the magazines he wants across the surface and onto his tablet.

Still, as commenters where I first saw the video pointed out, the question remains why anyone would want to go to the trouble of taking his tablet out to a table when he could just as easily buy and download the magazines from the Internet.

The other video is a clever little piece about the future of publishing created by a UK publisher for an internal sales conference—and it proved so popular that it was shared externally as well. You may be slightly dismayed as it unrolls in front of you, but bear with it and watch it all the way through. You’ll start to see what I mean at about the halfway point.

1 COMMENT

  1. > could just as easily buy and download the magazines from the Internet.

    I don’t need the Internet to buy a print magazine or newspaper. Must I use the Internet to get the electronic version on my mobile device?

    I may be in a location where Internet costs money. Why pay for Internet service when all I want is to get the magazine on my device and go?

    Maybe I am a wireless Internet subscriber but can’t get service at this location.

    Maybe the periodical I want is free, but Internet in this airport is $12.95 an hour.

    My device has Wi-Fi. Shouldn’t the retailer be able to host the periodical locally where I can download it wirelessly in an instant, right in the store?

    Maybe the retailer is a cafe I love, a newsbox, or a guy standing outside the subway station with a wireless server on his belt. They dare to sell newspapers without an ISP!

    I guess we should all forget about those because we can “just as easily” download reading material from the Internet.

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