Newspaper no more: the arrival of digital paper

Its been coming since 1999; the digital paper has now arrived, marking the end of hard copy newspaper as we know it. The date has been set for Australian; as of 2022 we will all be walking around with a flexible, lightweight A4 piece of plastic which can be erased, edited, updated,searched or formatted to read our newspapers.

Digital paper uses digital ink made up of millions of tiny beads suspended in a liquid carrier medium to make it look like proper ink. These beads rotate to show one side or the other when an electric field is applied,  therefore the page can be updated and reused countless times.

Seem a bit like the magical world of Harry Potter? These pieces of digital paper allow animations to be played out, and for your newspaper to be updated automatically. These sheets of plastic can run on simply a watch battery, as there is no need for power usage except when updating.

The arrival of digital paper will upset the world as we know it completely, but think of the possibilities. Updateable posters, restaurant menus and wallpaper. Or the best yet, no printing required for university work!


Newspaper extinction timeline

Sources:
Amjadali, S 1999, End of the paper trail, The Australian, 7 September.
Barker, G 2005, Flexible digital paper revolution hits city, The Age, 10 November.
Sinclair, L 2010, Deadline for newspapers as digital publications rise, The Australian, 1 November.
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