Seattle P-I readers will be the test market for new e-paper news screen, "sometime in the next two years." The thing is light and flexible ("as paper"), and it sounds like the display has touch controls. The article (and I presume the underlying press release) avoids words like "device" in favor of a mythical implication that this will be like a normal newspaper that changes what it says in real time. Since that's not what it is, it isn't clear what the consumer value is of this thing's bendable nature. Rugged, thin and low-cost, absolutely, but why would I bend it?

The article doesn't mention how data gets to the device, which implies that it will only update when connected to a computer. So it's not exactly the breaking-news newspaper from the movies, at least not yet. That also probably implies the first few iterations will have Windows-only clients, but now I'm just being silly.

Of course, I'd love to be a tester for an updateable slab of cardboard, and I'd love to replace the huge piles of paper recyc in my kitchen. And I'm not reading jack on my iPod. So this is obviously the best thing since sliced bread, and I can't wait to renew my subscription!