If there's one advantage a print magazine still has over an online publication, it's the ability to offer all manner of crazy freebies glued to its pages. Maybelline samples, CDROMs packing the latest version of WinZip, or -- in tomorrow's edition of Entertainment Weekly -- something that actually looks pretty enticing. Flick it open to the right page and you'll spot an LCD display that magically displays video ads and live Tweets from the CW Network. Intrigued by how such a thing could function, Mashable did a teardown (literally) and discovered all the ingredients of a budget Android smartphone, including components which aren't strictly necessary for the task at hand: a 3G modem with T-Mo SIM (which seems to have some degree of voice connectivity), a full-sized battery, USB port and even a partially-built QWERTY keyboard. Suddenly, that $50 myTouch doesn't seem so cheap.
Continue reading Entertainment Weekly print edition comes with a 'smartphone-like Android device'
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Entertainment Weekly print edition comes with a 'smartphone-like Android device' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 07:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Youth-oriented TV drama factory The CW is hoping that Entertainment Weekly readers are interested in taking Twitter from smartphones and computers to the printed page -- er, at least a printed page with an LCD insert attached. The October 5th issue of EW features a miniature LCD display with the six most recent posts to its Twitter feed (@CW_Network), as well as a "short video showing stars of new CW shows," according to The New York Times. Yes, seriously -- an LCD screen with some form of internet connection embedded directly into copies of a physical magazine. "Emily Owens M.D." -- a new show on The CW -- is the first to receive direct promo treatment via the magazine's LCD display. It's unclear if all issues of the Oct. 5 edition will contain the embedded video screen (only 50,000 issues of a 2009 EW issue ran an embedded Pepsi video ad, for instance).
CW executive VP Rick Haskins said the company's social media team overseeing the project will only filter out "profanity or other unacceptable language." As for negative tweets, however, those are fair game. Not that we'd encourage such things, but this setup sounds all too ripe for exploitation by the denizens of the internet. Do with the information as you will, unscrupulous readers.
Filed under: Displays, Software, HD
The October 5th edition of Entertainment Weekly has a built-in Twitter feed (really) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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