A design blog from Mayo Nissen suggests how The Guardian could pursue the concept of the e-paper, offering as little or as much as readers wanted on the basis of a scrollable device. Other organizations have indicated they're at work on such technology to supplement the ink-on-paper publications.

The rollout later this year in Europe of the Readius is reported in today's New York Times. An attribute of that device is its pliability and portability. It's able to browse e-mail. It can be rolled up into a lapel pocket, unlike some of the tablets. While it's still generating in shades of grey and on a five-inch-diagonal screen, it's not going to be long before there are colours and greater-sized displays. For the newspaper and magazine business, these are significant technologies. Might they (in an advanced form, presumably) one day supplant the printing plant and all of the associated transportation and distribution costs?

Electronic paper is touted as one of the most viable options for newspapers in the years ahead because of its capacity to reproduce text and images with greater lines of definition and by using natural light --- as opposed to backscreen illumination --- in its presentation. Thus, easier on the eyes, with the electronic benefit of updated information.
In this context there is a very revealing interview with Ryosuke Kuwata, in charge of the Asia Pacific region for E-Ink, the electronic paper firm. He predicts that the first commercial applications in e-paper newspapering will emerge in the second half of 2009. Verification of the technology seems to be taking place starting later this year.
Kuwata also notes that the Hearst Corp. is looking at developing a proprietary terminal to carry the product in the U.S., and that Le Monde is examining its options in this field.

A thorough look at the future of e-paper in the latest ComputerWorld. So-called EPD technology is farther along than the public success of Amazon's Kindle might suggest. Colour e-ink, plastrates that emulate paper better, and more flexible and portable technologies should arrive in the years to come.
Newspapers have long believed that part of the solution to address distribution and production delays rests in the e-book or e-paper or e-device that can deliver the hierarchy of the paper without process of printing, trucking and delivering the content. In other words, news from now instead of news from yesterday.