Sports Illustrated Michael Phelps Cover + EInk Esquire Magazine Cover

Featuring Sports Illustrated

Every week Sports Illustrated gets you closer to the heart of sports with amazing action photography and in-depth coverage. Experience the insider track as SI takes you into the minds, hearts and souls of the players and coaches. With Sports Illustrated you Get Into It!

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Introducing America's Gold Club

Starting on page 68 of the July 28, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, you get a glimpse of the gold medal magnet Michael Phelps...he's going for eight this year so be sure to cheer him on. Then flip over to pages 78 through 91 to find the rest of the gold hopeful US Olympic team. Unfortunately, we lost Paul Hamm in gymnastics due to a past hand injury, but the rest of the team still looks pretty strong.

So if you need to know who to root for in swimming, gymnastics, softball, track and field, soccer, taekwondo, judo, boxing, wresting, cycling, rowing, water polo, and ping pong...grab a copy of the Sports Illustrated 2008 Beijing Olympics Preview.

Will Your Next Magazine Be Battery Powered?

The Future is Now!

Err...actually, it will be in October... according to Boing Boing Esquire magazine is going to send you something you've never seen before. Their cover will actually be animated, as in...the words will move and fade then reappear. (Boing Boing is an extremely popular blog run by Mark Frauenfelder - a previous editor at Wired Magazine)

What the...is this some sort of voodoo magic? Nope, it is the future of where magazines will be going. Their October cover commemorates Esquire's 75^th Anniversary.  They have decided to make the cover out of a new special e-ink paper and burn the programming of the cover into the spine. A coin battery will then run the cover's animations for up to 90 days.

Now how cool is that!

Sorry though, it's currently only black and white (actually shades of gray).  Color isn't available yet, but should be within the next 7 to 10 years. It reminds me of that scene on Minority Report (with Tom Cruise) where he is trying to escape on the train and his picture and police alert is being broadcast on several of the passenger's USA Today newspapers.  With wi-fi (wireless Internet) becoming more and more prevalent in most major cities, this sort of broadcast technology to your recreational magazines isn't that far off. Talk about a more effective Amber Alert!

You may see more of these covers in the near future, but more than likely only on magazines published by Hearst.  It appears that they have an exclusivity agreement with eInk the manufacturer of this electronic paper. Esquire's 75^th Anniversary cover should be pretty interesting to see, not only because they are the first to attempt this, but I would like to see what hackers do to it after it has served its purpose.

Get a subscription to Esquire today so that you make sure you get this amazing new magazine cover. Who knows, this may be a collectors item one day since it is the first of its kind. (Hurry though, we are in October subscription start dates and switch to November by August 15^th)

BTW - the cover shown in the picture above is a Boing Boing mockup...the real cover is under wraps until its release in late September.

Inspired By The Last Lecture

The other day I saw a heart felt interview on ABC with Carnegie Melon professor Randy Pausch author of the top selling The Last Lecture . He died of pancreatic cancer last week, but his message about doing what makes you happy no matter what. His words have inspired millions of people to get up and do things that make them happy and fulfill those childhood dreams they lost in the shuffle of growing up. As I watched the show, I thought about how nice would it be to take a week's vacation alone at least once a year from normal everyday life.

I was flipping through the September issue of Women's Day and found an article that had an inspiring story about a "momcation." Paula Spencer talks about how and why she ran away from home. No, it wasn't permanent, she actually planned it. I couldn't help but be inspired by her week of "me" alone time. Sounds like something we should all do at least once a year. I'm sure it could do wonders for our sanity and our family relationships.

If you missed that ABC special on Randy Pausch, you can check it out on their website.  You can also see his inspiring lecture(s) if you do a search on YouTube.

You can find more articles like this in your 17 issue subscription to Women's Day for only $10 (79% off the cover price).