Remember that scene in Minority Report, where newspapers could change their covers electronically to keep you informed of the latest news? Well a couple of months ago Esquire mens’ magazine told the world they had tested a similar technology on a prototype edition to celebrate 75 years of bronzed ladies and gadgets. It hit the shelves in September and secured it’s place as the first first magazine to incorporate an animated cover. 100,000 copies with an e-ink electronic paper cove.

I know what you’re thinking… this has the potential to animate the lovely girls that make Esquire covers so memorable, or flash snippets of feature articles to encourage you to buy it.

I feel I may have over sold it at this point; it more resembles a cut out, greyscale LCD screen embedded in the cover that flashes “The 21st Century Begins Now”. In fact it’s fairly rudimentary technology, even by Esquire’s admission, and is unlikely to cause a stir in the techorati or media industry.

Really, it looks pretty pants if I’m honest.

What it does mean however, is that printing houses and publishers are starting to become more open to new forms of communication in the printing industry. David Granger, Esquire’s editor in chief, says:

“Magazines have basically looked the same for 150 years,” Mr. Granger said. “I have been frustrated with the lack of forward movement in the magazine industry.” “This is really the 1.0 version,” said Kevin O’Malley, Esquire’s publisher. “Imagine when the consumer walks by a newsstand and sees that it is alive.”

and we think it’s a great approach. 150 years is a long time to rest on your laurels and ideas like this are great for re-energising stagnant thinking and forcing research through commercial competition. Esquire’s limited 100,000 edition cover required a decent budget, both developing a battery small enough to be inserted in the magazine cover, and refrigerating them to preserve power until the magazines got to the shelves, after which it runs out of juice after 90 days.

“Part of the iconic DNA of the magazine is our covers,” said Mr. O’Malley, Esquire’s publisher. “I fully expect that in 25 to 30 years, this cover will be in a museum.”

To take the pressure off Esquire’s wallet, Ford Motor stepped in as sponsor in return for the inside of the digital cover as an advertisment. And so here we are, right at the pioneering use of this technology, and already we’re getting Bladerunner adverts moving around on the page. If won’t be long before Google starts advertising on them.