BBG’s interpretation of the upcoming cover

Joel over at BBG has a great interview with deputy editor Peter Griffin from Esquire and I’m excited to see the e-ink cover for the 75th anniversary issue that hits stands this October. Griffin divulges that Ford’s advertisement for the Flex crossover SUV on the inside cover defrayed a good chunk of the cost to Hearst, so we won’t be paying an arm and a leg for this issue. As far as the animated cover is concerned, we’ll see a few images in various shades of grey appear and disappear with the order of text changing as well. It was also revealed that Hearst has a one-year exclusivity deal with eInk.

Hackers likely won’t find an easy route to hack the cover, but it can be ripped off and manipulated through the custom circuit board unless you, the hacker, can adapt an entirely new controller onto it. The built-in battery is expected to last 90 days and the soldered battery is said to be easily replaceable. The cover itself will be about three millimeters thick to accommodate the overall binding of the magazine. This is going to be awesome and the fact that Esquire is doing it is even better. You would think that Wired or some other tech/nerd mag would have done it years ago.