[^1:] I’m not clear yet at to whether this obscure mp3 link is the same Andrea Martignoni, but the sound is similar.  I’m looking into it.

First thing’s first. The Star-telegram of what? Where? I’ve pointed this out a million times, folks: when building a web site try to keep in mind that your audience is not omniscient. They don’t know where you live, what paper you write for, or most importantly when you wrote something. Now, of course, none of this is Mr. Kelly’s fault! This Star-telegram of [insert city name] is pretty typical of a lot of online papers that are starting to look positively ancient for their lack of understanding about both CSS and their inability to think outside of a box. I’ve just gotten to the point where when I reference another web site, it’s impossible for me not to point out the really obvious mistakes. At least this site puts “posted on” dates on the page. A lot of these little newspaper sites don’t even realize that’s important. But, before I quit the nit-picking, one more thing. Right alongside the article is a list of “related links.” I cannot understand what part of the concept of the hyperlink newspapers and other online publications (CNN is the worst) don’t understand. They must seriously be worried that their content is so useless, so banal, that if they put a hypertext link in the middle of the column we will just click away. And they’re probably right. But that’s no excuse not to use the medium properly.

On to the review! To an extent, he’s right. A lot of computer animated film has taken on the rather droll task of portraying something odd but realistically and have forgotten one of the major tenets of cartooning: cartoons can do things that real people and things cannot. Of course, with special effects that line gets blurred every day. Bugs still has the upper hand though when it comes to stopping a crashing plane because it ran out of fuel. I’d really like to know where the surreal comedies like Bugs and Ren and Stimpy are.

Still though, one thing Pixar understands a lot more than the also-rans (yes, Shrek included) is style. Pixar is the Disney of computer animation and if you look at Disney characters you are going to see a lot of uniformity in style. Their eyes are the same; their body types are the same. Even the older movies’ rotoscopic animation was all the same. Pixar, even throughout major technological shifts has maintained a Pixar-look and I think a certain amount of that is perfectly fine. Nobody would cut down Nick Park for looking “too Nick Park.”

In fact, what bothers me about the also-rans (Shrek, Ice Age, Antz, Sharks Tale) is how blobular and generic they all look. There’s no personality to the character design—or it’s very diluted at any rate. Pixar established it’s look way before Toy Story if you have a look at their shorts and they have some right to look shiny and plastic-y because they’ve been doing computer animation for so long. The others have no excuse other than their lack of talent—that and their driving motivation seems to be crapping out as many as they can for the money. I would trust a guy like Crapzenberg [Katzenberg, Dreakworks Animation Chief drollmaker] to do exactly that. Anyone who let himself get quoted as saying, “‘It’s great,’ Katzenberg says, ‘but what I think you need to do is have her kick him in the nuts.’” Wow. I am in awe of his genius.

Digital paper is nothing short of amazing. E Ink explains some of specs as follows:

“Less than 300 microns thick, the paper-white display is as thin and flexible as construction paper. With a 10.1″ diagonal, the prototype achieves SVGA (600×800) resolution at 100 pixels per inch and has a 10:1 contrast ratio with 4 levels of grayscale.”

Also of note is the fact that digital paper displays use 100 times less energy than even an LCD. What this means is that digital paper opens the door to the ubiquitous display of real-time information. While ubiquitous computing is already mostly a reality (RFID tags and chips in everything) the next logical step is to provide a ubiquitous display. Digital paper doesn’t just mean cheap displays for cell phones. It means real-time displays for advertising, billboards, wall paper, magazines and much more.

Some folks question the economics of this but I think they haven’t done the math. Zymurgyboy over at slashdot summed the point up well:

… It could turn out to be less expensive [than paper] in the end. Paper is only cheap up front. Storing paper is what makes it expensive (my emphasis added). The cost of disk space is plummeting, while the cost of real estate is rising. Not to mention, the paper making process creates some of the most toxic chemicals known to man.

I’d think of the TCO (Total Cost of Operation) for this the same way I do with shoes. Don’t be afraid to spend the money on better quality. They’ll last longer, you’ll comsume less, and you won’t have to replace them, nearly as frequently. A few pairs of carefully chosen, high quality shoes will save you more money than a closet full of cheap ones in the long run without sacrificing too much flexibility.

The economic advantage couldn’t be put better. Above all else, digital paper is the ultimate in recyclable paper and its advent will have an effect parallel to that of the general acceptance of the laser printer. The big todo about the computer was the possibility of the paperless office, but what really happened was an explosion of printing. While the internet was creating the instantaneous transmission of documents, displays simply hadn’t caught up with the usability of paper, hence everyone printing out their emails. The proliferation of jokes and retro PDA articles say a lot about the usability of current displays and digital paper answers several of those challenges by working in bright and regular light, creating energy savings and even retaining a static image when the power is off.

Full color isn’t there yet and I don’t believe the refresh rate of these screens (read: animation capability) is very high but these are just engineering problems that will no doubt be solved in a few years. But make no mistake, digital paper is a major shift toward ridding ourselves of the computing paradigm that is the box in the office.

Technorati tags: digital paper, ubiquitous computing, media, E-ink