Now here's an experiment that could change the face of newspapers for good. Belgian daily De Tijd is launching a three-month trial of the world's first "digital paper."

In April, the Antwerp newspaper will provide 200 subscribers with a portable device, with a paper-thin screen roughly the size of a newspaper page. Each morning, users will download the daily edition, which will be updated regularly when users connect via wifi technology, in a café or their office, for example.

The screen, developed by US company E Ink and Holland's iRex technologies, contains millions of black and white microcapsules. Low voltage currents - 100 times lower than laptop PC screen energy levels - cause the microcapsules to form letters and images. A full charge can power the device for a week, while its memory can hold a month of newspaper editions, plus office documents and books. Said to be as sharp as newspaper print, the screen images can also be read indoors and outdoors.

When the reader "turns the page", the dots rearrange themselves.

According to an interview in Monsters and Critics, De Tijd will appear in three different screen styles. One with the complete page, just like a newspaper, another with a list of article headlines and a third with a full-page treatement of a selected story.

While E-Ink is still working on colour editions and moving pictures are thought to be a few years away, the e-paper exploits today's obsession with interactive features. Readers can write comments directly onto the screen, as with a handheld PDA device or tablet. It memorises readers searches for property, jobs and potential partners. It has indepth coverage of selected topics at the touch of a screen. Clicking on an advertisement takes the reader directly to the advertiser's website.

While its an expensive trial, De Tijd's board reckons the device could save money in the long run by ending the industry's dependence on paper, printers and distribution. Additionally, its "live" nature appeals to advertisers, as they can program their advertisements to reflect the time of day - "Coffee and cereals in the morning, beer and snacks in the evening", as Monsters and Critics puts it.

Rival publishers will pay close attention to the trial. Digital paper offers the best features of traditional newspapers and the web. If De Tijd can persuade users to pay for a portable web newspaper on a device that costs little more than an iPod, it could shake up the business models of quite a few websites and newspapers.

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