The Kiosk That Prints Magazines and Newspapers On Demand

Sweden has always been renowned for its ability to build and innovate. Vikings built incredible vessels to cross the North Sea, Ikea emerged as the home of furniture and now Swedish media company Meganews has built a print-on-demand magazine kiosk in Stockholm. So next time you find yourself walking through Sweden's capital and craving Time or Sweden's popular gossip magazine Se og Hör, you can just waltz up and receive a fresh addition.

Filling less then 4 square metres, the kiosk currently stocks more then 200 assorted magazines and journals in pdf form. Publishers upload the latest issue to a remote server, meaning that purchasers can access the most current issue. All they need do is select the periodical they desire via touchscreen, pay by credit card and within two minutes a newsstand-quality colour version will be printed ready for fingers to flick through.

The environmental benefits are significant. With issues printed on demand rather than printed and distributed en masse, it has the potential to save forests' worth of foliage. Other benefits of the machine include the lack of space it occupies, its ability to provide access where retail space is absent and (huzzah!) no creases or torn pages from casual shop browsers.

Whilst currently only residing in Stockholm, it surely will not be long before cities across the world appreciate this innovation and become populated by the kiosks. In the meantime, feel free to fly to Sweden and give it a go.

Via Gizmodo.