Newsprint editions of newspapers are suffering from decreased circulation. And no wonder. You can't click on a link in a newspaper, or subscribe to rss feeds of only the kinds of news you are interested in following. What's worse is that after reading a paper -- and getting your fingers all smudgy, too -- you have to recycle the damn thing. And then there's the guilt. Who wants to imagine how many trees perished so you could read the morning rag?

And that's just your list of problems. The newspaper industry has issues with newspapers too. Fewer readers of papers leads to fewer advertisers footing the bills. Print and delivery costs can amount to 65 percent of newspaper expenses. News organizations need to find a way to eliminate the printing costs and material costs of producing paper newspapers.

Silicon valley startup Plastic Logic has created a Kindle-like device that will help news organizations save that money, while saving forests-full of trees. Originally spun off from a project developed at Cambridge University, Plastic Logic’s display feels about the same weight as a Kindle, but with a bigger screen. It is about a third as thick, is made from a lightweight and slightly flexible plastic, and it's wireless-ready to be used as a newsreader.

Most electronic reading devices use E Ink’s technology to create an image. Like paper, electronic paper technology doesn't need a backlight, remains displayed even when the power source runs down, and looks brighter, rather than dimmer, in strong light. It also draws little power from the device’s battery.

But since the Plastic Logic newsreader is an electronic device, newspapers can determine, as they can when you read online, who is reading their news, and which articles are being read. Their advertisers can understand their audiences better and direct the kind of focused advertising they're used to delivering on the web.

And that 65 percent newspaper expense savings? News organizations could spend that on a cadre of great journalists who would have the time to find and report news.

Via Treehugger