A Newspaper Box That Delivers

IT'S HARD TO BEAT relaxing with a morning cup of coffee and the front page, especially for a newspaper junkie like me. And since I'm also an editor at the Birmingham News, I have to keep up on what other papers look like. So I built a modern newspaper box, which displays hundreds of front pages from papers all over the world in a refurbished newspaper vending machine. All it takes to make one besides the box, easily found on eBay is an old computer, an LCD screen, and a script that automatically pulls the pages from the Web site www.newseum.com. It can serve up all sorts of other newsy content as well, like video podcasts, and screensavers that display updated headlines from RSS feeds. Or you can set a script to launch a playlist of your favorite music or videos from your iTunes library and turn the box into a giant jukebox or retro alarm clock. The best part is, you never need any quarters.

BUILD A DIGITAL NEWSSTAND
5 HOURS
$715 (FOR BASIC SETUP)
EASY HARD 2

PARTS
Used newspaper vending machine ($60; ebay.com)
LG 17-inch flat-panel LCD monitor L1733TR-SF ($220; bestbuy.com)
Used Mac Mini 1.42GHz G4 with 80GB hard drive ($430; ebay.com)
Spray paint ($3; hardware store)
Corner brackets and screws ($2; hardware store)

OPTIONAL
Speaker system
Rope lighting
Printer
17-inch touchscreen monitor

  1. Peel away the decals on the box, scrub off the dirt, and lightly sand the surface before spray painting the exterior. Take care to protect the clear acrylic window. Replace it if it's too scratched or cloudy, or remove it to install a touchscreen display.
  2. Find a 17-inch monitor with a casing that matches the window size. Lay the monitor (minus its stand) face-down on the inside of the door, and secure it with the brackets and screws.
  3. Add rope lighting inside the case to make it easier to see if you need to tweak the setup, as well as to add a cool glow to the box. If you want the newsstand to play music, install a subwoofer and satellite speakers. And if you still crave ink on your hands, there's room inside for a printer.
  4. Place the Mac on the shelf inside the box. Set it up, and connect it to your Wi-Fi network (it'll be a lot easier with a keyboard and a mouse). Create a script with software such as AppleScript or Automator to download images from the Web and start a slideshow. Use iCal, another Mac application, to trigger the script each morning.