Technology allows you to be a part of history in Obama book

— -- Electronic readers, custom online photo books, print on demand ... somewhere, Gutenberg is marveling at how publishing continues to evolve.

The Obama Time Capsule, which goes on sale exclusively at Amazon amzn Wednesday, represents another novel approach to custom, print-on-demand publishing. Every single copy sold can be personalized. I added a couple of pictures and (very) limited prose to make my book unique.

This 200-page wide hardcover coffee-table book, selling for $35, chronicles a two-year span during President Obama's election campaign and his first 100 days in office.

Time Capsule is not a photo book per se, though it sports brilliant images from more than 140 professional photographers and is the brainchild of Rick Smolan, creator of the best-selling Day in the Life photography series. It also includes essays from Colin Powell, Joe Klein, Auma Obama (his half-sister) and Arianna Huffington, among others.

But what really sets it apart is the tech hook.

After ordering the book at Amazon, you'll receive an e-mail with a link that takes you to the Time Capsule website. You'll have 10 days to customize the book there or it will get shipped as is. You get to write a dedication, and your name appears on the cover (and an inside page) as one of the authors, next to Smolan and co-project director Jennifer Erwitt.

You can upload one image to appear on the back cover and another that will appear on a page next to pictures of Sean Penn, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities. There's also a place-holder for your kid's Obama-related artwork.

The whole drill can be done in less than five minutes, provided it doesn't take long to browse for the images you want to include (2 megapixels or greater for the best results). You can resize photos and preview how they'll look on the page. You can make changes up until you click a "publish my book" button. I'd have loved just a few more places to insert my own stuff. Completed books are slated to arrive in two to three weeks.

"We hope this will be the world's first print-on-demand New York Timesbest seller," says Andrew Bolwell, director of new business initiatives at Hewlett-Packard. HP supplies print-on-demand technology and is lead sponsor. Google, Facebook, AOL, Microsoft, Blurb and paper manufacturer NewPage also participated. Smolan says his fantasy is to sell 50,000 copies.

Two technological stunts wowed me. My name appeared in a photo of the inaugural invitation, making it look as though I'd actually been invited. Similarly, it looked as though Obama addressed me in a BlackBerry text message sent before he headed to Grant Park in Chicago on election night.

Bolwell says that up to half of books printed are never sold. "Print on demand means you only print a book or a magazine after someone's ordered it and only printed for the person who bought it. Books like The Obama Time Capsule would not be possible without print on demand. We really believe that this is the future of publishing."