not just at work but this would be awesome at home for seasonal depression.

Seattle would be like the big market.

Got to love Feng shui for the uber rich and geeky.

I like how the circular "window" is supposed to draw your attention away from the anal rape device in the picture on the left.

...give users the impression that they have a beautiful outdoor view...

...If they're nearly blind and can't tell it's a piece of paper.

I don't know, but the fact that NOTHINGS moving would freak me out more than the tranquil aspect of the design... I mean if you're going to fake it, fake it good with some flat panels and throw on a looped DVD with some passing clouds and birds!

Does this remind anyone else of the Hive from the first Resident Evil movie?

@DucatiGuy: You could just put bluish panels up and then have sunlight shine through them that increases and decreases intensity as if clouds were moving across the sky ...

@DucatiGuy: I said sunlight, but I totally meant sunlamp.

It's been a long day.

Do they have bikini shots instead?

This actually makes me more depressed, knowing the fact that it is fake. It gives me this oogey feeling... Anybody understand me?

@Mr.Purple: I concur. If I want an indoor scenery to liven up an otherwise gloomy enclave, I'd rather get an aquarium. At least the loveliness is genuine.

My dentist has one of these installed, nothing like looking up at a motionless butterfly sitting on a tree branch while you get your teeth cleaned. It didn't appeal to me, but then again I'm not one of the patients who was getting veneers. I bet this would impress many of the people waiting in a plastic surgeon's office as well.

What you can't tell from these photographs is the perspective of a picture never changes as you move around your room or just swivel in your chair. As fake as they look in those shots, you'll never for a second mistake one for a window in real life.

This is about the most depressing shit I've seen. Nuclear winter suddenly doesn't seem all that bad.

I want to see the Quake nuclear cloud sky dual textures moving overhead to the NIN soundtrack in my conference room!

Static ceiling makes more sense than static windows.

At last my bathroom can have a window!

You could put a camera on the roof pointing at the sky then project the image on the ceiling.. or even better have a live feed from a beach in Hawaii projected through a window..

My dentist has something quite like this in her offices. I must say it was nicer to stare at that than the normal ceiling while having my mouth drilled open.

I have one of these above the shitter, its great.

Disappointing to hear it's just a static image. I would've totally liked to have hacked one to have a scene of destruction outside, like Godzilla attacking.

@gambrinus2

Or you can just buy some cheap real estate in Iraq and get real window with a live view courtesy of George W.

You could improve these with a little layering of several images on multiple pieces of glass, you could get a little change in perspective of treebranches and whatnot as you walked around the room. However, once you factor in the layered images and the room to put a real sun lamp behind them, it's going to take up quite a bit of space to install them.

I like the video screen idea better though. You could pull off some major War of the Worlds hoaxes on people if that's the only "window" in the room.

"Broadcasting beautiful views, 24 hours a day: you're tuned to The Scenery Channel."

The word you're looking for is "morale", not "moral". Don't you guys proofread any more?

My Dentist has that on the ceiling while he works on my teeth. It's supposed to calm you down and relax you. Does anyone like going to the dentist?

@Rhainor:

Yes. Thats all i can say.

GIZ!!! What's going on? Engadget did the same story like 3 years ago on the same company!!

@OPRAH: Yes, they did...no, they didn't...umm, WHO FRAKIN' CARES what another blog did or didn't do 3 years ago? "What's going on", OPRAH, is that Gizmodo has brought to our attention a fun trompe l'oeil ceiling gadget, a great little story already garnering thousands of views with dozens of comments (with more views/comments to come with tomorrow's early morning readers, I'm sure).

Are you suggesting that the first--and ONLY the first--news agency to find a story should be allowed to publish that story? Besides, neither Engadget nor Gizmodo are "news agencies" as much as they are entertaining blogs; "breaking news" is not at stake. The fact that this product might be 3 years--or 3 hours or 3 decades--old doesn't matter in the least if it is still a relevant and interesting product, which I'd say this is.

SCORE:
Gizmodo = 1
OPRAH = back to your couch

This is what i need to finish rec-room in my secret underground lair!

They are becoming more common in healthcare settings. The top left picture is a machine for giving radiation therapy to cancer patients. My wife is working on her doctorate in nursing, her thesis is related to room design and patient outcomes. There has been research done that shows that light level and view influences patient survival. If you find yourself in the hospital look for a southern view of trees for your best chance of getting back home.

That would be sweet for my office since I am on the 3rd floor of an 18 story building.

@GeekyNerdGuy

These do have some sence of three dimension, according to the sight "SkyCeilings utilize patent-pending elevators...giving SkyCeiling structures a 3-dimensional, architectural presence, like a real skylight." I have also seen these kinds of things that change with the time of day. In the hospital, folks tend to loose track of night and day, take them away from a window and it gets worse, but the pictures don't seem to help much, probably because they change color, but not light output.

@macserv: Even though you meant it as a joke, thats actually a really good idea, especially on BIG screen HDs. The local PBS channel broadcasts a fire in a fireplace all day Christmas day, while playing Carols, and its apparently VERY highly rated.

Request for Virtual Windows denied. IT said that your office already has Windows XP installed, meaning that the installation of "Virtual Windows" is not necessary.

OMFG I want one of these for my basement office/dungeon.

@justrick: yeah but you'd have to be careful it wouldn't throw off the whole 'leather and chains' motif you've been going for so far...

@Curves: My office has no window so they put a camera on the outside of our building pointing in the direction of what I should view. It feeds a flat panel on my wall where a window should be.

I love it.

Why bother with this? Mirrors are the way to go!

@Sora57: I know there are lots of great web cams on beaches and other scenes, that if they had a higher resolution and sound, I would watch a lot more of. Pretty cool to watch the sun rise on a beach in Australia while I look out the window at a blizzard in Ohio.

Looks great but I don't even consider things that don't display their cost.

@Curves: Agreed. Was in Hollister a couple of weeks ago and saw they had a "video window" with what looked like live footage from a beach in Santa Monica, CA. It was cool for a minute and then it felt like a tease. Damn sunny weather.

I would love one of those if it was a decent price I doubt it will be though.

Do they deliver to Austria?

This reminds me of Back to the Future part 2 with the scenic views over the windows, except those allowed you to change to different ones more easily.

I can see kidnappers and pedophiles all across the nation installing these things in their secret dungeon rooms.

I say we put them in prison cells and give inmates a view of a city street with a McDonalds in the picture so they'll always wish they had a big mac.....sheer torture.

Why not just give them an outside view of the prison if you're going to be cruel. A shot from the parking lot of your cell? Or perhaps some kind of future office prank involving a glass ceiling.

The picture on the left says to me:

"We finished installing your virtual skylight, sir. And for free we're throwing in... A GIANT ROBOT BRINGER OF DEATH!!!!"

I guess jail wouldn`t be so bad with one of this in your cell.

"I'll bet that if every boss in the US installed these in the offices of their employees, productivity and moral would skyrocket."

Its good to know that if offices had these, people would be able to distinguish a virtue and a vice better.

They have these at the clothing store Hollister Co. The only bad thing is, they get incredibly hot.

@macserv:
You beat me to it! This reminds me of that completely! And the camera feeds in Hollister are honestly the only reason I go in there.

@Rhainor: What's this "any more" business? Blog content is usually written and posted by the same person without ever being run by a copy editor or other fresh eyes. Think of every article as a public beta: you get to help edit by reporting bugs in the text. Isn't it more exciting that way? it's interactive! It's Web 2.0! Or something.

@OPRAH: So what? Try this: the next time a person with whom you are talking in person tells you something you already heard from someone else, consider whether it would be appropriate to tell that person in a really snotty, indignant tone that someone else already told you the same thing.

"DAD!!! What's going on? Mom told me to do the same thing like 3 hours ago on the same chore!!"