Ken Kawamoto wanted something a little more inspiring to look at than the view from his living room, so he grabbed his home theater projector and set it up to project back on his window. In seconds he had a view he could tweak to be anywhere in the world: at the beach, in a far off city, or even in orbit.
Ken's video above shows you how he set everything up, and since he had white curtains (any bright-colored curtains would work here) on the inside of the window, he could see the view perfectly. His projector is a BenQ MW814ST, which is a perfect wide-angle, short-throw projector that's bright enough for the job. He used a looping video of the beach in one case, and beautiful photos of the forest and mountains in others. Alternatively, he transported himself into orbit, so he could have an ISS-style view of the Earth while he's sitting at his desk working. The nice thing about the project is that you can slap in whatever view makes you feel inspired.
Make no mistake, this is a project that's more fun than it is really useful. You have to be careful of leaving your projector set up outdoors (even though he notes you should build a cover for it and bring it inside after every use), and it only really works if you have the kind of apartment setup that Ken has, where you have a patio or balcony that you can use to project onto a sliding glass door or window with white curtains behind it. Still, it is fun, and if it works for you, it'd be a great way to change up the scenery from time to time, especially at night.
Hit the link below to read more about how he did it, and what he wants to do next to improve the setup.
Moving Windows, a Simple Way to Hack the View from Your Room | Kawamoto's Lab via Hackaday
via Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com
