At least make it look like business is good

Just in time for the recession, companies like WindowGain and NeoScape are doing what they can to brighten up those unsightly boarded-up and/or broken-window storefronts. Their mission: turn empty urban windows into digital message displays. “It’s an innovative way to activate empty storefronts with new technology,” Randi Lathrop, who has overseen pilot projects in Boston, tells the Boston Globe. I’ve passed the display at the old Barnes & Noble building; frankly, I couldn’t tell what it was for, but the Globe calls it “propaganda from the city of Boston … with information from sponsors like the Massachusetts State Lottery and Verizon.”