My flight last night from Chicago to Dallas was on an American 777.  This was the first time I’d been on one, as most of my trips seem to be on S80’s and 737’s.  One of the good things about it was the in-seat video screens throughout the cabin, which included a status channel, which showed the position of the aircraft as well as altitude, speed, and outside temperature (we went from -56°F at 38,000 ft to 95°F on the ground;  I wonder how much stress that kind of temperature swing puts on the aircraft?).  However, I was in seat 43C, which is way in the back and has no visibility to any window.  I think a neat addition would be a channel with an outside view.  That way you could have sort of a virtual window in your seatback.  Of course, I have no idea how much it would cost to add something like this.  But the 777 already has tons of electronic bells and whistles, so it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to do it.

Maybe I’m weird, but even if I’m not in the window seat, I like being able to see what’s going on outside of the airplane.  The view from the ERJ-145 I took on my connection into Chicago was great (although a bit disconcerting at the end, as the pilot landed the plane just barely across the end of the runway; I was expecting us to land in a field for a minute ).