Triangle Waterford Crystals Installed on New Year's Eve Ball
The Times Square New Year's Eve crystal ball had 300 new triangle Waterford crystals installed for this year's drop. The crystals this year will have an interlocking ribbon pattern woven into a Celtic knot. The design was created for the theme of 2010, "Let there be courage." Take a look:
To celebrate the launch of the Droid this Friday, Verizon Wireless is creating an interactive experience that allows New Yorkers to control two of Times Square's largest digital billboards - the NASDAQ and Reuters signs - using voice commands. The billboards will instruct passersby to call a toll-free number (1.888.376.4336) to search for something in the Times Square area. Droid is a new smartphone from Motorola that is powered by Google's Android software.
You can read more about Droid here on an earlier post and here on the Motorola Droid website.
Time Square now has people sitting out in lawn chairs thanks to the new traffic rules that bar cars from sections of Broadway from 47th to 42nd streets and 35th to 33rd streets. The removal of cars was done intentionally as a way to reduce both pollution and traffic. Mayor Bloomberg says if it causes too much congestion they will rethink they idea. Take a look:
Billboardreports that Virgin Entertainment will be closing its Time Square Megastore. Billboard says the store is the highest volume music store in the United States. Vornado plans to lease the space to Forever 21.
The store has been at the center of speculation since August 2007 when the Virgin Entertainment Group North America was acquired by two real estate companies - the Related Cos. and Vornado - in a joint venture.
Last June, a Vornado executive told Reuters that the store would shut down in the first quarter of 2009. The decision to close the store appears related to real estate and the value connected to the location. That executive was quoted as saying that Virgin pays only $54 per square-foot when the market rent in the area is about $700 a square foot.
So, while the store, which does an estimated $55 million in annual volume, is profitable to the tune of $6 million, according to sources, the space would be even more profitable for its owner with a higher rent tenant. Vornado bought the 180,000 square foot retail component of the Bertelsmann building, which houses the Times Square store, in 2006, and will lease the space to Forever 21, according to press reports.
The store will close and April and then Forever 21 will take over the lease.
New York City's Time Square was packed as revelers came to watch the annual ball drop despite the frigid temperatures. Here's a clip of the ball drop from sixty seconds out when Bill and Hillary Clinton got the ball drop started. Happy New Year!
Preparations Ongoing for Wednesday's New Year's Eve Celebration in Times Square
Reuters has more details on the preparations for the ball drop in Times Square on Wednesday night. The Reuters video shows them installing the Waterford crystal triangles in the LED-powered Time Square Ball. It also shows people testing the confetti - they have to make sure the paper will float in the air. As we mentioned earlier details about the New Year's Eve ball can be found here.
2009 Times Square Ball Contains 2,668 Waterford Crystal Triangles
Pete Gravagna and Christopher Obianke from Landmark Signs install some of the 2,668 Waterford Crystal triangles that will be part of the 2009 Times Square Ball. The ball will set on top of One Times Square in New York and will make its annual descent just before midnight on New Year's Eve.
News10Now says the Waterford Crystal used on the ball was subjected to computer testing and wind tunnel testing to make sure it would survive tornado strength winds of 140 mph hour.
The ball this year is also a 12 foot geodesic spehere powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS. It can create a plette of over 16 million colors.
The new Times Square New Year's Eve Ball is a 12 foot geodesic sphere, double the size of previous Balls, and weighs 11,875 pounds. Covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals and powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon Rebel LEDS, the new Ball is capable of creating a palette of more than 16 million vibrant colors and billions of patterns producing a spectacular kaleidoscope effect atop One Times Square.
You can read more about this year's Time Square Ball here. Below are some photos of what the ball will look like.
Photo: Countdown Entertainment
Update 1-1-09: You can see a clip of the ball drop in New York City here.
Toys R' Us Time Square Store to Stay Open 134 Continuous Hours
Crain'sreports that Toys R' Us plans to keep its Times Square flagship store open for 24 hours a day beginning at 6 a.m. on Dec. 19 through 8 p.m. on Dec. 24th. That will be 134 continuous hours.
The Toys "R" Us news comes mere days after rival KB Toys, which has seven stores in New York City, including a location in the Manhattan Mall, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. KB Toys began preparation for going-out-of-business sales this past Friday. Though Toys "R" Us may face added competition as price-conscious shoppers flock to heavily discounted items at KB Toys, some experts still expect Toys "R" Us to attract more consumers because of its selection.
"The hot toys at KB will sell out really fast, if there even are any," said Chris Byrne, a toy industry consultant. "The rest of the closeouts are what people aren't really looking for." He added that in contrast, Toys "R" Us is known for maintaining a strong inventory of popular sell-out toys, such as Elmo Live and Disney Clickables.
Toys R' Us in has some unique features at its Times Square flagship store including an indoor Ferris Wheel, 20-foot high Jurrasic Park T-rex and a two-story Barbie House. (via Retailer Daily)
Billboard 
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