Refreshed App to Show NYC Times Square Countdown (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAxavLkxrLXmg4O-H_5bEHn8hwzAVIqSwX0ROXbOcL4vTX2gbMXR6R5JMh3Jwdi2I-qqHVwKbsd88HpHnrYRrDX6zubsFs-FLSMOGg4BoaxoHkpSMxvin9cGMXcRvHFvABXLO1k3Lljys/s1600/7040-times-square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAxavLkxrLXmg4O-H_5bEHn8hwzAVIqSwX0ROXbOcL4vTX2gbMXR6R5JMh3Jwdi2I-qqHVwKbsd88HpHnrYRrDX6zubsFs-FLSMOGg4BoaxoHkpSMxvin9cGMXcRvHFvABXLO1k3Lljys/s320/7040-times-square.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">The breathless drama of the Times Square New Year's Eve countdown has gone miniature with an app showing the live drop of the celebration's famed ball.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">The new version of the app, available on both Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating system, is simpler to use and more interactive than predecessors that emerged first at the close of 2010, said Jeffrey Straus, executive producer of Times Square New Year's Eve.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">"I would like to eventually see the whole world counting down together," he said Tuesday, his wish discounting time zones. "We can do that through mobile devices."</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Straus said about 469,000 people in 184 countries signed up for the app over the past four years, but he expects a significant bump in signups with the retooled app and its greater emphasis on interaction, including tweets between users and someone acting as the voice of the ball.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">"The ball is a man of few words," he joked, though he quickly added: "It really is a conversation that goes on."</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">The free app shows the broadcast of the celebration and lets users customize to time zones.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">The greater emphasis on electronics is a natural progression for the Times Square ball, Straus said. Fireworks at Times Square New Year's Eve celebrations beginning around 1904 dropped burning embers on revelers, leading the gathering's organizers to embrace electricity in 1907 in the form of a lighted ball, he said.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Now, the nearly 6-ton ball has grown in diameter to 12 feet and contains more than 32,000 light bulbs. Its 70-foot drop lasts a minute, famously counted out loud.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Straus said more people will be counting thanks to the app, wherever they are.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">"It gets back to the heart of what Times Square New Year's eve is: truly a global celebration."</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">———</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Online:</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;">Times Square ball countdown app: http://bit.ly/19nG81O</div></div>

Refreshed App to Show NYC Times Square Countdown (BLOG)

The breathless drama of the Times Square New Year's Eve countdown has gone miniature with an app showing the live drop of the celebratio...

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