App lets revellers ring in New Year’s Eve remotely

NEW YORK: Revellers who can’t make it to New York’s Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve can download an app to make sure they see the ball drop.

More than a million people from around the world flock to the famous area in Manhattan which hosts one of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve celebrations. Another billion across the globe tune in on their TVs.

“It’s one moment where 100 million Americans are all doing the same thing at the same time. They’re all counting down to the same time thing,” said Jeff Straus, president of New York City Countdown Entertainment, which organises the event.

With the Times Square Ball app for iPhone and Android, people not near a TV can tune in to the festivities from their smartphones. The app features a live six-hour webcast that will be available on New Year’s Eve, with behind-thescenes interviews, musical performances, countdowns and the fall of the Times Square Ball.

“We created the app because there’s a whole other audience that can’t be near their televisions or are overseas, but still want to be part of it and count down those final seconds with us,” Straus said.

The app will include tweets from the Times Square Ball, which will be tweeting news and photos of the event from its perch high above the crowds.

The ball, which has been dropped every year since 1907 except for 1942 and 1943, is now 3.6m in diameter, weighs nearly 6 tons and is adorned with more than 32 000 LED lights in varied colours.

The free app also has a countdown that can be configured to different time zones. – Reuters