Times Square Ball 2008 revealed

[johnson9dantheman]

I want that ball!!!!

[andrei784]

:D wow

[Dance1187]

2009 will be the best year ever i guess thats why the ball is bigger bc

1. obama is president

2. economy is improving

3. and 2009! lol

[chargersfan1111]

the ball is going to be twice the size :D

[cathole612]

it needs to be bigger its America come on

[jjnonken]

It is. This year it's twice as big (12 feet in diameter), with much of the hardware redesigned. I'm happy to say they're still using a derivative of my code. Sad to say I don't work there any more, so it's somebody else's project.

[jjnonken]

They had to rebuild the support structure -- you know, the pole and motors that move it up and down, and everything holding them up -- in order to handle the weight. (Remember, the weight increases as a cube of the diameter, so twice the diameter means 8 times the weight. And last year we had to be careful not to exceed the requirements, so obviously this year requires a rebuild.)

At this time, I'm told, the plan is to use this new version for several years.

[octoron85]

Is Sam Gay?

[OddRee707]

I saw it before he did...

"...band new we're the first people to see it..."

no, you're not.

[OddRee707]

"it's supported by cables, i'm probably the first person to have done this;push the ball around.

sorry dude, i did it too.

[guitargodslash89]

oh look, at 3:41, ATLAS SHRUGGED!!!

[knaprincess94]

that is so cool!

[HoonurTX]

Wow, I didn't think it was that small.

[clarissa123412]

IT WASZ HOT BELIVE ME I WASZ DERE!

[Breil123]

You will see....The Times Square 2008 New Years ball!

[jjlucash]

I like this ball even better!

[OddRee707]

My Dad's work made this.

I saw them light it.

It's so freaking bright.

But they can dim it quite easily.

They can play movies on it.

It's pretty suhweet.

[highlife0586]

Wow...that is SO COOL

[jjnonken]

Turns out one of our guys has done the Atlas imitation, too. :)

[Abercr0mbie4life]

luxeon is pretty damn serious. I'm waiting for better LED based house bulb so my electric bill will only be like $5 a year just for lighting. I kinda miss the old school ball though.

[jjnonken]

I too am waiting for them to be more reasonably priced. I also want to see some new fixtures -- LEDs are quite easy to dim using modulating techniques. Standard incandescent dimmers won't work, but with the right circuits LEDs can be controlled precisely. And noiselessly.

I'm hoping that as LEDs become adopted more and more universally the economies of scale will bring the prices down.

[Tekkin58]

I'd like to see that drop, but even if it drops with that lighting, there will be the usual 1 minute when it drops.

[jjnonken]

Um, yes, there will be the usual show, ending with the one-minute countdown... not sure what you're trying to say?

[gamecock12695]

what are u talkin about???

[jjnonken]

"I was guaranteed there would be more." Yeah, and at several thousand dollars apiece, if you break one you're going to be in deep yogurt anyway. But there's not much chance of that, those things are pretty tough. Break your hand first. Way.

[jjnonken]

"There are over 9,500 Philips Luxeon LEDs." 8064 Philips Luxeon K2s and 1512 Nichia Rigels, and Philips probably would rather you didn't know about the Rigels. (Those make up the white lines between the triangles.) Total: 9576 LEDs.

"A colour palette of 16 million colours..." It's more complicated than that, but close enough. I'd have said "over 16 million colours."

[jjnonken]

My mistake. Apparently it was 1512 Philips Rebels; I thought they were Nichia Rigels.

They're still not Luxeon K2s. :)

[jjnonken]

This is edited from the TV show, with the segments spliced together. No fades or dissolves, so the scenes jump abruptly, but it shouldn't be too hard to follow.

"...You're the first people to see it...." Not really, no. But close enough.

"I think I'm the only person ever to have done this. Pushed the ball around." Um, no, Sam. You're not even the first. (Though he might be the first to do the Atlas imitation. We had it hanging too low for that.)

[jjnonken]

Turns out one of the shop guys -- the one who used to lift weights -- did the Atlas thing first. So you can't even claim that, Sam.