Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Test!

NJTechReviews headed into Times Square earlier today for quite an awesome event! We were on hand to see the New Year’s Eve Ball’s final test before the big celebration tomorrow night! Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips Lighting Company, and Jeff Straus, President of Countdown Entertainment, got to hit the giant Philips Light Switch which illuminates the ball as it heads up to the top of the pole. The famous crystal of the ball is the Waterford Crystal and there are 2,688 crystals on the ball. It comes in at 6 tons and is 12 feet across, it will go up a 130-foot pole that sits atop One Times Square. And I had the chance to go up to the top and watch the magic of the Times Square Ball up close. All of the lovely designs and color on the ball are powered by 32,256 Philips Luxeon LED’s. You can see a video of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball Drop Test below. Be sure to check it out! I had the pleasure of being able to interview Ed Crawford the CEO of Philips Lighting Company as well. When asked “How long Philips had been doing the ball drop in Times Square” he answer, “Philips has been involved with the Times Square Ball for 13 years now. We started with the Millennium Ball in 1999. We have been involved for 13 years but the really exciting stuff has happened in the last 5 years since we’ve switched over the ball to LED technology”. “Can you tell me about the ball?”, I asked . Crawford responded, “There are 12,256 individual LED chips inside the ball and the ball is 12-feet in diameter and weighs almost 6 tons. It is quite an engineering feat. I then asked, “Are you going to be here tomorrow night? he responded, “It’s one of the fun parts of my job, I get to come tomorrow night and flip the switch at 6 o’clock to make the ball go to the top of the pole and then Mayor Bloomberg gets to flip the switch at midnight to make it come down. And I’ll be down in Times Square with a million other people enjoying that”. “And how long does it take the ball to go up and down”, I asked. “Well it takes to 2 minutes to go up all the way to the top of the pole but, it takes a minute to come down at midnight. So they’ll flip the switch at 11:59 and when it hits the bottom, it will be the new year!”, replied Crawford. I would like to thank Ed Crawford for doing interview! When you think about all of the different celebrations that happen around the world on New Years Eve, you think of the Ball. NYC is the only place has the ball dropping, Australia, Disney World, and most other places have fireworks. The Ball goes back to maritime tradition of lowering the balls at 12, and this continues to happen today both on the seas and in Times Square! People were also busy preparing around 3,000 balloons that will be distributed tomorrow night, New Years Eve, to the thousands of people who go to Times Square for the festivities and of course to see the ball drop! NJTechReviews will have a stream of the celebrations going on in Times Square on the site, and of course it will be streamed around the world. You can watch it from the comfort of your house if you can’t make it into the city. Be sure to check out the Official 2013 Times Square Ball Application for your mobile device! It is free and is your all access pass to be part of the fun. You will get a mobile stream of the 6-hour live broadcast, a countdown graphic, the ability to upload a photo and have a chance of it appearing on the Toshiba Vision billboard in Time Square and much more! The best part is that the app is completely free, You Can Get More Information On It By Clicking Here. We have a photo gallery of the Ball Test Drop and of the balloon preparation below, and be sure to check out the New Year’s Eve Ball Test On Top Of Times Square Video as well! Happy New Year From Everyone At NJTechReviews!