According to officials, the idea is to “reach younger residents who spend more time on the Xbox, PlayStation or Wii than with television or radio” and it’s actually part of a bigger program called Empire 2.0. Other things happening under the Empire 2.0 project include:

[T]he Department of Mental Health is monitoring some Facebook posts in an effort to spot suicidal behaviour, the Office of Homeland Security is using Second Life to train 700,000 first responders, and senior members of the state CIO’s office are using Twitter to disseminate information about technology initiatives to the public.

Basically, it feels like a good blend between the services and technology we use every day and important government programs. Now we just need a way to get emergency alerts to those of us who no longer watch live TV, listen to regular radio or play video games much. Or am I the only one? [Information Week via Slashdot]

The USS New York is a San Antonio-class amphibious assault vessel, which can carry 800 marines with their helicopters. The steel from the World Trade centre was used for its bow. If you are in New York, you can see it today near Zone Zero, on the south tip of Manhattan. [USS New York via Times Online]

There are four separate 3′x4′ panels that represent Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. When they’re combined, you’ve got one gorgeous piece of wall art.

I wouldn’t try and take it on a road trip though. [Dude Craft via Neatorama]

It’s part of a test program on the L line, where they installed boards telling people when the next train would arrive last year. This is just the next step. If it goes well, presumably, they’ll expand it to other lines as well. Like the Q! Bring it to the Q, MTA! Please! [Gothamist; pic via Kate Heffernan]

You’ll see broken and unrealised dreams, that is. With Museum of the Phantom City, an public art project of an app sponsored by the Van Alen Institute, you can explore the various “images and descriptions of speculative projects” for New York City. BLDGBLOG even romanticises the entire adventure (and justly so):

You walk past a certain corner on the Upper West Side and your iPhone starts to ring: you’re being called by a missing building… Absent structures detected in a wireless blur, leaving messages for you (complete with call-back number).

Missing buildings calling to you, potential designs chirping to make themselves known. It’s almost enough to make me book a flight and go for a stroll through Manhattan.

Actually, I may just have to book that flight anyway, because the app’s dowsing rod-like nature demands proximity to the buildings to view any information or images. Otherwise there’s a cold “Out of Range” popup. Time to pack a bag. [Phantom City via BLDGBLOG]

Some people use their Kindles to read books. Others get Kindles to spend hours practising crazy moves with them, like this reader today at the Gizmodo Gallery. Watch him spin the Kindle like a Michael Jordan would spin a basketball.

You’re being punked whenever you walk into Times Square: The massive billboards assaulting your eyeballs are much higher res closer to ground than they are up top. Engadget discovers this, and other secrets, going “hands on” with Times Square. [Engadget]

The 103-inch Panasonic plasma TV is back at Giz Gallery, and as absolutely ginormongous as we remembered. But, uh, how exactly do you install a 400kg television?

A veteran of over 50 events, this set has actually seen crazier installs: An outdoor event under a tent during heavy rain flooded the set’s power cables in front of a brigade of very upset Japanese executives. Then again, the week at Giz Gallery hasn’t even started yet. [Giz Gallery]