In a dusty supply closet at 1 Times Square, a computer terminal hooked up to hordes of ethernet servers, RAID arrays and monitors humbly runs the largest LED sign in the world. The sign, a 3-sided, 17,000-square-foot Goliath, debuted last night at the opening of a Walgreens in New York City. Today, I got to see what makes it tick. galleryPost('walgreenssign', 3, '');
Only back in May were we talking about another Times Square display—Walgreen’s one—and today Toshiba’s news is about its new display there. Sitting 86 metres in the air, the 15.6m by 16m display is a 1280 x 1248 pixel LED high-definition monster that uses some proprietary Technovirtual technology to create virtual pixels to achieve an even higher apparent resolution. It can show over a billion colours, and since it sits atop One Times Square, it’s got a pretty commanding view over the streets. And environmentalists may be pleased to learn it replaces a previous screen that consumed much more power. High-def advertising and green credentials? Impressive. [Toshiba]
We don’t normally think of glitz when we think of Walgreens, but maybe that’s entirely the point. The company is building the world’s “most complex, powerful and digitally advanced” sign to hover over their new flagship store. And 5 kms of it is covered with 12 million LEDs capable of producing a trillion colours. But that’s only part of the sign.
Most of us know the Times Square Ball as the symbol of the new year, fresh starts and the last moment of celebration before you puke up cheap champagne. But it’s also an interesting gadget, so to speak, changing with the times alongside consumer trends. So for its 100th birthday, we’ve made a mega timeline (big size after jump) to show the ball through its various tech fashions. And it’s pretty neat. Yes, we just said neat.
