How Times Square Works | Hacker News Reader

How Times Square Works

gizmodo.com

72 pointsprostoalex15 comments

Times Square generates 11% of NYC's economic output? 385k jobs? I find these numbers difficult to believe.

"a little over half of which are in that bright sliver of Midtown, while the other half are strewn across the country supporting Times Square operations from designing the content on the signs to keeping the power plants that power them on line."

Except that those power plants power the entire city, not just Times Square, so counting all their employees as part of Times Square's contribution to the economy isn't accurate. A single 50-story office building probably draws more power than all the LEDs in Times Square - for lighting, cooling, ventilation, elevators, computer and electronic equipment, etc.

They aren't LEDs

Times Square is right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan, the biggest and best-paid central business district in the US including a lot of financial industry headquarters, so depending on how they define 'Times Square' (especially if they include, say, a 2-block radius, which would also include Rockefeller Center), that figure could be realistic.

Those offices, of course, aren't there because of the big LED signs & throngs of tourists— most New Yorkers I know would think of working around Times Square as a negative, and would prefer a less-touristy, less-crowded neighborhood.

Here's the (naturally biased) source for that, taken from the article's comments:

http://www.timessquarenyc.org/do-business-here/market-facts/...

I've developed control software for LED panels of the kind you see in Times Square a few years back. While that was for a different manufacturer, the hardware and control techniques aren't much different. The article makes it sound a lot more high-tech than it really is. They are interesting devices, especially when you get into strange shapes, but it's basically irrelevant how big your display is. The resolution matters, as well as the refresh speed. That's where the basic challenges lie.

There was a proposal a couple of years ago to allow giant advertising signs somewhere in the most blighted part of Market St, San Francisco. I saw a talk by one of the proponents (who just happened to own one of the buildings there), and he assured us that giant flashing signs would turn Market St into a Times Square or Piccadilly Circus. I was skeptical, but hey, I guess it couldn't hurt.

I have a friend who lived in an apartment in Melbourne - before and (briefly) after they put up a giant animated billboard next door.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/13840260364/

It looks OK during the day, but it's hard to adequately convey how incredibly bright this thing is at night, or how incredibly annoying it is to not be able to simply look out the window without high-contrast animated advertising right in your face. It doesn't help that they generally only run a few ads in a loop, over and over again. These things make housing anywhere around them a LOT less liveable.

He moved out.

I had a similar experience staying at a high-rise hotel in Tokyo.

My whole room flashed up every 2 seconds as the adverts scrolled over, similar to when a police car with lights on drives by your window.

You'd definitely want to invest in some very good shutters.

Very Blade-Runner-esque.

A new life awaits you in the Off-World colonies! A chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure!

Here are some real time views (that might be showing) some of those LED screens. In case you are not familiar with Times Square.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tstwo_h...

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tsrobo3

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tsstree...

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tsrobo1

The first link seems to point to one of those screens a lot of time, but you may end up see a bunch of tourist instead depending on where it's pointing...

what a garish nightmare. yuck.

It is and it isn't. It's such a horrible display of capitalism, advertising, and excess. But at the same time it's really neat technology and it makes for a pretty unique atmosphere. However, "Garish nightmare" is how I would describe the elmos and dora mascots running around.

It's Disneyland.

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