
How Times Square Works - prostoalex
http://gizmodo.com/how-times-square-works-1582269710?curator=MediaREDEF
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limsup
Times Square generates 11% of NYC's economic output? 385k jobs? I find these
numbers difficult to believe.

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msherry
"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."

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greenyoda
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.

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commanderkeen08
They aren't LEDs

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chton
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.

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afafsd
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.

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xyzzy123
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/](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.

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koyote
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.

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unsignedint
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=tstwo_hd)

[http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=tsrobo3](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=tsstreet)

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

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outside1234
what a garish nightmare. yuck.

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toxican
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.

