NewYearsEve
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How to stream New Year's Eve 2019 countdowns
If you'd rather stream New Year's Eve celebrations in North America than venture outside, you'll have plenty of options... including a novelty or two. The most notable example comes from Times Square itself, which will show the New York City ball drop for 2019 in all its glory. However, you can also watch well-known game streamer Ninja play in Times Square using Twitch. You're covered if Fortnite is more to your taste than champagne, in other words.
'Fortnite' New Year's event forces players to dance when it turns 2019
If you're spending New Year's eve playing Fortnite, be prepared to party. Epic Games has set up an in-game event to celebrate the changing of the calendar by dropping a giant disco ball from the sky and forcing everyone on the map to dance. The event occurs every time the clock strikes midnight in a new time zone, so don't panic when you see the ball drop and you don't have a glass of champagne ready to go.
NYPD will deploy a drone at Times Square on New Year's Eve
Security at Times Square tends to be extra-tight on New Year's Eve, but it's now poised to have some robotic support. The NYPD is deploying one of its new camera-toting drones at the event for the first time, giving it an aerial surveillance tool that's decidedly closer to the action than a conventional aircraft or helicopter. The machine will not only watch for trouble in the crowd, but wield "counter-drone technology" to keep potentially hostile vehicles at bay.
Netflix can help your kids ring in the New Year a bit early
While you're busy putting on a fancy dress or a shirt and tie for tonight's festivities, millions of parents around the world have to figure out how to trick their kids into going to bed at a decent hour on New Year's Eve so they can do the same. Netflix has a way to help. Available to watch right this instant, the streaming video juggernaut has a series of programming choices hosted by the likes of Inspector Gadget and the Care Bears to help the little ones ring in 2016 a few hours early. According to a survey Netflix administered earlier this month, some 97 percent of parents across the globe have at least one kid under 12 that they'll be celebrating with, MarketWatch says. And of those 9,000 parents polled, about half of them will have their kid-friendly celebrations domestically, in Australia and the United Kingdom over and done by 9 PM.
Flywheel has an answer to Uber's NYE surge pricing: $10 rides
Getting to and from your New Year's shindig can be an expensive hassle, even if you're not driving: you're either competing for a conventional (and thus costly) taxi or bracing yourself for the surge pricing of ridesharing services like Uber. Flywheel may have a relatively cheap solution for that night on the town, though. The app-based taxi service is running a promotion that charges you a flat $10 to get to or from your New Year's party in Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco or Seattle. The only stipulations for this low fare are that you travel between 8PM and 3AM, and that your ride wouldn't normally cost more than $50. You may not get from one end of the city to the other on the cheap, then, but the deal could save you from starting 2015 with a gigantic credit card bill.
Daily iPhone App: Ring in the New Year with the Official Times Square Ball App
It's New Year's Eve, which means there will be a rocking party in Times Square tonight. If you can't be in New York City for the shindig, you can still participate in the fun using the 2013 edition of the Times Square Official New Year's Eve Ball App. The official New Year's Eve app lets you watch a live stream of the events, including the midnight ball drop, from Times Square and even participate by submitting your own party photos. The top photos will be featured on the Toshiba Vision screen directly beneath the official crystal ball. The app also includes the history of the event as well as the news, photos and event schedule for the 2013 party. The Times Square Official New Year's Eve Ball App - 2013 is available for free in the iOS App Store.
Talkcast tonight, 10 pm ET: Another auld lang iSyne
We've yet to land directly on New Year's Eve with a scheduled TUAW Talkcast; the most recent Sunday night NYE was in 2006, years before we started the show, and the next Sunday alignment with 12/31 isn't until 2017. (We should all come to see it in good health.) One day off is as close as we'll get, so tonight we'll celebrate with a) a year-in-review show, and b) BYO libations. Uncork some vino, pop some bubbly or pour yourself a beer! You're among friends here. To participate live during the show, you can use the browser-only Talkshoe client, the embedded Facebook app, or download the classic TalkShoe Pro Java client; however, the best way to have your voice heard is to call in. For the web UI, just click the Talkshoe Web button on our profile page at 4 HI/7 PDT/10 pm EDT Sunday. To call in on regular phone or VoIP lines (viva free weekend minutes!): dial (724) 444-7444 and enter our talkcast ID, 45077 -- during the call, you can request to talk by keying in *8. If you've got a headset or microphone handy on your Mac, you can connect via the free X-Lite or other SIP clients (aside from Skype or Google Voice), basic instructions are here. Talk to you tonight!
Buzzed Buzzer helps you become even more annoying while drunk
Sure, we see plenty of specialized technology, day in and day out, but few of these modern movels target an often overlooked segment of the population: the incredibly drunk. Thankfully, Tyler DeAngelo, he of Fifth Avenue Frogger and Check 'N Chew, is on the case, teaming up Sacha De'Angeli to bring the world Buzzed Buzzer -- just in time for New Year's. The hack uses a standard New Year's party horn, a small micro controller and a breathalyzer alcohol sensor to create a party noise maker that only works when the user has imbibed a sufficient quantity of booze. There's a not particularly informative video after the break, but if you really want in on the action, consult the source link below for a full list of instructions, so you can be the loudest drunk at the party. And yeah, if the buzzer works for you, please refrain from blowing it at your designated driver.
Man eats iPhone 4 at New Year's Eve celebration
We admit, we tricked you a bit with that headline -- India's Krishna Kalyan actually ate a cake for New Year's Eve, which is not nearly as extraordinary (or painful) as actually chowing down on a Retina Display and an A4 processor. But it was a cake that looked remarkably like an iPhone 4 -- as you can see to the right, the screen is very detailed, with fully-rendered icons (and even some push notifications waiting to be read as well). Sure, the shape is a little more cake-like than iPhone-like, but I like the tasty little home button and the frosting dock connector down below. The only thing missing? Get those icons in some folders, man! You've just got them hanging out all over the place. And while we're at it, does anyone really keep their Photos or iTunes Store apps on the front home screen any more? We've all pushed those off of the first page for more useful apps, right? At any rate, excellent cake. Happy New Year to one and all -- hope you all had a good and safe one no matter what you were doing. Now back to work!
PSA: iPhone alarms not working come New Year's Day 2011
We're not exactly sure of the cause of this fancy new issue affecting Apple's super cool iPhone line of cellphones, but apparently you've got trouble come 1/1/2011. According to an explosive stream of frustration-filled tweets on the Twitter microblogging service, when the clock strikes midnight, one off alarms will cease to sing out. The issue sounds eerily similar to recent Daylight Savings Time trouble we witnessed back in November, although we saw both repeating alarm and single alarm failures. So how can you fix this potentially life-ruining problem? Well until Apple patches its OS -- and it's currently unclear if this is just iOS 4.2.1 or earlier versions as well -- you can simply create a recurring alarm at the time you need to be woken up, and then disable it once your dreams are completely ruined. We're taking a deeper look into the issue and have contacted Apple -- if we get more news, you guys will be the first to know. In the meantime, feel free to commiserate in comments, and... happy new year? Update: 9to5 Mac says that the bug will get fixed all by itself once the calendar hits January 3rd. We haven't confirmed this, but if it turns out to be the case, that's pretty good news. In less good news, the issue seems to be affecting iOS 4.1 and 4.0.2 as well. Update 2: Apple responded to us on the issue, though they didn't offer any surprises: We're aware of an issue related to non repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2. Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
TUAW's Daily App: Seafood Watch
Here's another Daily App choice that's a little more practical than a lot of the games we've been covering lately. Seafood Watch is an app updated with information about fish from all over the world, letting you see at a glance where the fish you're eating probably came from and not only how nutritious it is for you, but how good for the environment as well. The app is designed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and finding information about the fish on your table or at your supermarket is as easy as pulling up a guide to browse, doing a search for the fish name or even checking around your location. Plus, as New Year's Eve is tonight, there's even a sushi guide. So when the sushi gets passed around a little before midnight, you can take a look at the guide and know exactly where that sashimi came from. Seafood Watch is a free download from the App Store for the iPhone. Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve tonight!
New Year's App Blowout lowers prices on some iOS apps
The sales are almost all done this holiday season (EA , you may have noticed, has raised its prices back up from that 99 cent price point that was so strong during Christmas), but here's one more to help you pick up a a few more iOS games to play over New Year's. The third annual New Year's app blowout features a deal put together by a bunch of indie developers, and it's offering sales on some really great iPhone and iPad apps. I can heartily recommend Battle for Wesnoth for just 99 cents, and DisplayPad for just $2.99 is a nice deal as well. Other than those, some of the games on the list look worth a try, and there are some that have dropped all the way to free, so jump on in and download those. Hopefully, after all of the new games out this holiday season and all of the crazy sales on apps from earlier on this year, you've got more than enough to play on your iOS device. But just in case you don't, feel free to take advantage of this last big "blowout" before we head on into whatever magical apps we'll see in 2011.
Ring in the New Year on your iPhone with the official Times Square Ball app
Ever wanted to be in Times Square on New Years Eve instead of in your buddy's basement? Well, good luck with that. In the meantime you can download the first official Times Square Ball app. The app lets you live vicariously through those that are there and features the countdown clock (synced to your time zone), and it also includes a commercial-free, mobile stream of the webcast event. For those that are actually going to be there, the app offers news, weather, photos, maps and schedules for the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration. Additionally, you can check-in via Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter, and you'll be shown exactly how many miles you are from the festivities. Times Square Official New Year's Eve Ball is a free download.
Times Square New Year's Eve ball drop brought to you by... some furiously pedaling tourists
Hey, if you're in New York City and bored on New Year's Eve, well, maybe you feel like working? Duracell's set up its Smart Power Lab in the heart of Manhattan, along with several Power Rovers, which are stationery bikes that generate renewable energy when pedaled. You see where this is going, right? That energy is being stored up and harnessed by Duracell to power the ball we watch drop every year, which boasts about 9,500 LEDs. Fun times, if you're not averse to the freezing cold, the screaming crowds, the garbage, and the awful music. Or you could always do what we do, and stay home in your jammies watching Twin Peaks -- but it's really up to you. Either way, we're glad to see the ball is no longer powered by Dick Clark's rage. There's one more shot after the break.
