Extra-bright ball to drop at Times Square

NEW YORK -- You'd better bring shades if you're headed to the annual New Year's Eve bash in Times Square: The new crystal ball that slides down the flagpole at midnight will beam twice as brightly as its predecessor and emit millions more lighting effects.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Big Apple's ball-drop ritual, Waterford Crystal and two lighting design firms have collaborated on a glitzy yet "green" globe that reflects "a marriage of technology and tradition," Times Square Alliance president Tim Tompkins says. The 1,212-pound computer-controlled orb incorporates 672 crystal triangles and 9,576 LED lights that can project 16 million color combinations in countless patterns — yet the creators say it uses only the same amount of energy as 10 toasters.

Depending on weather, 500,000 to 1 million revelers are expected to jam the streets around One Times Square to witness the ball's debut, and 1 billion TV and online viewers are expected to tune in around the world.

"There's absolutely nothing like being in Times Square with a billion people watching you and confetti falling out of the heavens and everybody singing New York, New York. It's a great moment for New York and for the country," Tompkins says.

For the first time the confetti will contain scraps of paper bearing personalized wishes for the new year that have been submitted by visitors to the Times Square Information Center or posted online at timessquarenyc.org. Carrie Underwood, Alicia Keys, Lenny Kravitz, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers are among artists scheduled to perform in Times Square and Rockefeller Center.

But this year's true star will be the globe, the fifth in a series of balls that have dropped every year since 1907, with the exception of the 1942-1943 "dim-out" period during World War II. The tradition was borrowed from the nautical world, in which ball drops were staged in ports to help captains synchronize their instruments.

The popularity of Manhattan's New Year's Eve celebration has ebbed and flowed with the fortunes of the city. It attained its current vibrancy in the late 1980s when crime began dropping, the local economy strengthened and Dick Clark staged his now-iconic TV special, Tompkins says. Now, more than 200 TV and Web outlets will carry feeds from the event, hosted this year by Clark and Ryan Seacrest.