Computerworld

Live party Webcast Planned for New Year

Non party goers will be able to celebrate via PC at the live webcast of one of the biggest millennium bashes - the midnight Y2K celebration in New Yorks's Times Square

If you haven't made plans for ushering in the new millennium, don't panic: You can always pop the cork at your computer.

On Dec. 31, you'll be able to party along with a live Webcast of one of the world's biggest New Year's Eve bashes: the midnight Y2K celebration in New York's Times Square. In addition to watching the lighted ball drop on your computer screen via streaming video, you'll be able to toast the new era with celebrants in other global hotspots such as Cairo, Paris and London. (And the morning after, you can point your browser to http://www.hangovercure.com/.)

"Times Square 2000 will be the biggest party on Earth, ever," claims Brendan Sexton, president of the Times Square Business Improvement District, the host agency for the annual ball drop. "This Web site gives everyone a chance to be part of the action."

TimesSquare2000.com was developed by Times Square BID, Times Square Media, and Countdown Entertainment. The site is scheduled to go live Sept. 22 with a public event in, where else?, Times Square. In the next few months, TimesSquare2000.com plans to give away New Year's Eve trips to New York, including airfare, accommodations at the Doubletree Suites hotel, and tickets to a Broadway show.

Before and after the Big Night, TimesSquare2000.com visitors will also be able to get tourist information on New York; participate in auctions and chats; and buy Times Square-related merchandise and memorabilia.

On New Year's Eve Y2K, Webcams supplied by EarthCam.com, the portal to Webcams all over the globe, will deliver video feeds from Times Square as well as from such global hotspots as Cairo, Tokyo, and Paris. A concert performed by musicians (still to be determined) from around the world will be seen and heard exclusively at TimesSquare2000.com and on the huge monitors in Times Square.

After millennium madness ends, TimesSquare2000.com will morph into TimesSquareAlive.com, an online hub for New York visitor information, future New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square, and related links.