ITWire

A massively ginormous light show is being planned to accompany the traditional fireworks display during New Year’s Eve in Sydney, with Telstra and the “City of Sydney” working together to develop a special app to let revellers join in what is being called “an Australian first”.  

This app will, according to Telstra, sync iPhones and Androids with the app loaded at the appropriate times to stunning light and fireworks show.

It will also let you send up to 50 free text messages to your friends, presumably wishing them a Happy New Year, but only if you load those messages into the app before 6pm on New Year’s Eve.

Telstra’s marketing man, Mark Buckman, added that Sydney’s Harbour Bridge pylons would also be light up, with the app allowing you to send “celebratory messages” to be displayed on the pylons, letting you “message the bridge”.  

Mr Buckman said that: “Telstra will also present four ‘colour moments’ at 10:15pm, 11:00pm, 11:30pm and 11:45pm, when the app will automatically sync smartphones with a colourful light and fireworks show around the harbour. Their screens will light up with the colours and patterns of the show in the biggest lightshow Sydney has ever put on”.

Adding to the “firsts” achieved with this event, Telstra has also announced it will stream the entire event to its YouTube channel, meaning anyone around the world can tune in, with six cameras set to “capture all the action from 8pm until after the midnight fireworks”.

Mr Buckman also added that: “New Year’s Eve is a time for resolutions and celebrations with friends and family. Sharing messages with people we care about is a key component of any New Year’s Eve celebration so we wanted to make these connections easier than ever before – no matter which network you are on”.

The app can be downloaded free of charge on iTunes here, and on Google Play here, with YouTube footage of the app in action embedded below.