LEDs replaced the original incandescent bulbs in the Times Square New Year's Eve ball in 2008.
The 2008 ball was introduced for the centennial of the Times Square celebration. It used light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, rather than traditional incandescent bulbs. Computer-controlled LEDs made it possible to create many colors and patterns while using less energy and generating less heat.
The modern ball is a geodesic sphere covered with Waterford crystal panels and illuminated by thousands of LEDs. It is much larger and more technically sophisticated than the wooden-and-iron ball that descended in 1907. The ball remains lowered from One Times Square during the final minute before midnight.
The change is sometimes confused with the ball's earlier redesigns, including the 1995 addition of halogen lighting and computer controls. Those systems still preceded the LED version. The 2008 ball therefore marks a specific technological transition in the celebration's history, not the beginning of electric illumination itself.