Pontiff Lights Up Christmas Tree with Android
The Pope has spoken and the word is Android. Pope Benedict XVI lit the world's biggest Christmas tree with a Sony tablet with an Android operating system.
"He will touch the screen of a Sony tablet with the Android operating system which, via the internet, will transmit the command to switch on the electric current to the tree," said Vatican News.
The Pope actually touched the Sony Tablet S from his apartments in the Vatican Apostolic Palace. The tree isn't really a live tree but a 750-meter-high lighting display on the side of Mount Ingino above the Italian town of Gubbio. Its base is about 450 meters wide and covers a surface area of around 130,000 square meters. The top of the tree has a comet made up of 250 lights covering an area of 1,000 square meters.
Lighting the tree has been traditionally done every year on December 7 attended by politicians, artists and other prominent figures.
The Vatican news release fails to address the Pope's choice of tablets. It was previously reported that the Pope would use Apple's popular iPad tablet. A Rome Reports video actually shows Benedict fiddling with one. What prompted the change? Does the Pope prefer Android over Apple's iOS? Well regardless of the change of tablet the lighting ceremony went off without a hitch.