Technology Slice Blog

Rockefeller Center Tree - The giant Christmas tree at New York's Rockefeller Center that will be lit on Tuesday was donated by a firefighter who was among the first responders to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, officials say. The 74-foot Norway Spruce is decorated with some 30,000 lights, stretching roughly five miles and powered by solar panels, Rockefeller Center officials said. The tree, which is about 75 years old, grew at the home of Pete Acton, who lives in Mahopac, New York, about 50 miles north of New York City. Rockefeller Center officials heard about Acton's spruce while driving to see another tree, a spokeswoman said. "Over the years, people would say to us that the tree belonged at Rockefeller Center, but we never really paid much attention," Acton said. "Even now, my wife is disbelieving that our tree is really going to be this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree." Acton was one of the firefighters first dispat...