Google really is everywhere, including the North Pole. And that's just fine, if they keep coming up with great ideas like their SantaTracker.
In addition to using Google Maps to track Santa's progress
on Christmas Eve, their Santa Tracker includes a tour of Santa's Village with
games and a great tool you can use to send messages to friends and family.
The games include a present drop into chimneys, an elf on a
jet pack racking up points by capturing gifts, candy and holiday bells, and a
sleigh racing game.
The messaging tool steps you through a series of questions
to create a personalized message from Santa on your gift list. You can then
send the message in a variety of ways--a phone call, email, etc. The voice
quality is great and the message sound really natural.
In addition to following Santa through any web browser, you
can also get an Android App, a Chrome extension and a Google Earth App (in 3D).
NORAD's Santa tracker was featured in this blog
last year. Their Santa tracker won't start until Christmas Eve, of course, but
meantime you can play a variety of games including a word scramble, maze,
connect the bulbs to light up a Christmas tree and more. You can set the skill
level on some of the games, making them as easy or hard as you want.
NORAD works with Microsoft and Bing to track Santa and
recently released a Windows 8 version of its Santa tracker app. You can also
get the NORAD Tracks Santa app for iOS (iPhones), Android and the web.
We all know how important it is to know Santa's progress on
Christmas Eve, so you might want to use both so that your little ones know when
it's time to go to sleep, so the jolly old elf can leave presents under the
tree and candy in their stockings.
