Santa Clause journey tracker today, Monday, 12/24/12

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Same ol' annual story, new technology.  

The Washington Post/Technology/Hayley Tsukayama, 12/24/12.  "NORAD teams with Microsoft to track Santa this year. 

Get ready....

Here we go....

"Who’s that ping on the radar screen? Must be Santa Claus. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, better known as NORAD, is firing up its Santa tracker again this year to keep track of the jolly old elf’s path around the globe.   

 Tracking Santa has been a tradition since 1955, when a misprinted ad gave the phone number for what was then known as CONAD as the contact information for a Santa hotline. The director at the time, Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, directed those on duty to give Santa’s location on the radar to any child who called. The tradition has continued ever since.

For me?

This year, NORAD expects more than 1,500 volunteers to help with the effort, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, NORAD’s director of public affairs. Volunteers take two-hour shifts, and the command relies on partnerships to provide the all-day service without using taxpayer money. NORAD, of course, keeps up its normal operations during its Santa watch. It is able to house those volunteers in a separate, non-classified facility on its base in Colorado.

Stop at your house?

Microsoft is the headline partner for this year’s effort, using its Azure cloud platform to help NORAD deal with the annual traffic spike it sees from the effort.The command center has also rolled out a series of free game and tracking apps for Apple, Google Android and Microso

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ft phones, as well as Windows PCs, to make the effort more accessible for parents and kids. So far, Davis said, NORAD has seen more than 1.7 million app downloads across all devices.

 Google is still continuing with its own version of the Santa Tracker this year, separate from NORAD, for those who want to stick with Google Maps as they follow Santa’s sleigh around the world." Read article.

Reference -  North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORA) is tracking the Santa Claus annual journey right now.  And see the Google tracker,  its more than just pings on the radar screen. The sleigh moves, presents are delivered if you stay on the website for a few minutes. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh