The annual Santa tech-fest is well under way, with Santa trackers from both Google and NORAD counting down to the big day to see how Santa is doing on sorting out who's been naughty and who's been nice. 

Google's Santa Tracker has again been revamped for XMas, with a new village square that you scroll down for activities. New this year are coding challenges with elves including Elf Car and  Santa's Takeoff, and a new animated story, "Ollie Under The Sea". Ah, yes, well known in the Santa myth, the sad narwhal named Ollie.

There are also familiar favorites including games like shaving Santa, though annoyingly his beard carries on growing. There's also an elf band (we recommend turning your speakers off), and coloring activities. You can now get Santa info via voice commands, and there's a new game and video each day in the Advent Calendar. Sadly, you've missed most of those, try not to cry. On December 24th & 25th, the Santa Tracker switches to live tracking of Santa's journey, showing his location, presents delivered, and city info. Santa Tracker is available on the website and via the Google Assistant. 

Meanwhile, over on NORAD's Santa village, there are also new ways to find out more about Santa. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, began tracking Santa by accident back in 1955 following an accidental misprint in a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement that printed a telephone number for children to call Santa. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the NORAD. Rather than disappoint the children, the Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check the radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born.

Joining the Xmas festivities this year is OpenAI. The company has worked with NORAD to create three simple holiday tools within ChatGPT that parents and Christmas enthusiasts can use to bring extra joy into their homes, or to put it another way, to keep the kids quiet for another few minutes. 

The first tool is Elf Enrollment⁠, which turns someone's picture into an "official" Santa's helper. Not that this will ever get misused at the Xmas party. OpenAI says parents can also create their own elf keepsakes at home. We tried it out and based on the answers given to the questions, turned an anonymous media source into his alter ego, Crimson Glidewhisk:

Next is Santa's Toy Lab⁠, which takes imaginative toy ideas and turns them into a printable coloring book page. Parents describe the toy dreamed up by their kid, and Santa's Toy Lab turns it into simple line art that is perfect for coloring. 

Finally, the Christmas Story Creator⁠ is described as playful, fill-in-the-blank style storytelling tool that lets families plug in names, places, and fun details to create a one-of-a-kind holiday tale to read aloud.

Happy holidays, everyone.  

More Information

Google Santa Tracker

NORAD Santa Tracker

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