Skip to main content

Santa’s on his way! Check out his location with these trackers

santas on his way check out location with these trackers santa tracker
NORAD
Santa Claus is on his way! The bearded one left the North Pole some hours ago and is now making steady progress across the globe, delivering gifts, munching on mince pies, and knocking back a fair amount of sherry – though hopefully not too much, there’s still much work to be done.

Excited kids keen for updates on Santa’s progress can jump online to explore two great tracker sites, one from Google, the other from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, better known as NORAD.

Recommended Videos

Google’s tracker kicks off by detecting your location and letting you know how long it’s going to be before he squeezes down your chimney or steps through your front door using his magic key.

Both trackers – available on both desktop and mobile – show how many presents Santa’s delivered so far (at the time of writing, many millions), as well as a map of the world showing his precise whereabouts.

Google’s offering lets you click on various location markers telling you what time FC dropped by while giving additional information about the place. You can also see what time he and his reindeers visited, along with the current weather conditions. NORAD’s tracker runs along the same lines, pulling up Bing search results if you click on one of the map’s many camera icons.

Just like every year, both trackers offer plenty of other content, including games, videos, and opportunities to learn stuff.

This year Google’s Santa Tracker also gives kids the chance to try some super-basic coding, with 10 festive-themed challenges to complete. Kids who breeze through the tasks can find more advanced codling challenges on the Web giant’s Made with Code site.

But let’s be honest, learning how to code is the last thing on any kid’s mind just now. You’ll find Google’s Santa Tracker online here, and NORAD’s here.

Happy holidays!

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
How to change margins in Google Docs
Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Read more
What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app
A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Read more
Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs
A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.

Read more