Track Santa's Path With Technology

For little ones who simply have to know what Saint Nick is up to, electronic gadgets offer easy access to a peek at the red-suited one's whereabouts. This year, Web phone service Vonage joins online resources that follow the path of Santa as Christmas nears.

Speed-Dial for Santa

Vonage has launched a free Santa Claus tracking service that can be used by its Internet telephony subscribers. Beginning Friday, Vonage customers--or their children--can get updates as to Santa's whereabouts by pressing *101 from any Vonage line.

As of Friday morning, Santa was preparing for the big trip, said Mitchell Slepian, a Vonage spokesperson. "They're loading the sled up and the reindeer are being fed with reindeer food," he said. "They're going to be going all over the world."

Over the past week, about 100,000 children have used Vonage to call Santa and leave messages on the same *101 line, Slepian said. Ten of those children, drawn at random, are actually going to get their Christmas wishes, compliments of the Internet telephone company, she said.

That's a respectable number of messages, given that Vonage has around 1 million subscribers in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., according to the company. The service is available to customers in the U.S. and Canada, Slepian said.

Alternate Track

For those still on the public switched telephone network, there's always the venerable Santa tracker supplied by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which has now been in operation for 50 Christmases.

NORAD's Santa-tracking services have been available online for several years. It was originally a telephone service, since the military department that watches the skies seemed a logical place to get information on Santa's progress.

Volunteers will answer calls about Santa's whereabouts from 9 a.m. GMT December. 24 to 9 a.m. GMT December 25 at 1-877-446-6723, which is a toll-free call in the United States.

Other holiday resources are also available online.