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"On Christmas Eve, you'll be able to follow Santa on popular tracking platform NORAD more closely than ever before, thanks to a 3D globe that lets you pinch and zoom to track St. Nick's whereabouts in real time. \nMicrosoft is partnering with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), which has tracked Santa on Christmas Eve for more than 50 years, to transform its website into a full Christmas hub with games, music and more ways to get live updates about Santa's whereabouts on Christmas Eve.\nSee also: The Holiday 2013 Tablet Gift Guide\nThe revamped website was designed for Microsoft's Internet Explorer 11 but can be used on any browser. It's also optimized for tablets with new apps for Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone, which feature live tiles that let you track Santa from the home screen. \n\n\"The NORAD site has always been a great experience for kids, but now it incorporates touch and new modern web standards like HTML 5, so it's far more dynamic for them than ever before,\" an Internet Explorer spokesperson told Mashable.\nA lot of the content is the same from previous years, but packaged in a sleek new shell designed in the Claymation style of classic holiday movies. Instead of drop-down menus using Flash, it's easier on the eyes and allows you to swipe between pages on a tablet. \nFor example, the layout of the gaming section resembles an Advent calendar, with one new arcade-inspired game unlocking each day leading up to Christmas.  \n\nThe Library section reveals details about the history of Santa, including that his \"probable first flight\" was on Dec. 24 A.D. In an effort to make the site more international, it includes holiday traditions from around the world and is available in eight languages.\nOn Christmas Eve, NORADSanta.org will incorporate a touch-enabled 3D globe that will light up when Santa starts the night. With an updated browser, users can spin the globe with their fingers or zoom in to get a closer look at the stops. It also uses Bing Maps to plot Santa's destination spots throughout the night.\nThe companies also added Skype capability to the site and apps, so kids can make free calls to NORAD's volunteers staffed on Christmas Eve that let you check in on Santa's status. Microsoft said it plans to include video chat to NORAD volunteers in the future.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\nImage: Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/12/03/norad-santa-tracking/>