Technabob » santa

NORAD and OnStar Help Track Santa Again

Shane McGlaun — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:00:34 +0000

I really feel bad for the people that are working at OnStar answering phones Christmas Eve. OnStar and NORAD have announced that they are again teaming up to help owners of GM vehicles and the OnStar FMV mirror track Santa’s whereabouts on his trip around the world. Last year my daughter asked me, when Santa would be here enough times that I got her an app to check for herself.

She updated that app roughly 125,643 times over the course of the day. I can only imagine that with all the kids in the country with OnStar service in family vehicles calling to check on Santa that many times each and it will be a very long night for those folks at OnStar.

The OnStar tracking will start at 7am on Christmas Eve and will be available until 5am Christmas Day. “We see this holiday tradition as staying true to keeping subscribers connected in ways they never thought possible,” said Terry Inch, OnStar vice president, Sales, Marketing and Business Development. “We know many of our customers will be glad to know Santa’s location information is just one blue button press away.”

OnStar Tracks Santa with NORAD

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:16:11 +0000

I can vividly recall as a child hating to go to my grandmothers annual Christmas Eve dinner. I was always afraid Santa would come by, see I wasn’t asleep and then leave with my toys. I freaked out each time I saw one of those red lights on a tower to warn aircraft thinking it was Rudolph’s nose.

If your kids have the same fear, OnStar has announced that it will be helping your and the kids keep track of Santa this Christmas. OnStar will offer Santa updates from NORAD starting at 6 am EST on Christmas Eve and will offer the updates though 5 am on Christmas morning.

If you have a GM vehicle with OnStar you can just press the OnStar button, ask for a Santa Update to find out where the big guy is, and make your kids feel better. “It’s great to provide our customers with a fun, highly informative benefit during the holidays,” said Scott Kubicki, executive director, OnStar Sales, Services and Marketing. “Our advisors also enjoy hearing children’s surprise and joy when they learn that St. Nick is only hours away from their home.”

Have Santa Call Your Child, Courtesy of Google

Chris B. — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 17:43:33 +0000

As a kid, Santa tends to be a big part of Christmas. The more parents can do to make him seem real, the more fun and exciting it can seem. There are a lot of ways to do this, from taking your child to the mall to sit in his lap, to leaving milk and cookies for him on Christmas Eve. Google loves to get in on the whole thing, by helping you track jolly St. Nick as he travels around the world. But this year, they’re going even further.

Rather than simply writing your kids a letter back from Santa, you can do more. Thanks to Google’s Send A Call From Santa service, you can have him call your kids and have him say a few personalized things. There are several selections you can make, so that it sounds like he is talking specifically to your child. If you don’t have kids, there are some great selections in there if you want to send a call to your friends as well.

[via Independent]

Did Santa Claus Come to Town? Santa Detector Could Tell You for Sure

Technabob — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:02:58 +0000

Were you naughty or nice this year? Not sure? If this invention ever made it to market, you’d be able to know of Santa is on his way or not.

Thomas Cane’s 1996 patent for a Santa Claus Detector doesn’t actually sense for the presence of the jolly old chap, but it’s designed to light up when an object is placed inside the stocking. Actually, it doesn’t even really do that. There’s ribbon tied to the toe of the stocking that Santa would presumably pull when he delivers your prezzies.

Of course, the biggest flaw in the design is that it can’t detect if there’s a lump of coal inside, in lieu of a real present.

I’m not really sure what’s going on in Figure 5 from the patent diagrams, but it made me laugh, so I nabbed a copy of it:

[via Futility Closet via Nag on the Lake ]

LEGO Santa Sleigh Kit Makes Your Yuletide Geek

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:00:36 +0000

Geeks really pull out all the stops when it comes to holidays. We saw some epic Halloween stuff back in October and now that Christmas is right around the corner we are seeing some really cool holiday stuff made from LEGO bricks. One of my favorites was the LEGO Christmas tree that surfaced a while back.

You can now build your own LEGO Santa sleigh to complement that tree. The kit can be purchased directly from through LEGO Digital Designer for about $35 with all the parts you need to build your own, or you can save some dough in the LEGO pick-a-brick shop. If you have hoards of bricks sitting around already you can build it yourself with schematics here.

You need that LEGO Digital Designer 4.0 software to get the plans. There are several different kits you can choose from. I particularly like the rocket powered sled. I suspect Santa is a purist and would use reindeer, but rocket power would be how I would go.

Santa Flash Disk Ho-Ho-Holds Your Data

Lambert Varias — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:35:53 +0000

If you have a lot of friends but you still feel compelled to buy gifts for each and everyone of them come Christmas, you could do far worse than these Santa Claus flash disks. They come in various Santa designs too, although they’re not particularly admirable or cute.

Santa’s data-belly capacity ranges from 64MB to 8GB, so if you want to save money you can buy a bunch of lower capacity ones as gifts. Unfortunately the manufacturer’s site doesn’t have prices, but it does say that the disks are covered by a 3-year warranty. Also, worst title ever. I’m sorry.

[made in china via 7 Gadgets]

Santa Bender and Robot Santa Wish You Happy Holidays

Technabob — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:45:37 +0000

Call me a dork, but Futurama has always been one of my favorite programs on the old idiot box – at least when it comes to animated programs. Now, just in time for the holidays, I’ve found the perfect decoration for my office.

Inspired by the classic Futurama Christmas episode, A Tale of Two Santas, the set includes 6-inch tall bendy desktop versions of Santa Bender and (the bloodthirsty) Robot Santa for you to pose into a variety of compromising positions.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Robot Santa and Santa Bender were actually released by Toynami as a limited edition release of just 2000 at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, but you can still find them over on Amazon for $54.99 for the set.

My only question is, where is Robot Santa’s tommy gun?

[via Captain Toy]

Ho Ho Hot: USB Santa Boots Warm Your Feet

Technabob — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:16:50 +0000

Ever wonder how do Mr. and Mrs. Claus keep their toes warm on a cold North Pole night? Why, with these heated USB Santa boots, of course.

Leave it to the wacky gadget makers of Japan’s Thanko (the same guys who brought us other gems like these) to come up with these silly oversize red shoes, which keep your tootsies toasty when you plug them into your computer’s USB port.

What’s next? Heated booties for your flying reindeer?

[via 7Gadgets]

Santa Claus iPod Speakers: Ho Ho Hum

Technabob — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 04:49:47 +0000

I saw these ridiculous looking speakers over on 7Gadgets and just had to give them a mention. The perfect accompaniment to your sequined Christmas sweater, these goofy speakers let you listen to your favorite holiday tunes emanating from the O-shaped mouth of of good old Saint Nick.

Personally, I think they remind me more of the Travelocity gnome than Santa, but who am I to question?

If you’re one of those people who just has to have anything and everything Santa-themed, I’m sorry to say they’re only available for wholesale purchase at this point. I suppose if you’ve got a ton of people to buy for this holiday season, you could pick up a gross or two and hand them out.