Google Launches 'Santa Tracker' In Cutest Tech War Ever

Google Launches 'Santa Tracker' In Cutest Tech War Ever

In the world of tech, everything is a competition - including tracking Santa.

Google has launched its annual website dedicated to following the path of Father Christmas as he flies around the globe distributing presents.

The website lets you (or rather, your kids) play a series of Christmas-themed games and prepare for the big night on the 24th of December. Each day a new game, video or animation is released via a cute online advent calendar.

Some of the games already released include racing Santa's sleigh down a track to collect presents, or simply calling Santa on his smartphone to ask he returns home from the beach to get started making all the toys.

Google also said it will release an Android app so kids and bored adults can follow Santa from their mobiles.

But Google's tracker not the only game in town. As is increasingly traditional, Google is facing off against Microsoft, who snagged a deal with the "official" NORAD Santa Tracker last year after the service originally worked with Google Maps from 2007. Microsoft's own revamped website includes games and animations, as well as a rotating 3D globe and a sci-fi-style countdown to Christmas.

But don't worry - both Norad and Google say the competition is still in the Christmas spirit.

"We only worry about providing the very best experience for our Santa trackers," Stacey Knott, Norad's Deputy Chief of Strategic Outreach, told ABC News.

"We have been tracking Santa since 1955 using our military satellites, radars, fighter jets and Santa cams."

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