Maybe you've been using the NORAD Santa tracker every year for as long as you can remember, like me, or maybe you haven't heard of it before. It is a great way to have some fun on Christmas Eve and answer some of those questions about when Santa will be at your house.

The whole thing started in 1955 when Sears misprinted a phone number to call Santa and kids everywhere got connected to the Continental Defense Command hotline. Instead of being angry, CONAD workers gave kids updates of Santa's progress around the world and a tradition was born.

In the 50 years since then, a lot has changed. CONAD became the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD for starters. Since 1998 kids no longer needed to call Santa, they could simply get hourly updates on the internet. And this year, you can even hear about Santa's progress on Twitter!

Because NORAD has teamed up with Google you can see Santa flying over highly detailed Google maps. It is easy to pick out landmarks if Santa flies over an area you are familiar with. You can even see photos of places Santa has flown past with Panoramio photos linked to the map.

You can download a special KML that will let you track Santa in 3D this year and the site has lots off answers to questions kids might have. You can even check out the snack counter to see how many cookies Santa has had so far today!

Check out what we've written before about the Santa Tracker and find out how Google and NORAD teamed up to give us so many Santa tracking options. .

Santa is coming to Google Earth! And its up to you to find the treasures that Santa's elves have left all over Google Earth! Starting December 12th, and finishing up on December 24th, a clue will appear outside of Santa's North Pole workshop every day. If you can solve it, you will be lead to a toy hiding in Google's satellite imagery. Don't worry if you get stuck, the whereabouts will be revealed the next day, when the next clue gets dropped. What are you waiting for? Start hunting!

On Ozzie, and Allchin, and Ballmer...Microsoft will be looking to rake it the dough this holiday season. Already there are 250 plus products that are Vista ready, and will be ready to ship for the holiday season from many third party vendors. Santa will have a lot of Vista-ready stuff to hand out this year. Many new hardware and software products will both be available for this season's holiday rush, among them, many usual suspects. Keyboards, mice, other peripherals, and also many software titles, such as Flight Simulator, Company of Heroes, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Is there anything you've seen and heard about that you want this holiday season from the ever-growing Vista universe? Come on tell me, I may not be Santa, but we go way back, I'll see what I can do for you.