ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512040093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA.
SOURCE: TAO WOOLFE FORT LAUDERDALE SUN-SENTINEL
note: below
WANT INSTANT ACCESS to the Big Guy in Red? You can e-mail him. And his busy little elves.
Forget the sleigh and reindeer. Santa's moving at warp speed these days.
He's on the World Wide Web, the graphic section of the international computer network known as the Internet.
If you have access to a computer and a modem, you can visit Santa at the North Pole, talk to the reindeer, check on the elves and communicate instantly with the big guy.
There are sites that allow you to get an instant letter from Santa, listen to Christmas carols, monitor the weather at the North Pole, send letters by e-mail, talk to Santa on the phone and find out whether you've been naughty or nice.
``It's a great idea. Kids can send e-mail to Santa and have an instant answer. Before this, kids would write to the North Pole and never hear from him,'' said Luis Rosso, founder of Webpro, an Internet publisher.
There are also several Hanukkah sites on the Internet. One features the sights and sounds of the eight-day Jewish Feast of Lights. Others are more scholarly.
But the Santa sites are mostly just for fun.
Some are commercial. Lands End clothing company is offering recipes from Mrs. Claus, writing contests, a weekly update of what's going on at the North Pole and allows people to shop for Lands End products.
The Pollak, Levitt, Chaiet Advertising company in Atlanta devised a free Santa Web site for its employees' kids and then decided to share it with the world.
``It grew so big because we kept coming up with creative ideas that we couldn't resist doing. I guess we never stopped believing in Santa Claus,'' said Bruce Levitt, a partner in the firm.
It features the naughty and nice list, which lets you see how Santa is feeling about you so far this year, and an e-mail with Santa service.
Web sites for the holidays include:
http://christmas.com/christmas.html
http://www.claus.com
http://north.pole.org
http:christmas.com/hanukkah.html
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