Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

6 11 -26December 2019

F

ather Christmasis

on his wayand it

won’t be long

nowuntilyou’re

tearing openyour

presents,preparing

aheartyfeastand

slumping in front of

the telly withatipple

or tw o. Beforethen,

however,Santa and his

elves have alot to do,

and youcan see how

they’regetting onby

payingavisit to his busy North

Pole village online.

As is nowtradition,the North

American Aerospac eDefence

Command(NORAD)and Google

areletti ng youtrack Santa like an

Amazon delivery driver,pinpointing

hiswhereabouts fromChristmas Eve.

Priorto 24December,however, you

can also have some fun: Google is

offering acolourfu lanimated

freddiemeter.withyoutube.com
LegendaryQueen frontmanFreddieMercury’sunparalleled
singingvoicecoveredafullthreeoctavesand hadahigh
andirregularvibrato, which
cementedhis placeasoneof thebest
rockvocalists
ofalltime.But
couldyou
matchhispitch,
melodyand
timbre?
Find outby
usingYouTube’s
newFreddie
Meter, whichaskstoaccessyourmicrophone,theninvites
youtosingalongtoDon’tStopMeNow,WeAreThe
Champions,BohemianRhapsodyorSomebodyToLove.
Thelyricsappear onscreenand artificialintelligencewill
rate yourvoice.Youcanallowtheexperimenttoaccessyour
cameraifyouwanttobefilmed,too,whiletheaudiostays
onyourdeviceratherthan being uploadedtoYouTube.
Onceyou’redone,seeananalysisofyourperformanceand
postyourscoreonsocialmedia.Youcanalsolearnmore
aboutTheMercuryPhoenixTr ustcharity.

earth. google.com/web

GoogleEarthhasadded

asetof content-creation

toolsthatletyoumake

mapsandstoriesrelating

tolocationsacrossthe

globe.Building on 2017’s

Voyagerfeature,itallows

youtocombinetextwith

imagesandvideo,anduse

placemarks,shapes,linesand

texttobuildaninteractive tour.

Youcould,forinstance,

produceapresentationbased

onacross-countrytrip,detailamultiple stadiumtouror

exploreaparticularstyleoflocalarchitecture. Inallcases,

youstartbyclickingtheProjectsbuttonintheleft-hand

menubeforeselectingNewProjectandsearchingforplaces

toadd.Youcanthencreatetitles,addmediaandusethe

3DviewbytiltingthemapandselectingCapture.

Alltheprojectscanbetitledand described.Theycanalso

bepreviewedbyclickingPresentandsharedwith others.

Projectsareviewableviathe iOSand Androidapp,and

thereareoptionsforco-authoringandcollaboration,too.

recreation of

Santa’shome

with games,

coding activities

anddaily frolics

as well as funny videos showing Santa

takingoffand visiting amuseum.

NORAD is also offering mobile-

friendly games,aswellas music tracks

from theUSAir ForceAcademyBand,

movies andinformation about holiday

traditions ac ross theworld.Thereare

linkstoother fes tivesites,including

onewhereyou can getafree video

messag efromSanta and learn about

Father Christmas,his magicsleigh

andthe NORAD missionitself.

http://www.noradsanta.org

santatracker.google.com

TrackSanta around theworld

Sing alongwithFreddie

Mercury

Create your owntours

in Google Earth

What’s New Online