Google Voice Lets You 'Send a Call From Santa' Once Again

Google is getting into the holiday spirit once again with its "Send A Call From Santa" website. Last year Google gave jolly old Saint Nick his very own Google Voice phone number (855-34-SANTA), that people could call from their Google Voice accounts (or regular phones).

Santa's got the same phone number this year, so you can call up the North Pole and leave him a message (he can't pick up, because, well…he's pretty busy these days). This is a great tech-savvy way to get your kids' Christmas lists to Santa--instead of having them write it down, just have them dictate it through a VoIP service to Santa's voicemail! Very Christmas 2.0.

You can also send your child (or someone else) a personalized call from Santa using Google's Send A Call From Santa website. Just head on over to sendacallfromsanta.com, fill in some info about the person you want to send a call to (such as name, your relationship, their favorite food, etc.), and they'll get a cool, personalized call from Santa himself.

While you can make the personalized call "kid-friendly," you can also make it funny if you want to send it to your friends. For example, you can have Santa refer to your buddy as your "brother from another mother" who likes to eat "chicken and waffles" before Santa "polishes his rims."

Google naturally sticks some shameless self-promotion in the choices: you can say your friend wants an "Android phone," "better Google Voice number," or "New Gmail Theme" for Christmas. One of the "favorite food" options is Ice Cream Sandwich--a nod to Google's anticipated Android refresh.

It doesn't have to be a Christmas call, either--there are options for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, as well as non-denominational wintry holidays.

Google is also celebrating the holiday season with a little search trick: search for "Christmas" on Google and you'll be treated to a colorful string of Christmas lights above your search results. Search for "Hanukkah," and you'll be treated to a string of Hanukkah lights. Nothing happens if you search for "Kwanzaa."

On top of all that, Google promises a "bonus surprise" coming out in a few days. We're not sure what it is, but it'll be on the Send A Call From Santa website, and it should arrive shortly…

Google: Android Activations Top 700,000 a Day

Every day more than 700,000 people sign up for a new Android device, Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, said late Tuesday via Twitter and Google+. That works out to nearly 5 million new Android users every week, which is about the equivalent of an iPhone 4S opening weekend every seven days. Rubin also clarified that Google's 700,000 activations per day includes new devices only and not resold ones. "We count each device only once," Rubin said in a follow-up post on Google+. "Activations means you go into a store, buy a device, [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

Rubin's clarification may have been in response to past criticisms lobbed against Android by Apple's late cofounder Steve Jobs. "We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," Jobs said, referring to Android in September 2010. Rubin on Tuesday did not specifically address the issue of counting upgrades, but did say that Google counts each device only once.

Earlier in December, Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said there were about 550,000 Android phones being activated every day, according to CNET. But it appears Schmidt was specifically taking about phones, while Rubin only mentioned "devices" suggesting he may be counting phones as well as 3G-enabled tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the recently launched Droid Xyboard devices.

Rubin in June said there were 500,000 Android activations every day.

Google is the most popular smartphone platform in the United States, with nearly 42 percent market share, followed by Apple's iPhone at 27.1 percent, according to metrics firm comScore.