by Steven Addison

Children the world over no longer need to drop their wish-lists in the mailbox, and pray they get to the North Pole on time.

Santa has found the web. Thanks to a little modern technology, and one Semiahmoo resident, younsters may now plunk down in front of the computer.

St. Nick has gone high-speed, and the jolly man is doing daily live web casts and taking phone calls from children around the world.

Hugh Dobbie launched www.chatwithsanta.com last year, searching for a way to keep his 12 employees busy in the slow season.

His burnaby-based company, INSINC, specializes in streaming media, providing broadband video via the internet.

"We always have a slow December, and we were just thinking of different things that could be done," Dobbie, a Chantrell Creek resident, said.

"We decided to start web-casting Santa."

Now, several times a day, Santa Claus puts down his tools and leaves the elves to man the workshop. He plugs in his lap-top, and takes calls and messages from youngsters.

Publicity throughout the United States and Canada has helped the web-site's traffic explode from 19,000 page views a day, when it started last year, to 54,000 a day this year, and more than one million hits.

Messages are coming in from around the world.

"In the span of about an hour, we took two calls from England, one from Ireland and one from Korea."

You can log into the website and watch Santa do his thing, send him a message, or pick up a phone and call the toll-free number posted on the site.

Dobbie said the company considered charging for the webcasts, but opted not to, in the spirit of the season.

It's costing (us) a small fortune," he said.

"Everybody likes to feel good about what they're doing, especially to put something up to put a smile on people's faces."

INSINC (Interactive Netcasting Systems Inc.) formed in 1997 to provide real-time streaming and Internet-based commumication technology.

Clients include Canadian Press, Hastings Park, Fraser Downs and IBM, among others. The company's website is http://www.insinc.com.