Technology Slice Blog

Virtual Santa Sick Kids - For children in the hospital over Christmas, a visit from Santa Claus — especially a cool, virtual Santa beamed in from the North Pole — is like a breath of fresh air. Children's Hospital Boston Wednesday played host to what has become an annual event: a video meeting between the season's most popular personality and some of the city's sickest children. "You kids have been on my 'nice' list for a long time," the jovial Santa told Kaylee Sullivan, 7, who was joined by her brother Liam and friend Anna for the video chat. Virtual Santa Sick Kids As many as 75 children spoke with Santa, first in the hospital's play area and later in the oncology ward, for those too frail to leave their rooms. "To have a brief talk with Santa is a magical moment for the kids," said Patrick Regan, enterprise account manager for healthcare at Cisco Systems, which provides the video technology, and the Santa, for the event. Chil...