Name: SolidAlliance Baketan Strap 2
Category: portable "obake" spirit detector
Price: JPY1980
Release date in Japan: May 8, 2008

Tokyo-based gadget monger SolidAlliance and Kanagawa-based mobile phone strap maker StrapyaNext have lifted the veil from the new "Baketan 2" ghost-detecting phone fob. Baketan 2 updates the earlier hit "Baketan Strap" fob with the addition of "Kotodama Tuner" spirit detection and dead-to-living speech translation technology. Kotodama Tuner tech is a "world's first", say the companies - and I for one don't doubt it.

Baketan 2 has two modes. 24-Hour Mode, as the name suggests, is your full-time watchdog. "It may look like it's doing nothing", says the press release, "but it's continuously searching for ghosts; it'll flash a red light only if an evil spirit appears". Yikes!

If you'd rather steel yourself first before receiving spooky surprises, go proactive with Search Mode. Press the center button and receive a light in one of five colors to indicate who's in the vicinity: red for bad ghosts, blue for good, etc. At the same time, you summon the Kotodama Tuner (which takes its name from certain ancient magical beliefs). The Tuner uses a "unique algorithm" to translate the "spatial energy" of ghosts into human speech. (Sort of like those dog-to-human translator novelties of a few years back.) You may hear things even when no ghosts are present, as the Tuner will play back "messages" left behind by departed departed. "I hear dead people!", you'll whisper creepily.

Knowledge without action is itself dead, though. With, say, a WiFi detector, you know exactly how to act on a positive report: surf some sites, check your email, and explore files your Starbucks neighbors have left unprotected. What to do with grave news of a lurking ghost, though? You're on your own for dealing with the good ones, but Baketan 2 takes care of the bad ones: calmly give the center button a long press to activate "Barrier Mode", which sends poltergeists packing. Don't worry about collateral nuisance, as the inventors have made the barrier completely undetectable by humans. Now that's high tech!

In physical incarnation, Baketan 2 takes the shape of the curved "magatama" beads associated with ancient tombs, is emblazoned with mystic words, and comes in two unearthly shades: Itako (female blind shaman) White or Onmyou (Yin-Yang) Black.

More info: http://ghostradar.jp/index1.html (Japanese)
http://www.strapya-world.com/categories/12_55_880.html (English shop page)