One day, in the perfect electronics world, there will come a time when you will be able to go anywhere with your phone or laptop and cruise the internet, or check your email. WiFi will be universal, and there will be no doubt that you can get that connection. But until then, a handy item to own is a WiFi detector. Here is a good compact device known as the Canary Digital Hotspotter. The HS20 is actually the second generation of the Digital Hotspotter, and it uses a 96×94 pixel LCD screen to provide detailed information about detected 802.11b, g and n WiFi networks. It uses a “true 802.11 engine” which means you won’t see any false readings from Bluetooth devices, cordless phones or even microwaves and it has a new scrolling feature that allows you to see detailed information for multiple access points like network type, security level (open/WEP/WPA) and channel configuration. It will even give you a reading of a particular network’s top speed by sniffing the data packets, which is handy to get that maximum connection.

The HS20 Digital Hotspotter should be available sometime soon with a retail price of $59.95

via canary wireless