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Ever lose your car in a parking lot? If I told you of a revolutionary device that could lead you right back to your car, you might think it’s a high-tech electronic gizmo, probably used by the military for years and only now becoming available to the rest of us.

In fact, the Lancetta C-Car Smart Keychain doesn’t have a single circuit board inside it — it doesn’t even take batteries. What is the secret to this clever little gadget? It’s a…compass.

There’s a little more to it than that, of course. Instead of twisting the dial towards North (double–checking to make sure you didn’t get it backwards, naturally), the inventors have you point the keychain towards your destination and line up two halves of a picture of a car. Then when you leave, walk in the direction that keeps the car looking like a car, and ta–da!

Somebody buy me one for Christmas.

photo courtesy of Colin Gregory Palmer