Move over, iPad. A new (and MUCH cheaper) tablet computer system being offered by Shogo could be transformed into a useful ghost-hunting tool. The tablet runs on the Linux operating system, meaning the whole thing is open source and quite hackable. Anyone with a bit of HTML 5 experience should be able to write some aps for this thing. The tablet contains a built-in web cam with motion sensor and ambient light detection capabilities. It also contains a built-in accelerometer. Geeks like me will rejoice, but what does this mean for the average ghost hunter?

Motion sensor and ambient light detection

Both of these capabilities would enable you to write an ap that would detect differences in ambient light. So what? Well, what is a shadow person? Isn’t it just a dark area in the room? Motion sensors detect any variations in ambient light, and so anything that would make the room darker or brighter would trip a motion sensor. Are you starting to see the possibilities? An ambient light sensor would make the job even easier.

Accelerometer

Detects movement of the tablet. So what? Creating an ap for the accelerometer, you could use the accelerometer to detect movement in the room. Place the tablet on the floor, table, or chair, and it would be able to trip an alarm when it detected any vibration. Are you hearing footsteps? Use the tablet to determine whether or not something is physically causing the sounds.

You could also create aps that would store all of this information for later.  You could check your evidence when you got home to see what you may have missed. The possibilities are amazing. The Shogo is built for special applications, so why not turn a bunch of them into specialized ghost-hunting tools?  If someone else doesn’t jump on this idea, I may give it a try, provided I could come up with some venture capital. (Ha).

Check out the video. The excited French guy will tell you all about it. Other companies are working on similar tablets, all running Linux and the Freescale i.MX37 processor. None of them are ready for comsumers yet, but it should be soon – probably in the fall.