Hawking will release a more directional Wi-Fi detector: It's big, it's $35, and it looks like a Star Trek communicator (old style), but it's designed to offer more directionality and differentiate between Wi-Fi and other 2.4 GHz transmissions. However, it's not really much of an advance (if at all) over the Chrysalis WiFi Seeker, which is small, slightly less expensive, differentiates Wi-Fi from other electromagnetic radiation, and is pretty directional.
What I'm waiting for (and Gizmodo is, too) is a detector with a small LCD that scrolls through the open and closed SSIDs found in the neighborhood. We want a WiFi Sniffer--a WiFi Wardriver on a keychain. [link via Gizmodo]
Update: Okay, Julio Ojeda-Zapata is spookily ahead of the curve, in this piece datelined tomorrow. It's almost Hallowe'en, so a message from beyond (tomorrow at least) seems appropriate.
Ojeda-Zapata writes about Canary Wireless's Digital Hotspotter, a device that does, in fact, have an LCD screen. It's $50, but it provides wardriving details: open or closed, SSID, encryption type. And signal strength. And multiple signals. The lucky so-and-so has been walking around with one of these units, which goes on sale "later this month"--but there isn't much later this month, so perhaps in November.
Both Klaus Ernst and Ojeda-Zapata point out, too, that PDAs are excellent Wi-Fi sensors with the right hardware and software, tho' a little pricier than a handheld dedicated unit.