We live in the 21st century. Even the lowly piggy bank has to go digital willy-nilly. The inevitable fate of our time. We have to resign ourselves to this trend.

Keian's I-PANDA and I-PIGGY.

A Japano-Taiwan peripheral/component merchant, Keian Corporation of Ikebukuro, Tokyo, is selling just this kind of digital bank. Oh, don't expect this "intelligent" piggy bank to have a connection to the network. Squirreling away virtual money or Net currency to buy some nasty weapon for the network battle? Sorry, no. This is absolutely a straightforward piggy bank, basically the same product you could have bought from an Athena agora of 2,500 years ago.

I-PIGGY and I-PANDA can recognize and count the denomination of coins they gobble down, and show the present sum on their tiny LCD display. They can make several tones of "cash register", depending on the denomination of coin.

Also, your kid can set the "target amount" beforehand. When the coins surpass the 20 percent line of that target, a loud fanfare blasts out and a smile icon appears on the display to encourage more savings. I sincerely doubt the kids of these days would be impressed with this kind of cheap gimmick.

Oh, it has an alarm clock function with four different wakeup melodies. AC powered. Price: 4,480 yen (US$38).

The toy giant, Takara-Tomy Co of Tokyo, has another digital piggy bank in its stock. Dubbed Jinsei Ginko (Life Bank), this white box accepts only 500 yen coins.

Takara-Tomy's Life Bank Your virtual life is packed into this box.	Game: start. You start your savings/life with this tiny miserable cell. Savings: 500 yen.

Why "life"? Because the amount you save is firmly linked to your virtual life. First, set the target amount. Then, start tossing 500 yen coins into the Jinsei Ginko. Your virtual life starts with a rabbit hatch-like miserable apartment. As the saved amount increases, your life proceeds to a larger apartment, better job, more agreeable spouse. These gradual advancements are shown clearly on the LCD display.

Once the target sum has been reached, a happy end to your life. If you crack open the bank for some urgent necessity, your life will be totally reset to the first stage. "Welcome to Life Bank. Hit start button!" Sure, this is a "life" game, another version of venerable Tamagocchi (you remember still?).

Power source: Three AA batteries. Price: 4,980 yen (US$42). With this digital piggy bank, improve your life totally! Takara-Tomy says. Life is another game, oh chum! Play your virtual life again. And again.

 

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