Chris Monroe/CNET

This would have been the perfect speaker for Kevin McCallister in "Home Alone."

The Kevin (yes, the name is an excellent '90s throwback) is a clever little speaker designed to ward off burglars and nosey neighbours. It simulates the lights and noise of someone being at home -- whether that's the flickering blue light and noise of an action movie playing late at night, a conversation in the kitchen or the shadows of someone walking around the the living room and doing the vacuuming.

An accompanying app lets you choose between preset "someone's at home" scenarios including football on the TV, exercise and taking a shower. Or, you can enter details about your life and your home (such as whether you live in the city or suburbs) and create your own scenarios.

On the showfloor at CES, where the product is being launched, the sounds are actually pretty realistic. And the audio for the fake TV movie "Kungfury" made us want to actually see the film.

Created by Swiss start-up Mitipi, the Kevin will launch on Kickstarter in the coming weeks, with an earlybird price of $150 (that's roughly £110 or AU$190). When it eventually goes on sale, Mitipi says that price will go up to the $300 mark (£220, AU$385).

The Kevin also works as a standalone speaker, as well as a low-key lamp for ambient light. We'd probably suggest looking to other speakers from dedicated audio brands if music playback is all you're after, but for something extra to potentially ward off lurkers, this could be the ideal product for security-conscious home-owners.

Now playing: Watch this: The Mitipi Kevin speaker fools burglars into thinking...

Update, Jan. 11 at 11:35 a.m.: Adds detail about speaker functionality.

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