Sevenly is one such company, and it uses the Web with aplomb. It has only been around since June, but it has raised over $175,000 for charities so far. Sevenly chooses a different charity each week, and it sells limited-run t-shirts and hoodies for that charity for seven days only. The hype is driven by Facebook and Twitter. "About 85% of our sales come from social media," Palmer says. The campaigns work by putting the cause right at the top.

Sevenly co-founder Dale Partridge tells the story this way: "Sitting in my office after an 8 hour discussion on the topic of fighting poverty I realized... the problem is not the millions of people who go in need everyday, It's the billions of people who watch it happen and do nothing about it." Sevenly allows those people to keep shopping for clothes, as they're wont to do, and diverts some of their resources to good causes.

It's not a new idea, but it's an excellent execution. Sevenly has its act together. It's transparent and data-driven, and it employs great design. But that's just the Web geek's take. Sevenly is raising lots of money for great causes. And you don't want to ask me about fashion, but I bet you'll like the shirts. Check them out at Sevenly.org.

These questions have to be answered before we even get to choosing what to buy. They all make shopping easier, though, whether through giving us more information before we buy or by speeding up the process. Here are three kinds of Web-powered innovations that will contribute to the future of shopping.

These weird-looking Web links are everywhere, showing up on signs, ads and products. Anyone with a smartphone can scan them and be taken straight to a website. They're still mostly used for traditional advertising, but their use by consumers is on the rise. 5% of U.S. adults use QR codes, up from 1% just last year.

More importantly, business are starting to use them in more innovative ways. Some retailers have even built applications that use QR codes directly for purchasing, and many at least let shoppers get additional information about a product in the store. There are some drawbacks, though.

There has been at least one instance of malicious code in QR codes. Plus, some consumers just find them downright ugly and unappealing. It's a new technology, so there's bound to be differences in opinion. With the right strategy, though, some retailers are using QR codes to help willing shoppers.

Augmented Reality

Amazon, always on the front lines of Web-powered retail, launched an iPhone app called Flow this month that exemplifies the sci-fi dream of augmented Reality. Using the phone's camera, it instantly recognizes products for sale and takes shoppers straight to more info about it from Amazon.com.

That includes reviews from other consumers, as well as Amazon's price. Of course, it also gives shoppers the option to buy from Amazon instead of the store, if the price is right, which it is likely to be.

This rubs some business owners the wrong way, because it gives Amazon a last-minute chance to swipe the sale. But it does empower consumers with more information. Not all items are available on Amazon, of course, but many common items are. In the future of shopping, AR shopping apps will definitely be part of the mix.

Mobile Payments & NFC

Near-field communications technology will be the other half of shopping from your smartphone. Using built-in components, NFC allows handsets to securely communicate payments with terminals at the register, so you don't even need to carry a wallet.

It's early yet, but Google is pushing the field forward with its launch of Google Wallet in a few select Android phones. However, more phones are on the way, and major payment processors like PayPal are getting in on the technology. Not to be outdone, the next iPhone is expected to have NFC capability as well.

On the other side of the mobile payments sphere is Square, which provides a little white dongle for processing peer-to-peer credit card payments, as well as an interesting point of sale for retailers. What could a future-facing retailer like Walmart do with technology like that?

Make sure to follow Dan Rowinski's series, What's In Your Mobile Wallet?, to stay on top of the latest mobile payment trends.

Enter Whimventory. It's an app for making and sharing shopping wishlists. You click a bookmarklet or browser extension on any shopping page, and it saves a link, an image and the price. It will solve problems for anyone who buys things (or wants things). It's simple. That's all I have to explain. But Whimventory is too high-quality to leave it at that. I want to show you more.

Whimventory. Now that's an app name. It contains vowels, it doesn't sound like "dildo," and it doesn't rip anybody off. But more importantly, it means something. Keep an inventory of things to buy on a whim. Simple. Quality, simplicity and meaning are Whimventory's modus operandi. It earned its intrepid founders a sign-up and a blog post from me, and it deserves much more. Allow me to show you around.

Nice splash screen, right? Bold, original, easy to understand. That's the work of Luke Connolly, Whimventory's creative director. He's an experienced Web designer who likes HTML5, CSS3 and jQuery, and he cares about usability across devices. Why do I know this? I met him on Twitter (@lconnolly). He's an Internet friend. We share thoughts, links and jokes with each other. He happens to make something awesome, and I wanted to write about it. No pitching, no embargoes. Just sharing.

Under the hood, Whimventory has the same elegance:

That's from Amazon.com, using the Whimventory bookmarklet. I didn't have to fill it in. All I did was click the mouse one time, and all the information was there. You can add any item for sale on the Internet the same way, although sometimes you have to type in the price or change the name. If the item's price changes later, you'll have to update that, too. Is that too much of a hassle for you? Well, good thing Whimventory is working on doing it automatically, starting with Amazon items.

Whimventory's engineering comes from CTO Oliver Jensen. He was an engineering intern at Google, and he's studying for a PhD in computer science, having double-majored in CS and math in college. I emailed him with a bug I found, and he was grateful. This is how you run a Web app, folks.

Whimventory In Action

If you still can't think of a way to use Whimventory, here is an obvious example: For some stupid lack of a reason, the iTunes store doesn't have a wishlist feature. That's okay, because Whimventory exists. Just click the bookmarklet on the iTunes Web page for the app, and the problem is solved. You can create multiple wishlists - e.g. apps, books, Star Wars action figures - and save new items directly to the right place.

In addition to managing your own lists, you can save others' lists as favorites, and you can import lists from Excel files or straight from Amazon. You can download them as Excel files, too. Whimventory users can also recommend products to each other and share with outside social networks.

Solving The Gifting Problem

But let's be honest. The real reason we want to keep online wishlists is for getting gifts, right? Shopping for other people is difficult, and Whimventory wants to take the guesswork out of it. "Asking for things is a little awkward," Connolly says. Whimventory gives users a place to share the things they want without having to ask.

"Seeing what my friends were shopping for would make it easy to get something similar or complementary to their favorite stuff," says Connolly. "If nothing else, you would at least have a subtle way of discovering their shoe size."

But the expertise of other Whimventory users can also help one shop for oneself. "Browsing the shopping bag of a professional photographer could be extremely valuable," Connolly says, "and comparing the bags of several pros would give me a truly well balanced, expert opinion on the best gear available."

Whimventory fills a need for shopping tools that aren't beholden to any particular seller. It can be used by anyone for any product. People don't even have to sign up for Whimventory to buy you something on your list. Lists have general privacy controls, including optional password protection, and Connolly says they will probably narrow down to access controls by individual user.

What Does It Need?

I can't be all love, of course. No Web app is perfect. I've found only one interface problem in an otherwise stellar experience, which is that the controls for moving an item between lists are not in the 'edit item' window. They appear when you check an unlabeled checkbox in the top-left corner of an item. But that's an easy one. I mostly bring it up so you hordes of new Whimventory users know how to do this.

The major feature Whimventory needs is more discovery tools. It's hard to find more users on Whimventory and browse their lists. I'd like a directory, even if it's just built around finding lists by topic, so I could discover new connoisseurs to follow.

Sharing Shopping

Does Whimventory have a business model? Duh. It's a site for freaking shopping lists. It could have boring ads, or it could have more interesting ways to connect sellers and buyers. But don't wait for that future. The holidays are coming up, and Whimventory is an example of quality, focus and functionality on the Web that you can use right now.

Share your Whimventory holiday shopping lists in the comments!

Google Catalogs features the most recent catalogs from retailers like Eddie Bauer, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Crate & Barrel, but every item in each photo is adorned with a small tag icon which, when tapped, reveals details about that product.

Rather than just sticking to the paradigms of print, Google works the remixable characteristics of the Web into this app, allowing consumers to make photo-based "collages" of their favorite products, which can be organized by theme, color, retailer or any other criteria you can imagine. Those collages can be shared via email with anybody. It will attach an image of the collage to the email so they don't necessarily have to have the Google Catalogs app to view it.

The app is only available on the iPad for now, but an Android version is reportedly in the works.

Using the computer's webcam and Zugara's AR e-commerce software dubbed "Webcam Social Shopper," shoppers can immediately see what clothes look like on them and can ask friends for an opinion via Facebook and Twitter.

Using the computer's webcam, visitors to Banana Flame's website can instantly try on any of the clothing items it sells. To start the process, you have to step a few feet back from the computer, making sure the camera can see your face. The garment will then automatically position itself on top of what you're currently wearing. Using Kinect-like motions, you can then touch virtual buttons to make minor adjustments to the garment's position on your body. In fact, the technology seems similar to a Kinect hack that does basically the same thing.

You can also swipe your arm to navigate between the controls provided in the software. These controls let you change the garment's color, move it around or take a photo of you "wearing" the item. You can then immediately share that photo with friends via Facebook and Twitter using the software or download it to your computer.

In theory, the system sounds great, but in practice, it still needs some work. For example, it was completely frozen when we tried to use it on our Mac (in both Safari and Chrome), but worked well on our Windows PC (in IE). This appears to be related to the software's use of Adobe Flash - the Mac webcam is not set by default to work with Flash. There's a workaround for this, but an average user wouldn't know to try it. And the website doesn't offer instructions.

Also, we have to admit, using AR in this way is not anything like actually trying on clothes.

But it's a start. And not just a start at using AR for virtual shopping purposes, but a start for AR to be used for anything that's not some gimmicky marketing push, like AR-enabled posters or sports tickets. For that, we're grateful.

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It also found that these consumers are heavily engaged with local deals services like Groupon and LivingSocial, for example, and had a high demand for tablet computers.

According to the study, 50% of the on-the-go audience reported being confident making purchases of over $100 and 20% were comfortable with purchases over $500.

They're also using their phones and mobile devices to do research prior to purchasing an item online (40%) or in the store (31%) at a later date. 20% both researched and purchased the item from their mobile phone.

This statistic is particularly interesting, given the rise in barcode scanning applications on mobile phones, such as those from eBay's RedLaser, Amazon, Bing, ShopSavvy and others. Big-box retailers have typically hated these apps, because they effectively turn their stores into showrooms where consumers can view or try out their products in real life, before purchasing online. Apparently, that fear is somewhat justified.

Groupon is Hot with On-the-Go Market

This audience is heavily engaged with local deals too, with 72% having purchased. 44% of this group said they purchase local deals once a month, and 62% say they share deals with their friends. The report found that local deals shoppers did not represent the typical early adopter demographic (i.e. young mobile users), but consisted of half of "Gen Xers" aged 45 or older.

High Interest in Tablets

The on-the-go audience, not surprisingly, reported a high level of interest in tablets, with 71% saying they either own or intend to purchase one. The tablets will be used by 71% for both work and personal reasons, while 25% say the tablet will be for personal use. Only 4% say the device will be used solely for work.

More details from this report are available from JiWire's website.

Photo Credit, barcode scanning: ShopSavvy

My wife and I thought that once we bought a house, our love of looking at homes for sale would be over. Turns out it's just plain fun to look inside, at the backyards, around the neighborhoods and at the prices of houses available for purchase. I enjoy it, at least, and if you do too - you should check out the free iPad app released by Realtor.com this week. (iTunes link) I think it's my favorite in the field. I wish we'd had it when we bought our house in Portland, Oregon.

The app is really solid. It's intuitive, not too complicated, a joy to use. It's less feature rich than competitor Trulia on the iPad, and has less neighborhood historical data than Zillow - but Realtor.com's app feels more responsive and feels like it has the right features for ongoing use. Unlike the other two apps, this one never leads me down a navigation path that ends in frustration. Nor does it introduce abstractions that require much thought to figure out. Not that I mind thinking, but pictures of homes you can't afford are for perusing, right?

All three apps offer something different, though, and if you're really hunting for a house with an iPad in hand then you're probably going to want all three installed so you can switch between them to see the different information each offers.

You should install Qwiki on your iPad, too, so you can be entertained learning about the neighborhood you're considering as you shop for your future home.

Instead, the credit card company is experimenting with SMS text messages containing offers which are sent users who opt-in to the new program. In its initial phase, clothing retailer The Gap is Visa's only partner. Discounts are sent to consumers in predefined zip codes and demographics after qualifying transactions are made with their Visa cards.

The offer, in this case, would be for a deal at a nearby Gap location. If, in the future, more retailers signed up to participate, the offers could include deals from other qualifying merchants, too. At present, however, Visa has not detailed any expansion plans for the service.

The current program, called Gap Mobile 4 U, lets the retailer provide incentives to potential customers but also benefits banks by letting them offer value-added services customized to their customers, explains Jim McCarthy, Visa's Global Head of Products.

Gap's program has been in testing since November 2010, when early users signed up to receive offers from the Gap via a secure website, says Visa. The offers were then delivered to phones when the shopper met certain criteria, such as shopping at a merchant within a specified zip code, shopping at a specific merchant category type or spending a certain amount on a specific day or within a specific time frame.

To redeem these text-based coupons, customers only have to show their phone to an employee at The Gap during checkout.

Both Visa and The Gap are notable for having experimented in the deals spaces for some time. Most memorably, perhaps, was the time when The Gap gave away 10,000 pairs of free jeans to its customers in conjunction with Facebook's Deals launch back in November. Visa has also been experimenting with NFC alongside its banking partners Chase, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Bank of America. NFC, or near field communication, is a short range wireless technology that allows customers to pay for purchases using only their mobile phones. It forms the backbone for the emerging mobile wallet systems, which will one day include coupons and discounts, in addition to processing transactions.

The result is a gadget-shopping site that even the most woefully un-tech-savvy consumer could use, while still appealing to gadget geeks looking for an easier comparison shopping tool.

Shapiro said the idea came to him after he got fed up shopping for laptops online. "After hours of reading reviews and sorting through websites, I felt like I was stuck in a cruel game of Confusopoly. It wasn't until I happened to buy an airplane ticket from a travel search site that the 'aha' moment hit. Why couldn't I shop this way for my computer?"

With Sparkbuy, the company has created a simple interface to process the large amount of data available online for consumer electronics. Initially, the site is launching with a data set of half a million points from its team of researchers, who pulled the info from everything from manufacturer spec sheets to online photos. The company pulls its data from multiple sources to prevent bias, we're told.

Currently, Sparkbuy offers data for over 2,000 laptops and it has just started adding TVs to its database. Monitors will be next, followed by smartphones in the near future.

No Confusing Lingo

The difference between Sparkbuy and so many other shopping comparison sites is how it phrases your gadget requirements. Instead of saying "4 GB of RAM or higher" or "500 GB hard drive," for example, the filters on Sparkbuy are written using the language that normal (i.e. non-geeks) understand - like "fast" and "big hard drive."

Other options include things like "lightweight" and "long battery" for describing the computer's features, and choices like "Photoshop" or "MS Office," for describing the types of software programs the computer can support. For TVs, you can toggle things like "3D" or "Wall Mount" on or off, and then use sliders for more technical items like "Contrast Ratio" or "Brightness."

The resulting lists can then be sorted by best match or price (either low to high or vice versa). Individual items have easy-to-read ratings, spec lists and links to sites where the product can be found.

Sparkbuy had been in a closed beta since Dec. 1 with a limited number of testers. Today, it launches into open beta to the general public.

Bing Deals will work both on the desktop and mobile (via m.bing.com) and is also heavily integrated into Bing's search engine itself.

On the Desktop

From Bing.com's desktop search engine, deals will show up in the search results with a green deal icon. You don't have to be specifically looking for a deal to find them - you could just be searching for the name of a local business, for example - and happen upon the deal.

In an example, Microsoft shows a search for a restaurant name in New York. In addition to links for user ratings, directions, its website, etc., a new link to the far right simply says "Deals." From Bing, users can also make a reservation at that restaurant via Open Table integration, notes Microsoft.

Via Mobile Phones

On mobile phones, the Bing mobile website will now also feature a dedicated link to "Deals" directly on the mobile site's homepage. From here, users will see the top daily deals in their metro area for the day. For deals even closer to home, a link to "nearby" deals will highlight places within just a few blocks of the phone's current location.

Other mobile features let users browse by keyword and category (movie theaters, food & dining, nightlife, arts & entertainment, etc.) and, as the "Dealmap" name implies, there's also a map that shows where these deals can be found.

Deals can also be shared with friends via email or clicked to immediately claim the deal with its provider. And like the desktop search engine, you don't have seek out deals if that's not what you're looking for - any available bargains will be listed in the mobile Bing search results too, directly below the business offering the deal.

For now, the mobile browsing experience is only available on iPhone and Android. No word yet on when it arrives on other operating systems or whether Bing's standalone iPhone application will also feature a dedicated Deals link (as of now, it does not), but we imagine it will be updated soon.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated The Dealmap has over 100 sources. It has over 300.

When Google released Google Shopper last year, we asked "Is there any business Google doesn't want to be in?" The simple answer, of course, is "no" and now the company is bringing this same shopping app to the iPhone.

Just like you might expect, Google Shopper does all your favorite on-the-go shopping maneuvers - it scans, it compares and it saves - but now for the iPhone.

Google lets you search not only by barcode, but also by entering an item name or speaking into the phone, giving the app that special, non-smartphone-owning friend impresser Google quality. And of course, everything is Google integrated, meaning you're taken through the entire process, from search to locating and buying the items.

Once you've selected a product result, you can compare prices across web retailers, and even find where you can purchase the item nearby, which is especially useful for those of us who are last-minute shoppers. For some retailers, we also provide inventory information so you can see if a particular store branch has the item in stock, has limited availability, or if the item is out of stock and you should head to a different store.

The app is currently available for free in the App Store for both iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0 or newer.

Now, instead of browsing through the newspaper for coupons to clip, you can opt to receive a real-time alert on your mobile device of the coupons available to you, as you enter the grocery store itself.

Beyond the Check-in: Location Gets Practical

Location Labs may not be a familiar name to consumers, but its services operate on the backend of many well known consumer-facing products, like AT&T's FamilyMap and Sprint's Family Location service.

In this case, the mobile couponing service is provided by Location Labs' Sparkle Platform, a toolkit for developers that allows mobile apps to incorporate geofencing technology into their offerings. For those unfamiliar with the term "geofencing," it means that a developer can define a particular geographic area and then have a specific action occur when a mobile user crosses the boundaries of that area.

For example, Sparkle works to power the third-party Foursquare application called Mayor Maker, an app which automatically checks you in to your favorite Foursquare venues without you having to launch the Foursquare app to do it yourself.  While Foursquare is fun, and sometimes offers rewards to its users in the form of discounts or other specials from participating merchants, its focus has been more on the gaming aspects - acquiring badges, points and the honorary title of "Mayor" for the places you frequent the most.

While maybe not as fun as Foursquare, coupon clipping is a more practical use of location-based services, those services which use GPS and/or other mobile tracking technologies to determine your physical location in the real world.

With Cellfire, Sparkle is making "geo-targeted" coupons, as they're called, possible - and it's a first for the grocery store coupon industry.

Using Cellfire

The Cellfire mobile app is available for free from iTunes or from the mobile website at www.cellfire.com. To receive the coupons, you must first enable the Store Alerts feature - it's not on by default. Cellfire also allows you to customize the stores and other conditions that will trigger the alerts.

At present, Cellfire only works in conjunction with stores that offer customer loyalty cards as it allows you to select coupons which will then be processed at checkout when the card is scanned. Unfortunately, the list of participating grocery stores is not remarkable. There are less than 20 brands that work with Cellfire, and Kroger is the only major brand listed on Cellfire's site.

That being said, this is a new and unique use of location-based technology which can provide real value to consumers. The challenge now is getting more brands on board to make it useful to a larger group of shoppers.

The new eBay site integrates technology from eBay's acquisition of Milo.com, a local shopping startup bought by the auction giant for $75 million at the beginning of December. Milo, which calls itself the "anti-Amazon" helps consumers spot local deals in real-time by tracking the product inventory at over 50,000 stores.

Milo's retailer partner list includes several big names like Target, Macy's , Sears, JCPenney, Nordstrom, IKEA, RadioShack, Best Buy, Borders, Barnes & Noble, The Home Depot, EBGames, Gamestop, Finish Line, Toys R Us, Lowe's, Ann Taylor and others. The company touted 140 retail partners at the time of its acquisition.

Now, only weeks later, eBay has launched its first major integration of Milo's technology into an eBay property at giftsnearby.ebay.com. The new site shows popular holiday gift items from local stores either in or near a user's zip code.

Best Buy has stepped up as a launch partner with the site, offering GiftsNearby shoppers the ability to purchase the item online through the website for pick up at a local store. It's the only store at present with this option.

As for the user experience, it's pretty good, for what was clearly quick and dirty pre-holiday launch. However, the site lagged at times for us, and then failed to load our local deals on the last refresh. You mileage may vary - we tested on Google Chrome, and not even on all versions (e.g. stable, beta, developer, Canary, etc.)

Local Shopping Heats Up

This isn't the only integration of Milo's technology - eBay recently added local search results to its RedLaser barcode scanning application (another 2010 acquisition) which works on both iPhone and Android mobile platforms. eBay says that GiftsNearby marks the company's "first" e-commerce integration with Milo, a statement that indicates there's more to come.

In 2011, expect to see the local shopping scene heat up even more. eBay now has Milo, Amazon invested $183 million in LivingSocial, another local deals site with Groupon-like aspirations, and Groupon itself will no doubt continue to grow after passing on Google's buyout offer. Meanwhile, Google is sure to pick up a Groupon clone soon enough (BuyWithMe is said to be on the short list), and by the looks of our email inbox, every startup peddling local deals hopes to be the one Google chooses.

In the meantime, you can enjoy the fruits of this localized e-commerce competition for your own holiday shopping purposes at GiftsNearby.ebay.com.

The lineup of Apple-owned applications that make up the service includes "Concierge," a push-enabled app used by employees to receive notifications of customers with appointments entering the store and an app called "Scout" used by managers to establish precise physical locations within the store as part of the setup process.

How Customer Check-ins Will Work

This news comes from Macstories.net, an Apple news and reviews site with the launch exclusive. According to their article, the service went live Monday in Apple's retail stores.

In addition to receiving check-in notices from customers, employees can also use the "Concierge" app to check on the lineup of customers waiting to be seen, based on appointment times and what time they checked in. The queue where this activity is managed is called - you'll never guess - yes, the "iQueue."

"Scout," meanwhile, is the configuration utility that is used just once by management to establish the various locations within the retail store itself (e.g. "the iMac table," "Genius Bar," etc.) It allows for close proximity check-ins. Macstories did not say whether or not Apple has installed specialized hardware in its stores to allow for this, but that seems likely to us.

Yes, Those Mockups Look Odd

Another Apple-watching blog, AppleInsider, also posted on this news. They noticed the screenshots posted on Macstories were wrapped in an iPhone 4 case, but displayed the word "iPod" at the top. However, upon contacting the original article's author, Cody Fink, this was an error on his part. Fink confirmed that he wrapped the original images sent to him for better presentation on the Web. Fink has now added an update to the blog post to clarify.

Update Your Apple Store App!

On the consumer end, there isn't going to be a new mobile application to download. Instead, an updated Apple Store application will integrate the new functionality. The updated app will ask customers upon entering a store if it can send a push notification alerting store staff to their arrival.

We just checked the app updates on our iPhone 4, and it appears the new functionality has gone live this morning.

According to the update description, this feature will only be available to users with iOS 4, the latest version of the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad mobile operating system.

The full description also makes mention of a few other new features, too. It reads:

What's New in Version 1.1

- Add engraving and gift wrapping to select purchases from the Apple Online Store.
- Reserve products for pickup at an Apple Retail Store.
- Check in for reservations and request help within stores (iOS 4 required).
- Add Apple Retail Store reservations directly to iCal.

Please note: With Location Services on and the Apple Store app open, Apple will use your location to identify nearby Apple Retail Stores and to offer additional services when you are in a store. If you have previously opted into the Apple Store app using location but do not want this new feature, you can update your Location Services preferences in General Settings.