Now you can scan barcodes and the world with your mobile phone

It seems that these days everyone is into barcode scanning from his/her mobile phone. To be fair, barcode scanning from a mobile is nothing new, but it became even more popular with the release of ShopSavvy and then the subsequent release of RedLaser.

The latest entry into the barcode scanning camp is Amazon. In this case, though, instead of returning results from a bunch of brick-and-mortar and online companies, the Amazon version just returns Amazon-based merchants.

I have to admit that being a Prime member, I do a lot of shopping through Amazon. With the ability to now scan items directly with the app, I think I'm going to have to put a hold on my credit cards. Seriously though, last time I went shopping I needed some printer paper. I scanned just about every box I could find, using RedLaser, and after finding it on Amazon, Staples, and a bunch of other places, it made more sense to purchase it at the store I was scanning the item at. The whole experience definitely showed me how much power I held in my hands, though.

So, where do we go after we're done scanning barcodes? How about scanning in business cards. That's what the folks behind CardMunch want you to do. Or maybe you want to just scan whatever you see, using Google's recently updated Google Mobile App, which now includes Google Goggles.

I think the future will have us scanning just about anything. We'll start with barcodes, find the best price, or maybe just add a book to our collection or wishlist, using apps like BookLover. I know that I would love to go to my basement, scan in everything and then sort through and make a donation list, inventory list, yardsale list, and just about any other list you can think of.

It's nice to see technology really working to make our lives easier. With the ability to scan and augmented reality, there's no telling what information will be at our fingertips next.