You could imagine that if Consumer Reports and LEED got together and had a baby; it might look something like GoodGuide. The Guide currently has close to 80,000 products evaluated in categories like personal care, food, household chemicals, paper products, and toys.

So, the idea is, as you are walking down the aisle of your favorite store, trying to exercise your purchasing power in the most responsible fashion, you stop in front of the dishwasher detergent to mull over your choices. You pick up Cascade, your usual brand and scan the barcode with your iPhone. You find that it gets a respectable rating of 7.1 out of ten. A perfect 10 for health (no issues), but a more average 5.5 for environment and a 5.9 for society. Curious, you drill down and see that it gets dinged on biodiversity with a meager 1.9 for habitat conservation. Thirty-five people recommend it, nine say to avoid it. A little disappointed, you set the box back down. It had always done a good job getting the dishes clean, but you like animals, so you look around to see what else there is. You pick up a bottle of Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Gel and scan its barcode. It gets an 8.2, including an 8.4 for environment and 7.6 for biodiversity. A whopping 293 people recommend it and only 3 said to avoid it. Even though it costs a little more, and it only got an 8.0 for health, you decide to give it a try.

GoodGuide Keeps Growing: A Cool Tool to Help Consumers Change the World [Triple Pundit]

Reveries.com: Paulita Flores says her wedding site was beautiful once she got past the caskets, urns and cemetery views, reports Melanie D. Hayes in the Indianapolis Star (1/19/11). “At first, when I pulled up and saw it was a funeral home, it did concern me,” Paulita admits. “But when we walked in and saw everything, it was overwhelming. I fell in love and thought it was the perfect place. It was breathtaking, so it didn’t cross my mind again.” After all, the venue features “an elegant rotunda with marble floors amid glimmering chandeliers and a bubbling fountain.”

So, Paulita went ahead and planned her wedding to take place at the Community Life Center in Indianapolis, which “holds a dozen events each month,” not including funerals. As unusual as that may sound, holding weddings and other functions at funeral homes is gaining in popularity.

Tombstone Weddings [Reveries]

Derry Church Artisan Chocolates hand-produce world-class French style chocolate bon bons. They make a point on their website to note that their delicious gourmet chocolates are produced in small batches, by human beings, not machines. Who might they be comparing themselves to? They also use 100% organic and natural ingredients (and all their cream and butter comes from local PA dairy farms).

Derry Church Artisan Chocolates [Josh Spear.com]

OhGizmo: As part of a campaign for their new “Hot ‘n Wholesome” breakfast menu, Caribou Coffee’s ad agency, Colle + McVoy, created these amazing bus shelter advertisements for the city of Minneapolis. Not only do they look like giant ovens, but the heating element on the roof actually works! So those waiting inside stay as toasty as the breakfast sandwiches appearing on the poster behind them.

This Toasty Bus Shelter Makes Me Wish They Advertised Caribou Coffee In My Town [OhGizmo]

Uber-Review: When it comes to pets, dogs are sooooo much better than cats in all ways but one: they don’t really care where they take a crap. You take them for a walk and they will go out of their way to drop a fresh, juicy turd at their earliest convenience. If you are civically minded, that means pulling out a plastic bag and trying to scoop up the poop without touching it (not as hard as it sounds, trust me) – or you could leave it there and risk fines and scorn… or you could spend $100 and carry around a ridiculous looking dog dung vacuum from Hammacher Schlemmer.

The Dog Dung vacuum features a battery-powered 30,000-RPM motor that can get 50 suctions out of a single 12-hour charge.

Dog Dung Vacuum Saves You From Bending Down to Pick Up Poop [Uber-Review]

Cool Tools: You simply place freshly washed greens in the bag, twist the top of the bag closed, make a fist around the twist and spin the bag vigorously a few times quickly. Water is automatically collected into a reservoir at the bottom of the bag and drains out from a channel running along one side. Works as well as any salad spinner I’ve ever used.

Both the packaging and the website have excellent illustrations to help you do it right the first time, but it’s kind of obvious once you see the bag and there are brief written guides and arrows printed on the bag itself. It’s so ridiculously simple that once you’ve done it, you’ll never forget how.

Perfect for travelers because it’s just a cleverly designed plastic bag that you can fold up and take with. It stores anywhere, even a pocket or tucked in a corner of a briefcase. Because I sometimes travel on a moment’s notice and frequently make my own salads, I keep one stashed in every travel case, tucked inside a small zip lock bag.

The bag can also be used to store the greens. Just fluff the greens in the bag, use a twist tie to close and it keeps greens fresh in the refrigerator much longer than the bags they come in from the market.

Spin ‘n Store [Cool Tools]

BornRich: A well-designed coffee machine is as much a consideration as the brewing performance when you are in the market for buying one. Sieger design has designed a new generation of coffee machine for Kaffee Partner with the “Ultima Duo.” The machine pleases with its aesthetic looks along with a touchscreen interface with different icons cups for an innovative yet minimalist interface. The use of black and materials such as glass and robust galvanized stainless steel give it an elegant yet hi-tech look. The Ultima Duo by designer Michael Winner has been awarded the “iF Product Design Award 2011” award. The machine has two grinding mills, processing two different types of beans and over 50 possible coffees for individual needs just at the touch of a button.

Italian coffee culture in your office with the Ultimate Duo [BornRich]

No more hose, bucket, or soapy mess. How? Simply spray your car with our waterless car wash formula, wipe clean and admire away. The Eco Touch Waterless Car Wash’s unique blend of plant-based surfactants break down surface grime, while polymers leave your surface smooth and protected. Eco Touch will leave your car — and your conscience — clean.

Springwise.com: Created by Chicago-based Sandbox Industries, Bluelight users begin by telling the app how much time they need to get to their destination on a particular occasion, such as a late-night trip home. They also designate a friend or family member for the application to contact if it’s necessary. Then, assuming they arrive at their destination as planned, they simply check in with Bluelight and their contact won’t be bothered. If they don’t check in, however, Bluelight will send a text message or email to the contact with the user’s most recent location in the form of GPS coordinates plotted on a map. That person can then reach out to make sure everything is OK. Bluelight also offers a “Send Alert Now” button as an alternative to waiting for the application’s timer.

iPhone app sends safety alert if you don’t arrive on time [Springwise.com]

I4U: If you are the sort that has to send Valentines gifts to every woman, you ever knew we have a new app just for you. The app is called Kiss My Valentine and has a countdown clock so you remember the day is coming and you can get gifts ready. The app can store different contacts and lets you keep track with the real world items you need to buy and sent to your Valentines.

The app will reset after V-Day 2011 and will work next year too. You can send hugs and kisses as well as greetings to other users form the app. The well wishes are delivered to addresses in your contacts menu.

Kiss My Valentine App Keeps all Your Dates Straight [I4U]

Trends Updates: One of the most underrated items in the world of stationery is a magnifying glass, that for centuries has been used for intense scrutiny of documents and has been a most preferred investigative instrument for detectives and investigators. Apart from its most practical applications, the magnifying glass has also been a real favorite toy for kids, who mostly use it to set papers on fire using the glass’s lens as a catalyst to harness the sun’s light into an inflammable beam. Now, the magnifying glass has been resurrected in a highly technological manner, as Eschenbach, a premier German distributor of vision aids has now come out with quite an interesting product in the form of the all new ‘Magnifying Glass with Zoom‘, that is capable of enhancing the print to up to an astounding 3.4x.

Presenting The All New World’s First Magnifying Glass With Zoom Capabilities [TrendsUpdates]