If you’ve ever found yourself wanting to buy something online and groaning when the credit card form screen pops up you will probably want to get SmartSwipe, the new desktop device by NetSecure. Not only does SmartSwipe let you bypass the tedious process of entering in all of your financial information, it is safe and secure, providing protection from all malware and viruses. This is done through its Dynamic SSL encryption program called Onboard Cryptographic Provider, which automatically fills out the fields in any online financial transaction form without jeopardizing your security.

This tool should find a home in wide variety of commercial environments, from retailers like Amazon and Zappos to business counsel and law offices. Pretty much anywhere e-commerce is used, SmartSwipe could help expedite the transaction.

All that’s needed is a USB port. SmartSwipe is compatible with all major credit and debit cards and there are no hidden fees or costs either. The only major drawback at this stage is that SmartSwipe only works with PCs that run Windows XP, Vista, or 7 and Internet Explorer 7+, or Firefox 3.6+.

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But organizing them on forums is messy. It takes lots of work manually tracking who has signed up, updating the thread, setting up shipping, collecting addresses, making sure everybody has paid, making sure nobody scams you, calling the manufacturer. It gets to be a lot of work really fast.

Regular cooks know that the most time-consuming aspect of cooking can be finding a recipe and then shopping for its specific ingredients. One-stop-shop Kochhaus aims to simplify things by providing recipes along with everything required to create them.

Unlike traditional grocers, the shop is not sorted by product type, but according to recipe. Consumers simply choose a meal from 20 step-by-step recipes — which change weekly — and then easily get all the ingredients in one go.

German grocery store laid out by recipe — not category [Iconoculture]

Shoe Dating aims to offer female customers dates as well as discounts on a pair of shoes. The promotion is being launched by Malaysian retailer Shoes Shoes Shoes in collaboration with dating site Lunch Actually and women’s radio station Capital FM. Men signed up to Lunch Actually are encouraged to select from a list of 20 shoe makes they would like their potential partner to wear. They also pick a percentage of the sale price they are willing to pay in return for a date, from 10 percent or more. When women purchase footwear from Shoes Shoes Shoes, they are matched with the men who selected their chosen pair and receive the promised discount after the first date.

Female shoppers matched up with dates when they buy a pair of shoes [Springwise]

Complicated is easy, minimalist is difficult. Even more difficult is minimalist design that stands out. That is why we love this little contact lens shop in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is a store concept for Adashot by EyeCare designed by Lee-Ran Shlomi Gidron of Tel Aviv-based Miss Lee Design.

Contact Lens Store – Tel Aviv, Israel [The Cool Hunter]

GoSpotCheck provides a unique way for businesses to collect information from the field. They have created an iPhone app where consumers complete location specific missions (such as taking pictures of the brand’s product in the grocery store or measuring the service level/wait time in a restaurant) that brands create in exchange for cash. Consumers benefit because they can make a little extra pocket cash while they are out and about (the avg mission pays about $5), and brands benefit by getting real time, location specific information for much less than traditional methods.

Imagine yourself standing on a subway or train platform in the morning, waiting to begin your commute to work. It’s an experience shared by millions – yourself perhaps included – on a daily basis. However, instead of casually reading the paper, checking your smartphone, glancing idly at your watch, or scanning for the next train, you are instead doing something far more productive: you’re busy getting your day’s work of grocery shopping done. You’ve got your smartphone busy at work scanning grocery ads alongside the subway wall that will, by the end of your workday, magically translate into food products waiting for you at your stoop when you return home.

This scene could likely soon be a reality across much of the Western world. In South Korea, the grocery chain Home Plus has teamed up with Cheil, an advertising agency, to blanket subway platforms with head-to-foot ads that resemble life-sized versions of grocery shelves. These ads have pictures of drinks, breads, pastas, vegetables, and any other food one could find at the supermarket. A person waiting for the train only needs to hold their phone up to an item and scan that item’s QR code if they desire to purchase a given product. Of course, it is necessary to own a smartphone and download a necessary application before any purchases can be made.

Once an item has been scanned, the smartphone app will immediate charge the user’s bank account and send an order for the product to the nearest Home Plus distributor. Then, within the day, the grocery chain will receive that order, put any scanned products into a personalized bag, and deliver that bag to the user’s house. There is a slight surcharge to the cost of this virtual shopping experience, but the ability to cut out the retail middle-man and forgo some hiring and employee training costs means that South Koreans can save far more in convenience than they spend in money when using the system.

Home Plus has seen a spike in sales since the program began, and other grocery chains across Asia have already begun taking notice and following suit. When can we expect to see such a program expand to Europe and the United States? It’s hard to say for sure, but there’s no doubt that a market exists in major metropolitan centers and that a wide variety of retailers would jump to get onboard. Ultimately, then, it’s only a matter of time before the act of buying food – a highly physical product – only becomes increasingly virtualized.

This article is a guest blog post from our supporters.

Lost Crates love beautiful design; it’s as simple as that. At Lost Crates, the smallest changes can turn something from boring to fascinating, and Lost Crates strive to help customers make that difference with their curated crates. Lost Crates started out with notebooks, writing instruments, desk accessories, and stationery, but expand their offerings after months of stumbling across amazing products that they couldn’t pass off as stationery. No matter what your passions are – writing, food, the environment – you’ll find the crate for you. Always well-designed.

Tipped by Kassia Shishkoff. Thanks!

SnapGoods offers a forum in which anyone can post what they have to share and what they want to borrow from those with whom they are socially connected. One click creates a customized account that can be integrated into Facebook and/or Twitter, through which members can instantly ‘window shop.’ Although individual members determine the pricing and details of each exchange, the site offers an official guarantee that damaged goods will be replaced or repaired.

Share and Share Alike [TrendCentral]

A fishmonger in Spain’s Basque region has come up with a novel way to serve fresh fish in a flash. By installing a vending machine in the doorway to their shop, the owners of Pescadería Martín Arrandegia invite customers to stop by round the clock. Whether they’re seeking sardines or squid, prawns or pre-cooked fish, passersby can push a button and pick up their catch at the same price as they’d pay in the shop, without having to heed opening times. Originally designed to sell sandwiches and drinks, the machine is restocked daily with fresh fish selected at the local auction market.

Sliding scale: Spain gets its first fish vending machine [Iconoculture]

The recent outbreak of alternative financial transaction services hasn’t yet caused giants like PayPal and Ebay to need reputation protection, but they may be looking to revamp their business models soon. The new kid on the block, Dwolla, threatens to shake things up in an industry that seems to change by the year. Dwolla, the new U.S. only e-commerce company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, is the latest challenger to take on PayPal in the online payment industry. Founded in 2008, the Dwolla didn’t officially launch its service until 2010 but has been growing steadily since then, reaching 20,000 users as of June 2011.

Dwolla’s major notable features are the absence of credit cards and low transaction fees (25 cents per, plus every transaction under $10 is free), and no percentage of the transaction, which is how they aim to put up a fight against PayPal. Other features include free micro-transactions (which can help with things like splitting bar tabs), the ability for individual users to send money through social networks, and the ability for users to complete transactions with their phones. Users are also able to do all of the aforementioned with the assurance of stringent anti-fraud technologies. Also, Dwolla recently rolled out its FiSync integration, by which the company intends to offer instantaneous transactions.

Dwolla’s prize horse, so to speak, would have to be its social media integration, which is cutting edge and relevant to a new generation of consumers. In addition to being able to send money through social networks, you can also sync your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn connections and get automatic Foursquare check-in at any place you spend money. Dwolla also prizes itself on the transparency of its underlying infrastructure funding, meaning no anomalous charges. It also means that merchants won’t be inundated in fine print and mysterious legalese.

The insistence on no credit cards informs what it views as a service that works well for businesses and non-profits. Small, social media-friendly businesses especially can take advantage of the service’s Proxi-enabled system, Dwolla virtual Kiosk, the Dwolla Merchant app, and its free, real-time verification at locations. Dwolla is also aggressively developing integrated point-of-sale capabilities.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dwolla seems to have found support people in the Bitcoin community. While Dwolla does not endorse the decentralized electronic currency system, they have made it possible for its users to sell Bitcoin and easily transfer amounts between the two. The interest taken in Dwolla among Bitcoin users underscores a general revolution taking place in the digital currency industry right now. Consumers want less intermediary action taken in financial actions. Dwolla stands to be a major beneficiary of this revolution, thanks to its clever media integrations.

This post is a guest blog post