WebProNews

Have trouble making purchase decisions? Toshiba has developed a mobile phone technology that scans product bar codes and collects an overall product rating based on what the blogosphere has to say about it.

As illustrated by the AP snapshot, the technology is a mobile buzz barometer that can search for up to 100 product reviews on weblogs, calculate an overall mood (positive or negative), and shoot back the results in about 10 seconds.

Using the camera feature on a mobile phone to take a snapshot of the product, indecisive shoppers will have a personal shopping aide. Blogs with higher traffic will also show up on screen.

Of course one could imagine what technology such as this will mean for the amount of spam blogs (splogs) already littering the blogosphere. It may prove difficult to differentiate between legitimate sources and bogus product reviews set up to tip the scales.

Toshiba will begin testing the product in Japanese stores in March and hopes to offer the service abroad before April 2007.

Jason L. Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.