We've seen numerous twists and embellishments added to the traditional funeral in recent years, including branded caskets, motorcycle hearses and digitally enabled headstones. There's still no getting around the fact, however, that planning a funeral can be an overwhelming and time-consuming task for the bereaved. Aiming to prepare families and make the process easier, death-care provider Stewart Enterprises has launched an online tool called the Virtual Arrangement Conference.

The Virtual Arrangement Conference's interactive presentation is designed to walk families through the key points of what they should expect during a meeting at the funeral home. In addition to explaining the process step by step, the interactive tool can also facilitate the collection of information required by the funeral home, using integrated forms to transmit information such as data for the death certificate or facts to be included in the obituary. No information is required to be submitted using the tool, but hundreds of families have already used it to begin the funeral planning process for themselves, the Louisiana company says, cutting down significantly on the in-person meeting time required. Nearly 200 funeral and cremation service providers in 24 states have launched the Virtual Arrangement Conference, which can be seen in action at Florida-based Baldwin-Fairchild Cemeteries and Funeral Homes, for example (login required).

Consumers are increasingly accustomed to researching online ahead of time in anticipation of a key decision to be made, so it makes perfect sense to bring such capabilities to the world of funeral preparation as well—particularly if you can do it in the form of a free brand butler that's designed to help, not sell. Funeral homes, health care workers, hospice volunteers, financial planners—an extra service to offer clients of your own...? Meanwhile, development-minded entrepreneurs—time to start work on a mobile version...?

Website: www.stewartenterprises.com
Contact: dwesterfield@stei.com

Spotted by: Blake Killian

Mobile ticketing may offer myriad benefits for both event managers and consumers, but most options still require specialized scanning hardware to read the ticket from the user's device. Not so Twicketer, a new service that delivers event tickets that can be verified and validated right on the smartphone.

Now in beta, Wisconsin-based Twicketer is powered by technology from its Danish parent company, ScreenTicket, that uses a patent-pending system called On Device Verification. How it works: Event managers can send out links with a shortened URL to their events through social media including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. From there, attendees can buy their mobile tickets online by simply following the included link. Once it's time for the event, the mobile ticket can be scanned and verified onsite without any scanning hardware. Twicketer charges a service fee of USD 0.99 for every ticket sold; it can also be used to distribute mobile coupons and vouchers.

Currently, Twicketer can deliver mobile tickets to more than 200 countries via more than 800 mobile carriers. Custom branding is available, as is a comprehensive API. One to try out for your next event, coupon or other paperless promotion...? (Related: Ticketing marketplace makes prices negotiable.)

Website: www.twicketer.com
Contact: info@twicketer.com

Spotted by: Stas Zlobinski

Just as Foursquare allows consumers to keep tabs on each other's current activities, so Plancast lets them track what their friends are planning to do in the future.

Plancast, the brainchild of San Francisco-based Worldly Developments, bills itself as “the easiest way for you to share events and other activities with friends.” Toward that end, the web application allows users to create inclusive location-based plans and share them with friends via Facebook and Twitter. Consumers begin by signing up with Plancast—something that can also be done via Facebook Connect or Twitter. From there, they can easily find other friends using the service and browse all the plans and events those people have in the works. Sharing plans is simple and quick, thanks to a simple posting prompt; so, too, is getting more details about what friends are planning. Users can follow the plans of people they're interested in, and they can also limit their own profiles to a select set of friends, according to a report on VentureBeat. Widgets are available to display upcoming plans on a website or blog, and Worldly Developments just recently released a read- and write-enabled Plancast API. A free iPhone app is available, as is one for Android. Future revenue plans focus primarily on targeted advertising, The Next Web reports.

There's no shortage of event-planning sites out there, but most of those tend to focus on formal ones; when it's just drinks and dinner being planned, Plancast is there to help make it happen. Keep the mass-mingling innovations coming! (Related: With social media check-ins, guests earn hotel rewards — Five online services for getting together offline.)

Website: www.plancast.com
Contact: support@plancast.com

Spotted by: John Greene

The ability to pay for purchases by mobile phone may be common in some parts of the world, but it's by no means ubiquitous. Similar to the way RideCharge lets consumers book a taxi and pay their fare by phone, TabbedOut lets them open a tab at their favourite bar and then close it out by phone when they're ready to go.

The brainchild of Texas-based ATX Innovation, TabbedOut is available as a free app for both iPhone and Android; Blackberry support is coming soon, the company says. Currently, consumers in Austin and Dallas as well as Chico, Calif., can use the app to manage their bar tabs at participating venues. They begin by downloading and setting up the application, including entering account information for one or more credit or debit cards; once stored, those accounts are displayed only via the last four digits. Next, when they're ready to visit a bar, they can use the app to see which ones near them are linked with TabbedOut. The software is integrated directly with participating restaurants and bars so as to allow consumers to open and view a tab directly from the point-of-sale system. Opening a tab with TabbedOut essentially provides the bar with the consumer's stored payment information up front; in return, he or she is given a code that the bartender uses to keep track of each drink. When it's time to go, the consumer simply opens the app, enters a tip and selects “pay.” TabbedOut can send a copy of the receipt via email; it also archives the information for later use in expense reports, for example. ATX charges consumers 99 cents for each tab paid using TabbedOut.

Aiming for a nationwide expansion, ATX is currently seeking strategic partnerships with POS providers, resellers and hospitality vendors; one to get in on early...?

Website: www.tabbedout.com
Contact: info@tabbedout.com

Spotted by: Cecilia Biemann

Both mobile warriors and casual travellers are all too familiar with the difficulty and expense that can be associated with getting an internet connection while travelling. A couple of years ago we covered RovAir's day-pass wireless mobile broadband service, and last month Finnish Zonga launched a like-minded alternative.

Zonga's mobile wifi rental service uses a 3G wifi modem that's compatible with any wifi-enabled device. There's no need to install anything, and the battery-powered device allows up to 5 simultaneous connections to the mobile broadband data network. Pricing is EUR 9 per day including unlimited data and all costs. Zonga's “All You Can Internet” service is currently available only in Helsinki, with pick-up and drop-off locations at the airport and downtown hotels.

Zonga aims to expand to other international airports over the course of next year, according to a report in Arctic Startup; one to partner with toward that end?

Website: www.zonga.fi
Contact: www.zonga.fi/contact

Spotted by: John Greene