We've seen numerous efforts to let mobile phone users earn cash for performing small tasks, but it wasn't until recently that we had seen an iPhone app dedicated solely to that purpose. Now joining the ranks of CloudCrowd, Fiverr, Samasource and others, Field Agent is a free iPhone app that gives users of the mobile device a directed way to increase their pay.

iPhone users begin by downloading the Field Agent application from the iTunes App Store. They can then search for jobs in their geographical area, complete them and get paid. Most listed jobs are in everyday locations where agents live; examples include collecting retail pricing and display information, event images, photos of items for sale and consumer surveys that can be completed anywhere an iPhone can be used. The Field Agent software uses the iPhone's built-in tools to provide clients with information including agent history, GPS location, time and date stamps, and photo confirmations. Payments can range from USD 3 to USD 8, depending on the job’s degree of difficulty. Clients, in turn, can rate agents for their reliability and accuracy. Field Agent requires iPhone OS 3.1 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Field Agent is a joint venture between Arkansas-based Mill Creek Software and NorthStar Partnering Group. It's also another shining example of the recession-friendly crowdsourced labour trend. One more to emulate or try out for yourself!

Website: www.fieldagent.net
Contact: info@fieldagent.net

Spotted by: Andrew Toburen

Roughly a third of the average person's workday is lost to interruptions, according to SET Consulting, and one of the primary culprits is email. Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of a new tool from the Maryland company that protects users from all but the most important messages.

Now in beta, AwayFind is a web application that continually scans the user's email for new messages. When something timely and important arrives—according to criteria set by the user—AwayFind notifies them by phone, SMS, IM or Twitter, or it can delegate the message to someone else. AwayFind can also send custom auto response messages to different people and at a frequency set by the user. With support for all IMAP-based email providers, including Gmail and many Microsoft Exchange installations, AwayFind will soon offer native Microsoft Exchange support and full compatibility with Yahoo and Hotmail. In addition to the web-based service, a plugin is also available for Firefox and Chrome. AwayFind is free during its beta period, but ultimately SET plans to charge for certain features.

AwayFind users have already escaped from 2,108,668 unimportant emails, the company says. One to try out on your own inbox—or partner with on the next version...?

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

They keep popping up: online-offline hybrids that combine electronic communication with tangible objects. The latest to appear on our radar? Chicago-based Life Tokens, which lets consumers express their emotions via coded tokens that are sent anonymously through the mail, and that link to personal online messages.

Each token features a graphic on the front that encapsulates a specific emotion, and a 6-digit code on the back that, when entered by the recipient on Life Tokens' website, reveals the identity of the sender along with a personal message. Life Tokens sent within the United States are priced at USD 5 which includes domestic shipping. International shipping is also available.

In an era dominated by electronic communication, consumers are increasingly embracing concepts that facilitate tangible 'real world' connections. One to emulate on a niche basis, such as catering for business users, marketing initiatives, or perhaps with a naughty twist? ;-) (Related: Online network for tweens requires offline introductions — Printed greeting cards with a digital twist.)

Website: www.lifetokens.com
Contact: questions@lifetokens.com

Spotted by: Erica Walker

Amazon's Mechanical Turk has been around for a while, and in recent months it's been joined in the crowdsourced labour arena by ShortTask, txteagle, Samasource, CrowdFlower and Fiverr, to name just a few. While similar to many of those, CloudCrowd aims to set itself apart by breaking large jobs into many small, concurrent tasks and emphasizing worker credibility.

Billed as a “labour-as-a-service” crowdsourcing platform, San Francisco-based CloudCrowd strives to give companies and other work providers a way to get large, laborious projects completed more quickly and for a fraction of the price than they could be by salaried workers. Data entry and processing, image processing, internet research, product merchandising, and content creation and filtering are all among the services offered by CloudCrowd, which enables managers to pay for projects' completion on a cost-per-action basis. Clients begin by submitting a work sample; from there, CloudCrowd figures out how to break the job down, distributes pieces to its crowd, gets results checked for accuracy and then returns a quote. Once approved, work is conducted 24/7, and completed micro-tasks start coming back within hours. For large projects like data entry and image review, the cost savings of CloudCrowd's approach can be as high as 50 percent, it says. A proprietary credibility and review system, meanwhile, constantly evaluates the quality of each worker and weeds out the poor ones quickly.

After launching last October, CloudCrowd's labour pool had already hit 25,000 by March. Serving both consumers seeking to work flexibly for extra cash and companies looking for savings and quick turnaround, CloudCrowd could be another one to emulate—or at least try out on your next big project.

Website: www.cloudcrowd.com
Contact: www.cloudcrowd.com/contact

Spotted by: Murtaza Patel

Apple may have sold a million iPads in 28 days, but you can be certain there are still countless consumers out there not yet sure they want to take the plunge. Tapping into that market of curious onlookers, UK-based Bid and Borrow—a site much like Neighborgoods, focused on the sharing of consumer goods—now gives consumers a way to try the iPad for just GBP 20 a day.

London-based Bid and Borrow displays a wide variety of goods on its site, all submitted by users willing to rent them out. Those interested in hiring them can pay a fee or offer their time or talents for a barter trade. Though the iPad doesn't arrive in the UK until May 28, one enterprising Bid and Borrow member in Brighton is already offering one up for rent. Consumers can reserve it in advance; with a GBP 350 deposit, the device can be tried out at will for GBP 20 per day.

Ever popular during tough economic times, the try-before-you-buy philosophy has already been applied to cars, chickens, cookbooks, camcorders and guitars—to name just a few products—but it makes extra good sense in the realm of expensive, cutting-edge consumer electronics, especially those with limited global availability.

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