Technologists have long dreamed of using the Internet to send data about consumer products to shoppers in real time, wherever they happen to be. Researchers at Microsoft Corp. claim they’re getting closer to making that happen.

[by way of Mercury News]

Beginning this week, people who have phones and other portable devices that run the company’s Windows Mobile operating system can download a free Microsoft application known as AURA. It stands for Advanced User Resource Annotation and is designed to connect shoppers on the go to a world of information about products.

People with an AURA-enabled device would use its digital camera to snap the bar code on a product. AURA then would deliver several links and search results about the item to the handheld computer. A consumer might learn whether the same product is available for a lower price elsewhere, for example, or whether the item was manufactured in a country with controversial labor practices.

also see prior postings on AURA Smartmobs November 9, 2002and May 18, 2006