There's an interesting new software, currently only available for the iPhone which allows users to match real world products to online information instantly.
Once you have taken a picture of the item you're searching for, SnapTell Explorer uses image recognition to look up information on any product from simple photographs from their database.
The search works by either matching the image with SnapTell’s database, or by reading text contained in the image to conduct a search. Reviews so far appear to be positive. It has also been noted that even images taken under low/bad lighting returns usable results.
Via: SnapTell, TechCrunch, PSFK