The retailer says context sensitive product visualization that takes into account individual consumer preferences is the next big breakthrough in online shopping.

Branded virtual goods can increase consumer ad awareness, brand awareness, and purchase intent. That's the conclusion of a study of nearly 3,000 players of an iPhone game.

An appssavvy Social Activity study found that branded virtual goods increase brand metrics and can even be more influential than some mobile campaigns.

Starting next week, the 20 milllion daily FarmVille players will be able to plant a real brand of crops: organic blueberries from Cascadian Farm.

Linden Lab intends to move the Second Life environment to a browser- and mobile-based platform, obviating the need to download software.

Spending on virtual goods -- items purchased in Web-based games, social networks, and social-network-based games -- has increased since last year. And while it’s still a minority activity, among some segments of the population, usage has more than doubled since 2009.

The newly launched program, called PepsiCo10, is a competition for early-stage startups in four categories: social media and marketing, mobile marketing, place-based and retail experiential marketing, and digital video and gaming.

"In addition to growth in online games and virtual worlds, the data shows, and our internal metrics corroborate, tremendous virtual goods purchasing behavior in social network games," said PlaySpan chief marketing officer Eric Hartness in a statement accompanying the survey findings.

Tissot has developed an augmented reality feature that allows shoppers to truly see what a watch will look like on their arms.