Sparked – Have you ever thought about volunteering but were forced to give it up due to a super busy schedule? Sparked is the perfect micro-volunteering spot for people just like you who want to help out but are simply too busy during the week to do so.

Sparked is the “world’s first microvolunteering network,” offering easy and meaningful online help options to busy moms, dads and young professionals who want to help make a change. Whatever you’re good at, whether it’s graphic design, marketing, web development, copy-writing or brainstorming, Sparked will match you with challenges non-profit organizations need assistance with.

Once you’ve stated your areas of expertise, Sparked will show you a list of open challenges for you to pitch in and help out.

Want to see Sparked in action? Check out the page for the challenge Brainstorm Fun Ideas Re: Govt. Failure to Commit on Climate. At All My Faves we fell in love with this amazing website that is not only beautifully built, but it’s one that also gets the (busy) community engaged.

Wanderfly – This comprehensive customized travel planner is “a personalized recommendation engine that helps you discover new and exciting experiences, based on your budget and interests.” Simply specify your departure city and travel destination, the amount you’d like to spend, desired time of year and the nature of your vacation (romantic, adventure, beach, etc.). Wanderfly will then build a travel plan based on your submitted parameters.

BranchOut – Although many are amazed Facebook hasn’t made a move to buy LinkedIn yet, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t leverage your network of friends on the world’s No. 1 social network right now to your own career’s advantage. BranchOut has put its foot in the Facebook-jobs door and offers easy job search using nothing more than your Facebook account.

Once you sign in via Facebook connect, grant the application access to your account and create your job seeker’s profile. BranchOut offers easy LinkedIn profile import which is a huge perk. Get relevant job offers, see your connections, learn what’s new in your professional network (instant updates), and even endorse your friends. BranchOut is a great idea that is well-designed and executed. Give it a try if you’re thinking about making a career change using more than just job listings and LinkedIn.

OpenStudy – I wish I had this community available to me back when I was a student. OpenStudy is a well-intentioned network of students seeking live online help from other students. Alternatively, OpenStudy is also a place where experienced students can offer their knowledge to novice peers struggling with a certain study topic.

As you can see from the screenshot above, you can find help in math, finance, physics, biology, writing & English, comp. sci and history. If you’re looking for help, simply select the topic in question and type in your question in the twitter feed-like list on the left. Someone from the OpenStudy community will reply soon. If you know the answer to someone else’s inquiry, go ahead and submit your explanation. See the example below for OpenStudy’s Math page.

OpenStudy is a terrific study tool that involves the online community in a positive and fruitful way. I relish in witnessing Education take a digital and innovative turn by such collaborations online.

Flvrd – This Photo-based social community is the spot where “flavors meet visuals.” As opposed to the photo sharing app Trover, the Weekly App we featured last week, Flvrd (pronounced “flavored”) is about sharing photos of online points of interest, not locations.

The basic idea behind Flvrd is to introduce users to interesting and entertaining videos, photos, posts and other online memes while inviting them to share their own online flavors with the rest of the Flvrd community. Here’s one Flvrd entry I wanted to share: Anti-Theft Lunch Bags by Andy91 via Tumblr. It’s genius!

Fooducate – Eating better and healthier is now easier than ever. No more excuses! Fooducate, a free iPhone and Android app is here to help you make smarter choices at the supermarket. The app’s barcode scanning feature facilitates deciphering those long and complicated ingredients lists, and it tells you straight up what the product you’re holding in your hand is made of (both good and bad ingredients).

The Fooducate team is made up of parents, dietitians and “techies,” which means you can trust the app’s health recommendations and product information. Use Fooducate to scan products, compare and seek alternative choices, or learn more about healthy nutrition. All you have to do is download the free app and scan products. Fooducate will do the rest.

Fooducate, especially considering the fact that it’s free, is a must-have health app you’ll appreciate and benefit from for the long term. Its interface is easy to follow and interact with, and the barcode feature works like a charm. I have already added this app to my iPhone and I use it every week. Highly recommended!

BillGuard – This new service aims to be the dead-serious watch dog for your credit card bills, calling itself the ‘Antivirus’ for credit card bills. What does it do, exactly? “BillGuard scans your card activity for hidden charges, billing errors, forgotten subscriptions, scams and fraud, and alerts you via email when your attention is required.”

BillGuard truly is a personal finance savior, and it’s particularly essential to those owning more than just a few cards and finding it hard to keep up with it all. Another cool BillGuard perk is that in addition to its automated transaction scan for errors and hidden fees by over 100 tests, it also scans the web to see if other people have posted complaints or flagged certain transactions and merchants. This ‘people power’ makes the BillGuard community a watch dog in and of itself. All for one and one for all, so to speak.

To learn more about BillGuard and how it works, watch the video below.

Getaround – This innovative startup is the 2011 TechCrunch Disrupt winner. What makes it so special? Getaround has taken an existing concept -car rental- and made it better, more affordable and more accessible. The idea is simple. You find car rentals from real people, private car owners near you at an affordable rate, and you in turn can rent out your own car for someone else when you don’t need it.

SugarSynch – File sync and online backup provider SugarSynch is making Dropbox look a bit weak. SugarSynch offers sweet file storage and sharing (including large-sized files) using the cloud. Dropbox has been, up to this point, the leading provider of file backup that’s automatically synced on multiple devices, but their free track only allows for 2 GB. SugarSynch, on the other hand, offers more than twice as much – 5 GB of space for free plan users. What other features make SugarSynch stand out? You can backup and sync any folder on your computer, upload files via email, share folders with permissions and passwords, publish photos to facebook and many other perks you won’t find elsewhere. In addition, SugarSynch works with Android, Blackberry, Symbian and of course iPhone and iPad. For the complete list of comparison, click here. I’ve already signed up for the free 5 GB file storage plan. What about you? To learn more watch the video below.

Onavo – Mobile data can really cost your device downloads data from your carrier, using the Internet without you even knowing. The end result is hard cash you pay for that accumulated Internet usage. When traveling abroad, these costs can grow to an extent where it makes more sense to leave the mobile device at home and rent out a local cellular phone for your trip.

LearnVest – Did you ever take a personal finance class back in school or college? Neither did I, and quite frankly, it’s surprising it’s not a degree requirement in universities and colleges in America. Alexa von Tobel felt the same when she was a Harvard Senior. A few years and lots of research later, Alexa has created LearnVest, “an online platform to help women everywhere gain control of their finances.”

I have to admit, I had some problems with the fact that this site targets women and their implied inability to control their spending. Having that said, I do believe personal finance sites on the Web fail to address the special concerns and issues of women when it comes to staying on top of expenses. So, what’s so special about LearnVest? It’s a full blown wallet watcher if you please, that also offers regularly updated content on living richer and better.

Sign up with Facebook and start exploring LearnVest: there are bootcamp programs (many are free!) such as how to get out of debt, cut costs, build health and more. There is also the Money Tuneup which offers a comprehensive resource on investments, retirement, insurance and loans, and my favorite: Living Frugal which shows you how to spend sensibly on fashion and beauty, eating out and entertainment, even on styling your home.

In short, LearnVest is a blessing, and I’m already subscribed. Here’s a fascinating article I found on LearnVest and wanted to share: How to Splurge Right.

Neer – Location sharing is a popular mobile feature these days with Foursquare, GoWalla and Brightkite being some of the prominent location based apps. The problem with these however is that you let others -both friends and people you don’t know- know where you are and what you’re doing. Neer is another location sharing app that’s both productive and, for those who prefer it, private.

Neer is a clever application that connects family and friends based on shared location info, thus making social and family interaction more effective and fun. To start off, create your contact list of ‘cleared’ family members and friends. Next, add the locations you visit most frequently to Neer, and ask your friends to do the same. Neer will send you alerts of when, for example, your spouse has left the office, where they are on their way back home, even whether your kid is back home from school. These alerts are automatic and secure.

If you wish to make use of location-based tools without letting strangers in on where you are, Neer is the perfect app for you, your family and circle of friends. Works on the iPhone and Android. To learn more about Neer, here’s the intro video: