ReadWriteWeb

Every year at ReadWriteWeb, we look at hundreds of new web apps aimed at everyday users. Occasionally, we come across a service that stands out from the pack because it offers a novel solution, disrupts the way incumbent market leaders do business or changes the way we experience the Web.

Here is our list of the top 10 consumer web apps of 2009. These are apps and services that helped consumers use the web in new ways this year; and brought technologies that were previously only geared towards advanced users to a mainstream audience.

We test a lot of software around here, on the web, on our desktop and on our phones. It's a great job to have, but only so much of what we test really sticks and becomes a part of our daily routines. Every once in awhile we like to compare lists in our team chat room and then share them with you.

Here are the latest tools and services we've come to love, maybe you'd like to give them a try too.

When so many conferences feature CEOs rehashing their past successes, FailCon does exactly the opposite. The event asks successful founders, investors and developers to discuss their past blunders and what they've learned from them. While this may seem like a series of sob stories, the result is actually a list of practical tips on how to reduce risk, manage teams and recover from adversity. In today's afternoon sessions several panelists shared their war stories and set the stage for lessons.

One of the sessions at today's RWW Real-Time Web Summit examined how we can use the real-time Web to connect people. This session, led by Aardvark's Damon Horowitz, delved into some of the questions that remain to be answered about this aspect of the move towards the real-time Web. One of the most interesting aspects of this discussion focused on how companies can connect the right people to each other in real time.

The phrase "real-time web" may make you think about Twitter, Facebook, or perhaps real-time stock market trading, but there are actually hundreds of companies all around the world working on building and leveraging different types of real-time delivery of data online. In preparation for this week's ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit and a forthcoming research report on the topic, we've now had extended conversations with nearly 50 companies in this space. The breadth of offerings, technologies and strategies is amazing.

We offer below one way to think about this broad market. We hope it's useful and interesting.

Aardvark is a very nifty service that allows you to ask other users any question. These questions can be about local restaurants or JavaScript - Aardvark will simply find the best person to answer your question and give you an answer within minutes. Aardvark launched at SXSW last year and today, the company also finally launched its iPhone app. The app gives users access to all of Aardvark's features, including the ability to ask and answer questions and make changes to your user profile. In addition, the app also taps into the iPhone's own services and allows users to automatically geotag questions and receive push notifications when a question was answered by another user.

The following post was originally titled The Robot Made Me Do It: Comparing Three New Cyborg Q&A Services and ran a week and a half ago. It's a slow morning around here and we thought readers who missed this the first time might appreciate a chance to see it now.

One part people, one part machine. Is that a formula for more effective decision making? A number of high-profile entrepreneurs believe it is, and they are starting companies based on the idea.

One part people, one part machine. Is that a formula for more effective decision making? A number of high-profile entrepreneurs believe it is, and they are starting companies based on the idea.

In the following post we take a look at three of the most exciting startups entering this emerging market. The movement is a logical development now that millions of people are comfortable posting information online. The web's next step is to leverage machine learning. These are three companies to watch who are doing just that - combining user input with technology that improves its performance by gathering and processing data. In this case they are doing it in order to help people make better decisions, but these are just some of the first consumer technologies that will enter the cyborg-like space that combines people and machines in order to better serve people.

Aardvark is a neat new service that lives in your IM client and which routes any question you might have to an Aardvark user who has the right expertise to answer your query. In return, Aardvark will also send you a few questions every day that fit your profile. You then decide to either answer the question or refer it to another friend. Of course, you can also always pass if you don't know the answer.

Aardvark will come out of its private beta during SXSW, but we have a few invites for you if you want to try it out now.