{"id":92021,"date":"2009-12-21T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_littleco_of_2009.php"},"modified":"2009-12-21T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-21T14:30:00","slug":"best-littleco-of-2009-most-promising-for-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/92021","title":{"rendered":"Best LittleCo of 2009 &amp; Most Promising for 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/images\/2009yearend\/bestlittle09_150x150.png\" \/>Don&#8217;t worry, it&#8217;s <em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em> Twitter! For our Best LittleCo of 2009, we&#8217;ve chosen a small company whose product launched in 2009 and quickly became a leading example of one of the year&#8217;s big trends: the real-time web.<\/p>\n<p>Our pick for Most Promising is something that could change the way people search on the Web.<\/p>\n<p>Last week we announced that Google was our choice for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_bigco_of_2009.php\">Best BigCo of 2009<\/a>, due to its product innovation in 2009. Today we&#8217;re announcing <strong>Best LittleCo<\/strong> and <strong>Most Promising Company<\/strong>, as  selected by the ReadWriteWeb writers.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\"><em>Sponsor<\/em><br \/><a href='http:\/\/d.ads.readwriteweb.com\/ck.php?n=a6d5ead9&amp;cb=17503' ><img src='http:\/\/d.ads.readwriteweb.com\/avw.php?zoneid=14&amp;cb=17503&amp;n=a6d5ead9' border='0' alt='' \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This is the 6th year we&#8217;ve done this and many of the small companies we choose each year go onto much bigger things. Here&#8217;s a quick look back at previous winners:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_littleco_of_2008.php\">In 2008<\/a> we chose web office vendor <strong>Zoho<\/strong> as Best LittleCo and <strong>Brightkite<\/strong> as our Most Promising. Zoho is still competing well above its weight bracket against office software giants like Microsoft and Google. However it&#8217;s fair to say that Brightkite hasn&#8217;t delivered as much on its promise as we thought it might, due in part to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/foursquare.php\">the emergence of Foursquare<\/a> as &#8216;the next big thing&#8217; in mobile social networking.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_web_littleco_of_2007_twitter.php\">In 2007<\/a> <strong>Twitter<\/strong> was Best LittleCo and in a break from tradition <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/most_promising_web_2008_open_source.php\">we named<\/a> <strong>&quot;the open source movement&quot;<\/strong> as most promising. Twitter, of course, has since gone on to make a huge impact on the Web and media.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_web_littleco_2006.php\">In 2006<\/a> <strong>YouTube <\/strong>was Best LittleCo and <strong>Sharpcast<\/strong> Most Promising. YouTube was acquired by Google in October of that year.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_web_compan.php\">In 2005<\/a><strong> 37Signals<\/strong> was Best LittleCo and <strong>Memeorandum<\/strong> (now Techmeme) and <strong>Digg<\/strong> were joint Most Promising.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_web_20_com.php\">In 2004<\/a> <strong>Ludicorp<\/strong>, creators of Flickr, was Best LittleCo and <strong>Feedburner<\/strong> Most Promising. Both went on to be acquired, by Yahoo! and Google respectively. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s find out who is ReadWriteWeb&#8217;s Best LittleCo of 2009. Then on page 2 we name our Most Promising company for 2010.<\/p>\n<h2>Best LittleCo of 2009: Aardvark<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/aardvark_logo_sep09.png\" align=\"left\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/vark.com\/\">Aardvark<\/a> (our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/aardvark_25_invites.php\">initial review<\/a> and then a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/the_robot_made_me_do_it_comparing_three_new_cyborg_q_and_a_services.php\">comparison review<\/a>) is a social search engine that combines artificial intelligence, natural-language processing and presence data to create what the company calls &#8220;the real-time Web of people.&#8221; The company was founded in 2007, but the product only launched in March 2009 at SXSW. It quickly became one of the companies we point to most when we discuss <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/top_5_web_trends_of_2009_the_real-time_web.php\">the Real-Time Web<\/a>, one of the most significant trends of this year. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/images\/aardvarkscreen250.jpg\" align=\"right\" \/>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/reports\/real-time-web.php\">our report on the Real-Time Web<\/a> released in November, we described how it works:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&quot;You can ask Aardvark any question, and it will try to find a person in your extended social circles who knows about that topic and is available to answer at that moment. Aardvark facilitates these conversations through a very polite IM bot, an iPhone app with push notifications, the company&#8217;s website, Twitter or email. Instead of broadcasting your question to every one&#8217;s stream of information, Aardvark delivers the question only to people who are relevant and available.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Unlike Yahoo Answers or similar services, Aardvark doesn&#8217;t keep a repository of frequently asked questions. The service&#8217;s mission is to get you current answers from experts in your own social networks. On most days, over 85% of all questions get answered.<\/p>\n<p>As we noted in our report, Aardvark&#8217;s got an all-star team of engineers from Google and Yahoo and high-profile investors. It&#8217;s already cutting deals with major tech brands and is rumored to be on Google&#8217;s acquisition list. Whatever happens to the company, the use cases for Aardvark are just beginning to be explored.<\/p>\n<p>In short, Aardvark impressed us a lot this year and it made no fewer than 3 of our <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/best_products_2009.php\">2009 best-of lists<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/top_10_consumer_web_apps_of_2009p2.php\">Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2009<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/top_10_real-time_technologies_of_2009p2.php\">Top 10 Real-Time Technologies of 2009<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/top_10_startup_products_of_2009.php\">Top 10 Startup Products of 2009<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/got_a_question_ask_aadrvark_on_the_iphone.php\">Aardvark&#8217;s iPhone app<\/a> was also popular with our writers, two of them putting it in their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/your_favorite_mobile_apps_of_2009_reader_survey.php\">top 5 mobile web applications of the year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Next page:<\/strong> ReadWriteWeb&#8217;s Most Promising Company for 2010&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<h2>Most Promising: Wolfram|Alpha<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"wolfram_alpha_logo_may09.png\" src=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/images\/wolfram_alpha_logo_may09.png\" align=\"left\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wolframalpha.com\/\">Wolfram|Alpha<\/a> launched <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/wolfram_alpha_launch_starts_tonight.php\">in May<\/a> and ended up making our list of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/top_10_consumer_web_apps_of_2009.php\">Top 10 Consumer Products of the year<\/a>. It was  also the most hyped, with the possible exception of Google Wave. <\/p>\n<p>Inevitably, Wolfram Research&#8217;s &#8220;computational knowledge engine&#8221; disappointed many who were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/wolframalpha_our_first_impressions.php\">looking for a Google killer<\/a>. But Alpha introduced a new paradigm for search engines: Instead of giving you a long list of links, Alpha tries to give users an answer based on information from reputable sources. It also enables users to compute and calculate things off that information.<\/p>\n<p>While it isn&#8217;t useful for everybody yet, the Wolfram Alpha team has worked hard to expand Alpha&#8217;s knowledge. If you are an engineer or scientist, Wolfram Alpha might just be the most useful web app for you. For the rest of us, Alpha&#8217;s ability to solve anagrams, aggregate weather data and tell you the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wolframalpha.com\/examples\/GeodesyAndNavigation.html\">distance between two cities<\/a> proves to be useful, too &#8211; although not as useful as the service&#8217;s ability to solve complex math problems. <\/p>\n<p>Wolfram|Alpha also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/alpha_iphone_app_high_price.php\">launched a $50 iPhone application<\/a> in October. Even though Wolfram Alpha&#8217;s web interface is available for free, the company insisted that its mobile application offered enough new features to justify this price. <\/p>\n<p>We listed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/wolframalpha_the_use_cases.php\">some initial use cases<\/a> for Wolfram|Alpha in July, but it&#8217;s a safe bet to say that the best of this product will be seen in 2010 and beyond. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/images\/wolfram_football.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If Web 2.0 was about <em>creating<\/em> data (user generated content, to use the most familiar term for this), then the next generation of the Web is all about <em>using<\/em> that data. Wolfram|Alpha is premised on using and computing data, so we think it&#8217;s a product to watch in 2010.<\/p>\n<p>Now let us know your thoughts on our picks for Best LittleCo (Aardvark) and Most Promising (Wolfram|Alpha).<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.readwriteweb.com\/archives\/best_littleco_of_2009.php#comments-open\">Discuss<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/emDGTw5pUKfooMzItw6-ogdKgcU\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/emDGTw5pUKfooMzItw6-ogdKgcU\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/emDGTw5pUKfooMzItw6-ogdKgcU\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/emDGTw5pUKfooMzItw6-ogdKgcU\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:FFnlKYwJmN0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?d=FFnlKYwJmN0\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:Ij26kaj3iuU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?d=Ij26kaj3iuU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:C2pbw5bZMiI\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?d=C2pbw5bZMiI\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?i=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?i=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?i=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?a=5UpYGvfelrU:U4aZ88asATw:OqabYuBsmOY\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/readwriteweb?d=OqabYuBsmOY\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/readwriteweb\/~4\/5UpYGvfelrU\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Don&#8217;t worry, it&#8217;s not Twitter! For our Best LittleCo of 2009, we&#8217;ve chosen a small company whose product launched in 2009 and quickly became a leading example of one of the year&#8217;s big trends: the real-time web. Our pick for Most Promising is something that could change the way people search on the Web. Last [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":549,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/549"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92021\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}