This week ReadWriteWeb is running a series of posts analyzing the 5 biggest Web trends of 2009. So far we’ve explored these trends: Structured Data , The Real-Time Web , Personalization , Mobile Web / Augmented Reality . The fifth and final part of our series is about the Internet of Things , when real world objects (such as fridges, lights and toasters) get connected to the Internet. In 2009, this trend has ramped up and is adding a significant amount of new data to the Web. In this post we’ll see how companies as big as IBM and as small as Pachube are building up this new world of Internet data and services. Sponsor Editor’s note: This story is part of a series we call Redux, where we’ll re-publish some of our best posts of 2009. As we look back at the year – and ahead to what next year holds – we think these are the stories that deserve a second glance. It’s not just a best-of list, it’s also a collection of posts that examine the fundamental issues that continue to shape the Web. We hope you enjoy reading them again and we look forward to bringing you more Web products and trends analysis in 2010. Happy holidays from Team ReadWriteWeb! What is The Internet of Things? The Internet of Things is a network of Internet-enabled objects, together with web services that interact with these objects. Underlying the Internet of Things are technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification), sensors , and smartphones . The Internet fridge is probably the most oft-quoted example of what the Internet of Things will enable. Imagine a refrigerator that monitors the food inside it and notifies you when you’re low on milk. It also perhaps monitors all of the best food websites, gathering recipes for your dinners and adding the ingredients automatically to your shopping list. This fridge knows what kinds of foods you like to eat, based on the ratings you have given to your dinners. Indeed the fridge helps you take care of your health, because it knows which foods are good for you. However, we’re not quite at that level of sophistication yet in the Internet of Things. As we discovered in our Internet Fridges State of the Market in July, current Internet fridges are more about entertainment than utility. IBM and The Internet of Things One of the leading big companies in Internet of Things is IBM , which offers a range of RFID and sensor technology solutions. IBM has been busy working with various manufacturers and goods suppliers in recent months, to introduce those solutions to the world. For example IBM announced a deal at the end of June with Danish transportation company Container Centralen . By February 2010, Container Centralen undertakes to use IBM sensor technology “to allow participants in the horticultural supply chain to track the progress of shipments as they move from growers to wholesalers and retailers across 40 countries in Europe.” Specifically this refers to transportation of things like flowers and pot plants, which are very sensitive to the environment they travel in. Having sensors as part of the entire travel chain will allow participants to monitor conditions and climate during travel. Essentially it makes the travel process very transparent. Pachube: Building a Platform for Internet-Enabled Environments IBM is a leading bigco active in the Internet of Things. At the other end of the spectrum is a small UK startup which has impressed us a lot this year: Pachube . It was one of 5 Internet of Things services that we profiled in February and we followed up with an in-depth look at the service in May . Pachube, (pronounced “PATCH-bay”) lets you tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices, buildings and environments both physical and virtual. In a blog post by Tish Shute, Pachube founder Usman Haque explained that Pachube is about “environments” moreso than “sensors.” In other words, Pachube aims to be responsive to and influence your environment – for example your home. Conclusion What’s the point of all this new object data from the Internet of Things? As well as the new types of functionalities it will enable, such as health monitoring by Internet fridges, the sheer amount of new data about an object should lead to better quality goods and better decision-making by consumers. For example when you buy a loaf of bread from the grocery store, it will have its own RFID tag – which theoretically can tell you when it was produced, when it was packaged, how long it traveled to get to the store, whether the temperature during its travel was optimal, the pricing history of the product, what the precise ingredients are and associated health benefits (or dangers), and much more information. That ends our look at the 5 biggest trends of the Web in 2009. First thing next week we will post a round-up, along with a downloadable presentation. ReadWriteWeb’s Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Structured Data The Real-Time Web Personalization Mobile Web & Augmented Reality Internet of Things Discuss

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Top 5 Web Trends of 2009: Internet of Things

Wrapping up a six month-long challenge to mobile developers, Google has announced a string of winners of their second Android Developers Challenge (ADC). From games and social networking apps to productivity and privacy tools, the cream of the ADC 2 crop includes an app for just about every kind of mobile user – and just in time, as the Droid has recently become ” the fastest-selling Android phone to date .” Take a peek at the innovative apps waiting in the wings for the lucky owners of Android-powered devices. Sponsor As Android adoption swells and trends suggest the OS might be the second most widely used mobile OS by 2010 , it’s important that the app universe keeps pace with users. Google announced this challenge in May at their Google I/O developer conference and offered well over $1.5 million in cash prizes to the winning developers in 10 categories. The applications – some of which might remind you of already popular iPhone apps – should be available shortly to Android users. The overall ADC 2 winners are: SweetDreams , a revolutionary tool that will finally allow you to go to sleep without worrying about changing your phone settings in order to avoid unwelcome late night calls. You can even use those inactivity periods to save battery power as well. What the Doodle!? , a real-time online multiplayer game where one player tries to draw out a given phrase and others try to guess it. Features FFA and Team games, Global Highscores, Personal Face Doodles, integrated Voice Recognition and more. WaveSecure , a complete mobile security solution that protects your device, data and privacy. Track your phone’s location and who is using it , lock down your phone remotely, back up all your data, wipe out your data remotely, and finally, restore your data. Winners in the education and reference category are: Plink Art , an app for identifying, discovering and sharing art. The Word Puzzle , a fun way to learn basic English words for preschool children. Celeste , an educational augmented reality app that displays the Sun, Moon, planets and their paths through the sky onto your camera view. The entertainment category winners are: A World of Photo ,a casual, globally multiplayer game inspired by Spin the Bottle. SongDNA , a widget that allows you to quickly look up detailed information about a song. Solo , an easy-to-play and feature-rich pocket guitar for your phone. Winners for the arcade/action game subcategory include: Speed Forge , in which heavy duty hover vehicles normally used for mining are now seen in illegal races organized in abondoned factories and dark Marsian alleys. Graviturn , a game that makes you tilt your phone to move the red circles out of the screen while keeping the green circles. Moto X Mayhem , an app that includes seven levels of motorbike action in a side scrolling bike game. Winners for the casual gaming category are: What the Doodle!? Totemo , a unique puzzle game with over 60 mind-soothing logic tasks. Mazeness , a rather simple game involving moving balls to their goals with help of barriers, teleports and holders. These are Google’s lifestyle category winners: SweetDreams SpecTrek, an augmented reality ghost hunting game that doubles as a fitness app. FoxyRing , an app that analyzes the ambient noise and adjusts the ringer volume on your phone. Media category winners are: Buzz Deck , an app that gets all the web content you care about most, along with Twitter & Facebook updates. SPB TV , a highly usable IP-TV application optimized to run on mobile devices. FxCamera , which lets you take pictures with various effects. Here are the winning productivity tools: WaveSecure Hoccer , an application for gesture-based ad-hoc data exchange. Tasker , an app that lets users link any Task (action set) to the Contexts (application, time, day, location, event, widget press) where it should run. In social networking, the winners are: Ce:real , an app that displays geographically based, real-world trends, including photo stories paired with Twitter keywords. SocialMuse , which lets users find people with similar musical taste or just explore the world through music. SpotMessage , a communication tool using GPS. Send a message designating a spot with Google Maps then the message will be notified when the recipient arrives at the spot. For the travel category, Google name these top apps: Trip Journal , a trip tracking and sharing solution sending real-time updates from the places you are visiting. iNap: Arrival Alert , an application that allows traveling users to sleep (or work, or just zone out) then relies on GPS to alert them with an alarm when the destination is nearby. Car Locator , which navigates you back to your car should you ever have trouble finding it. Finally, here are three miscellaneous winners: Rhythm Guitar , which plays like a real 6-string, 5-fret guitar. Andrometer , and app that measures the approximate distance from you to an object that you can see using GPS, accelerometer and geomagnetic sensors. Calton Hill GPSCaddy , an app that allows golfers to quickly and easily map any golf course either out on the course using GPS or in the comfort of home using satellite imagery. Bonus Round: See our picks from last year’s ADC !) Let us know in the comments what you think of this year’s winners (too many iPhone app clones? too little augmented reality?) in the comments – and definitely tell us what you’d like to see Android developers tackle next! Discuss

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Google Names 30 Best Mobile Apps for Android

Thanksgiving is generally a horrible day for air travel, but tradition and the sweet smell of Thanksgiving turkey still makes millions of Americans forget the potential horror of being stuck in an airport. If you are one of them, or even if you are just heading to the airport to pick somebody up, here are some mobile applications and web sites than can help you make your Thanksgiving travel less stressful. Sponsor Flightcaster Not sure if your flight will leave on time? Surprisingly, the airlines often don’t have the most accurate information. Flights will show up as ‘On Time,’ even though your plane, which is supposed to take off in 15 minutes, is still sitting on another airport 500 miles away. FlightCaster looks at data from the airlines, FAA and combines this with historical data and weather information to give you a more accurate picture. The result is a good prediction whether your flight will leave on time. Flightcaster is available as an iPhone and Blackberry app. The service is also available on FlightCaster’s website. WorldMate WorldMate , which is available in a free and Pro version for the iPhone, BlackBerry and most other mobile phone operating systems, gives you a one-stop shop for all your travel info. You can simply email receipts for your flight and hotel bookings to a private Worldmate address and the software will automatically update your itineraries on the mobile app. What makes the pro version so useful is that WorldMate also alerts you of delays and gate changes through push notifications and SMS messages. WorldMate also offers a list of nearby hotels and the ability to search for alternative flights if yours gets cancelled. TripIt’s iPhone app offers similar service. TripCase TripCase offers fewer features than WorldMate, but it’s free and also comes with push notifications. It’s available for the iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile. Besides flight information and baggage claim info, TripCase also allows you to send out information about your flight status to your friends and family. You can also publish photos on your personalized TripCase site. Next Flight If you get bumped off an oversold flight or miss a connection, Next Flight can help you find alternative flights. The company indexes schedules from over 1,100 airlines and 4,200 airports around the world. Next Flight currently sells for $2.99 in the App Store. Flight Status If you are just picking somebody up at the airport, Flight Status is a nice iPhone app that gives you arrival information, including which baggage claim to go to. Flight Status is only available for the iPhone and costs $4.99. Flight Status was developed by the same company as Next Flight and also features data from 1,100 airlines. Bonus: Flight Advisor Twitter Feed If you just want to get a quick overview of airport delays in the US, also have a look at the Flight Advisor Twitter feed . What About You? Do you have your own favorite travel apps that we didn’t mention here? Let us know in the comments. Discuss

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5 Mobile Apps For Flying This Thanksgiving Weekend