'Smart' electricity use

The economic recession and a federal stimulus package prompted a old-ish idea in frugal gadgetry to take off in a new way: "smart" technology invaded homes and public works projects in hopes of making our use of fossil fuels more efficient.

Smart-grid technology monitors energy use and helps steer consumption to times of day when other people aren't using much electricity -- a time when it is cheaper to power appliances and more juice is available.

The federal government invested billions in a smart grid in 2009 that connects homes and apartments with power plants. Consumer-level devices took off, too. Google released a PowerMeter service that gives homeowners reports on their energy use on the Web or on mobile phones. General Electric and others promoted smart appliances, such as hot water heaters, that help further help control energy costs.

Most homes didn't have smart meters in 2009, but that leaves room for plenty of expansion next year.

Spotify drives streaming music boom

There have been streaming music services for some time but Spotify has captured the imagination of the music and technology industries alike. The depth of the catalogue, the availability of the mobile application and the simplicity of the interface have introduced the idea of having a music collection in the cloud. Whether people will be happy to completely give up the idea of owning music, rather than renting it, remains to be seen but Spotify has proved that the two options can coexist. SR

Microsoft gets its mojo back

Microsoft has enjoyed something of a renaissance this year. The software company is once again leading from the front; Project Natal, its potentially game-changing controller-free, motion-sensing gaming system, was one of the most exciting product demos seen this year. A much-needed overhaul of its mobile operating system has stopped Windows Mobile dropping too far behind Android and the iPhone, while it has refreshed its search offering, with the launch of Bing in the US and UK and real-time search deals with Facebook and Twitter. And with the successful launch of Windows 7, Vista seems like a distant nightmare. CB

Info in an instant

In 2009, it's no longer enough to search for information that was current 30 minutes or an hour ago. Now, Internet junkies look for their news, Tweets and links to be updated in "real-time," just as they are on Twitter.

Search engines bought into this idea in 2009. Microsoft and Google struck deals with Twitter to pipe in or replicate its real-time search function. The micro-blogging site lets authors post short bursts of information, which become searchable the moment someone clicks send.

Facebook grows up

This was the year of the Facebook mom and grandma. Founded in 2004 for college students, the online social network exploded in 2008 and might have been expected to level off this year. Instead, it went global and expanded into new and older demographics.

About 70 percent of Facebook's users now live outside of the site's home base in the United States, according to statistics released by the company.

The site's importance in our lives grew in tandem with these demographic shifts. Facebook now has more than 350 million users -- that's more people than live in the United States and is more than double the 150 million people who were on Facebook at the start of the year. Half of Facebook users log on to the site at least once on any given day; the average Facebook user spends nearly an hour a day on the site.