nobody really knows, but Richard MacManus has some interesting hypotheses.

In 2009 we’re seeing more products based on open, structured data e.g. Wolfram Alpha. We’re seeing more real-time apps e.g. Twitter, OneRiot. And we’re seeing better filters e.g. FriendFeed (and Facebook, which copies FriendFeed – er, I mean is inspired by).

In a nutshell here are some of the new or noticeable trends that we're seeing on the 2009 Web:

* Open data

* Structured data -> smarter

* Filtering content

* Real-time

* Personalization

* Mobile (location-based, so you could say that's smarter use of data too)

* Internet of Things (the Web in real-world objects)

There’s also an interesting embedded slideshow on the page.