50 Best Websites 2009

A decade after its birth, Google has achieved such ubiquity that it's easier to say what it isn't than what it is. But let's try to define it anyway: Google is search, e-mail, telephony and a full suite of Web-based G-ware (with a word processor, spreadsheet application, calendar and contacts manager). But wait — there's more! Google sub-brands such as Blogger, Picasa and SketchUp could argue their way onto any best-of-the-Web list on their own merits. Depending on your point of view, the company's many tentacles make Google the best thing since dancing babies or our future alien overlord. The only viable alternative to Google's search technology is Microsoft's just-released Bing. The choice between Microsoft and Google is a paranoid's nightmare, but the rest of us can make the choice (or not) with Bingle, a clever mash-up.

See pictures of work and life at Google.