In two threads — one on Linked In, the other on Venture Beat — commenters are nominating the hottest startups of Silicon Valley. We totted up the mentions on both threads. Facebook, the college social network, scores highest; with Admob, the mobile ad network, following up. Warning: we ignored obvious self-promotion, but those Valley hustlers are cunning; and we have to doubt the wisdom of any crowd that determines Linden Lab's Second Life to be one of the 10 most promising new ventures. In the comments: what do you think? Which companies least deserve to be thought of as "hot"? (We particularly liked this line from one of the Venture Beat pundits: "Digg is as hot as two pandabear-looking humanoids dryhumping each other in an empty casino in Second Life while chatting on Meebo. Get real.")

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