• PCMag.com, Thursday, September 15, 2011 12:35 PM

Though no guarantee of market success, chat-room platform Shaker just took top honors at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt. What makes Shaker so special? Out to "redefine the social network," the platform turns communities likes Facebook into avatar-driven, videogame-like chat rooms. Similar to Second Life and other virtual worlds, users can engage other users simply by "walking" up to their avatars. But, Shaker wasn't the only start-up recognized at Disrupt. Runner up Prism Skylabs, which taps into a company's video cameras for real-time footage and analysis.

The Audience Choice award went to Vocre, a real-time translation app for the iOS platform. Another runner up CakeHealth helps users manage their online health care. "When you go to Cakehealth, tell them your health insurance information and your login information, and the site will provide insights into your healthcare spending, sort of like Mint.com tracks your spending," PC Mag explains.

Read the whole story at PCMag.com »