The results are in — and they're slightly depressing. We asked readers to vote for Silicon Valley's hottest startup, from a list of nominees taken from various forums; and then ranked the companies by votes. Facebook, the college social network founded by Mark Zuckerberg, topped the list. There are a few surprises. I hadn't thought of Jingle Networks, the free 411 free directory assistance, which was runner-up, as having particular heat — particularly not since Google entered that market. Kiva, the person-to-person loan company, is an interesting concept; but is the venture, which ranked fourth in our poll, really doing that well? Here's what's depressing: many of these companies have been around for years: shoe retailer, Zappos, was founded in 1999, for instance. And none of them, with the exception of Facebook and Joost, maybe, look world-changing. [By the way, a special prize to Tesla, Boxbe, Bebo and iStockphoto, the four companies which mobilized their employees or users to blitz the poll: we removed them from the final count, but they deserve credit for the enthusiasm of their campaigns. There is no appeal.]

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