In some specific areas (like mine: graphics and vision), there are compiled lists of recent papers from the best conferences, along with links to the papers, project pages, etc.:

http://kesen.realtimerendering.com/sig2010.html

http://www.cvpapers.com/cvpr2010.html

http://www.cvpapers.com/eccv2010.html

http://www.cvpapers.com/iccv2009.html