Daniel Ben-Horin, 10/08/12

Founder, Co-CEO, TechSoup Global

When we see eye-catching new developments in the online world, we focus on a website or a project, or the immediate political repercussions, but we don't necessarily recognize that social media has reconfigured social relations.

Foodbeast, 10/08/12

Review aggregate website Yelp.com serves over 78 million unique people monthly, who use the site to sift through over 40 million reviews. These are monstrous stats, as the now ubiquitous review system serves as a powerful gateway between consumer and potential new dining experience.

Ben Barber, 10/08/12

Journalist, photographer, consultant

This past summer showed how under climate change, the resulting droughts could rob fracking operations of water, an essential ingredient needed to harvest oil and gas from shale deposits, reports Michael Klare at Tomdispatch.

John Pavley, 10/06/12

CTO @ The Huffington Post, Mgt Hckr

I've crudely plotted Facebook's user growth in an old notebook, ignoring all sorts of factors that I don't know: attrition rate, macroeconomics, tech scalability, global warming, and the number of cat videos on the Internet.

Shawn Amos, 10/08/12

Freshwire

The first 2012 presidential debate was the most Tweeted-about event in U.S. politics history. And what were we Tweeting about? Big Bird, largely.

Shira Lazar, 10/07/12

Co-Founder, WhatsTrending.com

"Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn" series is the largest-scale live-action event EVER set in the Halo universe! The show also provides the perfect segue into the the new Halo 4, which will launch just as this series ends on November 6.

Steve Rosenbaum, 10/07/12

CEO, Magnify.net; author, 'Curation Nation'; NYC entrepreneur at large

Chris Anderson has cemented himself as the premier chronicler of the digital world with the soon to be published new work Makers: The New Industrial Revolution.

Michael Levin, 10/05/12

NYT Besting Selling Author, Entrepreneur

You couldn't get the average kid to stand up in front of an audience and talk about his or her favorite topic. But allow that same kid the privacy of his or her living room, the use of a camera and the opportunity to upload an instructional video on any given topic, and you've got solid gold.

Willow Bay, 10/08/12

Senior Editor of The Huffington Post

Jessica Herrin, founder of Stella & Dot, sells jewelry. In fact, she sells lots of it -- $100 million worth last year alone -- by combining personal service with an e-commerce platform and social media. Herrin calls it "social selling."

Ann Skeet, 10/05/12

Leadership and strategy consultant

Dear Marissa, I am writing to give you permission, just as it was given to me. You haven't asked for it, and perhaps you are not even aware that you need it. But, because it's National Work and Family month, and you recently gave birth of your first child, I suspect you might need some -- permission that is.

Matthew B. James, Ph.D., 10/05/12

President of The Empowerment Partnership; Author of "Find Your Purpose, Master Your Path"

Can the language of texting really affect our perception of the world? Linguists know there is a correlation between language and how and what we perceive.

Rory O'Connor, 10/05/12

Author, 'Friends, Followers and the Future' (City Lights, 2012)

If presidential campaigns are, in fact, contests over mastery of changing communications technology, it seems clear that challenger Mitt Romney is still trailing badly after Barack Obama.

James Grundvig, 10/04/12

CEO/Founder, CloudNician LLC

Two Silicon Valley technology conferences in mid-September came up with opposing headlines, not unlike two colliding neutron stars. They are also contrarian coming from two elite members of the venture capital community.

Cyrus Massoumi, 10/04/12

Founder and CEO of ZocDoc

Entrepreneurs should think about how to disrupt healthcare -- and then think about it some more. The startup world is full of thoughtful, brilliant people who will are well positioned to be successful in anything they apply themselves to.

Iqbal Brainch, 10/04/12

Chief Marketing Officer, Advantage Futures

It doesn't hurt that the company has perfected the recipe for insanely great products. I was hopeful that the soul of Apple would persevere despite the loss of Jobs. A year later, and I'm not so sure.

X PRIZE Foundation, 10/04/12

Solving the world’s Grand Challenges

The new era of space travel will be known for democratizing space travel, moving it into the private sector, and making it available to the general public, rather than just a few highly trained and government-employed specialists.

Leslie Harris, 10/04/12

President and CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology

It is difficult to understand why Do Not Track is controversial. At the end of the day, privacy advocates will have to settle for something less than ideal -- and advertisers must honor their commitment to comply with users' Do Not Track instructions.