People
In no particular order:
Giapo. Failed shipbroker Gianpaolo Grazioli moved halfway around the world to make the best gelato in the country, and shares his knowledge through the power of Science. This is what happens when you follow your dreams.
Jason Scott. Professional irritant, amateur archivist, and one of the most flat-out decent people I know. Don't believe half of what you read, and none of what you hear.
Annette Russell. For the times you desperately need an artistic encapsulation of your inner squee, Annette makes absolutely the cutest things ever. You should go there and buy things. Go there now.
Richard Clark. If it runs on a server and it touches the Internet, you need Richard involved. It really is that simple.
Rachel Lovinger. Part of the scarily elite Razorfish braintrust, who (along with Kristina Halvorson) was responsible for naming and legitimising the concepts of content strategy, something that our species had previously been flailing at.
Nat Dudley. My baking mentor, and proprietor of one of the best Tumblr blogs around.
Mel Thompson. Wellington-based DJ extraordinaire and fellow lover of dumplings and inappropriately loud music, ideally at the same time.
Philip Greenspun. At least as influential as Tim Berners-Lee in the development of the early web and a gentlemanly curmudgeon on all things technical, political and economic.
Polar Bear Farm. Layton Duncan was first out of the gate with third-party apps for the iPhone before there were third-party apps for the iPhone.
Blue Latitude. London-based digital strategists, the best I've worked with, and a pretty good bet on what is likely to replace the conventional advertising agency.
Metalab. What your web application's interface wants to be when it grows up.
Dan Marovitz. Ex-CTO of Deutschebank and a superbly smart investor and industry observer. His Twitter feed is solid gold.
Discourse. NZ's best seminerdy podcast, featuring the stylish and debonair Ben Gracewood and some other guy as well.
Sam Sargeant. CIO at FX (who are interesting in their own way); fellow whisky snob.
Vaughan Rowsell. Single-handedly revolutionising the appalling mess that is point-of-sale software with Vend, an online point-of-sale system. Also the proprietor of a moustache similar to the one I want to have when I grow up.
Cactus Lab. If it goes anywhere near the web, you need Matt and Karl involved. It's that simple. I've known Matt since our mutual larval stage, and I'm a total fan of their work.
Jon Brewer. Expat American who famously bootstrapped a national wireless access provider on some heavily-abused credit cards. Now stirs up a lot of trouble by telling the truth on the Internet.
Lance Wiggs. Another professional irritant. Be careful. Even if he's not personally plotting to break your business model, he probably knows people who are.
Orson Kent. Melbourne-based photographer. Need fashion or event work done in Australia? He's the right guy.