Michael Arrington may be as cocky as ever, but it's with good reason: TechCrunch, his tech blog, remains the essential destination for inside scoops and analysis of what's going on in Silicon Valley and beyond. Arrington and his team of bloggers have enviable access, getting exclusives from everyone from Apple to Zynga. Plus, for those in search of the next big thing, no one covers start-ups better than the TechCrunch gang. (And fosters them now as well the blog's TechCrunch Disrupt conference this year brought together some of the smartest minds in tech to look at some of the best up-and-coming new ideas.)