Enter the sexiest infrastructure provider we’ve seen in a long time: Gnip. Venture funded and built by exited MyBlogLog co-founder Eric Marcoullier, Gnip wants to serve as the grand central station and universal translation service for the new social web.

TripAdvisor, a travel community and operating company of Expedia, has snapped up VirtualTourist.com, which focuses on user-generated travel content, and OneTime.com, which focuses on travel booking comparison.