Bill Gates

We hear plenty of college-dropout-turned-billionaire success stories. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is one example, and another is America's richest man, Bill Gates. Now, billionaire Peter Thiel, an investor of Facebook and a PayPal founder, is offering a 100k incentive to genius youngsters under 20 to drop the whole college thing and dive right into entrepreneurship with his two-year program. I really value my whole undergrad studies and am a firm believer in education, but I can also see the appeal of this deal to entrepreneurial youth. Those who think Thiel's proposal is ridiculous say it's dangerous, because dropping out of college may stunt their intellectual growth.

I'm assuming Thiel will choose his candidates very carefully (you have to agree that the man does have a good eye for investments), but I'm wondering what kind of message this offer is sending to college youths. Do you think it's a good idea to offer these kids 100k to ditch the traditional college path and embrace the start-up world?

The richest man in America thinks Sal Khan's teachings are "unbelievable," so I would take heed if I were you. The best part about this is that you don't need to be Bill Gates to learn from Sal because you can get the lessons free of charge from his website khanacademy.org. The Harvard MBA and former hedge fund manager started Khan Academy four years ago without any intention of profiting off it. In fact, he even happened upon the idea by chance and started by tutoring his niece and nephews online over the phone and doodling on a Yahoo program.

Sure, his YouTube lessons, which include topics like algebra and chemistry seems to target pre-college kids, but I found plenty that adults can enjoy as well. It's a boon for us that these videos are meant for kids, because he takes complex subjects and makes them easy and fun. Watch the video below to see how Sal explains economics in cupcake terms — now he's talking my language.

Microsoft founder, Sundance table-dancer, Facebook-phobe, and billionaire Bill Gates is no longer the world's richest man, according to Forbes Magazine's 2010 Billionaires List. Even though his wealth rose by billions to hit $53 billion this year, he was out-billionaired by Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu, a telecom mogul who beat Gates's wealth by a mere half-billion dollars. Meanwhile, red-carpet walking Steve Jobs comes in at 136.

While Bill may no longer be the richest man in the world, he's certainly been keeping busy. Facebook may intimidate him, but he has joined Twitter and started a blog to highlight his foundation's work. And even though he's officially stepped down from his post at Microsoft, I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more about his future endeavors for a long time.

• Bus drivers and truckers are now banned from texting while driving — Switched
• Air New Zealand is the geekiest airline ever (even in coach). Sorry, Virgin. — Gizmodo
• I gotta get my hands on these Helvetica cookie cutters — Unplggd
• Adidas can't stop, won't stop at Star Wars shoes. They're now selling augmented reality-enhanced sneaks — Kotaku
• Bill Gates lets loose at Robert Redford's Sundance party — The Social

Despite the fact that Bill Gates can't use Facebook, he was able to join Twitter last week, and start his own blog to highlight the work he's been doing with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation since stepping down as CEO of Microsoft. As you can imagine, his Twitter account blew up faster than a suggested user list, and is now followed by over 300,000 people. Between his busy tweeting and blogging schedule, Bill sat down for an interview with CNET to talk about his new online presence, saying that tweeting will "keep me up to date."

I have a hard time believing that a guy who has such a great influence on our culture wouldn't somehow be kept in the loop on the newest forms of tech and social media, but one thing I learned (and can totally relate to), is this guy loves his Diet Coke. So much so, that he just had to crack one open in the middle of the segment. So long, Mountain Dew! DC is now the drink of choice for geeks everywhere.

To see Bill Gates talking about Twitter, his blog, and enjoying his Diet Coke, just read more

Heidi Klum draped her baby bump in a chic dress at the Get Schooled initiative conference hosted by Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation in LA last night. Heidi looked especially happy considering she had Seal as her date for the event after recently talking about her "gentle giant" husband and her body in the final month of pregnancy. Her due date is right around the corner but she has three other kids to remind her of the importance of education especially during back to school time.

More of Heidi and Seal so read more