A decade ago, soon after becoming Global CIO at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, I started looking into how I could embed what we now call “social software” into the everyday operations of that institution. By that time we were already pioneers in the use of wikis, we were already well established in our use of instant messaging, we had begun quite serious experiments in the use of smart mobile devices at work, so what we were trying to do was add blogging to our portfolio and bring all the tools together into a more harmonious whole.

My mobile productivity dream may soon be a reality. I don’t want to have a desktop at the office, a laptop for client presentations, and a mobile device for when I am out and about. I want a single mobile device that I take everywhere and sync with productivity peripherals (read monitors, keyboard, and mouse) when required. As well, there is more than enough processing power in our smartphones for everyday tasks such as email, web browsing, and document creation. My desire is to be able to do all of this wirelessly. That isn’t quite ready today – but MHL is.  To pull this off using MHL there is one cable involved – but there is actual a silver lining in there. But before we get into that what in the world is MHL?

Google now seeks to cater for consumers' every need by adding a price comparison tool to its search engine. UK consumers who search for terms related to credit cards, current accounts and savings accounts will now be presented with a box offering them the option of comparing the best deals in those areas. In the US the box is being launched for banking-related searches, such as looking for flights and hotels.

Do you prefer the functionality of your PC, but always wanted the novelty of owning your own Macbook? It seems that you are now able to merge both. I caught up with Kim Johnston, VP of Marketing for Parallels Desktop at CITE. Parallels has a virtualisation technology that allows users the ability to run a virtualised Windows PC (and others platforms such as Linux) on the Mac OS.

Google has reported a increase of 24% in revenues year on year. CEO Larry Page has also stated: “We have seen tremendous momentum from the big bets we’ve made in products like Android, Chrome and YouTube. We are still at the very early stages of what technology can do to improve people's lives and we have enormous opportunities ahead.  It is a very exciting time to be at Google.”

The Internet has made it easier than ever for technology companies to create tools and services for businesses. Adopting some of these ‘start-up’ technologies can be difficult for big companies that have all manner of legacy IT systems. But it is one area where small and mid-size enterprises have a huge advantage because of their ability to change without nearly as many obstacles standing in the way.

When we look at some of the most successful technology/Internet-based companies of the last few years, from Google to Apple to Facebook to YouTube, there is a very strong U.S. bias. In recent months new poster boy technology start-ups from the U.S. include FourSquare, GoWalla and Groupon. This phenomenon got me thinking as to what were the key drivers behind this apparent disparity were and whether Europe could begin to emulate some of these technology start-ups in the months and years to come. The following represents a (non-exhaustive) list of some of the key drivers behind the gap, as I see it.

Venture capital investing is in the midst of a revival and experiencing major changes.  It is certainly creating a different story from its past, based on Wall Street’s new found appetite for venture backed technology companies