The region has lagged much of the world when it comes to startups. There are some signs that's changing. And Silicon Valley is playing a big role.

Some of the best titles of all time involving time travel consist of jumping between eras or rewinding the hourglass a bit. Raven Software's 'Singularity' reaches for that elite company and almost gets there.

After reading 'The Facebook Effect,' the inside account of the social networking company, there are several things that struck me. First, founder Mark Zuckerberg has built one of the most important companies on the Web in just six years. Next, he's turned down insane sums of money along the way that likely would have put the company in the hands of a corporate parent far less savvy than Zuckerberg. And finally, the company has succeeded by making decisions that often riled users and popular opinion, but ultimately made the site even more popular.

Streaming technology already has had a big impact on the way consumers watch videos, listen to music and play casual games. Now it could revolutionize the core video game business.