Bill Gates, iPhone 2.0, mini laptops and much more...

In the run-up to his departure from Microsoft on 27 June silicon.com profiled Bill Gates by taking a photographic trip down memory lane.

Here he's looking pretty happy with life in the early 1990s just before the launch of Windows 95.

See our photo story for more Gates career highlights.

Photo credit: Microsoft

With mini laptops the hot gadget of the moment, silicon.com took a look at five of the best.

This is Apple's MacBook Air which the company claims is the thinnest in the world. See what it's competing against here.

Photo credit: Apple

silicon.com went to check out the technology behind the weather at the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts in Reading.

These screens allow operators to track the terabytes of data and thousands of operations on its supercomputers each day.

See what else goes on behind the scenes.

Photo credit: Nick Heath

HP opened the doors to its research labs in Bristol this month to show off some of the tech it's developing

This is the FaceBubble application which uses touchscreen technology to allow people to navigate through their photo collection.

See what else was on show in the full photo story.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson

Bill Gates' career has had some memorable moments. Here he demonstrates his weightlifting skills with Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey in a video shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

See what other amusing incidents befell Gates including getting a pie thrown in his face.

Photo credit: CNET News.com

Disney and Google announced an initiative that brings Walt Disney World into Google Earth.

This is an aerial view of the 'Dumbo the Flying Elephant' ride as seen in Google Earth.

See more here.

Photo credit: Google Earth

One of the biggest news stories this month was the launch of the 3G iPhone.

Here Steve Jobs gives a run down of the upgraded device. The cake in the background signifies the iPhone's first birthday.

See what other flashy new features the second generation iPhone packs into its finely crafted form.

Photo credit: James Martin/CNET News.com

Telecommunications company Colt lifted the lid on how a data centre is built this month.

This picture shows the steelwork which is built up from the floor to hang the ceiling of the data halls.

See what other complicated construction goes into a data centre here.

Photo credit: Nick Heath

This is the Affinity solar powered car, which was built by the Cambridge University Eco Racing team (pictured), and whizzes along at a top speed of 60mph.

See it in action here.

Photo credit: HP/CUER

Nokia added new HSDPA smart phones to its Eseries range. This is the E71 which has a full Qwerty keyboard.

Click here for more pictures of the swish new devices.

Photo credit: Nokia

Here's silicon.com's business editor, Julian Goldsmith, dangling eight storeys in the air as he abseils down a building in the City of London.

Four members of the silicon.com editorial team took the challenge with Colt Telecom to raise money for the Childhood First charity.

See how the rest of the team fared here .

Photo credit: Colt

Intel demoed some of its cutting-edge tech at the Computer History Museum in California.

This robotic hand uses camera technology to recognise objects. It was one of a number of interesting gadgets on show.

Photo credit: James Martin/CNET News.com

With Wimbledon under way silicon.com took a look at the technology which powers the world famous tennis tournament.

This application shows how much server capacity the Wimbledon website is using - the servers run close to capacity during the tournament.

See more ace tech here.

Photo credit: Tim Ferguson

The festival season is also upon us so silicon.com rounded up of the most interesting mobile tech being used at Glastonbury and beyond this summer.

This is the GlastoNav from Orange which helps people find their way around the site during the festival.

See how else tech can improve your weekend of listening to music in a field.

Photo credit: Orange