Mark Foster, group CEO of Accenture’s business consulting unit, believes there is still a pretty upbeat mood among executives. There may be troubled times ahead, but there’s also an underlying sense of confidence, he says.

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Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, likes to stay connected.

When panellists at a session on mobile technology in Davos were asked to reveal just how many mobile devices they had about their person, Schmidt emerged the clear winner, pulling out a record haul of four - BlackBerry, mobile phone, iPhone and wireless camera.

So much for convergence!

In the future, however, it is all going to get a lot smarter, Schmidt believes. He reckons the arrival of a fully mobile Web will be a “huge revolution”, offering a new generation of location-based applications and lucrative advertising business.

Age hasn’t mellowed him. At 76 years old, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch is the elder statesman of the corporate world at this year’s Davos. But his views remain as strident as ever. Speaking at a session entitled “Rebuilding Brand America” he promptly lambasted two holy cows - the United Nations and the Kyoto Protocol.

“Everyone knows it is a corrupt, ridiculous, dysfunctional place,” he said on the UN. “We know that the Kyoto treaty doesn’t work and is impractical. Some want America to set an example and sign it and obey it. Now, what do you want to do - put everybody out of work in America while China and Russia and India don’t sign it?”

Tramping through the Davos snow for a 7:45 am breakfast meeting may be cold - but it it definitely ain’t cool. Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner Bono explained his dilemma to the assembled suits at the World Economic forum on Thursday: “If anyone sees my band, please don’t tell them I was up this early. It’s not very Rock ‘n Roll.”

The World Economic Forum has a record number of sessions and workshops about global warming this year - but you wouldn’t guess it from the the buzz in the corridors, where the economy and roiling markets dominate conversations. That’s a worry, according to climate experts.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), fears the issue may be pushed to the sidelines, with potentially disastrous long-term results. If business and political leaders don’t take it seriously now, they won’t make the necessary investments in green technology or tackle CO2 emissions, he argues.

“A lot has been achieved so far, not only in terms of the public becoming aware of the reality of climate change but also leaders round the world taking fairly forward-looking positions,” Pachauri said. “If we get distracted by the aberrations that you see in the financial market right now it would clearly be very unfortunate.”

His comments came as the European Union unveiled its plans to cut emissions of greenhouse gases - proposals which left the IPCC boss underwhelmed.

Dow Chemical is seeing continued growth in demand for its products and does not expect the United States to tip into recession, Chief Executive Andrew Liveris tells Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

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The renowned brain scientist talks about the future of neuroscience and advances in research relating to Alzheimer’s disease.

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(Ed’s note: This post was updated to reflect that Susan Greenfield is a neuroscientist)

It’s a tale of winners and losers, of bulls and the bears - and it highlights just how much the tables have turned. The latest PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO survey shows plunging confidence in North America, western Europe and Japan but rocketing self-belief among the new corporate giants of Asia. In India, an astounding 90 percent of CEOs are very confident of revenue growth in the next 12 months. That compares to a mere 35 percent in North America.

“It is a tale of two worlds,” says Samuel DiPiazza, PwC’s global CEO, whose team conducted their survey in the last quarter of last year. He’s still betting against a technical recession in the United States, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, but admits the odds have shortened. “It’s still hard to see the U.S. being there but not quite as hard as it was 30 days ago.”

Jacob Zuma, president of the ruling African National Congress party in South Africa, talks about the outlook for the South African economy and its prospects in the face of a likely downturn in the U.S. economy.

“If anything should happen to such a big economy like the U.S.A., I don’t think there’s any country that would not feel the impact,” he said, but added that he expects the South African economy “will be able to pull through.” He attended the opening party in Davos.

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The economic forecast is decidedly nasty but at least the snow is good. Unlike last year, when delegates arriving in Davos were greeted by worryingly green valleys and grey streets, the Swiss ski resort is enjoying one of its best skiing seasons in years. It started snowing in November and the white stuff is deep and crisp and even, with fresh powder and a snow depth of 137 cm on middle station, according to the latest winter sports report. What’s more, the outlook for next week is blue skies. Inside the conference centre, the mood may be a lot less sunny.

Photo credit: REUTERS/David Sincock