No, she’s not a Hollywood actress but she’s highly talked about in the tech industry.  For those of you not in the know, Meg Whitman is Hewlett-Packard’s new CEO, she replaced Leo Apotheker after investors threatened the life of their company.

If she’s HP’s CEO, then she should be focusing on HP right?  Since HP is still a bit jittery from all the whirlwind changes made by Apotheker prior to his departure, but Whitman proves she’s one tough cookie and can juggle her duties without breaking a sweat.

Zaarly

Okay, her new baby isn’t a person, it’s Zaarly, the online company that helps people buy and sell things, similar to eBay.  The six month-old startup was able to raise $1 million in seed funding from angel investors like Ashton Kutcher, Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit and Lightbank.  And now, they received $14.1 million in funding led by Kleiner Perkins and Sands Capital Ventures.

“We have a big vision,” Chief Executive Bo Fishback said. “What we’re really talking about is a total opt-in employment market. If everyone in the city could advertise what they were willing to pay for the services they need, everything is different. The guy in his garage can compete with the small business owner who is competing with Wal-Mart. What you create is caring buyers and a transparent work force.”

So how exactly did Whitman get involved in this?  Whitman was a strategic adviser for Kleiner Perkins at the time Fishback presented Zaarly to the venture firm.  Whitman wanted to push on with Zaarly immediately, and has since  joined Zaarly’s board.

“We showed Zaarly to [Whitman] at the Kleiner office and 15 minutes in her jaw dropped,” said Fishback, who has used the product to find his child’s nanny. “She said this could be the next eBay. She’s continued to be very engaged with what we’re working on.”

Fishback told VentureBeat that when he heard about Whitman’s position on HP, he immediately called her.  Whitman told him that she would drop everything for HP except Zaarly, and he loves Whitman for that.

“I just love her,” said Fishback.  “She built the biggest peer-to-peer marketplace on the planet Earth … I just know she’s going to make me a better CEO.”

HP

HP isn’t taking a backseat, however, as this is still her priority.  After finalizing the Autonomy acquisition, Whitman said that for now, that would be the last major acquisition of the company.  So what has been happening to HP since?

First, their Chief Strategy Officer Shane Robinson left the company.  Robinson was responsible for steering the company’s multibillion-dollar research and development investment.  HP has no plans of replacing Robinson.

“Shane has been a powerful innovator for our business groups and other corporate divisions,” Whitman said of Robison. “His passion for research and development has ensured that innovation continues at HP.”

Second, in time for Halloween, the dead are coming back to roam the earth.  No, not zombies, well yeah kind of like a zombie.  The HP TouchPad is making a comeback.  But unfortunately, webOS is not joining the comeback party.  HP is testing Windows 8 on their tablet.  Sucks for webOS, still living in the dark.

Third, as ‘Bring-your-own-device-to-work’ and mobile use grows in popularity, HP wants in.  HP VP for Worldwide Applications Development Services unit, Srini Koushik, said that the trends are forcing enterprises to change the way they work with employees and service their customers.  For that increase in demand, HP offers a complete suite of mobile services to help clients realize the full potential and address the challenges of the emerging environment.