In this Preview, you'll get all of the Skype basics in the new, modern design along with many of the new features such as integration with the People Hub and a combined contact list with buddies from Windows Live Messenger.

ENGADGET: Skype for Windows Phone 8 official preview available now (video)

Although some of the improvements in public services the government has promised will come from new buildings and modern equipment, most of it will depend on retaining good people, persuading them to work more efficiently and recruiting more like them.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

This article is by Cleve W. Stevens, the founder and president of Owl Sight Intentions and author of the new book The Best in Us: People, Profit, and the Remaking of Modern Leadership.

FORBES: The New Kind of Leadership for Tomorrow's Leaders

Around 70, 000 people a year get a new hip and they are among the most successful operations in modern medicine.

BBC: Annual checks for patients with all-metal hips

Researchers, led by Dr Richard Beasley, of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, warn the widespread use of computers in so many aspects of modern life may put many people at risk of developing DVT.

BBC: Health threat from computer use

The Chinese people will restore themselves to their rightful place since 1700 AD with a new outlook towards the modern era as peaceful partners in our global and increasingly interdependent world.

FORBES: Japan and China: A Clash of Civilizations?

During the 1920s, the financial industry underwent a great expansion, bringing into the business many inexperienced people and new investment vehicles -- most notably the investment trust, the forerunner of the modern mutual fund.

CNN: Commentary: Is it 1929 all over again?

And just as atoms are being transformed into bits, Sikka said, so too are we seeing an equally profound transformation as modern technology allows people and businesses to separate content from its traditional containers, and recombine it all in new and more relevant and fluid ways.

FORBES: Cloud Computing's Greatest Danger--and Richest Opportunity