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Suryatapa

at the age of six

Three months ago, I wandered into a salon in Kolkata with my mother and came

face-to-

face with a prejudice

my beloved aunts, and maddening when strangers suggest my dark skin is something to be “fixed.”

No one in India seems to think it unusual to try to slap some bleach, or a herbal equivalent, on my skin to reveal a whiter me.

Darkie, Blackie and Kaalia

My color defined me and it stuck.

self-conscious.

Kaalia, remember me? When I pointed out that it was insulting, I was called out for being “too sensitive.”

“We called you that with love,”

Well-meaning aunts and their neighbors worried about my marriage prospects.

Like that should justify the hurt.

Perhaps, they suggested, a little less sun exposure, or maybe a few extra layers of sandalwood paste or a homemade concoction that the neighborhood swore by?

I wouldn’t let anyone touch my face.

The aunts sighed but never really gave up.

Instead, in this country, it is everyone’s business to correct it or cover it up.

The personal is open to public opinion, whether it makes you squirm or not.

Few Indians seem to be comfortable in their dark skin.

So it is no surprise that a multi-billion rupee market in fairness products thrives in India.

whitened versions of themselves, urging you to pick up a tube or two of the latest product.

From lotions and soaps to whitening underarm deodorant; every body part it seems is could be a few shades lighter.

Urban legends abound of how turmeric and milk, with their blood cleansing properties, had turned someone’s friend’s sister into a fair maiden – so I gulped down this vile concoction, gagged and never touched it ever again.

adolescent weakness,

I too was convinced to go on a regimen of drinking milk with crushed turmeric.

As an adult I’ve become much more comfortable with the color of my skin.

Over a decade of living in North America – where tans are pursued and Halle Berry is a beauty icon – helped that.

So when I moved back to India, I was surprised and offended all over again, as I confronted people who still think porcelain skin is the epitome of beauty.

society that embraced a wider spectrum of skin tone.

Victorian ideas of beauty,

“Do you do tanning?” I was dumbstruck and could barely stammer out a surprised “no.”

In retrospect, her assumption says a lot about how Indians equate skin tone with beauty, confidence and social standing.

Suryatapa Bhattacharya is the India correspondent for “The National” newspaper.

migrant workers – who build the capital's offices and mansions, clean its streets and guard its security – have been shut down,

Tens of thousands of migrant children are left without schools

rural origin – a third of the city's 19 million population

day-to-day inju

stices

hukou (household registration), set up in 1958

control rural-to-urban migration

Peasants' role was to produce and feed the cities and support the modernisation process of their motherland.

as shown on their ID – no matter what they might choose to do. "Wo shi nongmin [I am a peasant],"

Deng Xiao Ping's gaige kaifang (economic reforms and opening up), in the late 1970s.

Agricultural production increased in the early stage of the reforms in "releasing the productive forces",

half of the 400 million rural working population have been pushed off the land, seeking a livelihood away from their villages.

As rural residents came to the cities, they immediately faced discrimination and exclusion.

They spoke their own dialects instead of "proper" Mandarin. Many faced verbal abuse as soon as they arrived.

the strict requirement for the unaffordable temporary residency permit, and the random street search by police.

The criteria for applying for a hukou remain harsh, and unreachable for most migrants, and many work for years without any status.

Without hukou,

healthcare, education and housing.

urban dwellers pay a minimal cost for medical care, many migrants have to return home for treatment.

"These children aren't treated as everyone else. They're called the mobile students, who can't go to state schools. Their parents have for years sent their children to privately run schools without proper facilities or curriculum."

hundreds such private schools were set up.

government-funded National Development and Reform Commission

admits it is an "institutional barrier"

government has shown no wish to listen to migrant workers' demands.

voice their discontent is by petitioning the local authorities

Little happens as a result.

Some suspect that migrant children's schools are being closed as a disincentive to future migration.

protests, road blockages, sit-ins and spontaneous strikes.

Hsiao-Hung Pai, Beijing

Migrants who toil in the cities still face a decades-old system of segregation and exploitation. But many are now demanding fairness

Beijing "a city of violence"

Beijing's migrant worker slums

are ruthlessly segregated from the urban dwellers, economically, socially and culturally

Steve Jobs announced to the world last week that “unfortunately, that day has come” for him to step down as chief executive officer of Apple,

impeccable.

14 years since Jobs regained control of his company in the summer of 1997 after a long, bitter exile

Apple shares have increased a stunning 110-fold

surpassed rival Microsoft a year ago, Apple’s $350 billion in market capitalization places it behind only ExxonMobil

most valuable company in the world.

Apple has made money so quickly and so prodigiously that it holds an outrageous $76 billion in cash and investments

graduate students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison: Abdulfattah Jandali, a Syrian immigrant

In his second time around at Apple, Jobs ultimately achieved what had eluded him in his early years there, from 1976 to 1985

visionary and a brilliant promoter but wasn’t respected as a businessman

Now Jobs, 56, retires,

awesome sum thought to be parked in an obscure subsidiary,

Jobs didn’t just create products that instilled lust in consumers and enriched his company.

Personal computing. The music business. Publishing. Hollywood. All have been radically transformed because of Steve Jobs.

It’s impossible to begin to understand the sources of Jobs’s success without looking to his unusual life story.

like the fictional Harry Potter, he was a misfit, raised by adoptive parents

Bill Gates as the most highly regarded business figure of our times

doctorate in political science

He was adopted at birth by Paul and Clara Jobs of San Francisco.

his constant risk taking, his rare deal-making ability

icrosoft’s Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

“dropout”

drop-in”:

leftist artsy intellectualism, even though he knew his parents couldn’t—and wouldn’t—pick up the tab.

That’s how strongly he wanted to be at an elite school and obtain its validation that he was indeed a wizard rather than a muggle. And that’s how good he was at persuasion and dealmaking—and how open to real risk.

fruitarian” diet that left him constantly hungry.

new studies reveals

psychological effects of constant Facebooking.

teens who use Facebook

chances to learn how to socialize

ood aspects of the digital lifestyle today's teens were born into.

Facebook can be distracting

negatively impacting teen grades

teaching in compelling ways that engage young students.

more than 1,000 urban adolescents.

omputer, Internet and social-network use, use of mobile Internet devices and phone services like texting, as well as factors related to mental health

, particularly shy teens

experience can give shy kids an easier experience building relationships, by speaking through a keyboard

person

social networks promote healthy social relationships, an important step in teenage development

most frequently had Facebook open

Social networks

addition to the positives

associations between social network use and various mental issues

lack of empathy

, increased aggression and traits associated with mental illnesses

schizophrenia and depression.

detract from a teen's learning and grades

observing 300 teenagers study

can teach teens empathy, or the ability to understand someone else's feelings

lowest retention

similar effect of texting.

notifications after

wo-minute "tech breaks

heck their messages

15 minutes of studying

social networking

negative effects on academics.

ice cream

red meat

butter.

lowering

artery-clogging cholesterol, what you eat may be more important than what you don't eat.

such as soy protein and nuts

reduce bad cholesterol far more effectively than a diet low in saturated fat.

That could drive down a person's risk of fatal heart attack or stroke by 10%, the authors suggested.

dump their drugs for tofu,

"Patients don't want to take the medications, and I'm afraid that if you tell them there's a diet that works just as well, then they'll do that instead," he said.

1 in 6 Americans has a high overall cholesterol level,

makes a person nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke as someone whose total cholesterol falls into a healthy range.

(LDL) cholesterol is one component of this overall number.

nation's most commonly prescribed medications,

355 million prescriptions dispensed,

soy protein, nuts,

"sticky" fiber such as that found in oats and barley,

plant sterols.

handful of nuts such as almonds or walnuts every day, and to substitute milk and meats with soy and tofu products as much as possible.

Samsung's

a date for the U.S. release

its hotly anticipated phone,

sold lavishly in foreign markets

r 5 million people worldwide

bought the flagship Android phone

85 days it has been on the market

one sold every 1.5 seconds,

Samsung

"a major product announcement"

an invitation to journalists early Friday

Galaxy S II

Aug. 29.

Galaxy S II by name,

The Galaxy is coming.

"It isn't rocket science to understand that it's the Galaxy S II announcement,"

It isn't an overstatement to say that the Samsung Galaxy S II is the strongest competition the iPhone faces.

sports a 4.3-inch, 800x480 screen, a 1.2-GHz processor, fast 4G network connectivity, and a sleek, simple design evocative of the iPhone. By contrast, the Apple iPhone 4  has a 3.5-inch, 960x640 screen, a 1-GHz processor, and a slower, 3G connection.

Bigger and faster?

Though it hasn’t gone on sale yet in the U.S.

Galaxy S II are copious

obscene.

24 days, the company sold 1 million units

The 2 million units sold in 42 days would fill two and a half soccer fields.

That's a lot of smartphones. But it's more than that: It's a lot of good smartphones,

"If the U.S. versions are anything like the international versions, these are going to be spectacular smartphones," he told FoxNews.com. Segan gave an international version of the phone an Editors' Choice award, calling it the finest Android smartphone available today.

Apple iPhone 5

he elephant in the room

he 3 million Galaxy S II phones sold in just over 50 days are as heavy as 100 elephants)

iPhone 5 is widely expected to be coming out in September, Segan noted.

And getting the right price could make all the difference for Samsung. "They don't want to be more expensive than the iPhone," Segan said.

But that 4G network connection may prove a major difference between the two. 

Unless Apple has made some sort of secret breakthrough, [the faster LTE network] might make a Verizon iPhone too thick and power-hungry for Apple's demands this year. Apple may skip it for now and wait for smaller and cooler chipsets," Segan noted.

That faster connection really pays off for anyone surfing a lot of complicated websites or viewing movies over Netflix, he said. 

But in the end, pricing, a final feature set and the design is all up to the carriers. "The mainstream price for a smartphone is $199 with contract," Segan noted. "We're all hoping for $199."

, Apple's online store for Chinese customers lists all four MacBook Air models

11-in. and 13-in. configurations -- for sale, but with lengthy shipping delays.

The 11-in. MacBook Air's estimated delivery time, according to the e-store, is 9-to-11 working days, while the 13-in. models will reach customers approximately 5 working days after ordering.

"no supply" of 11-in. MacBook Airs

13% of the company's revenues for the quarter ending June 30.

increasingly afford to own a PC

The new MacBook Air is poised to be a big hit in the Greater China region

7,698 yuan and 9,198 yuan for the 64GB and 128GB flash drive models,

$1,203 and $1,438, significantly higher than the $999 and $1,199 U.S. customers pay.

Apple's 13-in. MacBook Air costs 9,998 yuan and 12,498 yuan -- the latter for the notebook with 256GB in storage space -- or $1,563 and $1,954. U.S. list prices are $1,299 and $1,599 for the same models.

brick-and-mortar outlets.

New orders ship within 24 hours

85.2 million

76.6 million, IDC estimated.

"With IDC naming China the largest PC market in the world this week based on [second quarter] shipment data, we believe investors should increasingly think about the Mac opportunity for Apple in China over the next few years," White advised.

Touch Bionics also agreed to fit the hand and train Matthew at their state of the art facilities for free, which would have otherwise cost £25,000.

Matthew said: ''It is just amazing.

even fitted with Bluetooth technology to allow Matthew to hook up to a computer wirelessly to track the strength and speed of his movements.

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doesn’t put them on sale any later than October

T-Mobile’s own 4G incompatibility

single hybrid model

iPhone 5 unless it includes 4G networking. And not the 4G LTE which Verizon and AT&T keep touting…

incompatible version of 4G networking

Sprint won’t have the iPhone until the iPhone 6

iPhone 5 by default as AT&T

different iPhone 4 hardware models

Sprint will instantly become the smallest U.S. carrier as well as the only one not in line for the iPhone.

Motorola Mobility

iPhone 5 era for political or network reasons

Android platform

Android-based flagship phone has been thoroughly outsold by AT&T’s flagship iPhone 4

Droid phone

Android offerings

rival Android platform

Android manufacturers HTC and Samsung are losing their underwear in the courts thanks to prolonged patent wars and may not ultimately be a part of the Android collective once it’s all said and done.

Verizon iPhone 5

Apple controls the OS and the hardware

Verizon iPhone 5

(along with the “old standby” AT&T iPhone 6

Mozilla is carefully circumventing the phrase of “waging war” against the creation of closed or “siloed” environments on the web.

competing, but not so by going directly against a rival, but by being “different”

That name would be Apple, which Mozilla’s chairman and chief lizard wrangler Mitchell Baker directly addressed in a series of sequential blog posts that outline Mozilla’s future direction. The attacks aren’t as crude and as we typically see between Mozilla and Microsoft. They are much more carefully worded, perhaps in an effort to remain polite and not to raise any unnecessary attention

“There’s no reason why “apps” can’t incorporate the characteristics that are important about the web. They don’t today because Apple didn’t build them that way. There’s no reason Apple should; Apple has a different view of the world. But we can. In fact, Mozilla is one of the very few organizations that can do this.”

Mozilla has yet to show what it plans to do and leaves us with its vision for now. Mozilla believes that its opportunity is a user’s desire to run anything he wants on any device he owns. Mozilla believes that a user wants to be in charge of his web experience, not Apple, Google or a device. Mozilla believes that a user would want to be in control of her/his identity and the information that is made available. Of course, Mozilla’s model is also based on Firefox and a web browser, which Apple could care less about at this time.

Meanwhile, politicians braced for the fallout from the convulsion of violence as Prime Minister David Cameron faced the most severe crisis of his 15 months in office.

While many Britons had initially blamed the violence on unemployed youth, however, one surprise was the presence of young men and women with regular jobs among the riot suspects lined up in police wagons outside courthouses in London and other cities

Ahead of the emergency House of Commons session on Thursday, Mr. Cameron declared a “fightback” against what he condemned as the “groups of thugs” who had driven the riots