Call us conspiracy theorists, but the first thing that we thought of when we heard that Microsoft and Nokia had inked a deal for Microsoft to buy Nokia – and with it Stephen Elop, who left Microsoft three years ago to become the CEO of Nokia – was that this was an inside job. Are we the only ones who are suspicious?

If you’ve always wished that your cell phone could be used as a Skype wifi phone, well, your wish for a Skype phone just came true – at least if your phone is a Nokia phone running the Symbian operating system. Now instead of having to have two phones (both a Skype wireless phone and a cell phone) in order to effectively use a Skype internet phone plus have cell service, you can have it all on one phone – your regular cellular service plus free Skype to Skype calling, free Skype text messaging, and all the other Skype goodies. Unlike those Skype cordless VoIP phones, Skype for your Nokia mobile phone works both on wifi and on your 3G network, turning your cell phone into a wireless Skype phone wherever you are! And, your nifty new Skype mobile wireless phone works for global Skype to Skype calls, too! Remember – this isn’t cellular provider dependent – “Will Skype work on a Nextel cell phone,” or “Will Skype work on a Verizon or AT and T cell phone” is no longer the question to ask (although there is also a Verizon-specific Skype available) – all you need to ask yourself is “Is there a Skype application for my brand of cell phone,” and if your phone is one of the Nokia phones with which this Skype for Nokia works, the answer is “Yes,” regardless of who your cell phone provider is!

Wal-Mart, Gap, Nike – when you think of companies known to use labor where the work enviroment is dangerous to the workers, these are names that come to mind. But Apple? Nokia?? It’s true – the odds are good that the screen on one or more of your computers or cell phones was manufactured in a plant where workers are routinely exposed to toxic chemicals – where, in fact, workers have died due to exposure to chemicals like n-hexane. This week Chinese workers employed by Taiwanese screen manufacturer Wintek, in Wintek’s east China factory in Jiangsu province, staged a protest over, in part, their allegations that several workers have become paralyzed – and died – due to exposure to n-hexane, a toxic chemical that has been banned, but which Wintek is still using.