Meet Seth the blogger guy, AT&T's answer to angry iPhone owners

Seth Bloom. Photo: AT&T

"We have heard you. We are on it."

So says the Seth Bloom -- a.k.a. Seth the blogger guy -- the geeky talking head that AT&T (T) has sent out to do damage control in the face of rising outrage among Apple (AAPL) iPhone users about the quality of AT&T's service, particularly in urban areas like San Francisco and New York.

(See for example Wednesday's New York Times, MORE

Smash n' Grab: 23 MacBooks, 14 iPhones, 9 iPod touches, 31 seconds

WPVI-TV

One of the hottest videos on the Web today is the surveillance tape of a burglary in progress at the Sagemore Apple Store in Marlton, N.J, 12 miles from Camden.

It shows five perps in masks smashing the plate-glass doors, signaling to the security guard that they had a gun, and clearing off the display tables with the efficiency of a Indy 500 pit crew.

The take: 23 MacBook Pros, 14 MORE

Is Gmail ready for business?

Gmail's patrons are still cranky after the Sept. 1 outage that left them without Gmail for nearly two hours. For most users who rely on the free email service, its absence – during prime web surfing hours no less – was a nuisance.

But for Google's (GOOG) enterprise business, the stakes are higher. More than 1.75 million companies pay the annual $50-per-user subscription fee for their employees to use Google Apps, the web-based application suite. It's been two years since Google launched the product, and just this past summer it removed the term "beta," explaining Google Apps has "met or exceeded" the standards of non-beta software.

Why are there no Mac viruses?

Image: Apple Inc.

There are, as far as we know, no Mac OS X viruses in the wild.

To prove that assertion wrong, you only have to name one.

Academic proofs of concept and theoretical vulnerabilities don't count. Neither do computer worms, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, spam or any of the other nasty species in the zoology of malware.

That eliminates Inqtana-A, iBotNet, MacSweeper and a handful of other examples of Mac malware MORE

Tricked-out jet combats Calif. blaze

"Tanker 979" pressed into service by deadly fires in Southern California

Tanker 979 can spray 20,000 gallons of flame retardant. Photo: Evergreen International Aviation

The biggest fire-fighting jet on the planet started duty Monday combating the deadly fires around Los Angeles. It is a converted Boeing 747, dubbed Tanker 979.

If it performs as well as expected over the next few days, it could not only mean less destruction of buildings MORE

The Mobile Internet is always on - and always active

Consumers transfer their PC habits to handsets, then proceed to do even more online.

Simpson: Mobility ups the ante for Internet usage. Photo: Novarra

By Bruce Simpson, CEO, Novarra

Forget about webmail: Social networking and content sharing sites like Facebook, Flickr and Craigslist are now the most visited Internet sites on mobile devices, according to recent usage data from my company, which provides mobile Internet software.

Social media are redefining what it MORE

New owners plan to supercharge Skype

All you 480 million Skype users out there should be rejoicing today, now that the Internet calling and video service has been freed from the clutches of eBay.

As was announced this morning, eBay is selling a 65% stake in Skype for $1.9 billion in cash to a group of private equity shops and venture capitalists. The deal also includes a loan from eBay of $125 million.

So let's call it $2 billion. That's MORE

Remember Lexmark? The printer underdog is still fighting

The Interact S605, Lexmark's new high-end home office inkjet, comes with a touchscreen. Image: Lexmark

In this era of Kindle books, text messages and Facebook photos, printed information is taking it on the chin – and perhaps no company has been hit harder than Lexmark. The Kentucky-based printer company is one of the worst performing stocks in the hardware sector this year, down about 30%.

But Lexmark (LXK) CEO Paul Curlander MORE

Recession lessons: What businesses can learn from the downturn

Even as the global economy starts to show signs of life executives should reflect on the downturn for ideas they can apply as their businesses recover.

Heistermann: Don't waste the crisis. Photo: IDS Sheer

By Joerg Heistermann, CEO of the Americas, IDS Scheer

The last 18 months have changed the business world. Price cuts trump value in influencing buying decisions; instead of growth managers are focused on strategic cuts. Today businesses are MORE

Munster: Steve Jobs will host next week's Apple special event

Steve Jobs, Oct. 2008. Photo: Apple Inc.

Apple hasn't confirmed it -- and not every analyst agrees -- but Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster seems pretty certain that Steve Jobs himself will introduce a new line of iPods next week.

In a note to clients Tuesday morning, Munster describes the substance of Apple's (AAPL) special music event -- scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9 -- as a "non-event" from Wall Street's point of MORE