Atlanta

Did your parents tell you to remember your scarf when you went out, so you wouldn't catch a cold? Today, the advice might be: Remember your cell phone.

A maker of over-the-counter cold and flu remedies released a program this week for the T-Mobile G1, also known as the "Google phone," that warns the user how many people in an area are sneezing and shaking with winter viruses.

Microsoft Corp. is no longer interested in buying all of Yahoo Inc., CEO Steve Ballmer said Wednesday, though he told shareholders that the company would still be "very open" to a collaboration on Internet search. His comments sent Yahoo shares diving more than 20 percent.

"Let me be clear," Ballmer said at Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting. "We are done with all acquisition discussions with Yahoo."

Mayor William Floyd pulled up to a parking space, dialed a number into his cell phone and watched as two hours of paid time flashed on the meter in front of his car.

And with that, the Atlanta suburb launched one of the nation's first pay-by-phone parking systems, part of a strategy designed to encourage more turnover and ultimately more revenue.

How much money can criminals make scaring naive computer users? Try $5 million a year.

That is how much a marketing associate of one Russian operation appears to be earning from its sales of fake anti-virus software through an elaborate scheme that relies on e-mail spam and indirect control of thousands of unprotected PCs, according to internal company files posted online by a Russian hacker.

The company is Bakasoftware, a clandestine effort based in Russia that markets what it claims is an anti-virus program strictly to English-speaking computer users.

It may not be one of the burning social issues of our time -- neither presidential candidate made it part of their stump speech -- but Internet retailer Amazon.com has announced that it is taking a stand on "wrap rage."

Amazon is launching "Frustration-Free Packaging" (FFP), an initiative to reduce the use of plastic "clamshell" packaging and plastic-coated wire ties that are often used to secure unopened toys and electronics.

Cable, Internet and telephone service provider Cox Communications just added wireless to its list of bundled offerings.

Atlanta-based Cox, the third-largest cable provider in the nation, announced Monday that it is teaming with Sprint to give its customers access to a wireless network. With the new offering, customers will be able to use mobile devices to access television shows, program a DVR, and access content on a home computer.

Business travelers are losing more than 12,000 laptops per week at U.S. airports. Only one-third of those are reclaimed, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute, sponsored by Dell.

At the same time, more than 53 percent of polled business travelers say their laptops contain confidential or sensitive information, and 65 percent of these travelers admit they do not take steps to protect or secure the information contained on their laptop.

With just 63 employees serving a customer base from its headquarters in Richmond, Va., and remote sites in Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Memphis and Tampa, InSource Software Solutions (ISS) staff must cover a lot of terrain in terms of sales, technical support, customer care and administration. According to Dunn Dillard, ISS's executive vice president and chief financial officer, managing staff and customers remotely was a cumbersome and expensive proposition that the company needed to address.

For Alise Sims, controller at All Crane Rental of Georgia the daily dash to the bank to deposit checks from customers represented a big interruption in her workday: Fighting traffic to the bank branch, itemizing the deposit slips, and waiting in line for a teller cost her an hour of lost productivity. One bank even required its business customers to wait for a special teller -- even when other tellers were available. "That was very frustrating," says Sims.

Have you been bumped from a flight? Belittled by a hotel clerk? Or stewed in a doctor's waiting room? Then Rupert Barkoff wants to hear all about it.

By day, Barkoff is a lawyer at Kilpatrick Stockton in Atlanta and a national expert on business franchising. But his hobby -- his golf, as he puts it -- is dissecting customer service horror stories, starting with his own.