According to a report initially posted on Gawker Media’s Valleywag site, the telecom giant had a flaw that allowed a group of computer experts to expose the email addresses and identity numbers of 114,000 owners of the popular tablet device.

Including mine.

That would be my personal one from Comcast (CMCSA), which you can see here in an obscured list of others–including some prominent officials in government.

AT&T (T) had my email because it was used to sign up for mobile service for the Apple (AAPL) iPad’s 3G version, automatically appearing during registration.

Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the AT&T breach, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal, in what seems to be an early probe.

Oooh, the Feds are involved now.

I wish I could say it will make a difference. Because it won’t.

In fact, coming on the heels of privacy controversies at Facebook and Google (GOOG), it’s just another log on the digital fire that has been burning up privacy for a very long time now.

And now more than ever, it is part of a massive confluence of trends, including:

Consumers more interested than ever in sharing information about themselves in order to make ever better social networking connections online; a plethora of innovative devices–mostly mobile–and Internet tools available to seamlessly and easily allow those consumers to do so; and, perhaps most of all, Internet companies intent on hoovering up as much information as possible, in order to garner more consumers and sell it to advertisers.

In large part, this is all well and good, creating a range of valuable and entertaining services at little or no cost and making the computing experience more personal and relevant.

Because of that, I have to admit I was less tweaked than I thought I would be, although I wish I were not.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose email was also compromised, expressed the feeling best.

“It shouldn’t be pretty hard to figure out my email address,” he was quoted saying in the Journal article. “To me, it wasn’t that big a deal.”

That’s because all of us are thinking less that such information is private or will remain that way for long.

See this handy illustration, below, from the Journal, about how the iPads were hacked so easily and you get the picture quickly.

And, indeed, I am one of those who puts a great deal of information about myself out there for many to see, from my email on Facebook to my locations on Foursquare to my thoughts on Twitter to photos and videos everywhere.

That said, like others, I have also begun to rethink some of this, recently removing my phone number and other personal information from Facebook and other places where I had stashed them in plain sight, making them harder to find.

Of course, I also know that retrieving much of my personal information is now a lost cause, like trying to unmix cream poured into coffee.

Still, companies, especially those entrusted with this information, should not be quite so sanguine as consumers have become.

I still haven’t heard from AT&T, for example, which is somewhat irksome since the company has known about the issue for days now.

And as each of these incidents occurs, you get the feeling of execs either too obtuse or thoughtless or, yes, cynical to make this a priority.

They should, since the avalanche of information being made available will only increase, with possibly dire circumstances if not handled well.

Hollywood actress Joan Crawford had it right in a famous quote: “Love is a fire. But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house, you can never tell.”

Substitute “Digital living” for love and it’s the very same message.

The “Twilight” saga, which seems to have just ended with the release of the second film in the series, “New Moon,” in November, is baaaaack.

And, of course, the Internet is huffing and puffing over this one, “Eclipse,” set for June, since its trailer just came out.

In the clip, it looks like Bella and Edward are still not together (as in not doing it). Good Lord, wasn’t that the plot of the last movie and the one before that? Plus, the Wolfman Kid is back, as part of the freaky love triangle.

Then again, to be fair, Harry Potter is still battling Voldemort. The next movie in that series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the first of a two-parter, comes out in mid-November.

Here’s the video of the new “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” trailer, as well as a teaser trailer the next “Harry Potter” film:

Yesterday, the day after after Google aired its first national commercial on the Super Bowl, an exec at a rival Internet company marveled at what high favorable scores the “Parisian Love” advertisement got, adding that the possibilities for spoofs were endless.

“I have a feeling that making fun of it will probably be a good thing for Google,” sighed the exec, who would dearly like such attention.

BoomTown doubts anyone at Google (GOOG) meant it that way. But, indeed, it did not take two seconds before the takeoffs on the ad–a sentimental, but effective, ongoing story about love in Paris, using only Google’s iconic search box–appeared.

Sources at the search giant said the ad, which was actually launched many months ago, was an in-house favorite already, and the massive marketing spending recently by both Yahoo (YHOO) and especially by Microsoft (MSFT) for Bing–clocking in at $100 million each–finally prompted the gauge-the-reaction move.

The Google spot seems to have inspired reaction, especially from those who like to poke fun.

And both the videos below do it well–one by Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre on a more problematic Paris romance and one on Tiger Woods’s search history from Slate V. I added the original Google ad at the bottom:

Parisian Oops

Is Tiger Feeling Lucky Today?

Parisian Love

BoomTown went down to Silicon Valley’s most exclusive country club–also known as Stanford University–where Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took to the stage today for a talk at Memorial Auditorium for the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar.

4:32 pm PDT: Ballmer was pretty much on time, delivering a rousing hello and some good words about being back. He had attended Stanford Business School many moons ago, before dropping out and joining Microsoft (MSFT). Good move, I’d say.

He offered anyone in the room jobs, if they were smart, and then gave out his email. Although he did leave out the pertinent fact that the software giant just laid off 3,000 workers earlier this week.

Well, that.

Then, Ballmer launched into his speech, which began with him talking about the “tough economy.”

The slide behind him was a picture of a glass half-empty or half-full, depending on your attitude, with the notes:

Economic “Reset”

Optimistic about the future.

4:40 pm: Ballmer then told his “entrepreneurial” story. There was a lovely picture of the young Ballmer with some hair. Not much, but some.

Lots of chatter about old computers ensued. Zzzzzzzz.

The early days of Microsoft were next, including how founder Bill Gates was worried about how Ballmer would bankrupt the nascent company by hiring more staff, a delightful story the pair told at our D: All Things Digital conference last year.

4:46 pm: Then the “emerging technology trends.”

Which are, according to Ballmer: many-core processing; screens everywhere; natural UI; all content digital.

Like All Things Digital! I always knew Steve and I were soul mates!

Because it is Microsoft, he moved into “software-powered experiences,” which means, according to Ballmer’s slide: a rich client + cloud, spans multiple devices and is persistent and personal.

“You world needs to be brought together,” said Ballmer. “You may not want to manage the cacophony of devices you deal with today.”

I may not. Or I may. Ballmer, may I?

4:55 pm: It was not a long or much of a content-rich speech. Ballmer wrapped up with the idea that “The Time Is Now.”

He noted that it is a great time for start-ups, with “all the right ingredients” that “dream big.”

What ingredients? What dreams? Ballmer was not saying much about his secret cooking tips for baking a tech behemoth.

4:57 pm: Time for questions from the students.

The first was about whether big- or small-company experience is better.

Both, said Ballmer. Depending on the problem. “You want to blend those things pretty well,” he said.

It is all about the ingredients! And blending. Also sifting, in my humble opinion.

The next question was about the state of the browser business.

Ballmer said it will get more innovative. We’re waiting!

The next was about what the main problem typically is with companies that have trouble making it.

“Too many companies can actually hang on for almost too long because there has been too much money funding these ideas,” said Ballmer.

Yes, we are soul mates!

5:04 pm: The next question was about the culture of a company from its start and how Ballmer has shaped Microsoft’s culture.

“I would say I have shaped Microsoft culture a lot,” he said. “Sometimes for the better, sometimes worse.”

Ballmer compares himself and Gates to “parents” of Microsoft.

That was very Iowa of him.

(As I said: soul mates!)

5:09 pm: The next question was about how he decided to leave Stanford Business School.

“They still have a spot for me if I want to go back and finish my MBA,” Ballmer joked.

But, he noted, it was not much of a risk to leave school.

When Ballmer did waver about going back to school, Gates convinced him to stay. Thank goodness, as he said he would have become an investment banker or a consultant.

The next question was about Google (GOOG), which was not named, I suppose for fear that it would set Ballmer off and there would be chairs a-flying.

“The No. 1 player [in search] is a lot bigger than us,” said Ballmer. “We are like a start-up.”

Well, a really, really, really rich start-up, which has been sued by the federal government for antitrust violations, and convicted.

5:14 pm: The next question was about ideas he might have missed.

Ballmer called himself “a mini-venture capitalist,” noting that figuring out what investments to make is tough.

He joked about the disastrous Microsoft Bob product. That always gets a laugh.

The next question was about how much attention Microsoft will give to cloud computing.

It gave him the chance to make a pun using the movie, “Three Men and a Baby,” noting that the “future is about three screens and a cloud.”

Ahahahahahahaha! Okay, not at all.

A question was asked about taking risks and tips for dealing with it.

“Valuable experience is valuable experience,” said Ballmer.

Say what? Is that a word puzzle? This is starting to feel like “Angels & Demons.”

Ballmer advised the students to “love doing the work that you’re doing.”

It is apparently all about the love at Microsoft. Who knew?

5:22 pm:

Two questions about consolidation, which is code for Yahoo (YHOO).

“I’m glad we went down the road,” said Ballmer, waxing nostalgic about the failed takeover attempt.

But he added he still thought a partnership of some sort between the pair is a good idea. “There may or may not be appropriate discussions,” said Ballmer.

There may. Or may not. Carol, may Steve?

Then there is some love for competitors, Facebook, even Apple (AAPL) for the iPhone.

Feel the love!

5:25 pm: The last question is about what he wished he had done if he could do it over.

He would have taken more computer science courses.

We are so not soul mates.

Don’t miss this New York Times piece about the online love match made by a well-known law professor blogger, Ann Althouse, and a longtime commenter on her blog, Laurence Meade, who was smitten by her bon mots.

Wrote the Times’s Jan Hoffman:

“The blogger is boss, a salon host with wit and whip. Certainly a blogger thrives on commenters–who wants to declaim to an empty e-room? But let’s be clear: blogger, sovereign; commenters, courtiers.

That’s why the bloggerati pounced gleefully last week on the news that one of their own had fallen in love with a commoner, er, commenter.

Reader, she is going to marry him.”

After reading the rest of the story about how they met in digital comments and their relationship slowly moved to analog, it’s hard to imagine that people are going to hook up any other way but online in the future.

Yes, the SAAS enterprise applications vendor loves everyone, but none more than Google (GOOG). This morning, Salesforce (CRM) expanded its alliance with the search behemoth, linking its Force.com online development platform to Google’s App Engine. The move essentially allows consumer applications built on Google App Engine to call on data stored in Force.com. And that heralds more robust cloud computing applications, more–and better–alternatives to Microsoft’s (MSFT) core business applications, which are only just now adapted for the cloud.