Canada’s largest newspaper, the Globe and Mail, today said Apple has been working with wireless and wireline providers including Rogers and Bell to partner with the AppleTV.Designer iPhone 4 Cases|Designer iPhone 4S Cases|Designer iPhone 4 Case|Designer iPhone 4S Case

“They’re not closed to doing it with one [company] or doing it with two,” said one source who is familiar with the talks. “They’re looking for a partner. They’re looking for someone with wireless and broadband capabilities.” Another source, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Rogers and Bell already have the product in their labs.

More interestingly, some details of this new AppleTV are provided:Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Cases|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Cases|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Case|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Case

The product reportedly integrates Siri, Apple’s voice-recognition software that acts as a personal assistant on the latest iPhone, into television sets to help viewers make programming choices.

 

Viewers can then control the TV by voice or hand gestures, all from the comfort of a couch. An on-screen keyboard, meanwhile, can also be activated in a similar manner, allowing viewers to surf the web, conduct video chats and use social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook – all without any physical interface.

The Globe and Mail goes on to quote analysts including Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek that we discussed earlier who also said Apple was collaborating with ISPs to deliver TV content to a next generation AppleTV. Perhaps the biggest proponent of an AppleTV outside of Cupertino, Gene Munster, gave his latest assessment of the situation last week, calling for one of three scenarioshappening before the end of the year.

Apple Store inside of a Best Buy

Apple and Walmart subsidiary Sam’s Club are in early discussions to widen their already existing partnership. Sam’s Club currently sells Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod lines within its large retail chain, but the two corporate giants are looking to take their business relationship to the next level. According to sources, Apple is considering an expansion of its Apple Store-in-store program to the 47 United States retail warehouse chain locations.Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Cases|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Cases

Sources said Apple is looking to expand its program beyond Best Buy and Target in the United States, and Sam’s Club is one of the retail chains that Apple is in early discussions with. An Apple-store-in-store typically consists of a mini-Apple Store type setup within a larger store. For example, the store-in-stores in Best Buy consist of Apple-like displays and a large table with all of Apple’s products as typically seen in standalone Apple Stores.Chanel iPhone 4 Cases|Chanel iPhone 4S Cases|Chanel iPhone 4 Case|Chanel iPhone 4S Case

Sam’s Club and Apple are not only in early discussions for the Apple store-in-store program, but a backup plan is also being discussed. This plan consists of Sam’s Club simply selling Apple’s Macs, but without the Apple Store features. Since the discussions are still early, sources could not comment on a timeframe for such partnerships, but we know the store-in-stores will likely not be coming soon—or at all if the discussions fall flat. While Sam’s Club is said to be considered, it is unknown if its parent company Walmart is, too.

Last year Apple saw the loss of many executives ranging from its OS X chief, iAd chief, andGlobal Security chief, and 2012 has started off with another leave: the departure Vice President David Tupman. Tupman has been Apple’s Vice President of iPhone and iPod engineering for over a decade, making him a vital component of Apple’s leadership team.

Tupman grew up in the United Kingdom and attended Salford University. While there, Tupman earned a degree in the engineering electronics. Tupman put the degree to good use as a lead engineer at Schlumberger, an oilfield services provider, for seven years. Tupman then spent around six years at Psion, working through the ranks until becoming a top manager in the hardware division. By this time, Apple’s engineering prodigy Tony Fadell was working full steam on the iPod, a product that would lead Apple into creating the wildly popular iPhone, iPod touch, and most recently, the iPad. Weeks before the introduction of the first iPod, Apple hired Tupman, and he soon became Apple’s vice president of iPod engineering.Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Case|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Case

He had a big hand in the development and success of every iPod released to date, and when it was time to build the iPhone, Tupman joined the team behind that product, too. As Apple shifted its engineering resources to its mobile line of products, Tupman was named Vice President of iPod and iPhone Engineering— a major role at Apple. Besides playing a major part in growing Apple’s mobile device business into one of the most successful businesses ever, Tupman has his name on at around 70 Apple technology patents, such as power and battery life management, noise-canceling ear buds, Apple’s tiny iPhone power adapters, and mobile device interaction with accessories.

According to our sources, Tupman left Apple at the end of last year. This would seem to be a significant blow to the company whose mobile devices helped lead Apple to a $46 billion holiday quarter. Sources also said that a successor is yet to be named, but Apple is actively pursuing a replacement from inside the company….Gucci iPhone 4 cases|Gucci iPhone 4S cases|Gucci iPhone 4 case|Gucci iPhone 4S case

To confirm, we called his number at Apple and it was deactivated. We asked an operator to confirm that his name had been removed from the directory. It had. We also talked to another source at a hot Valley startup who also confirmed his departure.

Tupman reported to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Hardware Bob Mansfield, and his direct colleague vice presidents include Apple’s Vice President of iPad Dan Riccio, and Apple’s Vice President of iPhone and iPod Design Steve Zadesky.

From Fortune’s Apple org chart

Zadesky has engineering degrees from Stanford University and UC Berkeley and he has overseen mechanical engineering for several iterations of the iPod and iPhone, making him a perfect temporary or full replacement for Tupman. In this case, Zadesky would merge the two roles, a similar situation to Tim Cook taking over Steve Jobs’ CEO responsibilities and retaining many of his COO responsibilities, according to sources familiar with the matter.

However, Apple’s Director of iPod and iPhone Engineering Vic Alessi may make an even better replacement, as he worked for Tupman directly on iPhone and iPod engineering, sources said. Tupman, being an important mobile device executive, surely has an open spot at any Silicon Valley corporation.

Sources could not comment on Tupman’s plans for the future but we have seen some interesting connections being made recently with two of his former colleagues at Nest joining his social networking circles in recent weeks. Nest PR, though, said he is not working for the thermostat company.

Intel announced today the new 520 Series solid-state storage code-named “Cherryville” and a number of tech websites and blogs already have their reviews up. The Verge has a nice review round up, and MacWorld’s own review provides an extensive overview of the pros and cons of the device. Fabbed on Intel’s 25nm Multi-Level Cell process, the 520 boasts sequential read/write performance of 550/520MBps when using a system with a SATA 3.0 6Gbps interface. The spec sheet positions the 520 Series as a solution for media creators and tech enthusiasts.Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Case|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Case

Still, Samsung’s comparable 830 Series came in fastest during Tech Report’s review (see the chart below the fold), with sequential read/write speeds of 500/350MBps on a SATA 3.0 6Gbps interface. We reviewed the Samsung 830 and found it to be the fastest available. In addition, the 830 SSD is almost $150 cheaper and it is going into MacBook Airs soon, unlike the 520 Series that comes in a 2.5-inch form factor—so it only fits inside MacBook and MacBook Pros.

MacWorld’s review achieved read-writes of 303/324MBps (sequential) and 303/338MBps (random) with Xbench 1.3 and 456/241MBps in read/writes using Blackmagic benchmarking software with 4K blocks. The 520 Series also has lower-than-usual power requirements and delights with strong data protection and compression features…Coach iPhone 4 Case |Coach iPhone 4S Case |Hello Kitty iPhone 4S Covers|Hello Kitty iPhone 4 Covers

Power requirements of the 520 Series are modest at just 5.25 volts while operating and 600 mill watts when idle, making the unit a convenient upgrade for MacBook Pro owners. In MacWorld’s review, the 520 Series scored 280/280MBps in sequential read/write tests on a SATA 2.0 3Gbps interface. This is Intel’s fastest enterprise-class SSD yet, and it is the first to feature the SandForce SFI-2281 NAND flash controller that is notably faster compared to the last-gen controller. Security features on the 520 Series include 256-bit AES encryption technology that keeps your data safe in the event of theft or loss of your computer.

Intel also included so-called “End to End Data Protection” that ensures integrity of stored data from the computer to the SSD and back. As for compression features, Intel is citing a rate of about 60 percent for three out of four common file types, claiming Microsoft documents can be compressed at a compression rate of up to 85 percent.

The 520 Series SSD is available in 60/120/180/240/480GB flavors. There will also be a 1TB version fabbed on a 20nm process, coming “later this year.” The 520 Series comes with a five-year limited warranty versus a three-year warranty for the older 510 Series SSD. An extended warranty is important given how today’s SSDs are still prone to wear, despite special technologies that improve flash memory chips’ reliability and the number of deletions.

Analytics firm IDC just released a report covering the top five smartphone vendors by shipments and market share for Q4 2011. Apple not surprisingly takes the top position. According to IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors shipped 157.8 million units in Q4 2011, and 37 million were from Apple—accounting for 23.5-percent market share in the quarter.Louis Vuitton iPhone 4 Cases|Louis Vuitton iPhone 4S Cases

As for competitors, the report showed Samsung was not far behind Apple with 36 million units shipped and 22.8-percent of the market worldwide. However, while taking the top position in the market thanks to the iPhone 4S launch, Apple also set a new shipment volume record for the entire industry during the quarter. The report citied the initial delay bringing the launch closer to the holiday season and the addition of new carriers as reasons for the device’s strong demand. Despite that, Samsung was still able to come out on top for FY 2011, edging Apple out by under a million units…

Software giant Microsoft will release in the second quarter a high-profile productivity tool for Android-toting business professionals. Accompanying Microsoft’s CRM Dynamics 2012 platform update is a preview guide that specifically mentions Android support, as noted by ZDnet. The document also includes a screenshot depicting Dynamics CRM mobile client for iPad (as seen on the right). In addition to native clients for Android devices and iPads/iPhones running iOS 5.x, Dynamics CRM will also be available on devices powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.Designer iPhone 4 Case|Designer iPhone 4S Case

As opposed to a web client that comes with significant limitations, the mobile client comes with all the bells and whistles so it should be Godsend for road warriors. Many businesses rely upon Dynamics CRM to manage their interactions with customers, clients, and sales prospects. Dynamics CRM mobile client will be priced at $30 a month per seat versus rival Salesforce’s mobile client which starts at $65 a month per seat.