Shares of DVR-manufacturer TiVo jumped about 5% yesterday after rumors swirled that the company’s next tech revision might get included on the next Apple TV.

It’s a pretty silly rumor. Apple has made it clear time and time again that they want to own the core technology of their devices. Unless Apple sees fit to buy TiVo, then, I don’t see it happening. In fact, why would Apple allow television recording on the AppleTV to begin with? If the AppleTV ever makes the leap from hobby device to serious initiative, it’ll be because Apple wants to give consumers a cheap, set-top box to conduct iTunes purchases.

I just don’t see it. The most compelling rumor right now is that the next AppleTV will run iOS and stream through the cloud. I don’t think TiVo is going to become an Apple partner with the next AppleTV: I think they’ll become even more of a competitor than they are now.

Apple released four new television ads Sunday starring the iPhone 4’s FaceTime video-chat feature. The well-produced commercials were enough to melt the hardened-hearts of tech bloggers. But will they help Cupertino compete with the Mountain View mauler, Google?

Long known for its memorable commercials, ranging from its initial 1984 spot introducing the Macintosh, to its long-running and recently-ended “Get a Mac” series that poked gentle fun at Microsoft, Apple has been a master at commercials. The first, “Meet Her,” shows a grandfather being introduced to his grandchild via FaceTime. Another helps a child show off a new braces-filled smile, while a third uses the iPhone 4 video-chat feature to reassure a girl about a new haircut. The fourth uses FaceTime to break the news of a long-desired pregnancy.

Despite Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ 2008 statement that “no one has succeeded” in combining the internet, movies and tv into one living-room gadget, the Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is revamping its AppleTV software and hiring broadcast design experts for what could be a new product based on the iOS operating system running the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

According to the New York Times, much of the new work is being done outside the Apple TV area and in a new design group, a move that “could signal an entirely new product.”

This is awesome: A Tublr blog with a boatload of screencaps from Apple’s TV ads showing people holding their iPhones the wrong way.

Earlier today, Steve Jobs said the iPhone 4 ‘Death Grip’ was a “non-issue” and people should “Just avoid holding it in that way.”

Which of course is total bullshit, as Apple’s own ads show.

Here’s some more, including shots of Jobs himself clutching his iPhone in his left hand:

Our good friend Graham Bower likes to occasionally send some of his gorgeous Apple product mock-ups our way. His latest creation is a direct response to the recent rumor that the next Apple TV will be a $99 iPhone OS device that streams media to your television set, and answers the question: how do you control a multitouch operating system without a touchscreen?

The answer: make the remote a touchscreen. Graham’s idea is that Apple would ship the new Apple TV with a remote similar to the Magic Mouse, along with a built-in accelerometer.

I’ve mulled over this idea for the Apple TV’s remote before. On first blush, it seems like a great solution, but here’s the problem: the only way a device like this can work is if it introduces some sort of pointer to iPhone OS. For multitouch to work on a display divorced from the actual input device (ie: for multitouch to work when you’re not directly touching the screen on which graphical elements are displayed), you need some sort of icon to show you where your “fingers” are.

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At yesterday’s I/O event, Google officially unveiled their long rumored GoogleTV platform, a software platform that will be baked into new televisions and set-top boxes that merges cable and online video in a single service.

Essentially, Google TV takes advantage of Google’s search business by making it easier for you to find the television you want to watch, whether its pumped out by your cable provider or available on the Internet. Once you find the show you want to watch, you can choose what to do with it, whether that’s watch it, schedule an alarm or record it to your DVR.

Google TV also incorporates a Boxee like home screen, with some special functionality: integration with Android Apps. The service can even augment the television you’re watching: one particularly neat function demonstrated was the ability to automatically translate a television show’s closed caption subtitles into another language in real time.

It looks fantastic… and also makes Apple’s own “hobby” of a television platform look more anemic than ever. If Google can’t prod Apple into taking the home theater market seriously, we might as well just give up on AppleTV for good.

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This fantastic proof of concept video by the guys over at Magic Jungle Software demonstrates their forthcoming game, Chopper 2, being output from an iPad to a 42-inch HDTV, with an iPhone or iPod Touch used as the game’s controller.

It looks incredible, but perhaps more interesting is Distorted Loop’s take on the video, which is that this would be a fantastic direction for a relaunched Apple TV to take: an audio-visual, app-running console hooked up to your television that can be controlled by an iPhone, iPod Touch or even a “future low-cost touch sensitive remote control” that would ship in the box.

A product like that would not only finally realize the wasted potential of the Apple TV product line, but put Apple on track to compete with the likes of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as furiously as the iPhone currently competes with the Nintendo DS.

We kick off today’s round of daily deals with a trio of Apple hardware. First up is a 160GB Apple TV unit for $189. Next is a deal on a no-contract 8GB iPhone 3G for $360. We round out the top trio of deals with a 500GB Apple Time Capsule for $179.

Along the way, we check out a DLO hard shell case for the 3G or 3GS, along with a new batch of App Store price drops (SimCity is priced at $2.99 — a $2 savings.) As always, details on these and many other bargains are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

We wrap up the week with a deal on a MacBook Air. The laptop runs at 1.86GHz and is priced at $1,370. Next up is a new batch of free apps from the App Store, including “Magnetic Sports Hockey.” We also look at the latest deal on a 160GB Apple TV unit.

Along the way, we check out “The Creeps,” an iPhone game, plus other software bargains.

As always, details on these and many other deals are available on CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Less than a week after a report leaked that Google is deeply involved in creating a TV service, a prominent Apple analyst now says Apple could revamp the HDTV market in the next two to four years.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told investors Tuesday Apple is “uniquely positioned” to enter the HDTV market with what he calls a “premium all-in-one” alternative to the high-definition sector. Munster believes Apple could sell a product for $1,999 that would replace the HDTV, the Blu-ray player, your digital video recorder, cable box and game console.