According to published reports released today, Apple is stepping up to the plate to protect the privacy of its iPhone and iPad users, at least somewhat. The company reportedly will provide a software update that stores less location information on phones, in response to large public concerns about privacy. The company also claimed that it has never, and has no plans to track user locations.

Nonetheless, Apple does admit that its iPhones and iPads do store information about WiFi hot spots and cell towers around each user’s current locations. The information, it said, is stored on the device and backed up in iTunes, which could conceivably be hacked into.

So, now for the news… Apple is coming out with a software update that would cut the size of the hot spot/cell tower database, stop backing up the information, and limit the data storage to seven days instead of the current year. The update is due out in a few weeks.

The news from Apple comes just one day after Sony was hit with several lawsuits over a massive security breach in its Playstation network that might have exposed the credit card data of millions of subscribers to hackers. The Federal Trade Commission, and several political leaders, have all taken up the issue of customer and subscriber data security. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this from anybody, and we’ll try to keep you informed as best we can, without making note of where you access the information.

In a surprising move last week, Walmart bought Kosmix, a social media company focused on ecommerce. The price? Undisclosed. But, I have a feeling it took a significant chunk out of the department store’s wallet.

In addition to not revealing the price tag, Walmart has remained quiet about the deal. I tried to reach out to the company’s execs over the past week for my upcoming feature about mobile ecommerce for the July issue of CRM without success. Instead, all I know is what everyone else knows:

“We are expanding our capabilities in today’s rapidly growing social commerce environment,” Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman at Walmart, said in the statement last week. “Social networking and mobile applications are increasingly becoming a part of our customers’ day-to-day lives globally, influencing how they think about shopping.”

Kosmix is a fairly new company. Founded in 2005 by Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman, Kosmix serves as a social media filter that aggregates information by topic from Web sites, Twitter, and other sources in real-time. So while we may not know exactly how much the acquisition amounted to or what Walmart exactly has up its sleeve, we can still let our imaginations wander. Yesterday, analysts from the Trefis Team hypothesized that the aim is “clearly to leverage the trend of social media commerce to stimulate online sales. Wal-Mart’s efforts are more serious than just buying a small and relatively new company.”

They also believe that the acquisition is “not just about leveraging the technology of Kosmix, but also about acquiring its talent.” With Best Buy, Target, Costco, and Amazon as its major competitors, Walmart is looking to aggressively promote its online sales to come out as the top seller in this big-name group.

As a Missourian, I admit that I miss my Walmart here in the city. It’s a bit comforting to think it may just be one easy click away.

As I admitted a few weeks ago, I don’t like to fly. Besides the disconcerting bouts of turbulence, germ-infested recycled air, and mild motion sickness, delays also top my list of why I would rather be on the ground. However, I had to take to the skies yet again when I attended Microsoft Dynamics Convergence user conference last week in Atlanta. I left New York on a fairly sunny day, arrived in 87 degree heat ahead of schedule, and began to navigate my first out-of-town conference.

Monday started off well after some energetic inspiration from Steve Ballmer followed by a press conference with Kirill Tatarinov about Microsoft Dynamic’s newest ERP solution and a meeting Scott Roth from ExactTarget to discuss its new integration with Microsoft CRM. I ended the day by dropping in on a few demo sessions, then headed to the airport for an early evening flight back to New York. As I went through the radioactive body scanner, I felt pretty accomplished. My first business trip went down without a hitch.

At least I thought it did.

It turns out planes get a bit rundown by the end of a workday and flying without a fully functioning engine is an FAA no-no. I would be stuck in Atlanta for another three hours with a threat of severe thunderstorms beginning to roll in. After calling my mom to complain (sorry again about that) and gchatting with a few friends lucky enough to not be held hostage in an overcrowded airport, a nice (and significantly calmer) man struck up a conversation essentially telling me I needed to monitor my blood pressure. It turned out that I was talking to Scott Herskovitz, vice president of marketing at Qosina, a medical and pharmaceutical supplier based on Long Island. Herskovitz also had attended Convergence and was returning home to report back to his family’s business about new solutions and innovations. Qosina has been a Microsoft CRM customer for several years and as Herskovitz put it, the solution had “dramatically improved” the way his family’s company operated after implementation.

Unfortunately, Qosina signed on with Microsoft a bit too far back for CRM to run its story in the Real ROI section of the magazine, but I still believe it deserves a mention. After spending a day learning from Microsoft about its business solutions, Herskovitz’s story was the testimony I needed to hear. His family-operated business is thriving with the help of the software giant so much that Herskovitz made the trip to Atlanta to learn more about potential Microsoft solutions.

This real Real ROI story not only occupied a portion of the delay, but also enforced that CRM solutions have the power to make businesses of all shapes and sizes realize their true potential.

U.S. Sens. John McKain and John Kerry this week introduced legislation that would seek to regulate the information companies can gather and store about consumers’ Web habits. Under the bill, the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011, companies that collect data and track the online behavior of consumers would be required to implement security measures to protect the information they collect and maintain, and only collect as much information as necessary to complete the transaction. Collectors of information would also have to provide clear notice to individuals on their collection practices and the purpose for such collection.

Additionally, the law would grant consumers the right to opt-out of any behavioral tracking of their online activity. It would also require collectors to provide consumers the ability to access and correct their information, or to request that its use and distribution be stopped.

Just a day after the measure was introduced, the back-and-forth debate began in consumer advocacy circles—some groups hailed it as a great step forward, while other said it didn’t go far enough. Some groups said it gives special treatment to some sites, like Facebook and Twitter, while others said it didn’t give enough power to the consumers themselves. And then there was the issue of whether the U.S. Department of Commerce or the U.S. Federal Trade Commission should have the lead role in it all.

So far I’ve only heard from the consumer organizations, like Consumer Watchdog, the Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Privacy Times, Consumer Union, and the Consumer Federation of America. If the business side of the argument wants to be heard, it should speak out now before it gets completely shut out of the discussion.

I’m sure there are some very good and useful things that companies are doing with logs of my online history. For example, who wouldn’t appreciate a more personalized shopping experience, or more targeted advertising that plays to his interests and previous buying history? Who wouldn’t prefer customer service in a targeted way that lets her complete her task faster? And who would object to a company using details of a transaction to improve the overall customer experience?

These are points that need to be injected into the conversation. It’s time for businesses to step up, tell consumers exactly what information they’re collecting and what they’re doing with it, and why.

Consumers as a whole have gotten used to many perceived violations of their privacy, from work emails being tracked by their employers to photos being taken of them when they enter a cab. I’m sure they’d be more willing to accept the tracking of their online habits if they had all the facts.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there are several things that I am getting used to in the Big Apple. Among many hassles, the food has easily been the most pleasant adjustment for my Midwest palate. A slight drool inevitably results every time I bite into a fresh bagel, I never say no to dessert, and I certainly have consumed my fair share of pizza. I wouldn’t be surprised if the scale shows a slightly different number the next time I feel inclined to weigh myself.

After hitting the gym this past weekend with a somewhat established New Yorker, we decided to reward our efforts and grab a couple of oversized cups of ice cream. My friend suggested stopping by Tasti D-Lite, proclaiming it was well worth the calories. And indeed it was. Add that to my list of indulgences and I may be in the market for a new set of jeans by the end of the month. Oh well, I guess it’s all part of the transition period.

Today, TechCrunch published a Q&A with Bill Zinke, chief marketing officer for Tasti D-Lite, outlining the company’s digital and social marketing strategies. Social media is an area that it wants “to be a leader in,” Zinke says, and building “one-to-one” relationships is a top priority. “We will be looking very aggressively and progressively at ways that we can continue to show to our franchisees and to the world that Tast D-Lite is really a brand that is not just up with the modern age of technology, but hopefully out on that leading edge,” he explains.

Tasti D-Lite’s loyalty program launched two years ago and according to Zinke, “it started out being just a simple platform for gaining points towards earning free Tasti D-Lite.” Now, the program is linked to social networks. Customers can register their Tasti TreatCard online and opt-in to allow the company to change their Facebook and Twitter statuses and automatically check them into Foursquare when making a purchase. Points are scored with each purchase, which ultimately results in free treats.

Well, it looks like I know where I’ll be headed after my treadmill session this evening and it won’t be the salad bar.