iTunes users will be able to sample a minute of a song before purchasing. Currently, iTunes song samples are limited to 30 seconds.

The report said that the addition of more sample time is one of a number of expected changes to iTunes, aimed at helping users discover music. It is rumored that Apple will spend “a large part” of its 1st September  special event detailing how the new iTunes improves the user experience. But Apple is not expected to introduce a cloud-based iTunes service, which would allow users to stream music to devices such as the iPhone.

It became known that this morning at 4:20 a.m. one of the Apple’s stores situated in San Diego, California, was robbed. The thieves were dressed in jeans and hoodies. They did it at night and stole a dozen of iPhones.

According to 10News, two guys were involved in the burglary. They robbed the store, which is located in a shopping center of San Diego. According to preliminary estimates, they stole 12 iPhone 4s and 3GS’, which were displayed there.

They smashed the glass door into small pieces, as you can see in the photo.

The investigation has already started, but there are no reports yet about who was involved in the robbery. It is strange that the guys have not taken any other device. Were they looking just for the iPhone is 4 and 3GS?

Apple on Thursday seeded with developers the third beta of Mac OS X 10.6.5, its latest security and maintenance update for Snow Leopard, with just one known issue.People familiar with the latest build, reportedly known as 10H531, said the lone issue is associated with VMware. Having it installed can cause USB devices to not work when the Mac is awoken from sleep mode.

Those same people said Apple has asked developers to focus on a few key areas for the latest beta, including iCal, Mail, USB Devices, QuickTime, Time Machine and 3D graphics. The delta update is said to be a 557MB download.

According to iSuppli, Apple will command 74.1% of the tablet market for 2010. And even though competitors will soon be launching a number of tablet devices seeking to compete against the iPad, Apple is predicted to maintain its leadership position with 70.4% of the market in 2011 and 61.7% in 2012. iSuppli last month predicted iPad sales of nearly 13 million this year, surging to over 50 million in 2012 for a total of nearly 100 million iPads sold by the end of that year.

Acer chairman JT Wang reportedly claimed that Apple’s share of the tablet market will eventually stabilize at 20-30%. However, iSuppli observes that the most interesting competitor is likely to come from HP. But the potential iPad competitors exist in the form of HP, Dell and Lenovo’s upcoming tablets, iSuppli believes that none of them can seriously challenge Apple’s tablet from a solution perspective before 2011.

Apple is holding talks with News Corp to fill their upcoming $99 Apple TV with $0.99TV Show rentals.

Viewers would be able to rent programs from News Corp.’s Fox for 48 hours, said the people, who declined to be identified because discussions aren’t public. CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co., where Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is a board member and the largest shareholder, also are in talks about joining the effort, the people say.

Apple’s previous plan to make a subscription TV service reportedly failed as media companies didn’t want to take risks with cable providers.

It seems that Asian iPhone owners are in for an unpleasant surprise. A Chinese newspaper states that message boards have been hit with hundreds of messages reporting problems with the devices because of the humidity that affected the liquid indicators. Indeed, even US users seem to have this problem, with one class action suit filed earlier this year.

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It became known that Lady Gaga, the famous singer, has visited Apple’s 1-Infinite Loop Campus in Cupertino, California, where she was photographed behind the main building with the Apple’s staff. But what was the purpose of her visit? Do you have the same opinion as we, don’t you?

Now it is said that she was probably invited to make a new series of commercials for iPhone 4 about which we have already reported in May. There is also a possibility that she was invited for a small private concert, which Apple organizes from time to time? Nevertheless, soon we’ll know about the event in more details.

Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse was finally unveiled for the whole world. It is a sexy mouse designed by Microsoft, whose concept is very similar to the latest generation of Microsoft’s Arc Mouse, except that it has a touch-sensitive surface, and you can straighten it and curl up as you wish! Isn’t it a curious idea to combine Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad? Isn’t it quite interesting?

Of course, it has not yet been officially introduced by Microsoft. We took these photos from a German online store, which reports that it will be available on October 13.

You can buy Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse at € 69,99 in Europe or $ 69.95 in the USA.

New report from Associated Press reveals that this Friday Nokia acquired a company named Motally, though there was no information on the terms of the deal. Such a strategic move is pointed on boosting Nokia’s Ovi platform and making it more interesting for mobile software developers.

“The Finnish company says the acquisition Friday underscores its attempt to improve mobile Web browsing analytics for software developers of its Internet services, that are struggling to match competitor Apple Inc.”

Motally is a small analytics firm that was founded in 2008 and has only eight employees.

Apple did not acquire any analytics firms yet though it has strong partnership with a few of them.

According to the Wall Street Journal, recently Foxconn developed a new strategy that must solve the problem with suicides. It reveals that every employee will have less overtime work and more time for entertainment.

It is also said in the report that this Friday the company held a special meeting for employees and its theme was “treasure your life, love your family and care for each other”. One employee told that current changes can help to boost morale and make employees less stressed and that previously Foxconn did not care about the emotional needs of its workforce.

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Chinese-language newspaper Economic Daily News reported Tuesday that Apple plans to launch a second-generation iPad with a 7-inch screen by Christmas of this year.. The report claimed that the original, 9.7-inch iPad is too big and heavy for many consumers, and the new model will cut weight down from 700 grams to 500 grams.

The newspaper suggested that the new iPad will have a Cortex-A9 processor and 7-inch LCD screen with resolution of 1,024-by-768 pixels.

On Monday, it was alleged that indications of a next-generation iPad are currently found within the source code of iOS 4. The relevant code allows devices carrying the designations of iPhone3,2, iPhone3,3, and iProd2,1 to “auto-activate”, a process said to allow carriers to test the devices without requiring manual activation through iTunes.

NearFieldCommunications World reports that Apple has recently hired Benjamin Vigier as its new product manager for mobile commerce. Vigier is described as an expert in near field communications (NFC) having been in the field since 2004. Apple also has published a number of patent applications related to NFC technology. That means, that Apple’s mobile devises can be used as an electronic wallet and payment system.

Near Field Communications is short range wireless communication technology (~4 inches) that is used in mobile phones for a variety of applications including mobile ticketing, mobile payments, interactive advertising and more. The same site had previously reported that Apple has had prototype devices already outfitted with the required radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips.

Vigier joined Apple in July 2010. And now he is a product manager for mobile commerce.

Last week, SFWeekly has published reports about how the iPad is helping children of autism. The publication visited the family of Leo Rosa, a nine-year old that suffers from autism. Despite his limitations, Leo is learning to communicate better with his family thanks to a new iPad.

Since the iPad’s unveiling in April, autism experts and parents have brought it into countless homes and classrooms around the world. Developers have begun pumping out applications specifically designed for users with special needs. Through the devices, some of these children have been able to communicate their thoughts to adults for the first time. Others have learned life skills.

For Leo, the introduction of the iPad into the family home has been life-changing. Leo’s mother won the iPad in a school raffle for $5. She stated:“With the iPad, Leo electrifies the air around him with independence and daily new skills”.

New report published in the San Jose Mercury News reveals that recently Apple’s global supply manager Paul Shin Devine was accused by the US Internal Revenue Service and Federal Bureau of Investigation in a fraud scheme. It is claimed that Devine was using his security clearance to obtain confidential information about Apple’s upcoming products and provide it to the company’s suppliers. The latter then used the info to make favorable deals with Apple and after that paid Devine kickbacks. One of the suppliers was Andrew Ang from Singapore, who is also named in the indictment as an accomplice, as Devine was sharing his kickbacks with him.

To receive payments Devine held a series of accounts inside and outside the US. Payments were marked as “samples” so no attention was attracted. Bank accounts were registered under his and his wife’s names. It is reported that sometimes Devine received bribes on the meetings with suppliers in Asia.

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Statistical analysis of the attractiveness of user profile pictures from the dating site OkCupid shows that iPhone owners have more sex than BlackBerry and Android owners.

Here is the chart that shows average number of sexual partners among iPhone, Android and BlackBerry users:

The chart pretty much speaks for itself. The numbers were calculated for all three brands for 30 year-olds, so it’s not a matter of older, more experienced people preferring one phone to another.

Here is a another plot by age:

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