iPhone 5 Preorders Begin September 12

News has come that Apple plans to begin accepting preorders for the long awaited iPhone 5 on announcement day. iMore, the first source to announce September 12th as the official reveal date has released further evidence to confirm the preorder date. Unfortunately, typical of all previous iPhone releases, preorders will be available first for customers in the US and a couple other countries while the rest of the world will have to wait for the second wave of shipments coming sometime in October.

If I were you, I'd ready my credit card the moment the Apple Online Store starts accepting preorders. The iPhone 4S preorders were sold out in literally hours and who knows how many more Apple-hungry customers are waiting this time around. Best of luck to all you! 

Apple To Release A New Product This Thursday?

Things are definitely stirring up at Apple right now as Apple is planning something big for its 10th retail anniversary this Thursday the 19th. A solid source told BGR today of the following:

• There’s an overnight shift planned for around 10-15 individuals at each Apple Store to work from late Saturday all the way through mid-Sunday.
• During the overnight shift, it’s going to be required that employees lock cell phones in the main office. They will also have to sign an NDA with Apple.
• There are a wide variety of roles, we’re told, for the overnight shift. This includes all visuals staff, a manager, a business team member, a few Genius team members, one back-of-house employee, and a few generic Apple specialists.
• Apple stores have apparently already received hardware to install, and are expecting more hardware to come on Friday or Saturday. All materials that Apple stores have received have been instructed to be under lock and key until after close on Saturday night.
• Apple employees will be putting up black curtains at all stores so that people walking outside cannot see inside.
• Employees have had to download gigabytes of data from Apple corporate labeled, “training” in a password-protected zipped folder that won’t accessible to managers or anyone else until Saturday afternoon.
• Lastly, all Apple retail stores have mandatory meetings on Sunday, May 22nd. Most meeting are scheduled for the morning, but there are evening meetings as well.

Every time something like this happens, Apple releases a new product like the iPhone or iPad. Will we see the iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S popping up in Apple's retail and online store this Thursday? It's not very likely. Apple will hold a keynote for the press when it will release a big product like the next generation iPhone and will send out invitations a few days ahead. There is still time for that though!

Google Chrome 11 Released

Google has released Chrome 11 with a few important bug and security fixes along with a new icon and text-to-speech functionality. You should already see this faster looking colorful ball sitting in your dock by now since Chrome updates itself automatically. Just to make things stick though, you should go to your Chrome's tool bar - About Google Chrome, and hit restart to finish the update. That's if you're using a Mac. 

Apple's WWDC 2011 Event Scheduled For June 6

The Apple WWDC 2011 event will be held on June 6 in San Francisco. Will the iPhone 5 be released at the event? There are many speculations saying yes since the iPhone 4 was released at this time one year ago. As always, Engadget will be there live to cover the event.

Speck Debuts New ToughSkin & ToughShell iPhone 4 Cases

CES 2011 brings a slew of new cases for the iPhone 4 from all the known and yet to be known case companies. Today Speck introduced to us a few new iPhone 4 cases including the new and much tougher, ToughSkin case which is a hybrid case with an opposite way of layering the hard and soft layers of the case featuring a textured rubber outer layer for grip and a hard shell inner layer. The ToughSkin will also come with it's own detachable holster with a rotating belt clip that also doubles at a video stand. The ToughSkin case will be available in black for $39.95, ouch that's pricy, and will be up for grabs this January. 

Next in line Speck introduced their new ToughShell case for the iPhone 4 that will retail for a whopping $49.95, Speck calls it their toughest case yet. The ToughShell features a three-layer rugged protection including shock-absorbing rubberized insulation, an impact-resistant plastic hard shell and a textured silicone perimeter grip band designed to help seal the case and offer added grip. Like the ToughSkin, it also includes a detachable holster with a rotating belt clip and also doubles as a video stand. Expect the ToughSkin later this month.

blueSLR Lets You Control Your DSLR With iOS Devices

blueSLR is a new company that are introducing a new way of controlling your DSLR using your iOS device wirelessly over Bluetooth using their dongle that attaches to the side of your DSRL. All you need is a Nikon DSLR, blueSLR's free iOS app and of course a compatible iOS device like the iPhone 4, iPad, iPhone 3G/S and iPod Touch. As of now blueSLR do not support other DSLR brands except for Nikon but will soon support the Canon brand. You can see if your Nikon DSLR is supported here. Your photos will be tagged by the built-in GPS module so you will know exactly where you've taken your pictures.

You can control the shutter release and auto-focus timing using the blueSLR app. You can now pre-order yours for $149 and expect shipping on December 20th. 

Bose Outs First Ever Bluetooth Headset

Bose announced that they are getting ready to sell their first ever Bluetooth headset for consumers. For $150 you can enjoy the Bose sound quality, is it worth the extra buck over some of the great offerings currently on the market? Only time will tell when Bose starts selling their first ever Bluetooth headset in late November.

Source Engadget