One of the major league mobile case manufacturers temporarily made an iPhone 5 product website live ahead of schedule. Apple hasn't even officially announced the product yet, however Case-Mate posted a page detailing several different case designs wrapped around a brand new next generation iPhone. According to the images, the next Apple smartphone will have a thinner design and aluminum back.

Unfortunately the leaked images don't reveal much of the front side. Still, it would appear as though the mute switch was moved to the opposite side of the device as has been previously seen in other leaked case designs. The cases were pictured in at least three different styles with multiple colors.

Apple should stock up on Kensington's new BungeeAir iPhone alarms. This case doesn't protect your iPhone from falls, but warns you via a wireless security tether when you get a certain distance away from your phone. The distance can be decreased or increased to your liking with the BungeeAir app. This is the perfect invention for people who love to leave iPhone prototypes in California bars!

The 3-in-1 accessory for the iPhone is a wireless tether, battery and case. You just put your iPhone inside the case, attach the tether to your keys or pants, and you will never lose your iPhone ever again... Or at least that's the theory. If you still manage to forget your phone, the case automatically invokes the iPhone's passcode security. You can then locate it by using the "find" button which sounds another alarm on the device.

I keep trying to think of a scenario where I would want to park my car while standing next to it. I guess an automatic parking app could come in handy for tight fits that offer little door room. 9to5Mac discovered a video of auto-parts supplier Valeo parking a car using nothing but an iPhone.

At the end of the video, a Valeo representative stands outside a Volkswagen Sharan and parks it using an iPhone (:55 mark). The Automatic Park4U system doesn't control steering, that's left to several sensors that can parallel park with just 22 inches of clearance.

Sure it may not happen right away, but one developer has already found evidence pointing to a future compatibility between iMessage on iOS devices and iChat on Mac OS X computers. The snippet of code leading to this conclusion revealed two new properties in OS X Lion's version of iChat software.

These properties could be the beginning of Apple adding full support for iMessage to iChat instant messaging. The "time delivered" and "time read" fields are not used or needed in iChat, however they are already used by iMessage to track instant messaging. According to MacRumors Apple would have no other reason to add these lines of code.

A fresh Apple patent has been discovered that promises to make all iPhones and computers just like Tony Stark's talking, holographic assistant in Iron Man. Well, it's a start at least and Apple's ideas include an affordable, compact 3D imaging and display system that can be used for input and more. The diagram below from Patently Apple shows one aspect of the 3D system in operation.

Apple's plan is to give the user feedback with audio and visual signals as they provide 3D input in a defined space. This space would be scanned continually and the results of user action displayed in real time. Not only this, but a projection beam could be used to create holographic images within the space.