Apple has officially been granted a US patent for in-cell touch screen technology, which could make its way into the sixth generation iPhone this September. The iPhone 5 is expected to be slimmer than current models, coming in at under 8 mm thick. The in-cell display could reduce screen thickness by 0.5 mm or more.

AppleInsider reports that the design works by combining the liquid crystal display and touch sensing elements into a single structure, making some layers unnecessary. The same electrodes used for the display can sense touch at a resolution matching the display or by combining pixels, depending on the application.

Can you hear it? That's the stampede of iPhone fans running to get in line at the Apple store in September. With the deluge of rumors and parts leaks it's not hard to believe that Apple will announce the next iPhone in September. More information has surfaced regarding the press event.

According to iMore, Apple will not only announce the sixth generation iPhone on September 12, but pre-orders will go live that day as well. That means iPhone 5 pre-ordering will commence just 4 weeks from Wednesday, in less than a month. Mark your calendars!

Imo.im announced today it will begin offering free voice calling for iOS users via its imo instant messenger app. The free service allows users running iOS version 3.1 to make voice calls through Wi-Fi and 3G connections. According to imo, "free voice calling eliminates the cost of mobile minutes without any loss in the quality of the connection and, when connected to Wi-Fi, requires no data usage."

The instant messaging client connects users to 11 of the top third-party messaging services. It supports Facebook Chat, Google Talk, Skype, MSN, ICQ/AIM, Yahoo, Jabber, Hyves, VKontakte, Myspace and Steam. The app features group messaging, photo sharing, concurrent sessions on different devices, searchable chat history and provides the ability to share multimedia files with other users.

Remember those "asymmetric screws" that were going to make iPhone 5 repairs impossible? Turns out they were just an internet hoax. Swedish design company Day4 admitted that they fabricated the report to highlight how desperate the blogosphere is for Apple "news".

Day4 revealed the hoax in a blog titled "How we screwed (almost) the whole Apple community." Lukasz Lindell of Day4 wrote: "Have you heard the phrase 'That's true because I saw it on TV' at some point? It was often the truth in the old days when people only had the TV or newspaper to relate to. What you saw or read was the truth, although it obviously wasn't always so."

The Day4 team claimed Apple was working on a redesigned screw that would leave no possibility for home repairs. They created a rendering of the screw, sent it to themselves in an email, uploaded it to a Reddit forum, and the internet did the rest. The rumor was picked up by well known blogs like BGR, iDownloadblog and Wired. However, most of the blogs questioned the accuracy of the report.

If you haven't seen enough photos of iPhone 5 components yet, here's another that's sure to light up your day. The fact that the next generation dock connector is rumored to be an 8-pin symmetrical design is exciting enough. No more fumbling around in the dark with a 30-pin connector and trying to get it to plug in the right way.

Even better is the prospect that Apple plans to incorporate MagSafe technology into the next generation iPhone port. The photo above from nowhereelse.fr clearly shows a metallic housing on the smaller dock port that could indicate MagSafe functionality.