SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 13, 2012

Another Monday is in the bag folks, so give yourselves a pat on the back. We're starting things off tonight by having a look at the latest iPhone rumors. Current whispers are telling us that pre-orders for the next iPhone will become available on September 12 – the same day that Apple is expected to reveal it – and that it'll become available at AT&T later on in the month. We also caught a glimpse of the reported logic board in the next iPhone, and it seems that this new logic board is leaving room for a larger battery and LTE capabilities.

In other news, one of Apple's studies claims that people buy Android phones largely out of a feeling of loyalty to their carrier, and it seems that the iPhone maker licensed out patents to Microsoft while Samsung declined to bite. Fisker has made a new statement about the Karma that spontaneously caught fire in California this past weekend, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 was given a release date in the UK. RIM is looking to get rid of NewBay as it seeks fast cash while BlackBerry 10 development continues, and Samsung has announced that a new black Galaxy S III is coming soon.

Sad news for Nintendo fans living in Europe today, as Nintendo pushed the Wii U's release date back to December. We had a couple pieces of news about Motorola today, some of it good, some of it not so much. The Motorola PHOTON Q 4G LTE is releasing on August 19, but Motorola Mobility announced today that it will be laying off 20% of its workforce. Electronic Arts is eyeing Windows Phone 8, and Amazon is looking to capitalize on the back to school frenzy by putting its tablets on clearance.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have come up with a way of making fat-free chocolate that apparently tastes like the real deal (yes, really), and President Barack Obama shared some words of encouragement with the NASA Curiosity team earlier this morning. He even promised continued support for what NASA is doing, and that is definitely a good thing. Speaking of space, it seems that the Google Earth satellites have discovered something very interesting: additional Egyptian pyramids. The ARM-based IdeaPad Yoga has been revealed as Lenovo's Windows RT tablet, and it would seem that the LG Optimus Vu is arriving in the United States before the end of September.

The Neo Geo is getting another shot at life with the Neo Geo X Gold, the Steam Community is about to undergo a makeover, and App.net hit its crowd-funding goal with just two days left to go. That does it for the day's news, but be sure to check out this freshly-posted review of the Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 by Chris Burns. Enjoy the rest of the evening, everyone!