Apple's Online Store is down hours before product announcement

We're a few hours away from Apple's big product announcement, likely the last huge one for 2012 (and just in time for that important holiday buying season) and Apple's Online Store is down for maintainance. One interesting thing to note is an animated notice stating "We'll be back. We're busy updating the Apple Store for you and will be back soon," in various languages. Could this be a hint of a global product release? Does this mean that whatever is being announced might be available ASAP or will we have a preorder option? We will know soon enough.

Apple streaming today's Special Event via Apple TV

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

If you have an Apple TV and are free today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific or 1:00 p.m Eastern, you can watch the live stream of Apple's Special Event in San Jose, California where the iPad mini is expected to be released. Apple rarely streams their events live, but they often offer links to videos of the event soon after it has concluded. It is a rare treat to see these events live as they happen since most people need to rely on various liveblogs to get the exciting news.

Update on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 9:18AM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Apple has updated their page and now says you can also watch the big show via Safari.

Watch a live video stream of the special event online or via Apple TV starting at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Live streaming video requires Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.

Oh, joy!