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Today’s Education Event at the Guggenheim in New York City was by all reports supposed to be “demure,” but that didn’t stop Apple from making a big splash. In fact, today’s event may have marked the most concerted attempt by Apple to revolutionize the classroom since the original Apple IIe.

Among today’s announcements? A new version of iBooks that makes textbooks on an iPad fully interactive, along with free authoring tools so easy-to-use and revolutionary that literally any author can create a beautifully formatted interactive e-book. Coupled with iTunes U — perhaps the most comprehensive classroom learning software ever — and a pledge to keep the price of all textbooks at $14.99, Apple’s goals are clear: they want to get an iPad in the hands of every student in the country.

There’s only one problem, right now: the lack of a budget iPad. It’s a problem Apple can (and should) fix.

For a “small, demure event,” Apple announced a shocking amount of new stuff at today’s Education Event: a new version of iBooks with e-textbook support, iTunes U’s new virtual classroom app, iBook Author (which should revolutionize home publishing) and even several incredible, interactive textbooks. We’re wondering, though, of all this stuff, which of today’s announcements do you find most revolutionary, most exciting?

Tick off your answer in the poll above, then join us in the comments, where we’ll be discussing what Apple’s announcements mean for the future of iOS and the e-book industry.

With today’s announcement of iBooks Author and iBooks 2, Apple intends on making expensive, bulky textbooks and exploding book bags a thing of the past. But one thing they didn’t mention is that while an iPad 2 may be thinner than a traditional textbook, iBook textbooks gain bulk in a different way: the files are absolutely huge.

Apple has a new education page with the video that was shown today in New York City. The 6-minute clip starts off with a group of teachers talking about why they love what they do. Apple exec Eddy Cue then transitions into Apple’s approach to modernizing education.

Roger Rosner, another Apple exec who was rumored to have been involved with the announcement this morning, also talks about how Apple thought about designing iBooks 2 as an interactive learning experience. Cue then explains iBooks Author for Mac. The last part of the video involves two interviews with publishing executives from Pearson and McGraw-Hill. The Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District also talks about how Apple will have a pivotal role in shaping education.

You can watch Apple’s education video on its website. There are several other pages for exploring iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and iTunes U.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJxZG2Nv4KA

The conference circuit is hot. Once the domain of nameless geeks to commiserate on why they can’t get dates, tech conferences now showcase high-profile CEOs, serve as the backdrop for big deals and are the new sign that you’ve made it. The latest addition to the list is an independent analyst with a reputation for keeping his wits about himself amid Wall Street’s Chicken Little routine.

Following the launch of iBooks 2 and the introduction of textbooks to the iBookstore, Apple has pushed out iTunes update 10.5.3 with support for textbook syncing to the iPad.

Eastman Kodak’s bankruptcy filing early this morning was not a Kodachrome moment. However, the death of the film pioneer means its rebirth as a digital brand, complete with threats of patent lawsuits against Apple and others.

This is a surprise: iTunes U has just moved on to its own app, and it’s a whole virtual classroom in app form. Why even go to class?

Apple has set a groundbreaking price for its high school textbooks. Thanks to the partnerships between top publishers Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Apple will be able to offer high school textbooks for $14.99 or less.

Now Phil Schiller is back on stage, and he’s here to tell us all how these amazing iBooks 2 e-textbooks have been created: a new app called iBooks Author, exclusively for the Mac.

Apple has made iBooks 2 available for everyone today in the App Store. The software is free, and it will allow for students to access interactive textbooks on the iPad. A new textbooks category has also been added to the iBookstore.

Roger Rosner, VP for Productivity Software, has just come up on stage to show off some textbooks using iBooks 2. And it looks pretty amazing.

Phil Schiller took the stage at Apple’s education event in New York City to announce the company’s plans for reinventing textbooks. Schiller said that textbooks are currently “not durable” “not interactive” and “not searchable.”

Apple will change all that with its new software for iPad: iBooks 2.

Apple’s Phil Schiller has just taken the stage at the Guggenheim in New York City, and he’s here to reiterate what many of us have never forgotten from our days on old Apple IIe’s in the classroom: education is important to Apple. “Today’s event is about education,” says Schiller. “And education is deep in Apple’s DNA.” “Apple’s entire education business is based on teaching, learning, and student achievement. Try to bring the same passion they bring to every product into education business, too.” Schiller’s here to bring the iPad more forcefully to the classroom, to use the iPad as a tool to get American kids back to the forefront of reading, math and science. Could today’s event launch the second iPad revolution: the education revolution? [image via Macworld]

See that adapter in the picture above? It’s an Apple 30 Pin Micro USB Adapter. And it might just prove that China is more important to Apple than Europe.

Apple’s education event in New York City this morning may see the launch of a new version of the company’s Pages word processor which will feature support for iBooks publishing, and an iBooks application that will allow us to read our favorite titles on our Macs. Furthermore, we could also see the launch of textbook rentals.

Aside from last year’s predictions for an all-new iPhone 5, case manufacturers have traditionally been a good source of information for forthcoming Apple devices. Take the iPad 2, for example. We had a good idea what the device would look like before it launched thanks to cases produced by several Chinese manufacturers.

It’s no surprise to us, then, that manufacturers are already building cases for the third-generation iPad, but what do they say about Apple’s next device? Well, it’ll be called the “iPad 2S,” rather than the “iPad 3,” according to this particular manufacturer. And it’ll look much the same as the iPad 2, only 1mm thicker.

When FaceTime was first introduced back in June 2010, Steve Jobs noted the video calling feature would be available to users over 3G once the necessary agreements with carriers had been made. Nearly a year on, FaceTime still requires a Wi-Fi connection, but it could be about to make its debut over 3G in Germany.

The guys over at Macminicolo just celebrated their seventh birthday (Happy Birthday!), and took a look at some numbers. During those years, the humble Mac mini’s benchmarks have increased by some 1429%.

Jailbreakers can bring Apple’s Cover Flow effect to their iOS docks with a new tweak called Overflow. Created by App Store and jailbreak developer Adam Bell, Overflow works with tweaks like Infinidock and Springtomize to let you easily scroll through docked apps like album covers in the Music app.

As the last-minute leaks about Apple’s education event tomorrow come in, a code name for the company’s secret textbook project has surfaced: “Bliss.” According to anonymous sources for AppleInsider, the digital textbook technology is also inspired by Apple board member Al Gore’s Our Choice eBook app.

AT&T has been forcing the same crappy $25 for 2GB plan down everyone’s throat since June 2010, but now they’re upgrading it for the first time. Starting Sunday, AT&T will be upgrading all their new smartphone data plans with larger data allocations… and larger prices. Yes, pay-by-the-month iPad users, that means you too.

Chinese manufacturer Foxconn has been the center of much criticism lately, with reports of worker suicides and the inhumane treatment of employees stirring up controversy. The issue has even reached the desk of funnyman Jon Stewart at The Daily Show.

Popular radio show This American Liferecently aired an episode on Foxconn that every Apple/technology enthusiast should listen to. Monologist Mike Daisey describes his trip to Shenzhen, China and the mini-city known as Foxconn. (And this isn’t the first time he’s spoken out on Foxconn’s behalf.) It’s an incredibly interesting look at where our gadgets come from and the people that make them.

Fortune editor Adam Lashinsky’s book Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired—and Secretive—Company Really Works will hit the shelves on January 25th, but that hasn’t stopped juicy tidbits of information from leaking out beforehand. An extended excerpt from the book hit the web today, and it reaffirms what we cultists already know: Apple is very, very secretive.

According to Lashinsky, Apple dances on the “link between secrecy and productivity” with excruciating precision. In fact, the only things Apple seems to prize more than its products are its secrets.