Following Apple’s announcement of a new iPad today, you can purchase AppleCare+ for your shiny new tablet. The extended warranty was first made available for the iPhone 4S last October. The $99 plan gets you two years of accidental coverage, but it will need to be purchased within 30 days of when you buy your new iPad.

The warranty is still labeled as “coming soon” on Apple’s website, but we suspect you’ll be able to add to your purchase when you pre-order.

Apple dropped the price on the iPad 2 down to $400 for a brand new unit, but if you’re looking to save a little extra cash, buying a refurbished model is a great option. The Apple Store is back online, and right now Apple is selling refurbished iPad 2s for $349. Considering the iPad 2 is the second best tablet on the market (thanks to a recent demotion from the new iPad), shelling out $349 for a new iPad 2 is a sweet bargain.

Think about that. That’s just $150 more than a brand new Kindle Fire and you can do a whole lot more with it than Amazon’s puny tablet. If you know someone who is hankering for a tablet, this is what you buy.

It’s all about software.

Watch the video of this morning’s iPad event, and note how Apple’s execs spend more time talking about the apps that the new iPad can run than the new iPad itself.

Apple has released iOS 5.1 to the public. The update is available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners running iOS 5. Check Software Update in your Settings app to download.

This update includes Japanese support for Siri, an always-visible camera shortcut on the lock screen, a redesigned Camera app for iPad, and the ability to finally delete individual photos from Photo Stream.

Alright, so you’ve been glued to your monitor the past few hours, drooling over the new iPad’s ridiculous screen, crazy camera, and insane apps. Now you’re just wondering which iPad model you should buy. Are you torn between Wi-Fi only and LTE? Or maybe the decision between the black and white model is too hard for you to make on your own. Don’t worry. We’re here to help you out and find the absolute best new iPad for you.

Let’s call a spade a spade: the iPad 2 camera seemed like an afterthought with image quality that barely rivaled the iPhone 3GS — it was hardly usable. But the new iPad camera isn’t a small upgrade. It’s going to start a revolution.

Now that the iPad has LTE, the old 20MB limit on over-the-air downloads just isn’t going to cut it anymore. So Apple has more than doubled it to 50MB, applicable to movies, apps, games, music, and more.

As we thought, Apple has launched iPhoto for the iPad, meaning that — at last — we won’t have to deal with the awful built-in Photos app so much any more. As you’d expect if you have used GarageBand or iMovie on the iPad, iPhoto keeps the spirit of its desktop cousin, but has been completely remade for the touch-screen tablet. And while it is sure to shine on the new iPad’s Retina display, it will also run on the iPad you have today.

We’ll let you know when it’s back up.

Apple just announced new apps and updates for its iLife and iWork apps on iOS, as part of today’s new iPad announcement.

Now both collections are available – in full – for the iPad. Here’s an overview of what’s new.

Apple has made the new iPad available for pre-order on its online store. As Phil Schiller noted during today’s keynote, the tablet will become available in stores on Friday, March 16th, with international availability occurring the following week.

The new iPad starts at $499 and features many new features, including a Retina display and 4G LTE networking.

Well that was quick. The Apple Special Event just concluded about 30 minutes ago, but Apple already has the full video available for viewing right here. Grab some popcorn, a couple pints of Ben and Jerry’s and maybe some root beer so you can kick back and relive the 90 minute keynote in all its visual glory.

The new Apple TV didn’t get a lot of discussion time during the keynote today, and you might have missed a few new features. The new interface looks great, and we’ve been dying for 1080p support for years. Apple just updated the Apple TV page on their website, so you can now dig into all the detail of the new device and bust out your credit card once the store comes back online.

It’s not available for download yet, but on Apple’s official iTunes page, there’s reference to iTunes 10.6… which it looks like we can expect to go live today.

Following the Apple iPad keynote that just ended, Apple.com/iPad has been updated with new information about the third-gen tablet. Apple has chosen to go with neither “iPad 3” or “iPad HD” and just call it “the new iPad.”

The new website marquee features the device’s gorgeous Retina display, features, pricing details, and tech specs. There are also two new ads that can be streamed.

Tim Cook & Co. just wrapped up their event on the new iPad. At the very end of the keynote the last slide showed the Apple logo as pictured above. Is this a new logo Apple will be using? Apple rarely makes artistic adjustments to their logo during keynotes. We think it looks pretty neat and is a great modern interpretation of the retro rainbow Apple logo.

What do you think? Will Apple use this new logo more often, or was it a one time thing? Let us hear it in the comments.

So now that the new iPad is here, what about the iPad 2?

Well, it’s continuing. And it’s dropping $100. That means a 16GB iPad 2 with WiFi will only cost $399, and the 16GB iPad 2 3G will cost $529. No other options or capacities anymore.

That’s a nice discount, but hardly comes close to competing with the Kindle Fire at $199. But then again, Apple doesn’t feel like it has to.

Apple will no longer diffeentiate between the various iPad models, not by name at least. Starting today and going forward, iPads will be plain iPads, with no “1”, or “2”, or even “HD” suffix. When Tim Cook introduced the new iPad at today’s press event, he just called it “The new iPad.”

Apple has announced a new (seemingly insignificant) version of its productivity suite, iWork, and updates to its popular iLife apps, including Garageband and iMove for iOS. The iWork apps, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, can be updated today in the App Store. They cost $10 each as a universal download for both iPhone and iPad. No new features were discussed.

The iLife side of things is a different matter. The new GarageBand costs $5 and can be updated now. The new version includes iCloud integration, ‘jam session,’ and some sharing features.

The new iMove costs the same and can also be updated in the App Store now. The new version packs some more editing tools, including outlining and storyboarding on the iPad. 1080p HD video can be captured and edited with the new iPad’s camera.

iPhoto for iOS was also announced and extensively demoed. It looks pretty sweet.

And looks like the rumors were true. Now that the iPad can both take and show 1080p images, Apple’s unveiling iPhoto for iPad. And, as with everything Apple does, it’s supposed to be amazing.

According to Phil Schiller, “Why do it need iPhoto for iPad? If you’re someone who truly loves photos, that’s what it’s for.”

What can you do with iPhoto for iPad? All of the best things you can do on iPhoto for Mac — effects, editing, photo journals. There’s also smart browsing, brushes, multi-touch effects, share on social networks, and more.

Wonder when the new iPad will be available in your country? For most countries not covered by the March 16th date, it’ll be available on March 23rd.

Epic Games has just announced another game in their successful Infinity Blade series, called Infinity Blade Dungeons. And they say it’s going to push the boundaries of what you can do on a mobile device.

It’s a much more free-form game than Infinity Blade, which looks like it plays a lot like Diablo III or God of War. You can chain-attack enemies, craft new weapons, fire spells and more.

“The Unreal engine is unleashing the power of the new iPad,” says Epic. “This device has more memory or screen resolution than either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.”

No date, sadly, but it’s coming soon!

Prices and availability have been announced for the new iPad. Pre-orders start today with public availability on Friday, March 16th. The device will be sold in black and white and start at the same price of $499.

Looks like everyone was right: the iPad 3 will indeed have LTE for speeds up to 72Mbps, along with HSPDA 3G for speeds up to 42MBps. Everywhere else will fall back on 3G.

But who are Apple’s partners? In America, Verizon & AT&T, but not Sprint. In Canada, Rogers, Bell & Telus.

Since they use different bands, in the US, there will be too different LTE iPads: a Verizon and AT&T SKU.

Both models are 3G world-ready. And, even better, they support personal hotspot, the first time an iPad has done that!

“This new iPad has the most wireless bands of any device that’s ever shipped.” It should work anywhere, on almost any network. That’s amazing.

Even more amazing? Apple says LTE battery life is 9 hours, just one hour less than WiFi battery life of 10 hours. That’s a huge leg up on the competition.

[Image via GDGT]

And looks we nailed it. Siri’s not coming to the new iPad. Instead, you’re getting just voice dictation.

“Of course, we have our great software keyboard. We have a new key on the bottom — just tap it, speak into your iPad, and it’ll dictate what you have to say,” says Phil Schiller.

Nice, but since everyone was sure Siri was a lock, this is sure to be a disappointment. Looks like we were right, though: Apple won’t ship Siri on machines that can’t be guaranteed a persistent Internet connection.

[Image via GDGT]