"A third device has to be better at web browsing, email, photos, videos, music, games, and ebooks than a laptop or a smartphone," Jobs said. "Otherwise it has no reason for being."

The new device resembles a jumbo iPhone or iPod Touch, with a multitouch screen taking up almost all of its front side. Unlike standard desktop interfaces, the iPad revolves round apps, bite-sized programs running one at a time.

Announced apps include:

• YouTube, for standard or HD movies.
• iBooks, a full-color e-reader with supporting download store.
• Word processing and spreadsheet iWork programs, similar to Microsoft Office.
• The iTunes store, which allows users to download music, games, and movies.
• iPad will also run all iPhone and iPod Touch apps, in either their original size or blown up to fit the tablet’s larger screen.

Additionally, there will be six different iPad models, each price depending on hard drive size and wireless settings. A 16GB iPad will cost about $499, 32GB will be $599 and the largest size 64GB version will go for $699. All models include Wi-Fi Internet Access – and 3G mobile antennas can be added for an extra $130.

Just as with the iPhone, mobile carrier AT&T will provide the iPad’s 3G service. The company will charge $14.99 a month for up to 250MB of data. An unlimited mobile data plan will cose $29.99 a month. Neither plan will require a contract.

The long-awaited iPad will ship in 60 days, with the 3G version arriving one moth later.

We will be posting the entire press conference shortly. Please stay tuned for continuing coverage of the Apple iPad.

According to reports, the iPod Touch seems like the most notable candidate to receive the camera upgrade as it is currently the top of the line iPod for Apple.

Macrumors has posted up screenshots of a leaked iPod Touch case that has a hole cut out for the placement of the camera. Interestingly enough, they also have a leaked case purportedly for the iPod Nano; which means the iPod Nano could possibly have a camera too. Even though these leaks have been posted, they are not a guaranteed source of information as there were leaks regarding the iPhone Nano that never turned out to become true.

Generally, Apple releases new iPods in the September timeframe and usually offers a back to school special to clear out old inventory. The question still remains, will Apple add a camera to the iPod line, we think so, but which iPods will receive the camera still remains hidden inside a vault in Cupertino, CA.    

Presently, purplera1n is Windows-only (this does not include Windows 7) and requires the latest iTunes version be installed, as well as an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware.

In a blog post titled “I make it ra1n,” Hotz says a Mac version is “Coming shortly.”

Hotz notes that he normally doesn’t make tools for the general public and would rather wait for the iPhone dev team to do that.

"But guys, what’s up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played," he says on his blog. "We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the ‘last’ hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week.

John Biggs over at CrunchGear is among those who have already given purplera1n a go and declares the jailbreaking process "amazingly simple."

But take note: Hotz does caution that purplera1n is in beta and suggests backing up your data before running the app.