Well, this is a bit disappointing. Granted, it will probably only affect a small percentage of you out there, but it’s still kinda lame.

According to reports, even if you have Apple’s shiny new iPad and want to engage in a little FaceTime with a, um, friend, you won’t be able to do it, even if you have super fast 4G LTE. It will only work over Wi-Fi.

If you try, you will be prompted to connect to an available Wi-Fi network. Curiously, if you are using your iPad as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which you can with the Verizon version, FaceTime will work if you initiate a call using an supported iPhone or iPod.

Apple has so far been moot on this issue but you can be sure people are going to be asking about it. After all, in many cases 4G LTE is as fast (or faster) than available Wi-Fi networks so the fact that FaceTime isn’t supported is difficult to understand.

Again, this isn’t a critical point for most of you, we just found it interesting as it gives a bit of insight into how Apple deals with wireless carriers. Of course, it could be a decision on Apple’s part. . . but we kinda doubt it.

If for whatever reason, chance, circumstances, sloth, you were not able to secure a pre-order on a brand new, shiny iPad when they were announced last week, redemption is at hand for you. Well, on Friday at least.

That’s right, for those of you without an iPad pre-order, the devices will arrive in Apple stores this Friday at 8AM local time. In addition, you can go to your local AT&T or Verizon Wireless store at 8AM and pick up a new iPad too.

But wait, there’s more. If you don’t happen to have an Apple, AT&T or Verizon store conveniently located near you, the iPad will also be available at Best Buy and Target stores in the US. The iPad will also be released in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom on Friday as well.

For all the details, check out the official press release from Apple after the break.

You have to hand it to the Hacker community. They are indeed persistant. Not even 24 hours after Apple updates iOS to version 5.1, there’s already a tethered tool available to jailbreak it.

Now, we don’t necessarily condone that kind of behavior around here (at least publicly) and we are just providing this as a public service and not endorsing it one way or the other. However, according to the website Redmond Pie, the iPhone Dev Team has updated its Redsn0w too which will enable users to jailbreak their iOS 5.1 devices.

The jailbreak is tethered, however, so you’ll have to connect your IOS device to a computer each time you power it on. However, expect that limitation to be lifted shortly, a it usually is.

This exploit works for all devices running iOS 5.1, except for the Phone 4S and iPad 2. Those are going to take a bit longer too.

Enjoy your “new” iDevice.

(thanks to Redmond Pie for the image)

In addition to all the great new software for iPhones and iPads such as an update to iOS 5.1 and a brand new version of iPhoto for iPads, Apple has also issued updates to the Mac versions of iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand and Xcode as well.

The update to iPhoto sees it hit version 9.2.2 and brings security and stability updates as well as the ability to delete images from Photo Stream. The latest version of iTunes, now at 10.6, adds the ability to play 1080p HD movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store.

For Garage Band, the update brings it to version 6.0.5 and according to Apple “…supports general compatibility and addresses overall stability and performance.” These including the following:

• Updates compatibility with GarageBand for iOS projects
• Fixes a playback issue with the GarageBand Lesson preview videos
• Corrects issues with some software instruments triggering incorrect or stuck notes

It’s possible some people don’t care about Apple or its products. I’m sure people like that do exist. For the vast majority of us, however, tomorrow is sure to be a magical day as Apple is set to reveal the next generation of its hugely successful iPad.

The company will unveil the latest hotness at a press conference tomorrow morning in San Francisco at 10AM Pacific. As usual, Apple has keep the lid on pretty tight and tried to keep all details about the device out of the press.

However, some information has managed to leak out and we’ve got one or two sources of our own so unless something radical happens, we’ve got a pretty good idea what to expect tomorrow. Of course, it’s no fun keeping that kind of info to ourselves so we’re going to share it with you. No need to thank us.

Here’s some predictions on what to expect from the iPad 3. (Note: We’re not calling it the iPad HD and we don’t think Apple will either)

• HD  (aka “Retina”) Display — It’s pretty much a given the next iPad will at least have to match the iPhone 4’s screen quality. In fact, we think it will sport four-times as many pixels as the iPad 2. That’s 2048 x 1536 pixels in the same 9.7″ size. In other words, the display should be amazing.

You knew it was coming. It was inevitable. Just like there’s going to be an iPhone 5 soon enough (think June), the iPad 3 is pretty much a certainty thanks to an invite that went out today from Apple for an event on March 7th.

The event will take place in San Francisco and will no doubt introduce the iPad 3 to the eager masses yearning to be free of the limitations of 3G and a single processor, among other things. Apple’s iPad 3 is expected to feature a high-definition 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina Display, quad-core Apple A6 processor, larger battery, 4G LTE, an 8-megapixel camera and similar case design.

In addition, expect some cool features tied to the next major release of Apple’s iOS and Mac OS X operating systems which will hopefully include, among other things, full integration of Pages, Numbers and Keynote with iCloud across all Apple devices. That would be very nice indeed.

We’ll keep you posted on all the iPad 3 news and more. Until then, it’s probably time to get those iPad 2’s ready for eBay before they really drop in value.