Or does it?

Though it may be too soon to definitively answer that question, it's not too soon to ask it. Because despite the celebratory hype, there's no guarantee that a hyper-technologized education system is synonymous with genuine progress.

Ponder, for starters, the much-discussed issue of financial efficiency. As the tech website Gizmodo noted in a post titled "You Can't Afford Apple's Education Revolution," the new iPad-based books might "only cost $15 a pop," but "instead of selling an updated textbook every 5-10 years for $100, (publishers will) update and sell every year for $15," and "it's not like you can hand down an iBook from year to year ... you expressly can't." It's the same story with so many other vaunted education-branded technologies: They seem to promise resource-strapped school districts a way to constructively reduce expenditures, but the dazzle of flashy gadgets and interactivity often means budget-busting costs over the long haul.

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"In June, when Apple unveiled its donut-shaped, spaceship suggestive headquarters in Cupertino, California, I took to my Design Observer blog to critique what I saw as its retrograde suburbanism," she writes. "... Commentators immediately wrote back, accusing me of East Coast snobbery and, worse, irrelevance."

One commentator's response triggered Lange's ire:

"Apple can do whatever it wants to do. It is a company and they make good stuff and they try their best to do the best at whatever it may be. Not all companies do that ... No one can complain or has the right [to]."

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While early Macs were boxier and more primitive than their hyper-evolved modern counterparts, good design -- on-screen and off -- has always been central to the Apple mystique. That's where Susan Kare, the artist who invented many of Mac's most enduring symbols, comes in. Kare is the architect of early Apple iconography -- the designer who brought us, among so many other recognizable signs, the wristwatch waiting icon and the command key symbol (based on a symbol used on Swedish maps).

A new, self-published book (available online) shows off some of Kare's most recognizable work (including more recent projects, like Facebook's popular digital "gifts") -- and resurrects other designs that have been phased out of Apple computers' virtual image lexicon. Over email, Kare answered some of our questions; the following slide show offers highlights from her portfolio (with captions adapted from her book).

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When Apple introduced the voice-activated Siri last month, it seemed there was nothing she couldn't do. "Your wish is its command," Apple ambitiously promised. Indeed, iPhone 4S users quickly discovered she had "so much to tell you" -- eagerly responding to requests to remind you about appointments, provide directions, even update your Facebook status. Tell Siri, "I kinda feel like Chinese tonight," and she'll say, "Let me think about it," then suggest five restaurants. How many of us have ever had any human get our desires on that intuitive a level? But like your rad friend who one day says, "That Rick Santorum has some good ideas," Siri, it turns out, is a vexingly complicated creature. She may cheerfully abet you in hiding a dead body, but as the Abortioneers points out this week, she is totally not having it if you need help getting an abortion or emergency contraception.

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So weird. I'd just had it, like, 10 minutes ago, when I checked my voicemail at a friend's place. I started to call her to ask if it was lying around, which is when I realized: Not having an iPhone means you can't actually use your iPhone.

That night, even as rain pelted the windows, my home felt eerily silent. Like so many people, I do not have a separate landline, and I do not have cable TV. Without that small and all-powerful device within arm's reach, I was in exile. Typing emails on my laptop (because I still had wireless) seemed a bit like scribbling on parchment in the amber glow of an oil lantern. I would send the emails and receive nothing in response. Gah, is this thing even on???

The next morning, I walked out to the car to head to my friend's house when I discovered where my iPhone had been all night -- lying face-up on the driveway, inches from the driver-side door of my car, water still pooled on its black screen.

An iPhone suicide.

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Apple announced his death without giving a specific cause.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the company said in a brief statement.

"Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve"

Jobs had battled cancer in 2004 and underwent a liver transplant in 2009 after taking a leave of absence for unspecified health problems. He took another leave of absence in January -- his third since his health problems began -- before resigning as CEO six weeks ago. Jobs became Apple's chairman and handed the CEO job over to his hand-picked successor, Tim Cook.

The news Apple fans and shareholders had been dreading came the day after Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone, just one in a procession of devices that shaped technology and society while Jobs was running the company.

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New CEO Tim Cook led the show after Jobs, who has been battling health problems, resigned from the post in August.

Cook, wearing a navy blue button-down shirt and jeans, opened by calling his nearly 14-year tenure at Apple "the privilege of a lifetime." Those in the audience clapped as he entered, but the reaction seemed more muted than what Jobs had recently received.

Cook said the latest iPhone, which came out in June 2010, sold more quickly than previous models, but the iPhone still has just 5 percent of the worldwide handset market.

Apple is hoping to grow that with a new model. The new iPhone 4S has an improved camera with a higher-resolution sensor. The processor is faster, which helps run smoother, more realistic action games. It's also a "world phone," which means that Verizon iPhones will be able to useable overseas, just as AT&T iPhones already are.

Apple is including a "personal assistant" application called Siri, which responds to spoken questions and commands such as "Do I need an umbrella today?" It's an advanced version of speech-recognition apps found on other phones.

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And that's what's so amazing about the Steve Jobs story. It's easy enough to rhapsodize over Jobs' incredible track record -- his accomplishments include the first great personal computer, the transformation of both the music and the telephone business, and the creation of one of the greatest movie-making studios of our time. Just writing that sentence is breathtaking. We will not see its like again. But for me, Jobs' career signifies something more primal -- his comeback saga is a story of redemption, a fantasy epic in which a great king is toppled, but through force of will and grit and brilliance fights his way all the way back to the throne, and inaugurates an even greater empire. It's hard to think of parallels. Mohammed Ali, maybe.

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The company said Wednesday that Jobs will be replaced by Tim Cook, who was the company's chief operating officer.

It said Jobs has been elected as Apple's chairman.

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He's the anchor baby of an activist Arab muslim who came to the U.S. on a student visa and had a child out of wedlock. He's a non-Christian, arugula-eating, drug-using follower of unabashedly old-fashioned liberal teachings from the hippies and folk music stars of the 60s. And he believes in science, in things that science can demonstrate like climate change and Pi having a value more specific than "3", and in extending responsible benefits to his employees while encouraging his company to lead by being environmentally responsible.

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2. Real Doherty of the day: Shannon Doherty will star in a reality show for WEtv with fiancé Kurt Iswarienko about how hard it is to plan their wedding. You just know she's doing it to piss off former "90210" costar Tori Spelling.

3. Out of character of the day: Stephen Colbert plays it straight in this moving "It Gets Better" video.

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Hewlett Packard's consumer PC sales dropped 23 percent, Dell's fell by 7.5 percent, and Microsoft Windows sales fell by 4.4 percent.

The popularity of the iPad is clearly one major factor, but buried deep in the story is an intriguing hint of another. Computer systems sales to corporations appear robust, but consumers are holding back:

In a conference call yesterday, [HP CEO Leo] Apotheker bemoaned a "bifurcated" PC market, where companies are spending and consumers aren't. Sales in the company's personal systems group fell 5.4 percent to $9.42 billion last quarter.

What could explain such a phenomenon, aside from the iPad craze?

How about the fact that corporate balance sheets are doing great, but unemployment is at 9 percent?

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From Bloomberg:

Consumer PC shipments dropped 8 percent in the quarter, Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein said. Netbooks -- the cheap laptops that became popular during the recession -- plunged 40 percent, partially because of defections to tablet computers, he said.

When Steve Jobs debuted the iPad 15 months ago, critical appraisals were all over the map, from effusive to dismissive, but I don't think even the most gaga fanboy predicted that in little more than year the tablet would have meaningfully reshaped the entire personal computing industry.

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A hidden file on the Apple iPhone 4 and iPad 3G has been found to track GPS data, which is frequently updated and stored. Anyone who can get access to your iPhone or iPad can access this information -- the files are not even encrypted.

The full implications of this surveillance are still unclear and Apple has not spoken out in response to the discovery, revealed by two researchers earlier this week.

According to Heidi Boghosian, the executive director of the National Lawyers Guild, the data storing could lead to a "clear violation of the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures," were any government bodies to use the information.

"Everyone I know who has an iPhone has an expectation of privacy and were not aware about the possibility and extent of intrusion," Boghosian told Salon.

The potential for abuse is evident. Perhaps most concerning, Boghosian noted, is what this "ominous development" could mean for the government and other third parties' ability to amass personal information on civilians.

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Still, there seems to be little oversight at the company with regard to religious intolerance and homophobia. Exodus International, a group that claims "freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ," proudly released an app last week to serve as a "useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders." The app received a 4+ rating from Apple, meaning that Exodus' application contains no objectionable material.

A petition from TruthWinsOut.org demands that Apple remove Exodus' program, saying:

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Schedule:

9 a.m.: "Crowdsourcing Interactive Strategic Content Design and the Ubiquitous User Experience" (lecture) -- Learn this year's hottest empty buzzwords to use in presentations to possible investors of your start-up from the leading self-proclaimed experts in the industry, none of whom you've ever heard of.

10:30 a.m.: "Malcolm Gladwell: Genius or over-rated hack who has no idea what he's talking about?" (panel) – Several professors and more experts you've never heard of will tell you exactly why it's not cool to like "The Tipping Point" anymore.

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Here's a breakdown of all the new features:

Faster processor
Featuring the new Dual-core A5 processor, the iPad 2 will be twice as fast as the current iPad -- graphics should perform 9x faster, says Apple. Despite the more demanding processor performance, the iPad 2 will feature the same 10-hour battery life as the original iPad

Two colors, Two networks
The iPad will come in white and black and will be available on both AT&T and Verizon networks.

Thinner, lighter design
In addition to being 33 percent thinner -- a few millimeters slimmer than the iPhone 4 -- the iPad 2 weighs just 1.3 pounds instead of the 1.5-pound iPad original.

HDMI output
The iPad 2 provides HDMI video output with resolution up to 1080p. An extra $39 adaptor needs to be purchased and allows you to charge your iPad while using.

New case
A new Apple cover will also be available. It magnetically grasps the screen to prevent slipping, automatically wakes/sleeps the iPad, cleans the screen and comes in polyurethane or leather.

Updated operating system
With the release of the iPad 2, Apple will also unveil iOS 4.3 which boasts better Safari performance, iTunes home sharing, and new preferences for the iPad switch. BONUS: The iPhone 4 will become a personal Wi-Fi hotspot.

Improved iLife software -- including iMovie and Garage Band
With the addition of dual video cameras, you can now use iMovie to make and edit video on the iPad. The new Garage Band allows you to turn your iPad into a musical instrument with full size, touch screen interfaces for guitars, drums, pianos and more. Garage Band and iMove are available in the App Store for $4.99 each.

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