Apple has announced iBooks 2 at their education event in New York and to kick things off in the iBookStore will be high school books. Partnering with such providers as Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt — Apple has laid out their pricing plans for high school books. Starting free and moving upward to $14.99, high school books will be available for one-click purchase, always updated and students get to keep their copy.

Apple has noted they will be working with additional partners as they go along to help broaden the range of available books, but the selection within the iBookStore is already starting to fill up even with available offerings.

Apple has announced iBooks 2 at their education event in New York. With this comes the edition of a new Textbooks section in the iBookstore. You’ll be able to search for textbooks in the same way you currently find all your other books or apps. One click purchase is available as well as a free sample of the book.

The iBooks update is available today as a free download from the App Store.

Free – App Store Link

SquareTrade has sent us a little tip announcing its new coverage rates for the iPhone 3GS. As any iPhone owner knows, when you drop your phone, your heart may momentarily stop. We all know most warranties also don’t cover drops and spills. This is where SquareTrade steps in. For only $99 you’ll receive 2 full years of coverage. Compare that to AT&T’s rumored new iPhone protection plan, and you’ve got yourself a deal with SquareTrade.

SquareTrade had this to say about their warranty pricing compared to AT&T’s:

“Anticipating that Steve Jobs will announce a new iPhone on Monday, I wanted to let you know that SquareTrade, today announced a new $99 iPhone Warranty. Unlike Apple Care, SquareTrade covers drops and spills and is much less expensive than the rumored AT&T iPhone insurance – reported to cost $14/month with has a painful $99 – $199 deductible … here’s a quick breakdown of how much AT&T’s insurance costs relative to SquareTrade:

Apple iPhone 3GS:

One device failure (drop, breakage etc) in two years:

• AT&T – $535

• SquareTrade – $149

• Difference = $386

Two device failures in two years:

• AT&T – $734

• SquareTrade – $199

• Difference = $535

A research report on iPhone failure rates in 2009 showed that 33 percent of iPhone owners experienced an iPhone failure within the first two years, which demonstrates the probability for a failure is higher than most people expect. “

Engadget confirms it, Apple is going to be giving us the new hotness on September 9th. All signs point to new iPod Nanos, but many are hoping that we’ll see a revision of iTunes with new features, from iTunes Unlimited to something a bit more scaled back. Others (me) are hoping for the 2.1 update with background notifications and another killer app: stability.

‘Course, there’s a Magic 8-Ball vs. Analyst riding on this one, and so far the 8-Ball appears to not be holding up too well — only time will tell for sure, though.

What are you hoping for next week?