As we all wait to see what Apple might have its sleeve for up-ending the education market on Thursday, the rumors are already swirling around the New York City media event -- as if the world needs more evidence that anything related to Apple can really stir up the tech press! And that’s not all: A Japanese blog is predicting an iPad 3 media event just two or three weeks from now, if you believe that kind of stuff. So let’s put on our tinfoil hats and delve deep into what’s making news for this terrific Tuesday, January 17, 2012.

Eric Schmidt may not be the CEO of Google these days, but he’s still a very visible face for the search giant. At this week’s Dreamforce 2011 conference in San Francisco, the Google chairman lavishes praise on Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple while lamenting that he couldn't stay on the company's board of directors.

We already know how most of you feel about Steve Jobs’ departure as CEO of Apple this week, but what about some of the company’s manufacturing partners in Asia? A new report claims that the resignation will have minimal impact on them, particularly because new CEO Tim Cook was already overseeing most of that business in the first place.