Those who haven't faced such a wrenching moment may wonder what one does after the swearing stops and tears dry. It goes something like this:

Knowing that getting the thing replaced was likely going to be a costly exercise, I pondered if there was a way to replace just the glass and save myself a few bucks. With that in mind I contacted Kyle Wiens at --a company on the forefront of do-it-yourself tech repairs--and asked if there were any options. He replied:

"We don't have replacement glass yet, and probably won't for some time. We're definitely working on it, but demand is usually too weak until the device has been out for a while. I think this is an instructive story into how limited people's options are. Unless iFixit provides an option, people are up a creek."

He went on to explain that you can't use iFixit's because its connector and cable length is different from what you find in the third-generation iPad.