Live Blog: Apple Announces iPad2Live Blog: Apple Announces iPad2

10:33 PST: Increased Safari performance, using Nitro JavaScript engine from MacOS X. It runs javascript twice as fast. iTunes home sharing is also part of this -- wireless stream over your home Wifi network to your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch.

10:35 PST: Airplay improvements are a part of iOS 4.3. iOS automatically finds your Apple TV. Apps from the app store, and web sites can be played via Airplay.

10:36 PST: Customers have asked, Forstall says, a slider switch that locks the device so it won't rotate. OK, big whoop. To go along with the new cameras, Photobooth, now for the iPad.

That was expected, of course.

10:37 PST: He is showing Photobooth with 9 live video streams at one time. Thanks to the new processor.

10:39 PST: Also FaceTime on the iPad2. Again, not a huge surprise. Between any Apple products that run FaceTime.

10:40 PST: So far, there haven't been any big surprises, except for maybe how thin it is and the cover accessory. So far I think it gives Apple-inclined people a reason NOT to buy a higher performing tablet.

10:41 PST: iOS 4.3 will be available March 11, supporting all iPads and 4th generation iPhones & iPod Touch.

10:43 PST: Jobs is back on stage, talking about a couple new apps, and saying that the reason they do that is to help set the bar for developers. The first one is iMovie. It comes with an editor, multi-track auto recording, new themes, you can Airplay to Apple. This will be a big hit with consumers, I think. Or perhaps even for some limited enterprise uses as well.

The iPad 2's iMovie App

iMovie

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10:45 PST: There's the timeline, and you can create clips, pick clips and place them on the timeline. And you can also do this with more precision, with transition affects. You can add and subtract frames from the timeline.

10:46 PST: In the timeline, you can see audio wave forms. It also comes with about 50 sound affects.

10:47 PST: There's also a voice over recording system, which you can put right over your movie in the timeline. There are title tools, so you can add text & graphics. Also, there is face recognition within the video.

10:48 PST:You can choose tunes from the iTunes library (let's hope people don't publish that to YouTube . . . all kinds of copyright issues, no?). You can do direct sharing -- Vimeo, YouTube, CNN iReports, Facebook and so on.

10:50 PST: You can also send these movies to iTunes. $4.99, on the app store on March 11. "Awesome." Jobs says, to chuckles.

10:51 PST: Next, GarageBand. Touch instruments. You can play real instruments, of course, but also the touch insttruments. Compatible with the Mac version.

10:53 PST: They are showing the GarageBand app, where you can choose specific instruments. Buttons to add "sustain" and there are ways to add key dynamics, so for instance you can tap keys soft or hard, and it can actually play back the difference. Uses accelerometer to detect this.

10:54 PST: I have to say, it's pretty realistic. It changes entirely when you choose a rock organ.

10:55 PST: This also includes expressions, like vibratto and slides on the keyboard. Wow, very innovative.

10:58 PST: They have also added smart instruments, for those who don't know how to play music. They even put guitar chords together (in the same key) so you can have fun with this without being a musician.

11:00 PST: GarageBand supports up to 8 tracks.

11:02 PST: All of these songs can be sent to iTunes, can be e-mailed. As an AAC file.

11:03 PST: Jobs keeps saying these are not toys. They are for real work. (Don't I wish.) Also $4.99. Jobs is wrapping up. Let's see what the "one more thing" is.

11:05 PST: It's like Kirk Douglas now, stringing us along. Now a video, summarizing it all. Jony Ive, the head of design in his fab British accent.

The iPad 2's GarageBand App

GarageBand

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11:09 PST: If I may summarize while this video tries to inspire me: Where others were like the iPad only faster and with cameras, the iPad2 is faster and has cameras and is way thinner. That's probably about it. I don't mean to underplay it. It's great. It makes a great device that much better; hell, tons better. Maybe that's OK. Maybe expecting something just as revolutionary as the original is unfair, and since they got it right the first time, this is exactly what Apple is supposed to do.

11:10 PST: I wish it had an SD card slot, USB connectivity. HDMI out is good, but as always, it's everything OUT, and absolutely nothing IN. Some people won't love that -- mostly the people who don't like it now.

11:11 PST: I wish there was a way to hard wire it to the network, even through USB.

11:12 PST: Jobs is saying, as he often does, that it's about more than just technology. That it's about technology and liberal arts, "the humanities."

Going Over iPad 2's Basics

Going Over iPad 2's Basics

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11:13 PST: He is talking about how many think this is a lot like the next PC. He says this isn't right. These are "post PC devices," that must be easier to use, more intuitive than the PC, and the applications must intertwine and be more seamless than PC apps are today. That is both self-serving, and also correct, by the way.

Roughly two dozen people are here from Apple -- the people, precisely, who worked on iPad2.

11:14 PST: There will be hands on. Not 'one more thing.'

And there it is, folks. I'll try to go get some hands on, maybe some video and report back later. Thanks for joining us.

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