Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance Wednesday at Apple’s event in San Francisco unveiling the next generation of the iPad, which single-handedly made tablets a viable category. Jobs, who has been on a medical leave of absence, was greeted with a standing ovation.
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He told the audience that Apple has been working on this product for awhile, and I didn’t want to miss it. The new iPad 2 has a dual-core microprocessor called the A5, which is twice the speed of the original iPad, but Apple said it uses the same amount of power. The new tablet is a third thinner, lighter by 0.2 pound, has front and back cameras, and will be available in white or the standard black.
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iPad, Musical Instrument
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The iPad 2 will begin shipping March 11 to the U.S., and then to other markets.
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There’s a built-in gyroscope and a new version of the operating system, iOS 4.3, which has a home-sharing feature that allows users to access, via the iPad, their iTunes purchases that are on their personal computers. The Safari browser has better performance, a new cable offers a HDMI connection to HDTVs, and a magnetic smart cover for the front automatically locks the unit. The cover, which connects magnetically to the tablet, has microfibers in the cover to clean the screen and can be used to prop up the iPad for watching movies.
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iMovie and GarageBand for the iPad will be available when the new model ships. The GarageBand app has a feature that allows the iPad to become a touch-sensitive musical instrument, such as a piano, and an accelerometer can gauge the force of a key strike. Since the new iPad has cameras, there’s also FaceTime video chat and Photo Booth.
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Apple’s key objective in this event was to avoid messing with a…