<p>If you had “Steve Jobs presenting” on your event card, BINGO
[TUAW</a> – The Unofficial Apple Weblog](<a href=“http://www.tuaw.com/]TUAW”>http://www.tuaw.com/)</p>
<p>yay thinner!
*After much fanfare, Apple officially announced the iPad 2 today with a new dual-core processor called the A5 and both rear and front-facing cameras. It is up to two times faster than the A4 chip and nine times faster graphics with the same amount of power consumption. The iPad 2 also has the gyroscope found in the iPhone 4 and the current-generation iPod Touch.</p>
<p>The iPad 2 is 33 percent thinner than the current model and weighs 1.3 pounds, and is even thinner than the iPhone 4: The iPhone 4 is 9.3 mm thick while the iPad 2 is 8.8 mm thick. It will be available in both white and black, with the white model available on day one (avoiding the fiasco that surrounded the while iPhone 4). There will be models that work with both AT&T and Verizon. The iPad 2 will also have HDMI mirrored video output up to 1080p through a $39 accessory.</p>
<p>The price on the iPad 2 is the exact same pricing model as used for the original iPads starting out at $499 for a 16 GB WiFi-only version and topping out at $829 for a 64 GB model with both WiFi and 3G.*</p>
<p>The camera was a given - but I’m disappointed that we still don’t have a USB hookup.</p>
<p>I may very well decide to spring for an entry level iPad 2. I like to ability to video chat anywhere with wifi - and apparently it is possible (even with the 1st gen I hear) to project Keynote slides. In that case - that’s the tipping point. Has anybody done this with an iPad? If you can easily hook it up to project slides for teaching and presenting, then I’m sure all in.</p>
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<p>When you buy an iPad, you get a power adapter that has a USB male connector. You get a cable that plugs into this connector. The other end of the cable goes to the iPad. Drivers are the big issue with USB devices. We take drivers for granted on Windows and Mac OS X but when a platform is relatively new, drivers can be a huge headache. I was using 64-bit Windows back in 2004 and the biggest problem was in getting drivers for devices. Device makers don’t want to spend a lot of money on writing device drivers if they don’t have to and Microsoft’s prodding fell on deaf ears. If USB devices were supported, Apple would have to get the device makers to make the drivers and provide APIs and development tools. They would also have to come up with a way to install them. They might also then need software on the iPad to configure and set up the device. That’s a relatively tall order for a closed device.</p>