Around this time every year, Apple hosts a music-themed event where new iPods and related technologies are announced. I watched the live video stream of today’s Apple Special Event (just ended) on my iPad in widescreen (landscape orientation). Video feed came via my AirPort Express (wireless N technology or 802.11n Wi-Fi). The quality of the video was excellent. However, there were numerous dropouts after about 45 minutes in, though none lasted more than a few seconds. I checked and the same problems affected my Ethernet connected MacBook Pro, so the iPad wasn’t the problem. These dropouts cleared up after about 15 minutes and the rest of the event came through cleanly. The problems may have been due to extraordinary demand for the feed. Now, on to the iPad news.

There were many exciting announcements but we’ll cover just the iPad developments here.  

There are some 250,000 apps in the App Store and 10% or some 25,000 are iPad apps.

A new version of the iOS, version 4.2, is coming to the iPad in November. This will be a free update!

Wireless printing is part of the iOS upgrade, so you’ll be able to easily print documents. When you’re printing, the multitask bar will have a printer icon so you can see the number of jobs pending and manage print jobs. iOS multitasking will be coming to the iPad along with other iOS 4 features found on the current iPhone (iPhone 4), such as folders to organize apps and threaded mail.

You’ll be able to stream content from your iPad to the new Apple TV.