The cult of Mac held another one of its holy sacraments today, announcing an update to its iPad that includes faster processing and graphics, more apps, two (count ’em, 2!) cameras, and a sleeker design that will reduce the thickness and heft of an ipad by 40%.

Apple had originally not committed to an appearance by Apple Pope Steve Jobs, who is an a leave of absence from Apple to focus on health concerns, but Jobs did indeed lead the press conference with his traditional style.

So what does all this tech mean? Well, the two camera system will facilitate not only taking pictures from your iPad, but also allowing you to use FaceTime chat (assuming, of course, you’re on a good wifi network and not a certain crappy 3g cell network). So, the typical Apple dance- consumers bitch about not having certain features at launch but line up in droves to buy one anyway, Apple obliges with new tech in 6-9 months, you buy a new one and sell the old one craigslist or give it to a family member, and the planned obsolecence cycle moves along.

The iPad will go from 13.4mm to 8.8mm, making it thinner than an iphone 4, and down from 1.5 lbs to 1.3. The new iPad will be available in white for those of you who like the color choices, and will be available for both AT&T and Verizon. It will stay the same price and keep the same 10 hour battery life, but don’t be confused– with the increase in processing and graphics keeping 10 hours of battery is pretty amazing. It will also come with an extra power-in slot and a HDMI out (full 1080p), so you can charge your iPad while using it– using it to stream a movie to your big tv, it sounds like!

They also introduced a new case, a SmartCover, which will come in several colors in poleurethan for $39 and in leather for $69. Jobs mentioned that they went to all this trouble to design a beautiful piece of technology and then everybody covers them up. The SmartCover will wake up the iPad when it’s opened, and put it to sleep when it closes, “kind of like a Pixar short.”

We’ll also be getting an OS upgrade with the launch (of course) which will take us to iOS4.3 for iPad and iPhone users.  Added features include better streaming and sharing of content across wireless networks and the ability to turn your iPad into a hotspot (yay!).

They’re also adding some classic Mac apps to the app store: GarageBand and iMovie, which includes the ability to shoot video on the fly and then add voiceover using the built-in mic later, then matively zapping it to Youtube or CNN’s iReport. So the revolution may not be televised, but it will be iMovie’d.   I love forward to SXSW that same week with a bunch of people running around with new iPads reporting on the festival. (And I’m going to be sooooo embarassed sitting in some of those interactive panels with nothing with an iphone 3)

And people are going to bitch about iPad 2- and rightly so. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the first. But don’t worry- rumors are that there will be an iPad 3 out by the holidays (of course!) And there will probably be an eventual price drop, although with Apple selling almost 10 million of the first iPad, why should they drop the price? They own 90% of the market for tablets according to Jobs, and most of their competition is finding it hard to compete with the price point Apple already set.

But this is a huge step forward. More processor speed can only mean better gaming. So, you’re probably not going to be able to play DC Universe Online, but you’ll get something better than Angry Birds.

PS- Yes, i kid the Apple Acolytes out there with the cult comparisons- I can do it because I’m one of you, as I type this on my MacBook, then furiously check my iPhone, and when i get in my car you know I’m rocking music from my ipod. And if i had $500 I didn’t know what to do with, I’d be first in line to buy an ipad 2.  Go get some.