With promises of a faster chip, sharper screen, and better camera, media and Mac fans lucky enough to score an invite to today's iPad bash are filling up Yerba Buena Center for the Arts today in anticipation for the new iPad reveal. Macworld editor Jason Snell notes, "Just playing music as people file in right now." With Macworld's Dan Moren adding, "Also, Tim Cook's new line of home beauty products." (Because, you know, Apple CEO Tim Cook is gay. Get it?)

Stay tuned to SFist as we cover today's iPad event live.

Update 10:00: It begins. Cook takes the stage to boast about the iPad's performance, saying, "Last year alone, they sold 172 million post-PC devices. That made up 76% of their revenues. The iPad is reinventing portable computing, in many ways, and outstripping the wildest of predictions."

10:07: Cook is talking about Siri. And it's turning Japanese. To wit: "Many of you have heard what Siri sounds like in the US, but we thought it might be fun to let you listen to Siri from other parts of the world this morning. Like Australia. And in France. And in Germany. And, today we're bringing Siri to Japan."

10:16: "We think that the iPad is the poster child of the post-PC world."

10:19: According to The Chronicle's live blog, "Cook says game players prefer the iPad to home consoles, which is insane. Nintendo should be terrified." Interesting. Also, Apple "sold more iPads last quarter than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC line worldwide." Very interesting.

10:22: The new iPad is here! "It looks so thin," exclaims The Chronicle. Cook tells the audience, "We've taken it to a whole new level and we are redefining the category that Apple created with the original iPad. It makes amazing improvements over the most fundamental features of the design of the device while retaining everything that millions of people have grown to love about it."

10:28: Let's talk features: it's thin, new chip inside next iPad is an A5X, quad-core graphics designed for brilliant, retina display, an iSight camera, a FaceTime camera, and "HD video recording now at 1080p resolution."

10:35: NYT reports, "Mr. Schiller is saying that everything is going to look amazing. The new display is 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, or more than 3.1 million pixels -- a million more pixels than a 1080p high-definition TV. There are 264 pixels per inch, and 44 percent greater color saturation, Mr. Schiller says. Four times as many pixels as the older iPad."

10:37: Hot! Apple's new iPad as software to make it a personal hotspot. According to Macworld, "if your carrier supports it, you can share the high speed network from your new iPad with up to 5 devices."

10:40: And here it is in all its glory!

10:42: New iPad will run $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, $699 for 64GB, for 4G it is $629, $729 and $829. It will be available March 16.

10:50: Lots of talk about gaming. "These guys are redefining mobile gaming again," Epic Games's president Mike Capps tell the audience.

10:57: GarageBand allows four people to jam together using separate iPads, a scene we hope to never come across in our lifetime.

11:01: The Chronicle's Casey Newton breathlessly reports that the new iMovie "[s]hows off an adorable trailer for a girl having a princess birthday party. I WANT A PRINCESS PARTY." Who doesn't, Casey! Who doesn't.

11:04: Pre-orders for the new iPad start today.

11:21: They're going to keep iPad 2, but start selling it now at $399.

11:24: That's it. Event's now over. Mac sect members, get ready for another trinket that will, however temporarily, give your life joy and meaning. Haters, feel free to express your unbridled jealousy disdain for Apple in the comments.

Thanks for tuning in, everyone!