Today in 1979, the first-ever Walkman, the TPS-L2, went on sale in Japan, and listening to tunes was forever transformed. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the device, Gizmodo posted a healthy selection of vintage Walkman print and video ads, including this prescient one, above. We're not sure if the headline was foreshadowing regime change in Iran, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dismantling of the Soviet Union...or the new trend of happy, cool people refusing to interact with one another.

[via Gizmodo]

Just announced: The highly anticipated Blackberry Tour—officially out on July 12—is now available for preorder from Verizon, which will finally have an updated model (for touch screen-phobics who aren't into the Storm) to compete with AT&T's Bold. If it doesn't expand the boundaries of what smartphones are capable of, it'll certainly expand their geography—it's call-ready in 220 countries and e-mail- and Internet-ready in 175—and deliver everything in a thin package at a thin price. "Everything" here means 3G capability; push e-mail, texting, and social networking; a 3.2 MP camera with video and geotagging; and built-in GPS. And given that the U.N. and the State Department only recognize 194 countries in the world, we're guessing that those last two features are indispensable in the other 26.
$199.99 after rebate, with two-year contract; verizonwireless.com/tour

[via Engadget]

The latest riding enthusiast to try his hand at bike-friendly gear? Steven Alan. Alan's new flannel riding shirt—designed in conjunction with Lower East Side track-and-fixie mecca Chari & Co.—has a long tail to cover your ass and a Velcro-fastened rip-open chest pocket that's been relocated to a messenger-bag-friendly position. There are also sweatshirt-style ribbed cuffs on the sleeves, sturdy snaps on the placket, and what's being called a "hunting pocket" zippered into the back. Unless your cycling is a lot different than our cycling, we're thinking this is more for a banana, an MP3 player, and a portable pump than for, say, upland game—but then again, who are we to tell you how to roll?
About $220, available in October; stevenalan.com

Finding an aftermarket pair of headphones worthy of your meticulously amassed music library is easy—provided you've got a few hundred extra dollars kicking around your bank account. Those looking to limit their purchase to the two-figure realm have some tougher going.

My colleague Corey Seymour recently gave serious props to a bass-pumping pair of Shures that just barely make it under that threshold. I'd like to add another recommendation to the mix: Klipsch S4's. Introduced in March, the $80 headphones were an instant hit and quickly sold out. A new batch is just arriving at klipsch.com, and if you're looking to upgrade from the disappointingly feeble 'buds that came with your new 3GS—or are just unsatisfied with the tinny models you bought for $40 at Best Buy—I recommend picking up a pair.

As with the Shures—and with every Klipsch product I've ever owned or tested—the S4s' bass output is something to be reckoned with. Purists may even find the low-end a bit too powerful, though you certainly wouldn't say the same thing about the treble. In fact, if you're accustomed to listening to MP3s (which are already a little hiss-heavy, owing to the compression that keeps the file size down) on said cheap-ass earbuds (which typically only amp up the high-end), these may take some getting used to. But it's an adjustment worth making. After a while you'll realize that that acoustic guitar on Justin Vernon's latest EP actually sounds the way it did when he first strummed it (in some mythical Wisconsin hunting cabin, if memory serves) rather than the slick, stylized version of same the iTunes-earbud-industrial complex has brainwashed you into thinking equals fidelity.

As an added bonus, these Klipsch models fit as well as any I've tried, thanks in large part to their patent-pending elliptical shape, which more closely mirrors the dimensions of one's ear canal. What's more, when you walk at a good clip while wearing them, they don't induce that thunk-thunk-thunk sound so commonly created in other noise-isolating buds, meaning the only beats you hear are from that powerful Klipsch bass.
$79.99, available at klipsch.com

We've said it before: The Panasonic Toughbook is tough. But how tough? Forbes.com endeavored to find out. They dropped it, hurled it, poured a can of Diet Coke on the keyboard, smashed a bag of Doritos into it, threw darts at it, and drove a Jetta over it. Still the damn thing worked, though the car left some marks—on the pavement. They presented it to a white tiger at a Six Flags, who left some nasty drool on the screen but apparently couldn't destroy it, either. A 10,000-pound elephant tossed it around and then stood on it—no problem. Finally, a shot from a .45 pistol killed it, which teaches us two things: 1) Never mess with a .45, and 2) apparently there's still some truth in advertising.

[via Engadget]

HTC today finally confirmed details of its much-rumored, heavily leaked new Android phone, the Hero, and the highlights are plentiful: a new Android interface, called Sense, which features Flash capability (a first), a fingerprint-free 3.2-inch screen and Teflon body coating, a 5 MP camera, A-GPS, a compass, and a gravity sensor. The Hero's sleek ergo design (complete with curved "chin" at the bottom), combined with the interface, is built on a less-is-more philosophy—less a sea of apps, more specific (and personalized) tools and information at your disposal. Of course, you knew this one was coming: The bad news is that it's Europe-only as of now (or really, as of next month); it hits our shores this fall.

[via Gizmodo]

The Paris Air Show, the commercial aviation industry's annual fair, is well underway—and, for the most part, totally over our heads. But flight-world blogger (a title that apparently exists) Runway Girl is filing dispatches from the event, including this intriguing bit on Panasonic's iPod merge technology, which—as soon as this fall, potentially—will allow fliers to fully access their iPods and digital cameras and view content on an IFE (In-Flight Entertainment) screen. The gadget-blog commentariat is already in a huff (further kowtowing to Apple, say the anti-Macs; don't give the loud guy in the seat next to me more power, say the misanthropes), but we think it looks pretty cool. Judging from the picture released, the system looks decidedly non-coach. That's bruising egos, too, but just call it one more reason to aspire to first class.

[via Gizmodo]

To any first-gen indie rockers still keeping tabs on who's sold out and who hasn't: A) You're showing your age, and B) Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore now have signature guitars from Fender. (Moore is the green, Ranaldo's the blue.) The honor—once the province of mere guitar gods (see Vai, Steve) and stadium rockers (see Van Halen, Eddie)—has now been handed down to the No Wave/art-rock/noise/DIY pioneers. The result is seemingly much more about function (stripped-down electronics and custom-voiced pickups) than form (none of the usual baroque cosmetics here). The raw material for both models was, of course, the Fender Jazzmaster—the go-to guitar of virtually every avant-noise sonic boomer for the last 20 years or so. Both custom models come with a sticker pack (huh?) and a zine. Flannel shirt, ripped jeans, and Winona Ryder not included.
Fender Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore Jazz Blasters, available at Fender dealers July 1, pricing TBD; fender.com

[via Pitchfork]

Nokia rolled out its award-winning (and editor-approved) E71 smartphone barely a year ago—and an AT&T-specific budget version, the E71x, barely a month ago—so while it might seem a bit premature for a reinvention, worry not: The just-announced E72 is less a rethink than an expert tune-up. Still there: the switchable home screens (one for work, one for your so-called "real life"). New add-ons: The camera's been upped from 3.2 to 5 megapixels; there's now an optical mouse instead of a trackpad; and the headphone jack's been standardized at 3.5mm (or, as the rest of the world calls it, "normal headphone size"). Price and availability details are still emerging, but look for it this fall for a sliver under $500.
nokia.com

Samsung's WB1000 digital camera—drooled over by retro fanaticists when it was announced at the PMA show back in March—reportedly starts shipping a week from today. And for all of its megapixel and ISO bona fides (12.2 and up to 3200, if you're counting, though you can't get both at the same time), the buzz about this camera is mostly centered around two tiny dials—one for battery power and one for memory-card storage space—on the top of its body [pictured]. They're analog, see—and in a world of digital accuracy and exactitude, Samsung's banking that a little old-fashioned gauge-reading piggybacked with some rather newfangled pixel counts (at least for an entry-level point-and-shoot) and a three-inch OLED screen on back might give your pictures some of the soul they've been missing lately. (Of course, if just two dials aren't enough, take a look at a few real analog cameras in our vintage guide.)
samsungcamera.com

[via Endgadget]