One of the complaints with the iPhone, other than the fact that AT&T is the carrier, is the fact that it isn’t able to multitask.  I can personally live with the one-at-a-time style of the iPhone… but maybe I don’t know what I am missing. 

The rumor of the day states that a new iPhone is coming this summer and will be more powerful and have the ability to handle multitasking.  Will have to wait and see.

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Gene and Steve’s favorite item… the Apple iPad will start taking pre-orders on March 12 and will start shipping on April 3.  I wonder if people will line up for this like Steve hopes… or if it will be just ho-hum.

“Beginning a week from today, on March 12, US customers can pre-order both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models from Apple’s online store (www.apple.com) or reserve a Wi-Fi model to pick up on Saturday, April 3, at an Apple retail store.”

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This sunglass-style eyewear, with a virtual 67-inch screen as seen from 10 feet, displays crystal clear 2D and 3D video while sitting by the pool or in an airplane at 35,000 feet. With support for standard 2D movies as well as virtually all common 3D video formats, you’ll be able to watch all the latest movie releases, as they were meant to be seen.

Vuzix Wrap 920 eyewear connects to all NTSC or PAL audio/video devices with video-out capabilities and composite video connections. An included* Composite A/V Adapter for iPod®/iPhone® ensures simple plug ‘n play connection to today’s most popular portable media player. Optional Wrap Adapters provide connections to HDMI equipped devices and even desktop PC and laptops for watching movies. A single pair of video eyewear for all occasions.

World’s most advanced sunglass-style video eyewear with 2D & 3D big-screen capabilities

• Compatible with iPod®, iPhone®, portable DVD players and virtually any portable video source
• Projects video from any source to a virtual 67-inch screen viewed from 9-feet
• Powered by two AA batteries that provide up to six hours of continuous use
• Weighs under 3 ounces, features removable noise-isolating earbuds and an adjustable nose bridge

Ryobi introduces the Tek4 AllPlay MP3 player powered by Tek4 4v lithium ion battery technology. This tool offers a number of advanced features such as: it plays all the most popular music files, an easy intuitive interface allows for quick navigation, has an angled display so that the MP3 controls are always in plain sight and compact size for convenience. The AllPlay MP3 player from Tek4 innovation is the perfect music player for anyone who lives the rugged lifestyle, enjoys athletic activities, or in tough jobsite conditions. This MP3 player is impact, dust and water resistant and is also backed by a two year warranty. Item includes MP3 player, armband, headphones, battery and charger.

• Up to 72 hours of continuous runtime
• Easy intuitive interface allows for easy navigation with an angled interface to keep controls in plain sight
• Armband and built in clip for easy portability
• Kit includes ear phones, armband, battery and standard charger
• MFG Model # : RP4510

“Plugging your headphones into your computer or receiver’s headphone jack won’t produce the best possible sound. Why? The embedded headphone "amp" is probably just a good-enough chip amp. It may sound acceptable, but nothing like what you’d hear from a properly designed dedicated headphone amplifier.

Sure, if you have a set of $50 or $100 headphones, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to drop $400 on a dedicated headphone amplifier.

But if you have something closer to the sort of world-class headphones I write about from time to time, you’d be foolish not to take the plunge. You’ve already made a substantial investment in headphones, but you’re not getting all the sound quality you paid for.”

“The EF5’s rear panels.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

Head-Direct’s EF5 Desktop Tube Hybrid Amp ($399) is a two-box affair; one chassis is the power supply, the other is the amp itself. Each unit is solidly built and fairly compact: just 4.33 inches wide, 1.97 inches high, and 10.63 inches deep. The amp uses a single (RCA 12AU7) vacuum tube. The amp takes about a minute to come to life after turning it on, and when the top panel’s blue LEDs light up you know it’s ready to play. Plug the headphones into the 6.3mm jack, adjust the volume, and you’re good to go.

I listened to the EF5 with a lot of headphones, everything from my Grado RS-1, Sennheiser HD-580, Monster Turbines, Jerry Harvey JH13s, and Head-Direct’s very own HE-5.

The Drive-By Truckers’ excellent "Live From Austin TX" CD had tremendous presence and impact. Patterson Hood’s straight from the heart vocals really cut through, and ditto for the raucous guitars. Sweet!

Big-band jazz from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra’s "Up From the Skies" CD was a great test for the EF5. Listening to a 16-piece band and picking out individual trumpets, saxophones, trombones, and clarinets’ contributions was a breeze. The piano had just the right sense of scale and nuanced delicacy.

I also spent a good deal of time comparing the EF5 to the sound of my Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver’s headphone jack. I’m not claiming the Onkyo’s sound was the slightest bit offensive or harsh, just lacking detail and resolution compared with the EF5. Drums in particular benefited from the EF5’s speed and clarity. They sounded more like drums, each whack on the tom toms was more visceral, and the snare drums’ snap was far more realistic sounding.

A great recording such as Bob Marley & the Wailers, "Live at the Roxy" was rendered nearly lifeless over the Onkyo, but fully vibrant over the EF5. The bass sounded thick and dead over the receiver, and nimble and lively over the headphone amp. Marley and the backup vocalists sounded as if they were urging each other on with the EF5, the receiver blunted the excitement.

With Grizzly Bear’s "Veckatimest" CD, the receiver glazed over the drums’ cymbals and the dynamics were squashed flat, and restored over the amp. The EF5’s lively dynamics brought out the best from most of the CDs I played.

Again, the receiver’s sound wasn’t "bad," just a tad boring. Or to put it another way, high-end headphones don’t sound anywhere as good as they can be plugged into a receiver. As I said, it’s not worth investing in great headphones if you’re not going to use them with a headphone amp at least as good as the EF5.”

[Via]

Looks like Samsung hasn’t given up on the PMP MP3 player market… their latest cutesy MP3 player the TicToc seems to compete with the iPod shuffle.  There is only one button on the TicToc which controls the power and volume.  All other music controls, track skipping, playback, etc… are controlled by shaking the mp3 player.  The TicToc will come in 2GB and 4GB sizes and will have a 12 hour battery life.  Pricing and availability later this year.  Video after the break.

The solBAT II is a backup battery that charges through its solar panel and stores the power for future charging of any USB device.

Position the solBAT II in the sun by mounting via suction cups or clip and the 1500mA solBAT II slowly charges.  When full the solBAT II puts out 5V through USB, which is enough power to charge your iPhone as quickly as you can from the wall.

The best part is the fair price of $30 (available soon).  We will do a few review when we get our hands on this bad boy.

[Scosche]

More often than not, when using 5.1 headphones… I am not impressed… lots of guys trying to make “innovative” headsets… most failing.  Looks like Psyko Audio may have actually turned out a quality innovative 5.1 headset.  Read on for more details of the Psyko Audio 5.1 gaming headset.

A couple of the most notable features are;

1 – the fact that you can have the earphones closed for more sound isolation… or you can open a set of ear vents for more external sound and air.

2- instead of trying to cram all 5 speakers inside the ear cups… Psyko put the speakers on top of the headband and uses tubes called PsykoWave guides to pipe the sound into the right parts of your ear.  In other words they direct the front channel of sound to the front of your ears soundstage and the rear to the rear.  The subwoofers are the only speaker located in the ear cups.

“We call the Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset System "The Perfect Room™" because they deliver the audio experience of the perfect room. That audio experience lets you hear where every sound comes from. They improve your positional awareness and your reaction time for improved game play. There is no DSP (Digital Signal Processing) to alter the sound, and no latency. They put you into the sweet spot. You simply hear more and play better.

This is a quantum leap in headphone technology. The Psyko 5.1 PC Gaming Headset System create 3D sound, in exactly the same way a room system does – with 5 speakers plus the subwoofer positioned accurately around you. You hear precisely where every sound originates, the way you are supposed to. You get naturally immersive sound with no hassles, no latency, and no limits to where and when you want to play. It’s really is the perfect room in headphone form.”

OK here is my iPad rant whine.  When it comes to Apple and All Things Mac, I am a little like Agent Fox Mulder from the X-Files – I want to believe!  But the Apple iPad product announcement left me seriously underwhelmed. I was watching Steve present his Magnum Opus and hearing the vacuous sucking sound – we waited so long and this is it?!  The positive stuff was there too – its slick and cool looking -yay.  It reminds me of other things I love like my iPhone 3GS – yay!  It has serious potential – yay!  That said I just felt like a kid who was looking forward to Christmas all year long only to get a really bitchin pair of socks…  So without delay read on for my WTF moments from the iPad presentation.

• No Camera!!!  Really Steve? REALLY?!?!
• No Multitasking – *checks the calendar* WTF?
• No Flash Support – I understand Apple’s hard on for Adobe, but the iPad was supposed to offer almost sexual level of gratification for browsing the Web. Not!
• No 720p Resolution – *taps foot* seriously, what’s with the 1024×768 rez?

I mean this wasn’t exactly a total “mene, mene, tekel upharsin” moment but I found the whole thing lacking.  Here’s hoping for the version 2.0.

Viewsonic is getting serious about the portable media player business with it’s latest gadget the MovieBook VPD550T.  The VPD550T comes with a 5-inch LCD touch screen (800×480-pixel resolution), 8GB of memory, microSD expansion slot, and an HDMI output capable of full 1080p.  Read on for more details.

Because of the hefty price tags attached to most portable media players (Archos, Cowon, etc…)… sales have been slow.  Honestly, how many people do you know that have a portable media player?  Looks like Viewsonic may have figured this out with their $199 price point.  The MovieBook VPD550T will support  DAT, MPG, MPEG, VOB, MP4, MOV, AVI, DVD Video, ASF, WMV, MKV, TS, RM/RMVB, MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC ,OGG, FLAC, APE, AC3, and DTS formats.  Image and ebook content will also be able to be viewed on this gadget.  Expect battery life to be about 20 hours of audio and 4 hours of video.

Until my iPhone or iPod gets 1080p this isn’t a bad addition to the gadget pile.  The VPD550T is expected to hit in late March or early April.