The first Walkman didn’t just put a cassette in your pocket. It came with a tiny pair of headphones so light you could forget they were on your head. Those little blue and orange foam pads were basically the official uniform of 1979, and now Sony has brought them back!

The new MDR-3R is a remake of the MDR-3L2, the headphones that shipped in the box with Sony’s TPS-L2 Walkman. Sony worked from the original design drawings, and you can tell. The thin metal headband is back, along with the square slider hinges, the perforated sound holes and even the “Dynamic Stereo Headphones” lettering on the side.

Inside are 23mm drivers, the same size as the originals, tuned to sound close to the old MDR-3 with a few modern refinements. The whole thing weighs 38 grams. Sony even recreated the packaging and the instruction manual, which is a lot of love for a manual nobody read in 1979 either. Both colors of ear pads come in the box, so you can swap between blue and orange whenever the mood strikes.

The one big change is the plug. The 3.5mm jack is gone, and in its place is a USB-C connector with an inline mic and remote, so they work straight off a phone with nothing to charge or pair. That’s a little funny for a pair of Walkman headphones. Sony’s own product page notes the USB-C connection isn’t intended for its Walkman players, so the tapes in your drawer (we see you, Tapedeck fans) will need a different pair.

Early reviews say the sound is clear in the mids and highs and a bit light on bass, and the open on-ear design lets sound leak in and out. That’s the same trade the original made, and it seems fair to us. These were built to be light enough to wear out the door, and that’s still the appeal. Wired headphones are having a real moment again, from this to Nothing’s Headphone (1), and it’s nice to see Sony go back to the source instead of inventing a retro look from scratch. Somebody over there kept the drawings for 47 years, and we’re glad they did.

The MDR-3R is out now for $59.99 (£49 in the UK) from Sony, Amazon and Best Buy. Via Dezeen.

The post The Walkman Headphones Are Back appeared first on Moss and Fog.

Well, this is a new one.

When I was a kid, my parents would pull out the Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving. When I had kids, we'd gradually start decorating when they started asking about it, which was right after Halloween. After they left home, I always made it a point to have the outdoor Christmas lights up to greet my Thanksgiving guests (we usually have the feast at suppertime). I ask my kids to put up the tree and the ornaments when they are here for Thanksgiving. 

I get a kick out of noticing how my neighbors do it. Some just replace Halloween decor with Christmas, either on November first or sometime in December when the skeletons get really dirty. Some even combine the two holidays on their lawn. I don't decorate for Halloween anymore. 

This year, Princess can't come because of her husband's work schedule, and Dr. Dolittle only has one day off, so she and her husband won't have time to help decorate. I guess I better get started on the house prep. I have to move furniture to get the tree up, and I want to mop the floor in between. Hauling heavy stuff from the basement has to be done a little at a time, and during daylight. Outside lights take a couple of days because there are few hours that are warm enough. The logistics get harder every year, but it's still a lot of fun. And it gives me an excuse for not raking leaves until December. 

Nvidia Newsroom:

Nvidia Board of Directors announced today that Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately.

Colette Kress, current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA, has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer. Kress will continue to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer while serving as Interim Chief Executive Officer until a permanent successor has been named. The Board is initiating a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and will consider internal and external candidates. [...]

“Colette has helped lead NVIDIA through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,” said Harvey Jones, Chair of the NVIDIA Board of Directors. “She is supported by an experienced leadership team that has been instrumental in executing NVIDIA’s strategy and advancing its technology roadmap. The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”

This might be wishful thinking. Remember all the predictions that Apple would implode without Steve Jobs? That he was the company? I argued, on the day of his resignation, that Apple was likely to continue to thrive post-Jobs, writing, “Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself.” He built a great company with a deep bench and a highly distinctive, incredibly strong culture.

I’m not seeing anyone say those things about Nvidia. In fact I’ve only seen the opposite — that Nvidia has a weak board and an executive structure with Huang at the top and 60 direct reports under him. Nvidia sounds like it is the fantasy version of Apple that people imagined when Jobs’s health finally failed.

The press release contains no quote from Huang, and his X account is silent.

Nvidia will report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 financial results on Tuesday, November 17, at approximately 1:20 p.m. PT, as previously scheduled, followed by its earnings call at 2 p.m. PT.

They should sell tickets to this one.

Link: nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-ceo-transition