cobra

Crave giveaway: Booq Cobra pack laptop backpack

Congrats to Hal S. of Pittsboro, N.C., for winning a Wi-Fi-only version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 in last week's giveaway, and to Padraic O. of Bedford, N.H., for winning a copy of Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 12 voice recognition software the week before that. Both those prizes would fit nicely into this week's freebie, a Booq Cobra pack laptop backpack.

The Booq Cobra pack holds a 15- or 17-inch MacBook Pro, or a PC laptop up to 17 inches, in a highly protective laptop compartment with a water-resistant zipper. It's got … Read more

For Shelby, 50 years of blowing other cars' doors off

LAS VEGAS, Nev.--It may be the most valuable American car ever made. Sitting inside what looks from the outside mostly like a non-descript suburban warehouse, the vehicle fills a lot of people with lust.

Still a striking and shiny blue, the 1962 Shelby Cobra 427 is the very first of its kind. And it is such an important entry in the pantheon of American muscle cars that someone recently offered $25 million for it.

Welcome to Shelby American, a company whose rare cars are built to blow by just about any competition, yet are designed to be everyday drivable … Read more

Cobra JoyRide transforms Android phones into driving machines

With the help of Cobra's newest charger, your Android phone can automatically reconfigure for driving when connected to your car.

The Cobra JoyRide is no ordinary car charger. This 12-volt plug utilizes the Android Open Accessory framework to automatically trigger the launch of a companion app on an Android phone when connected via its micro USB port.

The Cobra JoyRide app features a car-specific interface that presents the user with large buttons to trigger functions such as voice command, hands-free calling, or launching a GPS navigation app. The JoyRide app can also automatically trigger the changing of phone settings--for … Read more

Bluetooth 4.0-powered Cobra Tag G5 needs only biannual recharges

LAS VEGAS--As helpful as the original Cobra Tag was for a forgetful guy like me, it had one fatal flaw: I kept forgetting to recharge the darn thing!

The new Cobra Tag G5, set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, now only needs charging twice per year. Cobra is claiming more than six months of monitoring between recharges of the new Tag G5 thanks to its implementation of Bluetooth 4.0 technology. However, in order to achieve this astronomic battery life, the phone the Tag G5 is paired with will also need to support Bluetooth … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 64: The Bionic's here! Now can we stop talking about it? (Podcast)

Somewhere in the world, a pig must be flying, because we've got the Motorola Droid Bionic in the studio. We also dig into the latest tablet news and Antuan promises to work on his pronunciation.

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News

Motorola Droid Bionic officially hits Verizon Sept. 8 for $300 http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20102230-251/motorola-droid-bionic-officially-hits-verizon-sept-8-for-$300/

Why Amazon’s will be the first successful Android tablet http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20101227-1/why-amazons-will-be-the-first-successful-android-tablet/#ixzz1XHUvTTRs

Quad-Core Android Tablets Expected in Time for Christmas … Read more

Cobra Tag finds your keys, finds your phone (hands-on)

For me, nothing is more annoying than not being able to find my keys when I'm rushing out the door. Nothing. I suppose that I could just put my keys in the same place every time I return home, but why would I do that when I could just solve my problems with technology? Enter the Cobra Tag.

What is it? This Bluetooth-enabled key fob promises to help scatterbrains like me keep track of their keys and Android or BlackBerry smartphone by notifying us when the two are separated. I use the example of keys, because that's how … Read more

Five devices to make your folks techno-comfy

The following statement will not qualify as the biggest news scoop ever published on CNET: Older folks are often uncomfortable with modern technology and gadgets.

It's too easy to look at the senior citizens around you and roll your eyes at their techno-hostility or seeming incompetence when it comes to using gadgets or adjusting to a world seemingly ruled more by gadgets every day. But, that's unfair when you consider the ever-increasing speed of gadget evolution we see now and how hard it is to keep up if you weren't born into the techno stream.

To give you a simple example of what your senior friends are up against, what we understand as the motor car (four wheels, internal combustion engine, etc.) emerged into public view around 1888 and was destined to change the world. But, the first successful mass-produced assembly line car in the U.S. (the Model T) didn't come along until about 20 years later. So, that's about two decades for folks to get used to the idea of motorized transport.

Comparatively, the iPhone--the first big salvo in the age of elite touch-screen smartphones that changed how we communicate, work, and socialize--was released in 2007. In just four years, we've had to get caught up on the concepts of the App Store, FaceTime, airplane mode, and Angry Birds. … Read more

High-end iPad bag: Booq Cobra Courier XS review

Carrying an iPad a year ago involved searching for the perfect bag, and the problem back in 2012 was that many bag makers hadn't figured out the iPad yet. Flash forward to mid-2011, and the iPad 2 and original iPad feel nearly ubiquitous--so, too, do iPad bags. Finding one that matches the iPad's sleek styling is a harder challenge, and one the Booq Cobra Courier XS meets while still offering ample storage in a small package. $145 is a lot to pay for a small bag, but it's hard to do better if you're looking for a sturdy, stylish, practical triple threat. In fact, over the course of our time using this model, we haven't found much better.

Related links • Searching for the perfect iPad bag • Booq Boa Squeeze review

The Booq Cobra Courier XS feels in some ways like a microminiaturized version of the Booq Boa Squeeze, a backpack we loved back in 2009.… Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 46: Desire and the Cute Girl Index

Nielsen thinks that Android phones are finally more desirable than iPhones, but Antuan could have told you that based on less than scientific observations. Justin shows us a phone that he does not desire, the HTC Droid Incredible 2. The unlikely Barnes & Noble Nook Color is rapidly becoming the most desirable Android tablet thanks to a new firmware update. Meanwhile, Motorola plans to give hardcore users what they truly desire, quad-core processors and more hacker friendly Android phones. All of that plus more news and the answers to your emailed questions on this week's episode of Android Atlas … Read more

Cobra iRadar app now available for Android

Last year, we took a look at the Cobra iRadar detector and app for iPhone. Now Android compatibility is available for Cobra's device with the release of the iRadar app for Android, available for download in the Android Market.

The Cobra iRadar app for Android offers all of the standalone features that we saw when we tested the iOS version, including GPS warnings for known road hazards, traffic cameras, and speed traps using Cobra's Aura Camera and Driving Hazard Database (data connection required) with Google Maps integration. You can also set a speed warning with notifications when a … Read more