If there’s one product outside of the computer and portable electronics markets we wish Apple would design, it’s a car.
Spot Cool Stuff is a big fan of nearly everything Apple. Yes, their products aren’t inexpensive. But they are almost universally well designed, well built and user friendly—not to mention cool-looking. If Apple were to bring their prowess an automobile design . . . well, we can only imagine.
In a previous post we reviewed the Spot (no relation to Spot Cool Stuff), a portable GPS tracker and SOS satellite messenger. In addition to keeping a catrographical record of your travels, the Spot let you send out SOS messages to emergency responders.
Send out—but not receive. And even then you could only send one of three messages: OK, Help and 911.
The upcoming DeLorme inReach is a satellite messenger that not only let’s you send customized SOS text messages but receive them too.
Wow! What kind of car is that?!
That was the question drivers rolled down their windows to ask us every few blocks as we were test driving the 2011 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet through downtown Dallas, Texas. On the highway, cars adjusted their speed so to drive alongside us for a closer look. When we stopped in a Starbucks, we overheard customers entering the coffee shop talking about what a sleek set of wheels we had.
Nissan flew Spot Cool Stuff to Dallas for their media unveiling of the world’s first all-wheel drive crossover convertible vehicle1 in advance of the vehicle’s April sales launch. From the moment we saw the Murano CrossCabriolet we knew it would be a head turner—it’s unlike any other vehicle on the market today. But is it worth its $46,390 price tag? Our review:
Add yet another use for a smartphone: radar detector. That thanks to Cobra and its Cobra iRadar, the first radar detector with phone connectivity.
The way it works is: You mount the compact iRadar unit on the dashboard of your car and then pair it via Bluetooth to an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch running the iRadar app. The iPhone then works as the radar detector’s display.
So how well does this marriage between smartphone and radar detector work? Our overview of the pros and cons:
If it hadn’t come from aeronautics heavyweight Airbus we wouldn’t be writing this post. But it was the giant European airplane manufacturer that, at the Farmborough Airshow, announced it was developing an airplane with a translucent fuselage!
Time was that electric cars were glorified golf carts. No longer Today’s all-battery-powered vehicles are larger, better looking—and faster. Exhibit #1: The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG E-cell.
Finding your way by car can sometimes feel like a galactic struggle. And with a TomTom automobile GPS unit it can also sound galactic.
Users of these popular portable navigators can now have the voice of a Star War character guide them to their destination.
The S5 is the smallest consumer device capable of running a full version of Windows
In our holiday review of 10 Superb Travel Gifts we suggested a cool MID (Mobile Internet Device) with built in wi-fi, GPS and HD 720p video playback functionality, a 4.8-inch screen and a long battery life:
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