Booq

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on Booq:

Nerve Black messenger bag will trigger an impulse to buy [Review]

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booq Nerve Black messenger bag
The Nerve Black messenger bag by booq delivers some serious attitude.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Best List: Nerve Black messenger bag by booq

Most messenger bags would look out of place slung over the shoulder of a leather-clad Harley rider. Not the Nerve Black by booq: It exhibits a transcendent cool, whether paired with a business suit or motorcycle chaps.

There’s no cowhide on this bag. Yet the water-repellent tarpaulin flap looks a lot like leather and makes a striking first impression.

Superslim MacBook bag holds more than name suggests [Review]

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Slim is in the name, but the limit of what this bag by booq carries is deceptively generous.
Slim is in the name, but the limit of what this bag by booq carries is deceptively generous.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

We all have that skinny friend with the appetite that belies their profile. No matter how many times you’ve sat across the table, you marvel and ask yourself, “Where do they put it?”

The Superslim, a laptop bag designed by booq for the rollout of the new MacBook Pro, is kind of like that friend.

Shadowy messenger bag will thrill gear-hauling ninjas

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What's inside? Only the Shadow knows.
What's inside? Only the Shadow knows.
Photo: David Pierini/Cult of Mac

Do you want to be known for carrying a stylish computer bag or would you rather be known for being stylish? The Shadow by booq will let you stand out without calling attention to itself while it works to earn a different label: your everyday bag.

The Shadow blends seamlessly with whatever personal style you front with a simple silhouette sans leather or metal accents. You have to look hard to find the brand name. Thick, water-resistant ballistic nylon conceals the ample padding that protects any laptop up to 15 inches.

The booq bag that keeps your tech gear in a Shadow

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The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
The booq Shadow keeps what you're carrying in the dark.
Photo: booq

A shadow is a form of great substance that keeps its details hidden. Such was the inspiration for the designers at booq with a new messenger bag aptly named for what it does not reveal – your expensive tech gear.

The Shadow, available in gray and black, is elegantly spare in its look, which is part of its m.o. to discreetly carry your computer and other valuables.

Best List: Go-to gear for life’s little challenges

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Each month, Lust List rounds up the gear that makes it so we can't feel our faces. This time around we're loving hot music machines, cool photo accessories and more.

S1-A Bicycle Jersey by Search and State

Earlier this summer, Search and State released its version of the ugly-ass Hawaiian shirt in the form of a bicycle jersey. I stared at it for weeks wondering if I could pull off the look while riding in the Oakland hills. While I contemplated my fashion boldness, Search and State apparently sold every last one of those jerseys. I decided I need to get my hands on one of the company's tamer garments to see what the Midtown Manhattan manufacturers have going on.

What they are doing is making beautiful bicycle attire in the heart of what was once New York's garment center. The $140 S1-A bicycle jersey is impeccably sewn and has an understated appearance even the most fashion-challenged can deal with. Nice choice on the zipper, too. — Jim Merithew

Buy from: Search and State

Each month, Lust List rounds up the gear that makes it so we can't feel our faces. This time around we're loving hot music machines, cool photo accessories and more.

S1-A Bicycle Jersey by Search and State

Earlier this summer, Search and State released its version of the ugly-ass Hawaiian shirt in the form of a bicycle jersey. I stared at it for weeks wondering if I could pull off the look while riding in the Oakland hills. While I contemplated my fashion boldness, Search and State apparently sold every last one of those jerseys. I decided I need to get my hands on one of the company's tamer garments to see what the Midtown Manhattan manufacturers have going on.

What they are doing is making beautiful bicycle attire in the heart of what was once New York's garment center. The $140 S1-A bicycle jersey is impeccably sewn and has an understated appearance even the most fashion-challenged can deal with. Nice choice on the zipper, too. — Jim Merithew

Buy from: Search and State


Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Carry your 15-inch MacBook Pro in style with this gorgeous saddle bag

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The new Boa saddle bag by Booq is designed to carry the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
The new Boa saddle bag by Booq is designed to carry the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
Photo: Booq

It’s no secret that Booq, the creators of high-end computer bags and backpacks, draws its design inspiration from snakes. Cobra, Python, Viper and Mamba are just some of its product lines and if we get past our terror of snakes, we can respect they are strong, efficient and flexible much like bags constructed by Booq.

Snakes also unhinge their jaws to consume things larger than their bodies and so Booq, considering the 15-inch MacBook Pro plus all the necessary gear a professional carries daily for work, has added the Boa saddle to its line of stylish bags.

Best List: Heartache is in the (stolen) bag, plus audio gear and more

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Jeans designer Ulrich Simpson likes to say he makes jeans for everybody. And when he says

Jeans designer Ulrich Simpson likes to say he makes jeans for everybody. And when he says "everybody," he really means "every body."

The biggest problem with premium jeans is finding a pair that fits. They tend to come in a very narrow range of cuts and sizes. Not so Simpson's UBi-IND jeans, which are available in five styles and sizes from 29- to 48-inch waist.

They'll fit any body type, from skinny skateboarders to Olympic speed skaters with grotesquely overdeveloped quads (see the Athletic cut). In fact, Simpson's customers range from NBA stars to surfers and cowboys. Simpson's jeans are 100 percent made in the USA from premium Cone Mills denim. — Leander Kahney

Buy from: UBi-IND (online and in San Francisco), Union LA (Los Angeles), AB Fits (San Francisco) Standard & Strange (Oakland), Canvas (Malibu)


Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Gadget Watch: Bags, bags and … bags. Plus, some cool new camera gear

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Bags, bags, bags. Literally – there are three hot bags in this week’s gadget roundup, and if you buy them all, you’ll be out by around a grand. Or you could buy the ultra-expensive Leica M-P, a new camera so minimal it doesn’t even have the trademark red dot on the front, yet still costs $8,000. Or you can go to the other end of the price range and pick up LensBaby’s new iPhone optic for just $70. And that’s just the beginning…

Bags, bags, bags. Literally – there are three hot bags in this week’s gadget roundup, and if you buy them all, you’ll be out by around a grand. Or you could buy the ultra-expensive Leica M-P, a new camera so minimal it doesn’t even have the trademark red dot on the front, yet still costs $8,000. Or you can go to the other end of the price range and pick up LensBaby’s new iPhone optic for just $70. And that’s just the beginning…


Highly specialized Booqpad is either perfect or pointless

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Getting work done. Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

I started German language school a few weeks back, and I was looking forward to testing out the Booqpad. The combination iPad case and paper notepad seemed ideal for using in class. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. Not only is the case oddly tacky – especially weird given the build quality of Booq’s other gear – but it is awkward to use.

Boa Flow backpack is like having your own personal Sherpa

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Photos: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

When I opened the (huge) shipping box that brought the new Boa Flow to Cult of Mac’s German HQ, I thought I’d hate it (the bag, not the box). But it turned out to be one of my favorite bags for lugging a lot of gear with me.

The Boa Flow is made for “creative professionals.” That is, it’s for anyone who needs to carry computers, cameras, headphones and other accessories, and to this end it had zillions of pockets and storage sections. The best part is that there are many options for every kind of item. You can put your MacBook in the separate slot by your back, for example, or you can slip it into a pocket in the main chamber.

Booq’s new Boa Flow Graphite looks like a bag that might finally carry everything, anywhere

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You’ve probably noticed Booq’s odd penchant for naming their strange, sophisticated baggage after snakes. And if you’ve really been paying attention, you’ll have noticed variations on one species crop up over and over again: The Booq Boa.

The Boa’s DNA has mutated into a variety of different forms, all with the purpose of carrying a MacBook and associated equipment. But the newest iteration, the Boa Flow Graphite, may be the most perfect yet — especially for those of us who lug a MacBook and DSLR on adventures.

Booq’s Python Camera Bag Is Perfect For Mirrorless Minimalists [Review]

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Python Mirrorless byBooq
Category: Bags
Works With: Cameras, iPad mini
Price: $80

I have a kind of standing checklist of things I like and things that annoy me in bag design. Booq’s Python Mirrorless Bag flags just one of my “annoyances,” and that’s a purely aesthetic matter. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but it’s pretty damn good at what it does.

Booq’s Python Mirrorless Bag Carries Camera And iPad Mini

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If somebody were designing a camera bag just for me, it would probably look a lot like the Python Mirrorless from Booq. It’s small, but holds just what you need, and is designed to carry a mirrorless-sized camera, an iPad mini and a few accessories, form a paper notebook to a spare lens to your house keys.

It’s also $80, which in the realm of camera bags is roughly equal to free.

Booq’s Nerve Is A Messenger Bag For Suits

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What would happen if you took a dork-o-lithic nylon “Executive Laptop Case” and tossed it onto a (giant) blender with a Chrome messenger bag? Well, I guess the blender would choke and break, but if you used a metaphorical blender then you’d end up with a slurry that could be turned into the Boa Nerve, a bag designed to take you “from the conference room to your bike.”

Booq Departs From Its Habitual Unearthly Fare With Urbane Boa Brief

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Designs from California bag outfitter Booq tend toward the highly unorthodox and original; the last time I wrote about one of their bags I even made a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the company’s gear was designed by folks from outer space.

But with its square-jawed, establishment lines and pockets that open conventionally, Booq’s new $150 Boa brief laptop bag seems like it would look much more at home on the set of Mad Men than it would on the set of Battlestar Galactica.

Booq Fibre Snapcase For iPhone 5

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Booq’s new Fibre Snapcase is yet another shell-style iPhone 5 case, but this one at least has the distinction of using the neat linen-y material also found in Booq’s excellent Mamba device bags. I kind of like the look of it, but I wish that it had gone little further.

The Boa Squeeze, Yet Another Bag from Booq That Looks Like it Was Designed by Aliens (The Space Kind)

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Of course, I have no way of knowing whether space aliens actually had a hand in designing the Booq Boa Squeeze. I ran into a couple of Booq bigwigs in an elevator at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas once, and they seemed pretty cheery, completely normal, and not at all alien-like — too not-alien-like, considering Booq is based in Southern California (I consider myself a Southern Californian; we’re all weirdos). And Booq’s Sierra Madre HQ is suspiciously close to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories

Anyway, whether or not of alien origin, what’s clear is that Booq’s bags are unlike any others on this planet — and their new lightweight, zillion-pocketed Boa Squeeze laptop backpack is no different.

BooqPad Mini Case Is Perfect For The Classroom

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Having utterly failed in my efforts to not buy an iPad mini, I have already started a collection of cases. Most of them are review units, and almost all of them add too much weight and bulk to the tiny mini. But the Booqpad mini seems to have a different idea: If you’re going to add weight anyway, why not just go the whole way and make the extra grams worth it?

Cult of Mac Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts Under $50 [Updated]

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under50 updated

Believe it or not, Christmas is almost here, and we’ll mark this midwinter festival by getting together with friends and family and continuing to drink and eat far too much.
Meanwhile, we also buy gifts for those same friends and family members, whether they want them or not. Luckily, we’re here to help, and if you follow our festive advice, your gifts just might make it into the “wanted” category.

From now until Christmas, Cult of Mac will be putting together holiday gift guys full of ideas for the special ones in your life, no matter what their interests or your budget. Today, we’re looking at gifts that cost less than $50. Yes, you can appear to be a big spender, but without actually spending that much.

Back To School: Every App & Gadget You Need To Survive College [Buyer’s Superguide]

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Going back to school? Then let us help.

You lucky thing. The summer’s over, or nearly over, and you’re already planning on heading back to school. Just like last year, you will begin this year fresh and full of energy and enthusiasm, only to be ground down by the man. Luckily, we’re here to help with advice on the best apps and gear to get you through the year and into next year’s summer vacation with the least effort possible.

So sit back, relax and take a look at the Cult of Mac back to school/college superguide.