Apple Inc.

Google Wallet Takes on PayPal with Send Money Function

Remember checks? Some of us still use them on occasion. They are those paper things we have to fill out by hand and use to pay for stuff, mostly rent and maybe a birthday gift for the nephew. Just like the U.S. Postal Service is rapidly being replaced by e-mail, checks (and, in some cases, cash) are ... More >>

Grown-up Fun With Easy Bake Oven

Having recently achieved a major life goal, I decided to buy myself a present. The latest Apple invention? A designer handbag? A well-aged Merlot? Not for this thirty-one-year-old woman. A used Easy Bake Oven off of Amazon was my reward. I didn't own an Easy Bake Oven as a kid but my best pal Ashl ... More >>

5 Hard Cider Cocktails To Try

By itself a good hard cider is a wonderfully refreshing, mildly intoxicating beverage that is a terrific summer brew alternative for non-lovers of beer (me). Add a little this, a little that, and you have a cocktail with some extra zing, more flavor dimensions, and enough volume for multiple large ... More >>

Google Glass: Are Companies Serious with Digital Glasses?

Who remembers the computer on a watch? No, not the iWatch, which Apple is marketing that will probably bomb, but the terrible little Texas Instruments or IBM computer in a wristwatch that was popular with nerds, geeks, dorks and all the doughy math freaks of the 80s. Not ringing a bell? That's beca ... More >>

Apple Maps is Not Ready to Let Go of Astroworld

Our friend Alex Luster, who was the subject of a cover story in 2011, posted something intriguing to his Facebook page on Monday. According to him, Apple Maps, the app that took the place of Google Maps in the iPhone's OS 6 upgrade and has been much maligned, apparently still believes Six Flags Astr ... More >>

Twitter for Video App Vine Loaded Down with Porn Videos in First Week of Launch

Twitter finally released its much anticipated video companion app, Vine, last week. The video sharing network allows users to post very short video clips and share them with other users both on their own network and on Twitter. Like Twitter, hashtags help define videos and make them more easily sear ... More >>

Evernote Food 2.0 App: Your Digital Cookbook

Apple released Evernote Food last year, as an application for you to remember the food you recently ate. Rather than just snapping a quick picture of your gorgeous meal you either created at home or enjoyed at a restaurant, and vowing you would blog about it but really ended up never looking at it a ... More >>

Pumpkins and Pumpkins, But No Pumpkins: Jolly Pumpkin Bam Bière

I'll just forewarn you right now: the next several installments of Brew Blog will feature beer you can't have. Or, more specifically, beer you can't get in Texas. Or even more specifically, beer not currently carried by any of the licensed distributors in our area. Don't like that? Open The Taps is ... More >>

Top 5 Special Edition Halloween Candies

As the fall holiday season approaches, Halloween-themed candies are popping up on grocery shelves and fueling my addiction to limited/special-edition products. Here are five that deserve some space in your trick-or-treat sack. 5. Ghost DOTS. While regular DOTS never really made me kick up my heels ... More >>

What's Cooking This Week? Grilled Eggplant Panini, Chicken Parmigiana & More

I love cooking for my fiancé and me, but most of the time, cooking for two proves to be difficult. If I don't make a plan, I end up running around in circles at the grocery store and wasting half the ingredients I've bought (and I hate wasting food). Enter What's Cooking This Week - my weekly meal ... More >>

Moving Day: 5 Albums I Just Can't Quit

Reconsidering a lifetime of musical choices is a funny business. My first musical purchase? The Maxi Single for Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now). First proper album purchase? Amy Grant's 1991 classic, Heart In Motion. Before I lose any degree of credibility, let's move on. For the past m ... More >>

Happy Apple Week: Day Three -- Crock-Pot Apple Butter

Apple butter has always held a special place in my heart. I love putting this cool, smooth and sweet spread on toast, bagels, English muffins or even just eating it by the spoonful. It's technically not a true butter because it has no cream, fat or dairy -- it's just apples, sugar and spices. But th ... More >>

Apples vs. Bananas: A Showdown for the Ages

When I was in college, my roommates and I had an ongoing debate about which would win in a fight: a fully grown male African lion or a fully grown male grizzly bear. Obviously, if you say "lion" you are an idiot unworthy of continuing to breathe air. The grizzly bear can take a bipedal, upright bo ... More >>

Don't Do That: Five Big Mistakes iPhone Users Make

I mentioned in an item a couple weeks back that my aunt recently got an iPhone and has hit me up a few times for advice. Being the wise woman she is, she also took a class on how to use her new toy highly advanced technological device and it has made her life easier. But the truth is there are so ma ... More >>

Top 5 Old Musicians Actually Using Twitter

Like youth itself, Twitter is wasted on the young. But not everyone over 35 has completely tuned it out -- after a recent upgrade to a smartphone, even I'm using it now after years of Twitterphobia. (Hit me up at @ThePhantomTX.) Since I've been on, I've learned that most musicians have handed off t ... More >>

App of the Week: SugarSync and DropBox, Two Great iCloud Alternatives

App: Dropbox Platform: Most smart phones Website: Dropbox.com Cost: Free (includes 2GB storage) App: SugarSync Platform: Most smart phones Website: SugarSync.com Cost: Free (includes 5GB storage) There has been an awful lot of talk about cloud computing over the last couple years, particularly sin ... More >>

Meet Chris Clackson, Hockey Player, App Developer

It's been a strange season for the Aeros. They shot off to a quick start, having the best record in the league for the first month or so. Then the injury bug hit the parent club, and key player after key player got the call to join the Wild, leaving the Aeros depleted and relying on young players ... More >>

Save Yourself: The 10 Worst Online Retailers

Ads like this are the only reason to visit AmericanApparel.com...if you like that sort of thing​It's frustrating enough to shop for friends and family members during the holidays. Do I get my 80-year-old aunt a gift card to Kroger or H-E-B? Decisions, decisions. Unfortunately, some online mer ... More >>

Kung Fu Hustle

Video games are only part of this Washington corridor adult arcade's appeal.

My Five Most Indispensable Music Technologies

Previously the pinnacle of music technology...and pure awesomeness.​I started listening to music on vinyl way back in biblical times and things seemed just fine. CDs came along and made hauling around music somewhat easier and, once you got past the crispy clarity, the music sounded pretty dam ... More >>

Three Ways Steve Jobs Made Technology Cool, Stylish and Accessible

This morning I was scheduled for a conference call with one of my clients and I knew I was running a few minutes late. My laptop was not with me and I didn't know the client's email address by heart. Fortunately, I had my iPhone. I opened it up, found a recent e-mail exchange between myself and my c ... More >>

What Google & Motorola's Marriage Means To The Music Industry

The Daily Beast​Google stunned the tech world last week when it tied the knot with Motorola for $12.5 billion. But it's the music business that should be raising its brows at the union. Like any typical suitor, Google weighed Motorola's considerably large assets in its decision to get in bed ... More >>

Biophilia: Bjork Releasing The First App-Based Album

​Your humble narrator is being dragged kicking and screaming into a future of iPhones and whatnot, both by being married to a loyal Apple convert and the innovations of the music industry. Though Rocks Off still tracks down local acts and releases the old-fashioned way - online concert listing ... More >>

App of the Week: Five Things Google Will Need to Best Facebook

​Google began allowing invites into its allegedly cool social network (simply named Google ) last week to fairly glowing reviews. The site aims to capitalize on the wildly popular Gmail e-mail platform and other integrated services already offered by Google including its cloud music service an ... More >>

Super Bowl Sunday: Live-Blogging the Commercials

You may be asking yourself WTF is going on in that wacky 1970s Laugh-In-esque commercial above, starring Joe Namath and one incredibly frightening woman. Well, that commercial is the one that started it all, the era of billion-dollar Super Bowl spots, the most coveted 30 seconds of advertising on ... More >>

Ten Movies You Won't Get Into at Sundance

​The Sundance Film Festival kicks off this week in Park City, Utah. The venerable fest enters its 33rd year with many once again questioning the organizers' commitment to independent film. Recent incarnations have debuted underground fare from art houses like Fox Searchlight and Sony Pictures ... More >>

Ingredient of the Week: Rolled Wheat Flakes

​What is it? I'm a whole grain freak. There's almost always a loaf of whole wheat bread sitting on my counter, a package of rolled oats in the pantry and whole wheat pasta just around the corner. So when I came across some rolled wheat flakes, naturally, I had to try them. According to Bob's ... More >>

Top 5 Local Ideas: The Gift of Lone Star Deliciousness

Looking to spread Texas-size cheer to friends and family out of state? Need a universally appealing present for employees or clients? Below are five suggestions for food gifts chock full of local flavor and appeal. The "DJ Special." Original BBQ Sauce, Jalapeño Garlic BBQ Sauce, Heavy Garlic BBQ Sa ... More >>

$19 Lunch at Samba Grille

When is it not sangria weather in Houston?​I know that Eating Our Words isn't meant to be a weather report, but bear with me here, as we've been experiencing some unseasonably shitty weather... By Wednesday, it's supposed to be sunny and cold once again, with a low of 43 degrees. That's more ... More >>

iPod: Happy Anniversary, You Little Devil

Can somebody please tell us what the hell Firewire is? Nine years ago today - November 10, 2001 - Apple unveiled a new kind of MP3 player known as an iPod. About the size of a deck of cards, the device contained five gigabytes of memory, enough for about 1,000 songs, and cost $400. Four. Hundred. ... More >>

The Eight Stupidest iPhone Music Apps

​Apple's foray into the social-network field failed big-time last month with the release of Ping, the iTunes-linked program that promised to connect you to your favorite artists, as long as your favorite artist is Justin Bieber. When it comes to iTunes, we at Rocks Off are a discerning sort. ... More >>

FAIL: Wyclef Jean, Richard Ashcroft, Mark Wahlberg, iTunes

Photo illustrations by John Seaborn Gray​Wyclef Jean's Latest Vanity Project: President of Haiti: Wyclef Jean is best known for being the member of the Fugees who quite improbably enjoyed the most solo success. We would have bet on Lauryn Hill, but unfortunately, she went crazy. Crazy may be ... More >>

While You Weren't Tweeting: Tigers, Wires and Pairs, Oh My!

What was life like before the Internet? Does anyone really remember, anyway? 'Cause, you know, some kids've been choking the cyberchicken since birth, we hear. Even we fogeys certainly don't recall much before the Invasion of the Interwebs, but we'll posit a guess that we were thinner, friendle ... More >>

Now the iPhone Has a Non-Vegetarian Friendly Stylus

​For a moment, forget our northerly neighbors and their backyard games. Forget slush, forget fog, forget medals, forget that anything else matters but your life and your world ('cause what does, really?). In the face of the latest round of Arctic cold snaps mercilessly pummeling our little sli ... More >>

Top 5 Cocktails Guys Can't Order In Public

You're a man. You like beer. In fact, hurray, beer! But just because you are a virile male doesn't mean that you can't glance over at the girl holding a beverage with a delightful fruit skewer and think, "Gee, that looks fun and refreshing, I'll order that next!" Right? Wrong! There are certain cock ... More >>

Nerd Alert: Trailer for "The Beatles: Rock Band" Debuts

After almost two years of programming and tinkering, the developers of the Beatles edition of the "Rock Band" videogame have released a trailer for the game in advance of its release in the fall. The visuals in the trailer are faithful to the boys from Liverpool, down to every detail. We were as ... More >>

Cop Warmth Poaches Rocks Off's Artwork on New Cassette

"Jesus Sanchez"... sorry, Craig Hlavaty Rocks Off loves getting local tapes and vinyl in the mail here. That's not a cry for free shit or a sad call for pity. We just dig hearing new music off something other than an Apple product or a boring plastic round disc. That being said we just got in the ne ... More >>

David Brown: “20/40”

David Brown makes art with his iPhone

Tonight: The McKenzies on KTRU; Future Clouds & Radar at Mucky Duck

Lindsay, Britney, Obama and Hello

TIME OUT

WASHINGTON APPLE

I Want My MP3

Not Bad for a 22-year-old

Our top DVD picks for the week of August 1.

Cool Front

Things get chill when DJ Icey spins into town

One-Stop Shop

Everything you need to be cool in Sugar Land

Cut the Apple

Plus: Buck Rogers, Harvesting Knowledge, Star Pizza Resolve

Soul Machine

The Apple II computer: Some still consider it the wizard of Woz

Night & Day

May 13-19, 1999

The Good with the Badfinger

A Houston producer pays loving tribute to an enduring -- if cursed -- band