Apple iPhone

I Tried to Explain CDs to My Three-Year-Old Daughter

I was strapping my daughter into her carseat when she said, "Daddy, I want my favorite book." She was pointing at the floorboards in the back, where a stratified layer of various toys, books and random objects she has demanded to entertain her during car rides and abandoned after 15 minutes contin ... More >>

A Local Venue With an App? Mucky Duck Has One... and It's Good

Survival in the hospitality business is rough. The vast majority of restaurants fail. Bars are an even tougher go, and nightclub success is even slimmer. That puts live music venues on the lowest rung of the success ladder. So, it is understandable when a live music venue, struggling to get by, is ... More >>

Shining Some Light on Sparrow Bar Kitchen

While I was quick to name Sparrow Bar Cookshop -- the revamped restaurant from chef Monica Pope and the subject of this week's cafe review -- as the No. 1 restaurant in Midtown a few weeks ago, it was not without some reservations. Namely, Sparrow leaves its customers in the dark too often -- bot ... More >>

Six Ways Comcast and AT&T Have Both Sucked for Me

For the past three years, I've had AT&T's U-Verse service for Internet and cable television. I also have an iPhone and use AT&T for my cell service (more on why in a moment). Recently, my fiancée and I got a place together, which is great. But, this is where things went awry with Comcast and AT&T. ... More >>

5 New Careers For Failed Reality Show Star Mitt Romney

The man above lost the election last night, and now that he no longer has dinners, fundraisers, parties, or babies to kiss, he needs something to do. He's sewn his wild political oats and now he must find his way in this brave new world of his. And ours. He needs a new career away from politics, b ... More >>

The Five Scariest Moments in Your Computer Life

There are plenty of good reasons to be scared this Halloween, be it Hurricane Sandy or the economy or JJ Watt (assuming you are an opposing team quarterback), but just in case none of these things hits home with you, geek, I'd like to offer some items that will. Every person who has owned a comput ... More >>

Baby Chino, World's Youngest DJ: "I Have Haters"

Austin-born Ri-yan Dolan is only eight years old -- he turns a ripe nine on August 25 -- and holds the title of the world's youngest DJ, spinning under the name DJ Baby Chino. At a time when kids half his age can operate iPads and iPhones with ease, it should be no surprise that Dolan was only five ... More >>

Life in the Cloud: The Complications and Conveniences of a Connected World

Over the last year or so, I've grown increasingly aware of and interested in the idea of life without a hard drive. My existence is, admittedly, a bit unique. I spend a lot of time on my laptop; in fact, it is my main computer. When I'm in my office, it is connected to a big monitor for convenience, ... More >>

Five Ways the Cell Phone Camera Has Changed the Way We Live

When I was a kid, I used to follow my dad around with a Kodak Instamatic he got me from a drugstore. He was the pro in the family, shooting photos for magazines and for himself. Like most shutterbugs, he had an ample collection of lenses and camera bodies. When I turned 12, he bought me my first rea ... More >>

11 Great Apps for Dad This Father's Day

My father loved his computer. I know because he used to call me for tech support almost every day. He was the kind of guy who loved to try out new gadgets. I think a lot of us guys are that way. I know I'm certainly a chip off the ol' block. In that spirit, it makes sense to round up some great app ... More >>

App of the Week: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo App

App: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Platform: iPhone, Android Website: Apple Store, Android Store Cost: Free One of the growing trends in app development is the use of location-based apps for very specific events. It started with large concerts like Austin City Limits and spread to big conference ... More >>

iCan't: 4 Reasons Why Even the iPad 3 Won't Cause Me to Buy One

In April of last year, I wrote about whether I should buy an iPad. After a few musing paragraphs, I came to the begrudging conclusion that the iPad was likely part of my technological future. Well, it's nearly a year later and still no iPad for me. With the release of the iPad 3 tomorrow (and a prob ... More >>

Meal Snap: Bad for Counting Calories, but Great for the LOLs

Last week, our editor asked if anyone was interested in evaluating an iPhone application called "Meal Snap." Since I both work in IT and write about food, this sounded like a perfect assignment for me. I love playing with new technology. Meal Snap claims that you can take a photo of your plate and ... More >>

Sampler Plate: This Week in Food Blogs

Robb Walsh: In case you hadn't heard... Texas oyster season is now open! Look for Texas appellation oysters this year, especially from purveyors like Louisiana Foods and at the Saturday by-catch market from PJ Stoops. Blog of an Aspiring Foodie: After a long absence, Chris is back with a fierce pos ... More >>

App of the Week: WeatherBug Elite

​App: App Shopper Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, Windows, Palm Web site: WeatherBug Website Cost: $0.99 People who know me know I'm a weather nerd. I love reading about it and talking about high pressure areas, cold fronts, hurricanes and the like. The doppler radar plays a pro ... More >>

Iranian Film Festival

Evernote Food: An App That Helps You Record Your Meals

​Note-taking smart phone app Evernote is widely considered one of the best productivity apps on the market, particularly if you do a lot of note taking. I ranked it as my number one app of the year and find it indispensable for keeping track of everyday tasks. The company that produced Everno ... More >>

Rocks Off Resolutions: How We Hope to Improve in 2012

It seems like every year around this time, we start with the, "God, I need to lose weight" or "stop smoking" or "exercise more" or "stop murdering babies." It never seems to work and by March, we are back to our old, fat, smokey, lazy, baby murdering ways. It's a shame, really. This year, Rocks Off ... More >>

The 10 Best Songs of 2011 You Didn't Hear

​I have absolutely no clue what is going on out there. I know that Beyoncé had that song with the counting, Adele had a song that was maybe about doing ecstasy in a pool, and some guy with a beard got nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy even though For Emma, Forever Ago came out literally ... More >>

Sick of Nickelback? Remove Them with Nickelblock

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.​The holidays are a time for miracles and small gestures of goodwill by your fellow man. It's also a time of pushing and shoving and trampling to save 15 bucks on a flat screen that has the resolution of an iPhone. It's a complicated time of year. But, so ... More >>

Tunnel Explorer: Howdy Burger

Photo by Nicholas L. HallA perfect example of the iPhone's ability to take inexplicably good photos.​I probably should have known better. In fact, my better instincts were telling me to keep moving when I stumbled on Howdy Burger while exploring the tunnel section stretching underneath the Esp ... More >>

Ray's Drive-In in Lufkin: Surpassing Expectations

Head north on Highway 59 to meet this monster burger.​On the way out to deep East Texas last week for a story, I found myself suddenly starving and in unfamiliar territory: Lufkin. Unwilling to sacrifice myself upon the fast-food altar when I know that there's great small-town food to be had ... More >>

App of the Week: Avoid Speed Traps, Red-Light Cameras with Trapster

Trapster on the Android platform.​App: Trapster Platforms: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Web site: Trapster Cost: Free The red-light cameras are back on again. After much voting, debating and suing, running a red light with a camera will cost you...again. But, one way to help you p ... More >>

Friday Night: Rick Springfield & Spin Doctors At Arena Theatre

Photos by Bob Ruggiero​Rick Springfield, Spin Doctors Arena Theatre May 27, 2011 Looking around at the Arena Theatre audience Friday - heavily populated by forty- and fiftysomething women on a little Girls Night Out - it would be easy to dismiss them as estrogen bombs just waiting to detonat ... More >>

KTRU Has One More Week On The FM Dial (UPDATED)

UPDATE (3:06 p.m.): A reader just emailed Rocks Off and says KTRU staff was just informed the station is going off the FM airwaves at 6 a.m. next Thursday, April 28. burndownblog.wordpress.com​A little earlier, Rocks Off started hearing rumors that this evening would be Rice University studen ... More >>

SXSW Music, Day One, Minus One...

Craig Hlavaty​Tuesday marked the first full day that Rocks Off was on the ground for this year's South By Southwest in Austin, and it was also the last day of the interactive and film portions of the ten-day festival. This made for some fun culture-clash, as the typically tech-driven and nerdier h ... More >>

App of the Week: Lanyrd

Now, if someone would just create something to cover the shows too.​App: Lanyrd Platforms: All Smart Phones Web site: Lanyrd.com Cost: Free Most weeks, this space is filled with information about an app you can get for iPhone or Android. This week is slightly different because Lanyrd is n ... More >>

Death Penalty: Your Newest App

Yeah, there's an app for that​Have your Angry Birds gone postal? You might need the newest app, from the Death Penalty Information Center. Today's on-the-go death-penalty activist is now only a touch away from "our Fact Sheet on the Death Penalty, our Execution Database, and the most recent d ... More >>

App of the Week: SeamlessWeb

List pulled from the 77027 area code.​App: SeamlessWeb Platforms: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, plus a mobile friendly Web site Web site: SeamlessWeb.com Cost: Free As long as there have been restaurants and lazy people, there have been food delivery services. From the milk man to the pizza de ... More >>

Confused Wade Phillips Is Confused

Something occurred to me the other day as I was reading the sports ticker announcing that our own Houston Texans were hiring Wade Phillips as the new defensive coordinator and, in fact, keeping Gary Kubiak as head coach, in the face of a wave of anti-Kubiak gnashing of teeth. Have you ever had a f ... More >>

Comments of the Day: On Wine with Lunch, and Hipstamatic

​Today we're doing two comments of the day, because we so wholeheartedly agree with them both. First, in response to Katharine Shilcutt's post "Stretch that Dining Dollar: Eat Fancy at Lunch," commenter Francesca gave an over-the-top thumbs up to wine with lunch: Oh, the wisdom encapsulated ... More >>

The 5 Best Houston Restaurant Websites

These websites definitely did NOT suck.​Last week, we gave you our list of the ten reasons why your restaurant website sucks. Apparently, you agreed with us, so we set out to make a list of the best and worst restaurant websites in Houston. Today, the best of the best. For our list, we made a ... More >>

KTRU Love

Readers react to sale of radio station.

Rice Study's Startling(?) Conclusion: Video Quality Doesn't Matter If The Subject's Interesting

That video quality's not good enough! Turn it off!​Philip Kortum, a professor in Rice's Department of Psychology, has finished a study and found...that if you're enjoying what you're watching on TV, then you don't care as much about video quality. Ummm, surprising? Not if you've seen people watch ... More >>

Cover Artiste Brett Domino Is Even Better Than The Real Thing

Every day Rocks Off trolls the tubes of you in search of videos deemed worthy to share. If you have something you think deserves to be video of the day, send a link to jef_rouner@yahoo.com. ​Sometimes you hear a cover that is so much better than the original that you wish that it had come fir ... More >>

Sole of Houston: Bicycles Enable Lomax And Beebe To Cover 30-Plus Miles Of Hood

Murder, tacos and Perpetual Help​Man, there has been a lot of water under the bridge since David Beebe and I last undertook a Sole of Houston stroll in December of 2008.For my part, there was a divorce, massive weight loss, and the ditching of pretty much all my vices. As for Beebe, the supe ... More >>

Five Onstage Meltdowns Funnier Than Courtney Love In D.C.

Universal Music Group​As far as Rocks Off knows, everything is hunky-dory for Hole's show at House of Blues this evening. Courtney Love and friends are scheduled to play from 9:45 to 11:15, which Rocks Off is interpreting as they could go on anywhere from 9:45 to 11:15. As Hole's rambling, sl ... More >>

The Week In TV: Enjoy Hulu While It Lasts

The good stuff won't be free for much longer.​My backyard flooded, I went half-blind on fireworks, and I am exponentially losing my agility. This was the week in TV Land: • As if to taunt my very desires, Hulu announced last week that it's launching Hulu Plus, a paid version of the site th ... More >>

Roger Ebert's Descent Into Twitter Madness

Tweet addiction -- a growing problem ​Let it be established for the record that Roger Ebert is a gift to America.Whether you agree with his opinions all the time or not, his movie reviews are gracious, insightful, funny and erudite. His profiles are equally terrific.But we think the guy's go ... More >>

Gettin' Snatch? Slayin' Puss? Yeah, Pepsi Has an App for That

​One day, someone ridiculously wise (or someone that was obviously getting ripped a new asshole by the media) once said, "No press is bad press." Unfortunately, that old adage probably isn't applicable to Pepsi, and won't be in this lifetime.We suppose we shouldn't be too surprised that Pepsi deve ... More >>

Texas Traveler: Bluebonnet Wine Trail

While in Navasota lovin' on some alpacas, Texas Traveler had a hankerin' thirst. So we got on our trusty iPhone and found the closest winery, a funky l'il shack called the Purple Possum Winery. While in the air-conditioned comfort of the Purple Possum's tasting room, we met a lovely couple we'd se ... More >>

Rapper Willie D Arrested Over Alleged iPhone Scam

Rapper Willie D has been arrested and charged with wire fraud, US Attorney Tim Johnson has announced.William James Dennis, as he's more formally known, was arrested last night at Bush Intercontinental after an indictment was unsealed charging him in connection "with his purported sales of iPhones th ... More >>

Willie D Arrested on Wire Fraud Charges

Willie D, member of Houston rap pioneers the Geto Boys and CEO of Relentless Entertainment, was arrested by FBI agents Wednesday night at George Bush International Airport as he returned from an overseas trip. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office, D, whose real name is William De ... More >>

Turning the Screw: Dustin Prestige, Kid Cudi, King Tut, Rick Ross/50 Cent, Ludacris, Lil' Kim, T.I./Chris Brown, Fat Pat and More

Welcome back to Turning the Screw, Rocks Off's weekly rap post. It probably won't rhyme, at least most of the time. E-mail tips to introducingliston@gmail.com. Thanks, homies. Single of the Week: "Dope," Dustin Prestige Wire To Wire Kid Cudi was tasered at an NBA All-Star Game party in ... More >>

In the Shade: Shady Shots

Raveonettes

Lust Lust Lust

The Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose

The bad boys of folk music hit the big screen

Drenched In Blog: Seeking Help! from the Beatles