Google Inc.

Getting Business Info Changed on Google a Difficult Task

As Google has gotten increasingly more sophisticated about delivering search results to specific users, it has incorporated tools that make local searches easier. In fact, Google prefers to provide local searches. No doubt it is less of a database strain, but more importantly it targets very specifi ... More >>

Harris County Attorney Sues Sharpstown Hotel Over Drugs, Prostitution, Violence

Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, in conjunction with the Sharpstown Management District, filed suit against the Plainfield Inn off Interstate 59 and Bissonnet on Wednesday. The hotel is known around the country -- it must be because they mentioned that TWICE in the press release -- for its prostit ... More >>

DeAndre Jordan's Dunk Immortalized By The Voice Of WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross!

In 2013, one of the biggest gauges of your brand, your legacy, your relevance is what I like to call the "Google ______" test. Put someone's name in Google and what are the first three or four items that Google self-fills in as related topics after that name. If my "Google _____" test for DeAndre J ... More >>

5 Really Simple Things Everyone Should Know About the Internet

I spend most of my days working on web sites. It's what I do for a living. So, naturally, I also answer a lot of questions about the Internet from people who don't know how to do things I consider simple, everyday tasks. Sometimes, this can be frustrating, but I then remind myself that mechanics cha ... More >>

By Land, Air & Sea: Five Playlists For Any Travel Occasion

Whether it's a 24-hour road trip to visit family, hopping on an airplane to kill off personal days at work, or avoiding the holidays by taking a cruise a lot of people choose to do their travelling in December. Once things are sorted out at the office, arrangements have been made for the pets, and ... More >>

Internetocalypse! Facebook and Gmail Go Down in the Same Afternoon

When I read yesterday that Facebook was down, only hours after Gmail servers had gone dark, I actually laughed a bit to myself because I realized I was reading it on Twitter. I began to imagine what would happen if it also had server issues. What would the world do...go back to MySpace? Then, it da ... More >>

Promote-Gate: Facebook Charges for Promoted Posts Criticized

The changes made to the timeline on Facebook over the last couple years have caused a furor among users, but what has flown under the radar is the anger over the way Facebook fan pages (simply called "Pages" now) don't show up in the timeline of every person who "likes" a given page. Yesterday, I wa ... More >>

Free WiFi at Houston's Airports But Grab It Quick, Ends Soon

Both George Bush International and William P. Hobby airports will have free wi-fi thanks to Google Play (yay!) but only through the end of September (boo). As we reported in July, Houston airports don't have the extended free wi-fi amenities that many others in the country do. As part of a multim ... More >>

You Won't Get Into Heaven Listening to Christian Dubstep

Driving home the other night, I thought I had come up with the perfect get-rich-quick scheme: Christian dubstep. Roll your eyes if you'd like, but one thing I've noticed is that going to an EDM show is a lot like going to church: They both feature music, alcohol, and standing on your feet for long ... More >>

App of the Week: AroundMe Points You in the Right Direction

App: AroundMe Platform: iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile Website: AroundMeApp.com Cost: Free (with ads), $2.99 (without) One of the most usable features of any smartphone is its mapping technology. In essence, the smartphone is a simplified GPS tracker and because of Google's open mapping technology ... More >>

The Good, the Bad and the Spam: The Complexities of Switching to Gmail

My aunt called me on Tuesday. She just got an iPhone. Admittedly, she is not technically inclined and was in need of a little technical support. Apparently, when she deleted e-mails she received on her computer in Outlook, they still showed up in her inbox on her phone. I diagnosed the problem, but ... More >>

Google Combines Services and Privacy Documents

​Over the past month, I've gotten multiple notices from Google about an update to their privacy documentation and, apparently, it's caused quite a little furor. As usual with any large tech company that commands so much of our data, any change is viewed with skepticism. When Facebook has a pol ... More >>

If the Wikipedia Boycott of SOPA Spread: Seven Examples of Horror

​With Wikipedia boycotting the Stop Online Piracy Act today by shutting itself down for 24 hours, the powers that be at the crowdsourced information giant hope we all get freaked out enough by their absence that we tell Congress we think SOPA should not be passed. If you don't know what SOPA i ... More >>

SOPA & GoDaddy Explained

White and Nerdy: Explaining SOPA vs GoDaddy for the Tech-Challenged

When trying to explain the debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and the involvement of domain name registrar GoDaddy in a staff meeting this week, my words were met with collective blank stares, as if I were speaking a different language. It is a look I often get from Web-design clients when I tal ... More >>

The 10 Most Popular Rocks Off Posts of 2011

Photo by Marc BrubakerKe$ha, Slutwave queen.​Each December we take a moment to reflect back on the writing of the year, looking at those posts that seem to most fervently stir the hearts and imaginations of our readers. This year, you guys were really, really into films, soundtracks and music ... More >>

What Google Music Means To The Music Industry

techonzo.com​Google is finally launching its own music service. Google Music is a full-scale music service/store designed to compete with Amazon and Apple. Android boss Andy Rubin says they're very close to launch. About a dozen independent labels are have already joined forces with Google and ... More >>

ACL: Batman's Bale At Bingham, Nick 13 is a 10 On Sunday Afternoon

Marco Torresoh hai Batman!​The widget on our phone says it's only 91 degrees here at Zilker Park but we don't believe that voodoo. The humidity and heat pounding the park reminds us of Houston. We smell Pasadena and our fair city's taco trucks all the way from Austin. Our day started by walk ... More >>

Five Hurdles Google Still Faces in the War Between the Social Networks

​Google launched to much fanfare in June and there were all sorts of people proclaiming either its superiority to Facebook or what an utter failure it would be. Since June, the social networking platform has added 25 million users, but there isn't a whole lot of buzz about it and using it sti ... 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 >>

35 Bands You Should Never, Ever Search On Google Images

dedica.laOnce unprintable in "family" newspapers, today the Butthole Surfers barely even rate on our list. You'll see why.​Here at Rocks Off, we take our blog ideas where we can get them - even from mistakes. Allow us to explain. About a month ago, we went to Rihanna at Toyota Center, and aft ... More >>

The Ten Coolest Animated Google Doodles

​Today, Google's logo looked like the image above and became a heated topic on Twitter. The logo -- referred to as a "doodle" -- had people wondering why anyone should celebrate the birthday of a dead guy and just who the hell Gregor Mendel was in the first place. In fact, Google regularly ... More >>

Land Of Confusion: A Google Playlist

Join my circle, won't you? ​About a week ago, we finally took up a friend's Google invite offer, and immediately starting tooling around the search engine's new social-media outlet. In Google's words, the new site "makes sharing on the Web feel like sharing in real life." That sounds cool, bu ... More >>

The Five Biggest Google Fails and Wins

​Google launched with much fanfare recently and, quickly, the reviews poured in. We even wrote about the things we thought Google would need to do to beat Facebook and we have since had a chance to look around inside the social networking platform. It does appear to be easier to use than Fac ... 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 >>

This Looks Legit: 4 Craigslist Music Ads We Passed On

Photo by Justin Sullivan​Rocks Off likes to troll CraigsList looking for ads in the musicians section. You can often find some truly original and interesting people at the very inception of their careers. You can also find rampaging lunatics who are interesting enough to talk to. But nyone w ... More >>

Google Wedding: Houston Couple Nabs $25K Prize

It's a nice day for a Google wedding.​Screw William and Kate -- the only wedding Hair Balls can get excited about is the upcoming one of Google Wedding sweepstakes winners (and Houstonians) Philong Nguyen and Nhu-Y Nguyen. The couple plans to marry in September. In its continued mission of wo ... More >>

Ethnic and Geopolitical Culinary Stereotypes as Expressed Through Google; Or, Why Do White People Eat Breakfast?

Yes, this exact thing is taking place in Thailand right now. Except not really.​The interesting thing about Google is that we ask it the kind of deeply intimate questions that we would never ask another human being, even a friend or loved one. Embarrassing questions; compromising questions; da ... More >>

NFL Conference Title Games: Douche-apalooza 2011!

This is not Roger Staubach​Ben Roethlisberger, Mark Sanchez, Jay Cutler, Aaron Rodgers. In an era where success in the NFL has never been more tied to quarterback play, those are your last four quarterbacks standing in the 2011 Playoffs. Most NFL fans see the elimination and subsequent absen ... More >>

The 10 Biggest Posts of 2010

Y'all loved this post. Seriously.​With the end of the year in sight, we wanted to look back out our most viewed, most commented and overall most popular posts from the past 12 months. Some are silly, some are informative, some are thought-provoking. And all of them went viral in ways we couldn ... More >>

The Nation's BBQ Capital According to Google, and It Ain't Texas

Last week, we showed you how Google has been actively tracking food and drink trends since at least 2004 and how 2010 was the year of pizza (at least according to your search patterns and the number of times people have Googled "Pizza Hut"). But that's not the only thing that Google Insight lets you ... More >>

The Top 10 Google Searches for 2010: Food & Drink Edition

Google, you clever bastards. Making me hungry for Thanksgiving dinner all over again in December.​On a particularly creepy episode of Conspiracy Theory -- yes, the one with Governor Jesse Ventura and the Blond Ponytail of Better Days -- a cornered spokesperson for a government Fusion Center to ... More >>

Google Street View Lawsuit: Texas Gets In On The Action

According to a federal lawsuit, Google stole private information in Texas when it was collecting data for Street View. ​An East Texas attorney has filed a class action lawsuit against Google, claiming the company illegally stole data from Wi-Fi networks while collecting data for Google Maps Street ... More >>

Okra Pie: It Can Be Done

​If there's one thing that Houston farmers markets have in abundance right now, it's okra. The summery vegetable is either loved or hated -- there seems to be no middle ground -- due in large part to its mucilaginous properties. (The nice way of saying the okra pod is filled with a thick, gooe ... More >>

Glitchville, USA: But We're Working On It

​If your regular Wednesday afternoon routine includes clicking on the Houston Press homepage to see what the new issue contains (and of course it should), you may be a bit baffled right now.For some reason the links to the stories on the homepage aren't working.We are "efforting," as they say in t ... More >>

A Work By Brooke Bartholomew Of Friendswood May Be The Face Of Google For A Day

Courtesy Google"Repairing All the World's Breaks"​ Your Google searches may soon start with artwork from a Friendswood eighth-grader.Brooke Bartholomew is one of 40 finalists out of 33,000 contestants, and she's getting a free trip to Google's New York headquarters out of the deal.You want her to ... More >>

Dear Google: Your Auto-Fill Feature Makes Us Sad

On the one hand, the auto-fill feature on Google can be a boon. Want to look up famous German basketball players but don't know exactly how to spell Detlef Schrempf? If you can make it as far as "Detl," Google has your back. On the other hand, the auto-fill feature is based primarily on the questio ... More >>

Bullies and the Name Game

He Said She Said: Our Musical Resolutions for 2010

​It's barely a week into 2010, and we still find ourselves writing 2009 on invoices and checks. We can't seem to shake that last quasi-awful year out of our heads. It seemed like one of the most interminable years we had ever had the bittersweet pleasure to find ourselves mired in. Little wonder t ... More >>

Online Stuff You Gotta Do After Being Dumped

​He was the sun in your sky, the cream in your coffee, the spring in your step. When you awoke, your first thought was of his embrace, whether you were tangled in it or not. Every evening before you slumbered, he was the last image to cross your weary mind, even if his body wasn't suctioned ... More >>

Google's New Music-Search Engine Will Be the Death of Us All

​ This past week, Internet search-engine giant Google introduced a new music-search tool that immediately opens a pop-up window for people searching for a song, where either the entire song or a snippet will play for them. It's still in the beginning stages, so not all songs are available. We star ... More >>

Site Scavenging

Internet content is the "found object" of the 21st century.

Social Distortion: Surf's Up, Go Catch the (Google) Wave

​Remember how you once clamored to be one of the first to have a Gmail account, way, way back in the mid-2000s?  Well, dust off your longboard, gremmy, 'cause the Google surf's up once again, dude.  Ever the splash-maker, Google announced this past week that on September 30th, they ... More >>

Artist of the Week: Coast

Each Wednesday, Rocks Off arbitrarily appoints one lucky local performer or group "Artist of the Week," bestowing upon them all the fame and grandeur such a lofty title implies. Know a band or artist that isn't awful? Email their particulars to introducingliston@gmail.com.Like it or not, South Park ... More >>

Sole Of Houston: Mapping Out The Past & Future

With another Sole stroll nigh, we thought now was as good a time as any for a look back at what we've accomplished already. Here is the Google map of our past adventures. View Larger Map Looks like we're gonna need to tackle Fifth Ward / Kashmere Gardens, the Heights, Sunnyside, Acres Homes, M ... More >>

Google and NASA Team Up in Plan to Destroy Human Race

Remember the Futurists? Bunch of Italian guys. Loved technology. Fascism too. Looks like Google and NASA plan on bringing those guys back, or least an even more futuristic version of them, with Singularity University. Housed in NASA's Ames Research Center, the University will be headed by Ray Kurzw ... More >>

Houston Circa 2001, Courtesy Of Google

A Map of the State's Vintage Tex-Mex Restaurants

Donnie Speaks!

Yvonne Washington

Tuesday, February 14, McGonigel's Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk, 713-528-5999.