Smartphones

Blackberries: Where to Find Them, How to Pick Them & What to Make with Them

Blackberry-picking season is right around the corner. In fact, in the next several weeks, blackberries will be ready for picking at several local farmers' markets. Don't be fooled by the early berries growing on the side of the road because those are dewberries, not blackberries. Tommy Neal from Ne ... More >>

Don't Call Blackberry Smoke Outlaws, But They'll Get Out of Hand

If you haven't smelled Blackberry Smoke in a while, they might have been at sea. The Atlanta Southern rock/outlaw country (whatever) band has been on so many cruises it's a little surprising the quintet's long hair isn't braided and beaded. When Rocks Off caught up with lead singer/guitarist Charli ... More >>

Don't Bring Your iPad or Tablet to a Woodlands Pavilion Show

Here comes some venue news that most everybody will be able to get behind this coming summer concert season. While updating the Houston Press's online concert calendar with new listings for the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, I discovered that the venue now bans the use of iPads and other tablet ... More >>

Ten Ways the Smartphone is the Swiss Army Knife of Technology

Growing up, I loved the Swiss Army knife I got from my dad. They came in what seemed like a million variations. Mine had several knives including the one that looked like a saw as well as a corkscrew (not sure why dad thought I needed that one), combination bottle opener/flathead screwdriver, a toot ... More >>

Waze, Echofon, Chrome: My 12 Favorite Apps of 2012

It's been a crazy year in apps. Apple released the iPhone 6, complete with larger screen and new OS, as well as the iPad mini, aka Jumbo iPhone. There were scores of updates from manufacturers and, as usual, thousands of new apps on the market. I wrote about my favorite 10 apps of 2011 last year ar ... More >>

Why Not Add a Wi-Fi Password to the Price of a Concert Ticket?

Cell phones have become ubiquitous in our society and nowhere is that fact more apparent than at concerts. Cell phones have literally revolutionized the concert-going experience, for better and worse. Cell phones allow us to take photos of ourselves to load up to Facebook when we should be paying a ... More >>

Projection: Social Media Wins Big in 2012

Thanks a lot Christians, for not showing up.You disgust me.— Victoria Jackson (@vicjackshow) November 7, 2012 Amidst the pundits and the graphics and the touch screen monitors and the iPads strapped to the arms of The Daily Show's John Oliver, probably the most watched network on election ni ... More >>

Five Ways Facebook Is Altering Our Personal Communications

With the launch of the new iPhone 5 today, everyone is in an Apple-induced euphoria, so I figured this might be a good time to talk about personal communication. The iPhone, and cellular phone technology in general, have shaped how we communicate with our friends and family, from the gradual elimina ... More >>

Four Things It Appears the New iPhone 5 Still Doesn't Have

Schiller: "We designed the iPhone 5 to fit your hand. Exactly where your money used to be."— Brent Ozar (@BrentO) September 12, 2012 I've owned an iPhone for over a few years and upgrades. I've thoroughly praised it for being an integral part of my daily life, from apps to the phone itself. ... More >>

App of the Week: My Top Ten Most Used Apps

Almost five years ago, I was talking to a friend who had an iPhone. I swore up and down that after a failed Blackberry experience in the mid-`90s, I had zero interest in another so-called smart phone. My friend said it would change my life if I got one. I was already a Mac user, so I figured if I we ... 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 >>

App of the Week: Get Ready for the Season with the Houston Texans App

App: Houston Texans Platform: iPhone, Android, Blackberry Website: Houston Texans Download Site Cost: Free If there is one thing we love in Texas, it's football. There are quite a number of sports apps out there to help you keep track of your favorite teams, football or otherwise, but when it comes ... More >>

Scott Weiland

The Food Lover's Guide to Paris has Gone High Tech: There's an App for That

The indispensable guidebook to Paris by French food authority Patricia Wells is The Food Lover's Guide to Paris. Wells knows exactly where to find the flakiest croissants, the essential bistros, the most knowledgeable wine merchants, the richest, darkest chocolates, the most sublime cheeses, the ear ... More >>

App of the Week: Pimp Your Screen Generates Custom iPhone Backgrounds

App: Pimp Your Screen Platform: iPhone Website: Apalon.com Cost: $0.99 There was a particular Seinfeld episode where George filled his wallet so full of stuff -- sandwich shop punch cards, tear-off ads for guitar lessons, etc. -- that he sat awkwardly. Eventually, it became so full it burst, sendin ... More >>

App of the Week: U-Verse Gives You Control Over Your DVR

App: U-Verse Platform: iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows Website: ATT U-Verse Price: Free I've been a U-Verse user for several years now. I left Comcast for numerous reasons and never looked back. There are certainly benefits to each and neither is perfect, but U-Verse has been great for me and ... More >>

App of the Week: Badge

App: Badge Platform: iPhone, iPad Web site: thebadgeapp.com Cost: $0.99 I think most of us have, at one time or another, left our phone behind somewhere. On occasion, that somewhere happens to be a public place. I know I have left my phone at a couple different restaurants over the years and had to ... More >>

5 Easy Ways To Stream Music From A Smartphone

Radio has always been one of the best ways to discover new music. A song would play on the radio and you would wait for the song title. But the advent of Internet radio aided the discovery of new music a lot more, with song titles and background information immediately at your disposal, and all kin ... More >>

Report: Texans Use Mobile Broadband More Than Any Other State

The next time you are driving down the freeway and some guy starts weaving over into your lane because he is busy on his phone, it's a safe bet it is happening in the Lone Star state. According to a report from the non-profit organization Connected Texas, Texans utilize broadband mobile services on ... More >>

App of the Week: iCab -- A Highly Recommended Alternative to Safari

App: iCab Platform: iPhone, iPad Website: iCab Mobile Cost: $1.99 One of the great innovations of cell phone technology is the ability to use the web on a phone in much the same way you use it on your computer. When the iPhone first emerged, Apple's Safari browser was included and it was a revelati ... More >>

App of the Week: Instagram

App: Instagram Platform: iPhone Website: http://instagr.am/ Cost: Free I began teaching a class on beginner photography last week for people with nice digital 35mm cameras who need help learning how to use them. When the idea was first presented to me, I suggested that approach rather than opening ... More >>

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 >>

Best Of... App Gets a High-Five From iTunes

​It's the end of the year, which means lots of best-of lists, and we're happy to announce that our own Best Of... app made the iTunes 2011 Rewind's list off best travel apps. The app, which was released in March, contains all of the Best of Houston winners, as well as winners from our sister ... 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 >>

IWatch Harris County App from the Sheriff's Department Poorly Designed

The IWatch welcome screen.​The best smartphone apps meant for functionality rather than entertainment fill a need, are easy to use and provide appropriate functionality for the task at hand. The Harris County Sheriff's Department IWatch Harris County app delivers about one-and-a-half of those ... More >>

The Nine Best Mobile Apps for Fantasy Football Enthusiasts, Ranked

Foster may hate you, but he was still #1 on your draft board this year​Thursday night marks the opening of the NFL season and fantasy nuts are gearing up with Red Bull, nachos, paid NFL television subscriptions and, you guessed it, technology. While I am not in a fantasy league (I have been a ... More >>

Lord of the Hipsters

Whatever mashup-pioneering DJ Diplo decides to spin, it's a guaranteed party.

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 >>

App of the Week: Three Hurricane Tracking Apps Just in Time for Hurricane Season

Hurricane is about as good as it gets for tracking storms on your phone.​App: Hurricane Platforms: iPhone Web site: Apple Link Cost: $3.99 App: iHurricane HD Platforms: iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile Web site: Download Link Cost: $2.99 App: Hurricane Tracker Platforms: iPhone Web ... More >>

App of the Week: Ranking Nine Popular Weather Apps

Even weather Hercules Jim Cantore could use some app help now and then.​My name is Jeff, and I'm a weather nerd. When I was very young, my father, an avid outdoorsman, would flip on the old-school weather channel on early cable television that consisted of nothing more than the current Houston ... More >>

App of the Week: To iPad or Not to iPad

Bring on the lions app!​As I was looking through my iPhone apps this week and potential new apps worth downloading, it struck me the number of iPad apps coming available. It's not surprising. The iPad, particularly since the release of the 2.0 version, has been nothing short of a sensation in ... More >>

Fitz & the Tantrums

App of the Week: GasBuddy

Find cheap gas with GasBuddy.​App: GasBuddy Platforms: iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile Web site: GasBuddy.com Cost: Free People love their cars in Houston. More specifically, people love their enormous, gas-guzzling, monster-mobiles. With the turmoil in the Middle East driving gas prices ... More >>

Houston Rodeo: Now There's an App for That

Houston Rodeo: Where high tech meets low tech.​Last week members of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's marketing and public relations team held a press conference to present some of the rodeo's new-for-2011 offerings, chief among them a feature-rich smartphone app meant to improve all aspe ... More >>

App of the Week: Waze

Thanks to Waze, I know foxybarrel, whoever that is, got stuck in traffic on 59.​App: Waze Platforms: iPhone, Android, BlackBerry (beta only, Windows Mobile Web site: Waze.com Cost: Free Houstonians know their traffic like Seattleites know their heroin coffee or heaved aquatic animals. In othe ... More >>

App of the Week: Six Awesome, Free Apps for Movie Buffs

These six apps will help you with any movie, except Human Centipede. For that, you're on your own.​It's awards season. From People's Choice to the Screen Actors Guild to the Academy Awards and the other hundred worthless statues given out this time of year, people are talking about movies, and ... More >>

App of the Week: Five Ways to Improve the Facebook App

​Dear Mark, please improve the Facebook app. Sincerely, Everyone.​​App: Facebook Platforms: All Smart Phones Web site: Facebook.com Cost: Free Facebook has become such a part of the way most people connect online, it's hard to imagine that the app Mark Zuckerberg and company produce coul ... More >>

There's an App for That: SeamlessWeb Takes Aim at Food Delivery

A list of available restaurants in the 77027 area code.​For those with a love of food and obsession with their smart phones, these are amazing times. There are apps that give iPhone and Android users all sorts of options when it comes to food, from finding happy hours to ranking restaurants. ... More >>

App of the Week: GroupMe

Group texting through GroupMe​App: GroupMe Platforms: iPhone, Android Website: GroupMe.com Many experts are predicting that more people will text than make actual phone calls in the coming years. This is already true for younger people, but the convenience of a short message over a long conve ... More >>

The Best Food Apps for Your iPhone

The 42 Restaurants app is a thing of beauty.​I recently commented to a friend that reviewing restaurants is so much easier with a smart phone, taking notes on the fly and being able to instantly look up directions if you get lost on the way. In my case, I have an iPhone, and -- sad as I know ... More >>

Five Tips for Shooting Food Photos with Your iPhone

Photo by hirotomoThe iPhone really can take good photos if done correctly.​Lots of you like snapping photos of your food while preparing it or after it is served. Most of the time, that means using a point-and-shoot digital camera or something nicer if you have it despite the weird looks of wa ... More >>

Outsmarted By Your Smartphone? T-Mobile Wants To Help

Photo by Flickr user tomsunThese are not the Droid apps you are looking for.​What's so great about the holidays? You never wear those horrendous sweaters from Grandma, all the money you get burns a hole in your pocket, and you forget to use all of your gift cards, which eventually expire. Don' ... More >>

10 Reasons Your Restaurant Website Sucks

Your restaurant website probably sucks​I have spent more than ten years consulting with companies in a wide range of industries on the design and development of their websites. It's a job that can be quite challenging because I often work with organizations who don't know very much about websi ... More >>

iPhone Gets Even Better: Now It Has A Houston Press App

The Houston Press, now with more touching and sliding.​Over 50 million iPhones have been sold since the release of Apple's now-omnipresent smart phone in January 2007, and that doesn't take into account the mad rush for the latest iPhone 4. So we're willing to bet that more than a few of our r ... More >>

Apple iPhone 4: Houston Lawyer Files Suit Over Antenna "Scam"

See you in court, Apple​Is the iPhone 4 a scam? Did Apple knowingly make an imperfect device, one which is practically designed to drop calls, and then expect owners to cough up extra cash to buy the fix?The answers to these questions are a resounding yes, if you ask Houston attorney Danny Sheena, ... More >>

It's Five O'clock Somewhere: We're So App-App-Appy

The Houston Press partners with GoTime.com in the quest for cheap drinks.

Free Yourself From the Shackles of the Internet!

​You groan as you hit snooze on your iPhone or BlackBerry's alarm, then you resume the ritual of checking your text messages, Gmail, and Twitter with bleary orbs. You drag yourself outta bed, hastily shower, pull anything that's unwrinkled and clean onto your limbs, and scurry to your car to a ... More >>

What Do Your iPhone Apps Say About You?

When you're an iPhone owner, not only are you better than everyone else (obvs), but the lifeblood of your technological slice of gadget heaven is your applications, or "apps," if you're nasty.  An integral part of your holy iPhone identity really shines through the apps you choose to rely on wh ... More >>

David Brown: “20/40”

David Brown makes art with his iPhone