Halloween is around the corner (it’s on Monday) and instead of wearing some geeky costume with zero scare appeal, why not get a free application for your iPhone that assists in your scare endeavors?

NameScreamer yells popular names combined with horrendous phrases that send shivers down the spine. There are 6 chilling voices, 9 hair raising phrases and 6 dreadful animated characters to choose from: Ghost, Banshee, Zombie, Devil, Creeper or Raving Lunatic.

The timer button can be used to postpone the scream allowing users to hide their devices and horrify unsuspecting victims. There is also a possibility to send screams via email or post them on Facebook to terrify people who stay up later and live by themselves.

Name Screamer is free and currently available in the Apple iTunes Music Store. Go get it and scare some folks!

[ Links: Name Screamer at iTunes Music Store, Name Screamer ]

If you like hip-hop, rhythm and blues, a touch of jazz and folk, all wrapped up with adult themes and lyrics and music that’s as modern as it is a throwback to better times; Foreign Exchange comprised of Little Brother’s Phonte Coleman and Dutch producer Nicolay are coming out with their third album “Authenticity”.

Picking up where their 2008 Grammy-nominated “Leave It All Behind” set left off, “Authenticity” is the group’s most diverse work to date, with a tight, 11-track song cycle spanning the duo’s trademark brand of lush electronic soul, to stripped down acoustic pieces that recall the heyday of 70′s singer-songwriter driven folk.

Tracklisting:

• 01. The Last Fall
• 02. Authenticity
• 03. Eyes To The Sky
• 04. All Roads
• 05. Fight For Love
• 06. Maybe She’ll Dream Of Me
• 07. Don’t Wait
• 08. Make Me A Fool
• 09. Everything Must Go
• 10. Laughing At Your Plans
• 11. This City Ain’t The Same Without You

I don’t mind admitting that I’m a fan. I don’t need to listen to a whole bunch of “yeah’s” screamed at me nor way too explicit lyrics being in music that I’d rather relax with my friends and/or lady with. And from what I’ve heard thus far, Foreign Exchange will be Grammy nominated, if not Grammy winners this next time.

Click “Maybe She’ll Dream of Me” above for a free download and introduction to the latest Foreign Exchange sound which comes out tomorrow, October 12th in stores and iTunes.

[ Link: Foreign Exchange Authenticity ]

Apple announced their “AirPrint” wireless printing that will accompany Apple’s iOS 4.2 will be out in November, but why wait until then? Epson and Thinxtream have collaborated their new mobile printing application, PrintJinni for the Apple iPod Touch, Apple iPhone and Apple iPad.

“PrintJinni for Epson enhances the printing experience for mobile device users by delivering superior performance where it counts, whether at home, in the office, or on the road,” said Gregg Brunnick, group product manager, Consumer Ink Jets, Epson America, Inc. “With the benefit to print to any Wi-Fi-enabled Epson all-in-one, this convenient app keeps iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users from being tied to one printer. PrintJinni for Epson offers the ultimate mobile printing freedom and superior print quality inherent in Epson’s all-in-one solutions.”

PrintJinni for Epson does support Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007 documents, as well as Adobe PDF, JPEG from e-mail attachments. Via an easy setup, PrintJinni supports Microsoft Exchange, Apple MobileMe, Google Gmail and other IMAP based e-mail accounts. And since I’m an Epson printer owner – WorkForce 600/610 – this app will allow for printing to the Epson line of Wi-Fi enabled printers and all-in-ones wirelessly without the need or use of a computer and will work alongside the aforementioned AirPrint functionality coming later this year.

Best part? It’s out right now and not later in the year. Even better? Presently the price is only $6.99 via the Apple iTunes Store, but only for a limited time only then it’s back up to $9.99 and does include a free one-year subscription to the PrintJinni Cloud Services.

[ Links: Epson PrintJinni Press Release, PrintJinni for Epson ]

After turning off Spotlight on the iPhone 3GS and the like, I was able to regain some speed; however I won’t lie. It was still slower than iOS 3. After today’s update, the speed is back, feels fresh and iPhone 4 and 3GS finally get back the Game Center function that was in the iOS 4 Gold Master Build (8A293).

Experience social gaming on your iPhone. Find friends or use auto-match to play multiplayer games against new opponents. Track achievements and compare high scores.

To be honest, Game Center sounds an awful lot like OpenFeint, which has now over 35 million active subscribers.

Oh yeah… it also includes iTunes Ping too.

Apple today unveiled their new Apple TV device, which as rumors had suggested costs $99, tops out playback at 720p and is focused on renting TV episodes for a dollar or new films for five dollars.

There’s no hard drive in this incarnation, with everything streamed via either 802.11n Wi-Fi or Ethernet connectivity. The unit also comes with Netflix streaming service embedded. As rumors also suggested, broadcasters are still afraid of cannibalizing their traditional TV cash cow, so Apple scrapped a more interesting subscription-based TV service for this fairly standard rental model, which only features content from ABC and Fox.

Great price, great option if you were looking for one that has no internal storage is basically a “rent only” device; however it is not for me.

Link to the original article…

Last year, I reviewed the Eos Wireless iPod Speakers and Dock and came away impressed at the build quality, sound (from such small speakers) and the rather impressive wireless range. In fact, they gathered RTL’s very first 5 out of 5 score.

This summer, Eos Wireless sent their newer Eos Converge system that will connect a PC/Mac as well as just about any other music source. So for the 175 or so Microsoft Zune fans out there – I count myself as one of them – you can actually connect via the auxiliary input and share your tunes throughout the house without having to drill once. Just add music and power and you’re good to go.

Of course… I like to test things differently.

For my long-term test, I played with these things outside on my acre of so immediate backyard and used them to entertain folks during my July 4th weekend outside and during my recent birthday celebration last weekend. And each time, I’d plug into either my Zune, my Mac or once my own stereo without issue. Just take one of the black plastic wireless transmitters, plug in your audio source, and pair it with a wireless receiver, attach some speakers and play your music however you wish. With an effective range of 150 feet, I didn’t anticipate any problem given that I was limiting my area to one acre – which is 212 feet by 212 feet.

The setup… well, there isn’t really any. If you ever conquered the whole square peg toy when you were a kid, well you can handle this too. It’s simple enough to where this is the kind of gift that works well even with a luddite. On the back of the wireless transmitter, there’s an miniUSB connector, an audio in/out connector. On the back of the powered wireless receiver, there’s an RCA connector for some speakers and a power plug input alongside the power switch. Again, it’s so gosh darn easy to set up. And this time, Eos Wireless sent along their Eos loudspeakers that have a black ash finish and are made of solid wood with a 1 inch dome tweeter and 5.5 inch ported woofer. And the speakers do not feel cheap and light by no means. They’re solid enough to where you do not want to drop them on your foot – I did once, my toe still hurts.

So how does it sound? After connecting up everything, the transmitters, receivers and speakers all combine for an expandable – up to four wireless receivers – and spread your music to all around you with a solid, good sound that doesn’t sound out of balance and does not bottom out on bass-heavy music nor too bright on the highs. The Eos loudspeakers are studio grade in build and sound; balanced and nearly good enough to sit alongside my much more expensive Polk Audio and Paradigm speakers that I tend to us in the house. And that’s a good thing.

Are there any cons? Yes. The build quality, while great does leave a bit to be desired in the looks department. They’re functional, non-obtrusive, but are not as smooth or “cool” as the Sonos multi-room offerings. The speakers are $99.95 per pair – you can purchase Polk Audio studio speakers for cheaper if you’re watching websites like Dealnews.com or so. Beyond that, the system does what it says it will do and without fuss. And the cool part… I was using my Apple iPhone to connect and control my iTunes library from the patio via the Apple Remote app.

During the festivities, all of my guests asked where they could buy the Eos Converge system and how much it cost. The Eos Wireless Transmitter and Receiver sells for $99.95 each, while the powered version of the Eos Wireless Receiver costs $149.95. The Eos Loudspeakers are $99.95 for a pair. It sounds a bit expensive, but the fact that you can move, connect and never have to drill or worry about making holes in your walls. To me, that’s worth the level of entry. You can still order then from the Eos Wireless website and they’re still offering free shipping – which is a good thing, the speakers are heavy.

Yet again, Eos Wireless receives a 5 out of 5 (Highly Recommended) from Remove The Labels. Just sad that I have to send back the review system after using for so long. It works very well and I’m sure I inspired a few purchases.

[ Links: Eos Wireless, Eos Converge System ]

Let’s face it… the whole R&B scene plain sucks right now. There are no real standouts – no, R. Kelly does not count – and the music has all somehow blended together for one boring, monotonous sound that have very little substance outside of finding the most crass way to tell another person that you want to lick, stick or do something nasty to the person or it reminds you of another song (or ten) before it.

So receiving a heads up about YahZarah’s “The Ballad of Purple Saint James”, a singer that comes from around the DC area originally and has sung backup for Erykah Badu and done work with North Carolina’s Little Brother and the grammy nominated Foreign Exchange… this was the needed “grown folks” music that I needed to hear from an artist. Showing the range from soulful, to insightful, Yahzarah’s newly released “The Ballad of Purple Saint James” is a killer addition to any R&B lover’s collection. To me, the stand out track was “All My Days”, almost didn’t make it past that song.

Got Apple iTunes? You owe it to yourself to sample it.

[ Links: Yahzarah "The Ballad of Purple Saint James" ]

Continuing what’s been an ongoing rumor of a big new Apple broadband video push, the Wall Street Journal indicates that Apple is in negotiations with a number of broadcasters to lower the price of TV shows for the launch of their tablet computer. Apple currently offers TV shows for $1.99 for standard-definition episodes and $2.99 for high-definition episodes. Last December rumors began to bubble up suggesting that Apple wants to launch a subscription video service, though many studios and broadcasters remain skittish about embracing broadband video. Rumors suggest that Disney (ABC) and CBS are on board with the new service, though outlets like News Corporation remain “on the fence.”

Link to the original article…

I’m notorious for being late for meetings and events. It’s not on purpose or that I’m unorganized. I’m just apparently not organized enough. In fact, for meetings, I almost always tend to say “-ish” after the time we will be meeting. They know that I’ll be late. So reviewing something like Bento 3 for the Mac and Apple iPhone comes across as either a blessing or a stop being so gosh darn late hint.

Bento 3 is made by the same people that make FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server. Heavy duty products that I’ve used in enterprise level deployments and projects in the past. Of course, that might mean this product for the average desktop user will be boring, staid and ultimately deemed too complex for daily usage. Wrong. The desktop application is a joy to use.

It’s quite refreshing that the desktop application isn’t impossibly hard to use at all. It really puts you in the mind of the other Apple provided apps like iCal, iTunes and iPhoto and just as easy to approach. Mentioning iPhoto and iCal, within moments Bento will synchronize with your iPhoto photos, Address Book contacts and iCal events.

Setting up a meeting in Bento is as easy as setting one up in iCal. For instance, I have a 5pm meeting with a company tomorrow… one I actually intend on being on time for as well.

Within moments, set up, synchronized with my iCal – which my Apple iPhone connects to as well, and I’m done. And Bento does support synchronization with an Apple iPhone via wifi as well as synchronization when connected to the computer via USB. And the Apple iPhone application is also as easy to use, I’ve created and added items to my existing libraries that quickly keep me organized in all details of my digital life.

And it’s not all about meetings either. You can set up: To-Do Items, Recipes, Projects (important for me), Inventory, Time Billing, Digital Media (for collections of CD’s, eBooks, et al), TV & Movie collections, among many other options. Seriously, you can set up and organize just about every aspect of your life.

Good part? You can also set up everything as it exists on the desktop also in the Apple iPhone application as well. Yes… you can organize yourself on the go if you have to or if you happen to be on a PC. But having both the Mac desktop and Apple iPhone applications – I sorta dislike typing on the iPhone for large amounts of text – it just works well.

And yes… in the last couple of weeks, I know what movies I have at home as well as my what projects I have going on, the level of completion for each project deliverable and even have set up a couple of meetings that I have been on time for.

Shocking… I know.

I can truly state that Bento by FileMaker is an application that you need to add to your must buy list. It retails for $4.99 for the Apple iPhone via the iTunes Music Store and $49.99 for the Apple Mac desktop.

The only con(s) I have for this application is that while it is deceptively simple, it can get very complex in the creation of a blank library to suit your needs that are not covered by the library templates is somewhat time consuming. There are downloadable, update-able templates that FileMaker and the users of Bento make available but it would almost be a patience killer to create a full functional template solely on the Apple iPhone. The desktop application makes somewhat short work of that.

It is Mac only, so there is a slight detractor for being limited to OS X. Buy it. If it can make a habitual late person as myself on-time and actually help organize the bits of my life that I sorely need to add more organization to and do that easily… you just need to buy this.

Rated: 4.5 out of 5 (Must Buy)

[ FileMaker ] [ Bento 3 ] [ Related: RTL Reviews ]

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably still stuck on the anemic AT&T SMS package of 200 text messages and find yourself over each and every month. It’s not that I’m cheap, but that overage per month adds up over time and I’ve wanted a good, reliable way to send messages to people and do it for free. Some methods of sending “free SMS” via the web can’t be replied to by the person you’ve sent a message or they might not know that it is indeed you that’s doing the sending.

GOGII, Inc. [ site here ] has recently updated their textPlus Apple iPhone application to version 2.0 and added the ability for people to simply respond to your free username via textPlus 2.0 and you’ll receive the message whether you’re in the app or via the Apple iPhone 3.0 enabled push notifications when you’re not in the app.

textPlus 2.0’s highly anticipated usernames give non-app users in the U.S. the ability to start text conversations with their friends using textPlus. All they need to do is text a friend’s username to 60611, and the conversation begins. In fact, with usernames, textPlus users no longer even need a phone number to send or receive texts from inside the U.S.

New to users outside the U.S., textPlus 2.0 offers a convenient, cost effective alternative to international texting. Because textPlus 2.0 usernames are accessible worldwide, textPlus users who have registered a username can send and receive text messages for free to and from other textPlus users, anywhere. So, a textPlus user on a WiFi network located in the United Kingdom can now engage in a username-to-username text conversation with another textPlus user in the United States, Japan, France or anywhere else in the world, for free.

Not only is this a way for me to save money per month on my constant SMS overages, but my friends – one or groups of more than one – overseas or on other cellphone networks can easily contact me for free directly as well. This is definitely a new model for texting.

There are a few, unobtrusive ads that are included in the app, and normally I avoid ad supported apps. But they’re seriously not in the way… and besides, the app works great and is free, but textPlus 2.0 is definitely worth a download for your Apple iPhone. Setup to get my account up and running and my phone number verified took less than 2 minutes. All for free.

[ GOGII ] [ textPlus ] [ Related: Apple iPhone 3GS ]

I was joking about online dating being on my iPhone just under a week ago with some friends and lo and behold, Match.com releases their Apple iPhone application.

The free Match.com application takes the most useful and popular features of the Match.com online experience and brings them to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Match.com members can edit their profile, upload photos and opt-in to a location based feature that allows them to see singles in their area.

I think I was also talking about a stalker app… but I like having matches instead. Click this link to open up your iTunes and download the app.

[ Match.com ] [ Apple iPhone ]

I’ve been an user of Joost since the days it was called “The Venice Project” when I thought the guys behind Skype and Kazaa couldn’t do any wrong. As long as I had my laptop and broadband/wireless access to the internet, I would catch a couple of shows.

However they’ve gone through a few changes from a desktop P2P based client to a web based client… now to an Apple iPhone application. And I couldn’t be any happier. It means that I can get my Fat Albert or Transformers fix even during meetings if I so wished.

Oh hell yeah.