JerseySmarts.com – Page 297 – Joe Palazzolo's Blog

The Trouble I Go Through to Vote!

Posted on November 7, 2006 by Joe

I just want everyone to know that I drove 80-something miles to where I’m registered to vote (two and a half hour drive because of traffic) and then voted, did a few visits while I was up in the area, and turned around and went back to Monmouth County this morning.

Just to vote!

I deserve an award or something. Lord knows that a single vote isn’t going to make a difference no matter what the television people say. Of course, I like to think of it in terms of how many other people got in their cars today and made that trip just to place their one vote? I hope a lot!

Part of the problem with voter apathy in New Jersey, though, is that Essex and Camden counties are so heavily Democratic that it almost makes no sense for anyone else in the state to vote. However, I hold to the fact that if enough non-partisan people like myself got up and made the trip this morning, then it was worth it!

Dick Morris Sums it Up

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Joe

Political commentator and former Clinton advisor turned Republican advisor Dick Morris published an article yesterday where he summed up where some of the ill-will towards Republicans is coming from:

But the GOP majority itself has to shoulder a lot of the blame for a session of total inaction on tax reform and Social Security, and just small steps on immigration and Medicare reform. With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, voters were entitled to expect a whole lot more.

That’s my gripe with the Republican Party. I don’t care how loony you are, no one can say that the Democratic Party offers a feasible policy alternative besides, “If you elect us, we will raise your taxes.” But on the other hand, with the strong Republican majority that this country has had over the last few years – where is the social security reform? Where is the tax reform? Why hasn’t more been done about unchecked illegal immigration?

These are hardcore Republican issues and yet very little has been done by Republicans to make major headway on any of these issues. Was the spector of a Senate filibuster too much for the Republicans to take? Why not put the Democrats to task and force them to filibuster, then? At least it would have shown the public that the Republican majority was attempting to change existing policies.

If the Republicans lose big tomorrow, then I have to agree with Dick Morris – they may have no one to blame but themselves.

Go Out and Vote

Posted on November 6, 2006 by Joe

Tomorrow is Election Day and I hope that you’re planning on going out to vote.

Whatever your issue is – from the Iraq War to stem cells to lowering taxes to total government reform – there is a candidate that you can vote for!

And if you’re one of the millions who hate the Republicans AND the Democrats, then don’t think that a vote for a third party candidate is a wasted vote. Sure, your candidate isn’t going to win. But if more people go out to vote and vote for more third party candidates, it’ll force the bigger parties to look at the issues that these smaller parties endorse.

Go out and vote tomorrow!

A Review of the Treo 700p for Verizon

Posted on November 5, 2006 by Joe

Palm has a high-powered smartphone on the market – the 700p. I purchased this phone from the master of all hidden-charge companies, Verizon Wireless, on October 1st and for the first fifteen days or so, I have to say that I was very pleased.

Why denote the first 15 days? Well, with Verizon you can return any item purchased and receive a 100% refund within the first 15 days of purchase. Great deal, right? Right.

Except when your new, expensive smartphone becomes a glitch-ridden, buggy machine on day 16…

When I first got the phone, I spent a lot of time just getting used to it. The weak battery life was annoying and I’ve looked into getting the extended battery (I’m waiting for the price to drop a little bit). The remarkably low volume on the machine was and is still annoying, though I’ve managed to get a software program that boosts the volume to an almost obnoxious level. There is also this weird white screen lag that just pops up randomly. For Windows users, think the Blue Screen of Death – but only for a few seconds and a white screen. And the phone almost completely stalls after sending a text message – very bad.

On the bright side, this thing is an absolutely phenomenal Personal Digital Assistant. I don’t think that any smartphone/PDA out there could even compete with it in terms of getting “the job done.” I can (and I have) read Word documents, download e-mail, surf the web, manage my calendar, sync with my laptop computer, take pictures & videos, use MP3’s as ringtones (after installing free software), and do so much more with this machine. It’s really impressive in the breadth of possible uses that it has for the busy lifestyled, somewhat-of-a-business-oriented kind of guy.

Oh – and it has great game playing abilities so I can download and play Scrabble, Bejeweled, and Monopoly (all sweet games). I’ve also enjoyed the SD card reading abilities which allow me to take some of my favorite pics from the laptop and bring them with me on my phone. That’s a pretty sweet feature – and one that I didn’t think I would ever be making use of, yet I use it almost daily.

The phone DOES work, too…but when it wants to work. That white screen glitch and stalling effect sort of makes the phone aspect of the 700p a hassle to use because when you’re hanging up the phone using the touchscreen or even the red “end” button, you ultimately wind up with the screen freezing and then accidentally pushing another option (usually making a second call).

Another bright note is that the text message and video messaging features are all fully-functioning (when you look beyond the stalling out). Also, Palm lets you store these messages as an IM conversation – so it looks VERY similar to your AOL Instant Messenger conversations on the computer.

I also have to mention that I’m on my second actual phone. The first one had this weird technical glitch where whenever you plugged something into the port at the bottom of the phone (charger, headset, sync wire) and then unplugged it, the phone would seem to think that it still had something plugged into it. For example, I would plug in the wired headset and 1) the people couldn’t hear me talking into the microphone and 2) when I unplugged it, the speaker and microphone on the actual phone itself wouldn’t work.

Yes, I use a wired headset because no one could hear me when I was using the bluetooth device. When I returned the obscenely expensive Bluetooth headset to the Verizon Store, the guy behind the counter was surprised. He wanted to know where I was using the headset. Obviously, I told him that I was using it in the car while driving. His response? “Oh, well that’s why the people can’t hear you. There’s probably a lot of wind noise and car noise in the car.”

I almost punched the guy right in the face. Where exactly would I be using a wireless headset besides my car? Would I be one of those status-seekers who feel the need to walk around the mall or their offices with a little device hanging out of their ear? Hell no!

The bottom line on this device is that it could be a GREAT PDA if it didn’t have the white screen lag, but as far as usability is concerned, I find it lacking. Yes, I can use it to read Word documents and I can use it to manage a calendar and coordinate my schedule, etc, but with the technical glitches that haven’t been fixed by Palm yet, the device is just a pain in the ass sometimes. Once Palm releases some new firmware to upgrade the phone’s internal software, this will be THE Palm device to own!

Until then, look at the much cheaper, similarly styled Motorola Q.