Posted by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 3:24pm
Msg #248649
Hands Free for California notaries.
I am so far behind the times, I was still using a wired headset that plugged into the bottom of my phone and the phone was so old I could no longer find a cheap replacement battery and my kid was making fun of me. So I upgraded my phone to one that used Bluetooth and went looking for a bluetooth earpiece. 50, 60 100 bucks, I could not believe the price and I wanted one that just used a replaceable battery as I don't need another recharger in my life and I have been with a lot of people when their earpiece ran out of charge and they were done.
Then I was in Frys and spotted a Jabra BT2040 for $19.99 and it uses an AAAA (no typo, 4 A's) size battery. I was thinking for that price, it must be a piece of junk, but I bought it anyway, and also bought a couple of packages of replacement batteries (a 2pk for 1.89) while I was there to keep in the car.
Well, it was easy to connect to my phone and two months later, I am still using the same battery. Now, I only use it while mobile and I do not chit-chat much in the car--just business, so I probably get more time out of it than the average person. The package says 480 minutes or 8 hours of talk time.
It is not a fancy piece and I can't compare it to anything else as I have never used one before, but it was cheap and it works well. And I am a simple guy, I only need it to work, I don't need bells and whistles.
Since then, I have spotted it at Target, Wal-Mart, Sears and many other stores for the same price. Not everyone carried the batteries, however. I am posting this, because the July 1 drop dead date for hands-free only in California is just around the corner. What do you want to bet it you don't already have one and you wait until June 27th to buy one, only the $100 ones will be left?
Not take a moment to reflect on those who have sacrificed much for the security of our country on this Memorial Day.
| Reply by BrendaTx on 5/24/08 3:54pm
Msg #248653
Re: Hands Free for California notaries. Glenn, every post
I read of yours is full of good advice. Makes me want a Jabra. 
| Reply by PAW on 5/24/08 5:11pm
Msg #248656
Available on the web. See the Jabra site (http://tinyurl.com/3zym66) for info. (They sell it for $19.74.)
Amazon.com has it for $17.82 with $0 shipping (http://tinyurl.com/4h56ow) if you qualify.
| Reply by Calnotary on 5/24/08 6:17pm
Msg #248658
Maybe you want to read this article about cellphone...
radiation.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/03/18/how-cellphone-radiation-affects-your-cells.aspx
| Reply by MikeC/NY on 5/24/08 7:02pm
Msg #248665
Maybe you want to read about how studies are done...
10 subjects? No serious scientist would give much credence to a study with a sample that small. It's kind of amusing that this Dr. Mercola jumped on that and claimed it "punched holes" in all of the previous studies (with much larger and statistically significant samples) that disagreed with his own personal beliefs. That says a lot about his credibility.
| Reply by PAW on 5/24/08 8:19pm
Msg #248670
Re: Maybe you want to read this article about cellphone...
Considering that an earpiece has about 1/100th of the radiation power of the cellphone itself, I doubt, as do many scientists and other experts, that minimal, if any, damage will be done with normal (and nominal) use. This is not to say that someone who wears an earpiece ***and uses it 24 hours a day*** wouldn't develop some damage. In reality, the earpiece isn't radiating anything most of the time. Only when it is activated is there any radio transmission, and then only very, very low power. It's not any worse than cordless phones many folks have at home. RF is RF.
| Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/24/08 8:26pm
Msg #248671
I dunno guys, its serious stuff in the village of Mendocino
People reported hearing voices whenever near cell phones and many of the merchants forbade anyone carrying a cell phone from entering their stores. When one of the cell companies wanted to erect at a tower in Mendocino they were prevented from it as a result of the locals protesting. Finally one individual installed a cell tower (I suspect he had technical help) clandestinely in his home and it was great. Great reception in Mendocino finally but several of the locals moved to Oregon where people are more responsible and don't subject their neighbors to spurious brain warping emissions! I hope that the voices in their head went to Oregon with them. It sounds like fiction but its true!
| Reply by Ernest__CT on 5/24/08 8:31pm
Msg #248672
And the urban legend lives on. n/m
| Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/24/08 8:48pm
Msg #248677
That's BS Ernest, I live next to Mendocino and you can
Log onto the Mendocion Beacon and check the archives for yourself. No urban legend this one!
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MBNB&p_theme=mbnb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=allfields(Cell%20phone)%20AND%20date(2005)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2005&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=("Cell%20phone")&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no
Be prepared to spend $2.95 to read the article which I won't do for you: spend or read!
| Reply by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 9:35pm
Msg #248693
You have to die of something .....
My six years in the Army didn't kill me, I am not going to worry about a few radio waves. I am sure that some may be sensitive, but with 200,000 million cell phones in use in the country since 1984, if there were a huge problem, say, like the radiation in St. George, Utah from all the nuke testing in Nevada, you would hear about it. How about some names of people who have brain problems from cell phones so I can check it out?
| Reply by Charles_Ca on 5/24/08 11:14pm
Msg #248707
Just for fun Glenn....
The above discussion got me thinking about the Mendocino Cell Phone Wars (I love technology and as a certified Nuclear Power Plant Designer I already glow in the dark) I went to one of my favorite sources the Hearst jewel known an the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chron had the following article which I excerpted:
The hoopla over last week's Macworld Conference & Expo -- symbolized by media coverage that portrayed the new iPhone as a kind of manna from heaven -- was lost on Arthur Firstenberg, a leading activist in what amounts to a war against cell phones and cellular technologies.
Firstenberg says the millions of people who are expected to buy Apple's iPhone should consider this first: Mobile phones emit radiation, cause damage to brain tissue, and produce the kind of cancer that kills rats in laboratory experiments. Surfing the Internet on BART, listening to your favorite iPod song and texting a message to your lover -- all at the same time -- may seem like the ultimate in 21st-century bohemia, but it's really a new form of self-torture, say Firstenberg and others who have spent years worrying about the effects of electromagnetic radiation...
...When he lived in Mendocino, Firstenberg led a group of people who tried to ban wireless technologies because of concern that cell-phone towers and Wi-Fi antennae would harm residents' health. His organization, Wireless Free Mendocino, succeeded for a while, but then Mendocino officials approved the towers ("the dike broke," as Firstenberg describes it), and he moved to Santa Fe...
You can find the whole article at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/01/14/INGGENGN9T1.DTL
I live in a very interesting area and people of every stripe are not only welcome but are encouraged to achieve their greatest weirdness quotient.
I continue to use my cell phone wich is probably the reason for my rapidly deteriorating mental capacity: maybe its just my neighbors hot boxing again, second hand smoke takes on a whole new meaning here.
From La La Land, TTFN
| Reply by Doris_CO on 5/24/08 7:04pm
Msg #248666
Great price but where do you buy the batteries? I've never seen AAAA batteries, but then, I've never looked for them.
| Reply by BrendaTx on 5/24/08 8:06pm
Msg #248668
Battery Plus stores!
http://www.batteriesplus.com/
There's one about two blocks from where I work. I have been in there five times since they opened. They have hard to find batteries of all types.
They also put batteries in watches. $5 each.
I found new batteries for my hard-to-fit cordless phones there.
They also have cell phone batteries and laptop batteries.
I love BATTERY PLUS!
| Reply by MistarellaFL on 5/24/08 8:33pm
Msg #248673
AAAA batteries aren't so hard to find
Radioshack carries them, as well as Walgreens, to name 2 retail stores.
| Reply by MikeC/NY on 5/24/08 7:17pm
Msg #248667
AAAA batteries??
I never knew they existed - either they're VERY small, or this headset is very large.
Of course, using disposable batteries opens the "environmentally responsible" can of worms... My hands-free device is a Parrot Minikit that clips to the visor and connects via Bluetooth; I like it much better than those things you stick in your ear, and it recharges throught the USB port on my computer.
| Reply by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 9:20pm
Msg #248686
Re: AAAA batteries?? Never had an issue keeping a couple of
also Fry's, Sears, Kmart carry them also in the electronics department.
| Reply by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 9:21pm
Msg #248687
Re: AAAA batteries?? Never had a problem keeping at least a n/m
| Reply by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 9:29pm
Msg #248690
Re: AAAA batteries?? Never had a problem keeping at least a
couple of spare batteries in my truck. Also keep family radios there. Consumers reports a couple of years ago did a report on batteries and ran tests storing them in cars, refers, room temp, 0 degrees, 32 degrees, 140 degrees and when it came time to use and test them, they found that output and life span were within a few percentage points of each other, too close to call and the differences could have been caused by manufacturing tolerances. Temperature problems were in the carbon-zinc days. I still would not leave them lay around in the sun, though. Besides, if I don't keep them in the truck I will forget them and when I need a replacement, I won't have it.
I bought my spares at Fry's. I also saw them today at Sears in the electronics department. I am sure they are at other retailers, but I have not had to buy any more so I haven't looked for them.
| Reply by Glenn Strickler on 5/24/08 9:30pm
Msg #248691
Geez, guess I need a beer ....sorry about all the posts. n/m
| Reply by Ernest__CT on 5/24/08 8:17pm
Msg #248669
Jabra rocks! Don't keep spare batteries in car!
Jabra makes some of the finest quality earpieces / headsets on the planet.
Spare batteries kept in the car will be way too hot during the warm / hot weather. They won't last as long as if they were kept in the house.
Yes, more than one charger is a PITA, but I'm with those who favor rechargeables for $ reasons as well as environmental ones.
| Reply by PAW on 5/24/08 8:38pm
Msg #248675
Keep batteries in your freezer!
Well, lets see if this works.
According to Energizer:
"1. Is it a good idea to store batteries in a refrigerator or freezer? No, storage in a refrigerator or freezer is not required or recommended for batteries produced today. Cold temperature storage can in fact harm batteries if condensation results in corroded contacts or label or seal damage due to extreme temperature storage. To maximize performance and shelf life, store batteries at normal room temperatures (68°F to 78°F or 20°C to 25°C) with moderated humidity levels (35 to 65% RH)."
And Duracell states:
"Store batteries in a dry place at normal room temperature. Do not refrigerate DURACELL Batteries. This will not make them last longer. Most DURACELL Batteries will provide dependable long life even after 5 years of storage in these conditions."
But, Wikipedia says:
"Battery life can be extended by storing the batteries at a low temperature, as in a refrigerator or freezer, because the chemical reactions in the batteries are slower. Such storage can extend the life of alkaline batteries by ~5%; while the charge of rechargeable batteries can be extended from a few days up to several months. In order to reach their maximum voltage, batteries must be returned to room temperature; therefore, alkaline battery manufacturers like Duracell do not recommend refrigerating or freezing batteries."
What are *you* going to do?
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