GPS Babel

If you are interested in GPS or Google Earth, GPS Babel is a program that you should look into. It is compatible with Windows, OSX, and Linux operating systems and will download GPS data from Garmin and Magellan devices via serial port (COM3) or USB and will then save the data in any of 90 GPS formats (including Google Earth .kml, National Geographic .tpg, and many, many others). It will also translate from any of the 90 formats to any other of the 90 formats, and transfer data to Brauniger, Garmin, Magellan, or Wintec devices. Basically, this program eliminates the problem of the huge number of DIFFERENT GPS formats.

I also suggest downloading GPS Babel if you are a Google Earth user, because unless you have purchased a Google Earth Plus ($20 per year) or Google Earth Pro ($400 per year) license, both of which include the capability of downloading GPS data directly from a GPS device, it is the cheapest way to get GPS data from a GPS device and store it in a Google Earth compatible format.

Here is how to get your GPS data from your GPS device into Google Earth using GPS Babel:

1. Connect your device

2. Run GPSBabelGUI (it is easier to use than GPSBabel because it has a nice user interface)

3. Check the “[Device]” box under the “Input” section

4. Choose your device format (Garmin or Magellan) and the port type (USB or COM3)

5. Set the “Output” format to “Google Earth (Keyhole) Markup Language”

6. Choose where to save the new file and name it

7. Click “Let’s Go”

8. Open Google Earth and click “File” > “Open” and choose the newly created file

Launchy

Launchy is a program launcher/file opener/website searcher for Windows. It is essentially Quicksilver for Windows operating systems, and was my favorite out of a few programs of its type that I researched.

Here’s how it works: Launchy runs continuously in the background while you are working, and can be brought forward by pressing Alt + Space. Once it appears, you start typing the name of the program, file, folder, or website that you would like to open, and Launchy searches through its database looking for anything that matches your search. Launchy then displays what it guesses you are looking for, at which point you can hit Enter to open that file, folder, or program, or you can wait for a second and Launchy will show you a list of other close matches. You can then use the Up and Down arrow keys to cycle through the matches, and press Enter to open the one you want. Once you hit enter, Launchy hides in the background again, and you can go about your business. If you decide that you do not want to open anything once you have started Launchy, press Alt + Space again, and it will hide again.

Another useful aspect of Launchy was the built-in calculator, and the ability to search the web simply by typing in a URL and pressing Enter.

Initially, Launchy did not help me very much, because by default, it only adds the programs from your start menu, and for some reason, I found that quite a few of my programs were not being found. Launchy also would not open anything but programs, which was unfortunate, because I frequently wanted to open folders quickly. The solution was to run Launchy (Alt + Space), right click, and choose “options”. I then added folders to the “Catalog” tab and added types of files for Launchy to index. Now, Launchy will run programs, open folders, and search the web for me. It speeds things up quite a bit for me, because I never have to take my hands off the keyboard to get to the files I need.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 Help

While I was in Salt Lake City visiting Victoria, I had quite a bit of time to kill while she was in her classes, so I decided to use it to improve my knowledge of Adobe Photoshop CS2 on my Dell Inspiron 1300. I found that the standard Adobe Photoshop Help that is part of the Photoshop program is quite an extensive resource and quite helpful. To access Photoshop Help, click File > Photoshop Help, or press F1. You can then search for any Photoshop topic that you can think of, or simply move from topic to topic from top to bottom (like I did). You can also click File and choose any of the options at the bottom of the drop-down menu if you know what you are looking for (ie. How to Create Web Images > To create a rollover button).The one thing that really showed me how impressive of a program this was, was the "Shadow/Highlight" command. I took a picture of a bike ride that I had taken that was so shadowed that it appeared silhouetted, and used the "Shadow/Highlight" command (Image > Adjustments > Shadow/Highlight) and it went from being silhouetted to being completely visible.
Another great place for Photoshop tutorials is the internet. Here are a few of the places that I found that I liked: PSDTuts (my favorite), Photoshopcafe, Entheos Web, Adobe Tutorialz, Photoshop Talent, and Graphics.com. You can also find just about anything by Googling "Photoshop (your version) (what you want to learn)".