RJ Tata’s Blog

My many hobbies and interests

LG enV

LG enVI’ve been the proud owner of an LG enV for a couple months now.. I like the phone so much, I decided to post a review of it.

I picked up the green enV from the local Verizon store. Features include: 2 megapixel camera, bluetooth support, micro SD slot (up to 1GB), flip-open design with QWERTY keyboard perfect for text messaging. The thing that nobody told me is that the BATTERY LIFE is AMAZING! This phone will run for a couple weeks on a charge in standby mode!  I’ve only had to charge mine several times in the few months I’ve had it.  Now I’m spoiled - I’ll be comparing the battery life on all future phones to this one.

I highly recommend the LG enV.

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Free Software and Utilities for your Home Computer

  • Office Suite: OpenOffice.org
    http://www.openoffice.org/
    OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites (including Microsoft Office), the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

  • Open Source Development Editor: Open Komodo
    http://www.openkomodo.com/
    The Open Komodo Project, based on the award-winning Komodo IDE, is a new initiative by ActiveState to create an open source platform for building developer environments. ActiveState has open-sourced elements of Komodo Edit, a free multi-language editor for dynamic languages based on Komodo IDE, to create the Open Komodo code base.

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Michigan Lower Peninsula Public Boat Launches

Michigan Lower Peninsula Public Boat Ramps

400+ public boat launches in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. Open the michigan-lower-peninsula-public-boat-ramps.kml (right-click and select “save target as” or “save link as”) in Google Earth. Or, you can use Garmin POI loader to put the michigan-lower-peninsula-marinas-and-yacht-clubs.csv on to your Garmin GPS.

Many Locations from
1. Fish Michigan, 100 Southern Michigan Lakes, 2nd Edition by Tom Huggler (ISBN 0-923756-17-5)
2. Fish Michigan, 100 Northern Lower Michigan Lakes, by Tom Huggler (ISBN 0-923756-19-1)
3. Fish Michigan, 100 Great Lakes Hotspots, by Tom Huggler (ISBN 0-923756-18-3)

Want to learn how to make your own? Click Here….

Saving points from Google Earth to your GPS

I’ve been a huge fan of Google Earth since it launched. I’ve also recently purchased a Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS and the thought occurred to me - wouldn’t it be cool to pinpoint locations in Google Earth’s satellite view, and then somehow transfer them to the Garmin GPS? A quick search on Google and I notice that somebody has already figured it out! First, setup Google Earth to use decimal degree locations under Tools -> Options. Then you add a new folder under “My Places” in Google Earth and save your desired locations into that folder. Then you save that folder (by right-clicking it) as a *.kml file. Next, get your hands on the shareware program called POIEdit. Open the .kml file in POIEdit and you’ll see that you can save it as *.gpx (GPS exchange format) or *.csv (the Garmin comma separated POI format) file. Now you can use Garmin’s free POI Loader to load the *.csv file as a Custom POI (Points of Interest) on to your GPS. You could also use POIEdit to save the Google Earth file to other GPS formats as well. Happy navigating!

Michigan Lower Peninsula Public Boat Ramps