Discover Laws Unto Himself
Newcastle Herald
Friday November 21, 1997
YOU'VE probably heard about the John Laws barbecue sauces, the John Laws cookbook, the John Laws country music CD and John Laws books of irreverent logic.
If you haven't, that's OK. You've obviously been on another planet. You'll still recognise The Voice as it keeps the dream alive.
Not content with the airwaves, Laws, `the man with the golden microphone', has branched out into cyberspace with his own Internet access kit.
The Internet My Way gives purchasers exclusive membership of the John Laws web site at www.thedream.com.au, where, according to the media release, users will be guided `through interesting, newsworthy and entertaining information where you will gain an invaluable insight into the world of John Laws and the subjects that interest him most'.
It's the place, according to Laws, where `we can all go surfing without fear of drowning'.
Sign up with Laws and you will receive via e-mail @the-dream.com.au. The site has a community noticeboard for links to weather and news from sources including CNN and ABC; a farming forum and `What's on Your Mind Australia', where members can comment on one of Laws's contentious issues of the day.
The Laws site has a Newcastle dial-in number. The casual rate for keeping the dream alive is $5 an hour but a range of prepaid access plans are available that can bring the hourly rate down to $1.38.
The Laws Internet kit sells for $19.95 at Woolworths or by calling 1300-653-654.
It includes an installation guide, installation software and Microsoft Internet Explorer on CD-ROM for Windows 95 and 3.1/3.11 and floppy disks for installation on Windows 3.1/3.11.
CLASSIC Wild Walks of Australia from Rankin Publishers is one of those programs that catch a reviewer's eye simply because they stand out from the usual crowd of typing tutors and children's storybooks.
The package covers 25 of the top bushwalking areas in Australia, including the Snowy Mountains, the Victorian Alps, northern and south-west Tasmania and Kakadu.
Despite some worthwhile features, however, this program didn't live up to my expectations.
It strikes me as a classic case of a book (in this case a coffee table-style volume) being adapted to delivery on CD-ROM instead of being developed specifically for the medium.
A CD-ROM can hold reams of content ? about 600 thick paperbacks. Apart from a few concessions such as some videos, slide shows and `virtual flights', the level of detail offered on each of the areas in Classic Wild Walks fails to do justice to a CD's capabilities.
Each area is described under sub-headings such as grades, walking times, landscape, vegetation, references, maps, access, walking routes and campsites, but the information is not extensive and will have serious walkers reaching for other references.
The maps I looked at in Classic Wild Walks were offered in two sizes: too small and too large. Navigation was basic and sometimes cumbersome and the whole thing was frustratingly slow on a 486 DX2/66 with 8Mb, despite the minimum specification being a 386 DX with 4Mb.
On the positive side, however, Classic Wild Walks has some excellent pictures, reflecting its coffee-table origins.
It has some good features such as virtual flights that give a 3D perspective of an area; hot spots, labels and route markings that can be overlaid on pictures; weather and snowfall charts; the ability to list features in an area by height and calculate height differences; personal notes that can be attached to each area and a bookmarking system for shortcuts.
This package has potential, but it could be a lot better. It needs a 486 with 8Mb of RAM, 7Mb of disk space and Windows 95. It sells for $49.95.
© 1997 Newcastle Herald