ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 5, 1996 TAG: 9612050006
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Computer bits
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
THE GADGET GURU'S SITE offers product reviews on a wide variety of gizmos from automobiles to VCRs.
Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and computers are not a combination that comes readily to mind. The valley conjures up images of tidy farms, country roads and the nation's past. Computers imply electrons moving at the speed of light, information pouring forth in overwhelming quantities and the future.
But change, the wise man tells us, is the only thing we can rely on to stay constant. So now we have a Web 'zine, "O Shenandoah! Country Rag," dedicated exclusively to the Shenandoah Valley. It's based in the Page County community of Luray, which also is home to a rather famous hole in the ground, Luray Caverns.
With a computer (or Web television) and an Internet connection you can network with the famous valley's charms and browse through features that include: a schedule of valley events, backwoods recipes, links to valley attractions and a column by John Waybright, retired editor of the Page News and Courier. It's vintage Shenandoah.
Car computing
From a company called Ingenious Technologies Corp. of Massillon, Ohio, comes PowerDesk, a product for sales people and other professionals who are wedded to their cars. The PowerDesk, a recycled plastic product, attaches to a car's steering wheel and provides a platform for a laptop computer. The product is intended to increase productivity for people who have down time between meetings, says the company's president, Edward Lin. PowerDesk sells for $39.95 and can be bought directly from the company.
Recommended sites
From Roanoker Gary Carter comes word of a couple of interesting Web sites, which we suppose continues our theme of mixing technology and nature.
First, there's the Gadget Guru, who besides inhabiting cyberspace has made appearances on NBC's "Today" show, "Donahue" and other television programs. The guru's site offers product reviews on a wide variety of gadgetry from automobiles to VCRs. The photography section, for example, currently contains an article on the Kodak Digital Science DC20 camera, which is designed to be used in conjunction with a home computer. The Web site also lists the guru's choices for the best gadgets of 1996
Also from Carter comes word of "The Virtual Birder," an Internet magazine for bird watchers. This site lets you take virtual visits to popular birding locales such as Cape May, N.J., for hawk watching and the Illinois prairie to view shrubland and grassland birds. Visits to the various sites also give both novice and advanced birders a chance to test their bird identification skills.
Job searches
Those interested in using the Internet for a job search, might want to check in first at The Washington Post's on-line job-hunting tool, "What Color is Your Parachute: Job Hunting Online." The pages are prepared by Richard Nelson Bolles, one of the country's top career experts and author of the book "What Color is Your Parachute?"
In an area of the Web site called The Net Guide, Bolles gives his opinion on using the Internet to browse job listings, post resumes, get career counseling, make contacts and do research. He also gives his recommendations on the most useful of the 11,000 career-related sites on the World Wide Web. And while you're at the career site, you might want to jump over and look at the rest of what the Post's site has to offer.
AOL pricing
Sunday was "P" day at America Online. The web server's new pricing went into effect Dec.1. Every member who doesn't tell the company otherwise will hereafter be billed $19.95 and have unlimited access.
Think of this as reverse selling. If you don't tell the company you don't want it, you get it. There are a passle of pricing packages, with the lowest fee $4.95 for three hours of service a month and $2.50 for each additional hour.
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