GLENN’S SHOWNOTES

 

 NSW Police get mobile fingerprint scanners | Australian IT
NSW Police get mobile fingerprint scanners

 

NEW portable fingerprint scanners have been rolled out to police across NSW in a program costing over $5 million.

The 500 scanners will allow police in the field to almost instantly verify the identity of offenders who have been given court attendance notices or criminal infringement notices, instead of having to return to the station.

If an offender’s fingerprints are on the national database, officers will also be able to check for outstanding warrants or breaches of bail.

Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo to step down in June | The Australian
Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo to step down in June

 

TELSTRA has announced the departure of chief executive Sol Trujillo, after the group reported a 1 per cent dip in first half profit.

Mr Trujillo will leave the telecommunications company on June 30 and return to the United States, Telstra said on Thursday.

Chairman Donald McGauchie said in a statement that Mr Trujillo and the Telstra board had agreed that now was a suitable time for a transition to a new chief executive.

The board “is well prepared with succession planning and will now formally commence a wide-ranging search for a suitable successor”, Telstra said.

An new appointment is expected by June 30.

 

Telstra on hold as the top amigo Sol Trujillo leaves | Australian IT
Mr Trujillo was paid $13.4million last financial year, up from $11.8 million in 2006-07 and $8.7million in his first year. With his basic salary of $3 million likely to be topped up with bonuses this year, he will depart having earned more than $40 million for his time at Telstra, although the final figure will not be known until later this year. Mr Trujillo has also been strongly criticised for his relentless program of first-class travel and luxury accommodation tastes. Some of his hotel rooms cost thousands of dollars each night on the Telstra shareholder account.

Google sorry for Gmail breakdown | Australian IT
Google sorry for Gmail breakdown

 

GOOGLE was scrambling yesterday to figure out what caused Gmail to crash, leaving millions of people worldwide without access to the free web-based email service for a few hours.

“We’re actively investigating the source of the issue and will share more information with our users as soon as we have it,” said Google spokesman Andrew Kovacs.

Google sparked online panic last month when a glitch temporarily prevented users from visiting any websites in search results.

Device to end chucking debate | Australian IT
Device to end chucking debate

 

DEBATES over cricket’s most emotive issue, whether a bowler is a chucker, could soon be settled immediately by a strap-on device that will measure the angle of the bowler’s arm on each delivery.

Researchers at Queensland’s Griffith University have developed a prototype of the device, which can be worn on the field and allows umpires to determine immediately if a bowler is bowling illegally.

The device uses electronic sensors to measure the degree of elbow extension from the time the bowling arm reaches a horizontal level to the ball’s release.

International Cricket Council regulations stipulate a 15-degree maximum for elbow extension in the bowling action. This is accepted as the point at which the elbow extension begins to become noticeable to the eye.  

……..Sri Lankan spin bowler Muttiah Muralidaran, the world record-holder for Test wickets taken, has come under constant scrutiny throughout his career because of his unorthodox bowling action. He has been tested and found to be within the 15-degree limit.
 

Household Stimulus Package – Hoax contacts (via email or phone)

We have received advice that people have been contacted (not by Centrelink) and asked to provide their bank account details. These customers have been told that we need their bank account details in order to pay them the Household Stimulus Package (HSP) bonus payment.

If you are contacted and requested your bank details by email or phone, it is likely this is a hoax. 

 

MARK’S SHOWNOTES 

 

Music piracy not so bad, Sneaky say – Technology – brisbanetimes.com.au
Music piracy not so bad, Sneaky say

The chief songwriter and producer of Australian dance music group Sneaky Sound System says digital music piracy isn’t a major problem for popular artists because the vast majority of earnings come from playing live shows.

Angus McDonald made the comments at a launch event for Nokia’s Comes With Music bundles. From next month the package will give people unlimited free music downloads from the Nokia Music Store for 12 or 18 months when they buy a Nokia phone.

Music industry figures attending the event hope the new all-you-can-eat subscription model will lead to a significant drop in music piracy. The wish is that people will have less need to go to illegal sources if they have an unlimited subscription to a legal service.

“This model certainly has the potential to be a significant new revenue stream for our members,” said Richard Mallet, director of recorded music services at APRA/AMCOS, which collects licence fees and royalties on behalf of the music industry.

The record labels and songwriters are the main losers from piracy and plummeting CD sales but the artists who perform the songs are not as badly affected as the lion’s share of their revenue comes from live shows and merchandise sales.

In fact, some groups have said piracy could be beneficial as it allowed more people to experience their music and hence created a larger fan base.

Apple – Movie Trailers – Mutant Chronicles

Mutant Chronicles

In theaters: April 24, 2009

 Verification System on IMDB pain in the arse.

Vic police overhaul HR, payroll system | Australian IT
Vic police overhaul HR, payroll system

VICTORIA Police’s technology unit, under investigation for fraud and carrying a $90 million black hole in its accounts, has begun a multi-million-dollar human resources and payroll systems overhaul.

Victoria Police will upgrade its human resources and payroll systems, based on SAP, in a multi-million-dollar project

The project, understood to be worth about $10 million, will involve enterprise software vendor SAP designing and installing a new human resource management system. Software testing will be performed by Melbourne-based Revolution IT.

Victoria Police’s IT arm (also known as Business Information Technology Services) is pushing ahead with the revamp despite an internal investigation, dubbed Operation Tabour, into alleged fraud, kickbacks and disappearing equipment.

An audit by consultancy SAHA, obtained by The Australian, shows BITS needed an extra $89 million to fill a hole left by cost blow-outs on a major contract. A department spokesperson could not comment on the investigation because it has not been completed.

The spokesperson confirmed the HR management system overhaul and said SAP had finished the design work and begun the installation.

“The new HR and payroll system will simplify HR processes and provide better support for operational policing,” the spokesperson said.

“Victoria Police has undertaken an extensive tendering process and selected a vendor to provide a HR and payroll system.”

The project will be completed by September this year. The department will deploy the system in phases and the payroll and HR modules will be switched on separately in coming months.

Operation Tabour is an investigation of alleged breaches of tender processes fo

Telstra union hopes for better days | Australian IT
Telstra union hopes for better days

THE union that represents Telstra workers is hoping for a more conciliatory approach from the telco’s management after chief executive Sol Trujillo leaves in June. Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union (CEPU) divisional president Len Cooper rates Mr Trujillo’s time as Telstra CEO as “an unmitigated disaster”. 

He said CEPU members had been shamefaced by the “arrogance” with which “their employer has treated regulators, customers, staff and the federal Government”. 

He said Mr Trujillo’s successor would need to rebuild bridges with the federal Government to get back into the high-speed national broadband network (NBN project) tender process. 

“Whoever they pick has to be someone who has a good chance of doing that, otherwise they will be locked out of the biggest infrastructure project since the Snowy River Scheme,” Mr Cooper said. 

“It is likely that the federal Government will insist Telstra comply with its industrial relations policies. 

“So, therefore, if they pick someone who can get them back on the NBN ground floor they will also have to have a look at how they are handling industrial relations. 

“So we’re hopeful.”

Nokia mulls laptop move | Australian IT
Nokia mulls laptop move

THE world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday. “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity,” Mr Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops. 

Industry has rumoured about Nokia’s possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Mr Kallasvuo’s comment was the first official admittance of such plans. 

“We don’t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging. 

“Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication,” he said. 

Nokia’s comments come a week after No. 3 PC brand Acer launched a foray into the phone business with eight mobile phone models, joining leader Hewlett-Packard and No. 4 Lenovo in the high-growth space. 

While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry is less obvious.

McGauchie in quandary again as Sol Trujillo resigns | Australian IT