IT project failures

In no time the cost estimate was almost doubled, to $45 million, because it was proving more difficult than initially thought to determine the business rules behind the existing system. In short, the project had not been properly scoped.

“A fundamental governance theme for major initiatives is to ensure that all facets of change are planned and delivered,” Mr Toomey says. “Key performance indicators should be established at the outset.”

Cargo cult dooms project to failure – Perspectives – Opinion – Technology

Why you shouldn’t bank with ANZ

The ANZ Banking Group is beefing up its Indian IT staff at the expense of jobs in Australia.

ANZ yesterday said the bank plans to shift back-office roles to Bangalore over the next two to three years, but a spokesman could not confirm the number of jobs that will move.

The Indian office employs 650 people and there is speculation that under the job shifts, it could rise to 1000 over the next 18 months.

Financial Sector Union national secretary Paul Schroder said that more than 1000 jobs were being considered for the move to India.

“We understand 1,100 (jobs are) under consideration,” he said. “The majority of these people are very highly skilled.”

ANZ spokesman Paul Edwards said the bank was planning to shift back-office roles to Bangalore over the next two to three years, but he could not confirm the number of jobs that would move.

“It’s fair to say, however, there are likely to be more operations roles in Bangalore over time and fewer operations roles in Australia,” he said.

iPod to PC transfer

These are only a few of many legal iPod->PC transfers. Because of this, many third-party developers have stepped in to fill in Apple’s deficiency in this area. Software packages are available as both Freeware and Shareware ($5 and up) for both Macintosh and PC users. Check out a lengthy list of shareware options in our Downloads Section, or read on for a few of the most popular options:PC: * iPodAgent: A very popular freeware option with many options in addition to the music copying feature.

Copying music from iPod to computer

Eggs Benedict

Ingredients
1 stick butter, melted
3 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
6 eggs, poached
1 Tablespoon Grey Poupon mustard
Pinch of cayenne pepper
3 toasted English muffins
6 slices Canadian bacon
Saute Canadian bacon in small amount of water. Mix the egg yolks, lemon juice, mustard, and pepper in a blender, then add the hot butter. Set mixture aside. Place one slice of bacon on each half of an English muffin. Set one poached egg on top of bacon and cover with Benedict sauce. Sprinkle the top with chopped parsley and serve immediately.Serves: 3.

Egg Benedict Recipe Internet Cookbook Bacon Muffin

Zucchini frittata

Zucchini frittata

A frittata is a thin open-faced Italian omelet. It is delicious served with crusty bread and salad and, if you like, shavings of parmesan. There are variations galore; you can use asparagus, tomato, potato and onion or simply a strong melting cheese such as gruyere.

2 large free-range eggs

1/2 small zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

A few basil leaves, torn

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them with a fork. In a medium-sized non-stick pan, saute the zucchini and garlic in a little olive oil until soft.

Season, add the basil leaves and remove from heat to cool slightly. Then add the zucchini to the eggs and stir to combine.

Wipe the pan with kitchen paper and place over a medium heat. When the pan is hot, pour in 1/2 tbsp of oil followed by the egg mixture, stirring with a fork – distribute it evenly to cook quickly.

When the eggs have just set, your frittata is ready and you can slide it onto a plate and serve.(If you wish to double the recipe, you will need to finish cooking the frittata in a preheated oven or under a grill.)Serves 2 as a starter.

Pare and share – Recipes – Good Living – Entertainment – smh.com.au

eggs

Spring herb and rocket frittata

Makes one large, 20cm frittata.

Crack 8 large eggs into a bowl. Beat lightly, then add a 1/2 cup of chopped fresh herbs (chives, parsley, tarragon, chervil and thyme), a cup of roughly chopped rocket leaves and a 1/2 cup of grated parmesan.

Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Heat 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a 20cm iron skillet until it starts to smoke.

Add the egg mixture. As it cooks, repeatedly lift the edges with a spatula so the raw mixture fills the space. This will trap air and make the frittata light and fluffy.

Turn the frittata onto a plate, slide it uncooked side first back into the pan and finish cooking for 2-3 minutes.

Eggs – Interactive Cook – Good Living – Entertainment – smh.com.au

Backup

Hellenthal says that before she hooked up with the offsite back-up and disaster recovery service provider she had no idea with what frequency data was copied.”We didn’t have a back-up system in place. We used to tell users to burn data onto a CD, but it didn’t happen very often,” she says. “We looked at giving them a master storage solution – even DVD burners or memory sticks – but all of that involves a lot of user effort. We wanted a disaster recovery plan that didn’t rely on users.”But, with no direct access by the IT department to the notebooks, users are still responsible. Any solution had to deliver high-level security, due to the commercially sensitive pricing and contract information stored on the PCs, and enable Hellenthal to retrieve data in the event of disaster.Information is

Call for back-up – Next – smh.com.au

iPod nano video

So, last week we told you that iDoom is now running on the iPod nano. If you brave souls took the plunge, then you are now ripe for playing vidz as well since the ipodlinux video player has now been updated to support the nano in addition to all other iPods. You’re limited to playing raw AVI files only until they slam in the other codecs. However, playback is said to be “quite smooth� and the sounds works so you can rock that penguin all proper like.

iPod nano now does video too – Engadget – www.engadget.com

Google to have revenue of USD$6 billion?

By next year, Noto says, he expects Google to have ad revenue of $US9.5 billion. That would place it fourth among US media companies in total ad sales after Viacom, News Corporation and the Walt Disney Co, but ahead of giants including NBC Universal and Time Warner.

The search engine powered by money – Technology – smh.com.au

iTunes and removal of DRM

HotRecorder for Media converts your iTunes songs into standard MP3 files that can play on any MP3 device.It also makes MP3s out of songs bought through Yahoo!’s music service, in case you want to play them on an iPod, Jukebox or another device that doesn’t support the copy-protection mechanism Yahoo! uses.

Software frees iTunes music – Software – Reviews – Technology – smh.com.au