Michael Sainsbury and Cath Hart | October 19, 2007

LABOR will not release any coverage maps for its partly taxpayer-funded $8 billion national broadband network, claiming it has based its calculations on confidential Telstra network information.

This week, The Australian revealed Opposition maps that Labor is using to claim the $958 million government-funded OPEL regional broadband project does not provide the coverage claimed by Communications Minister Helen Coonan.

The revelations prompted Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile to say yesterday that Labor was "in cahoots" with Telstra over its attack on the Coalition's broadband plan.

Opposition communications spokesman Stephen Conroy yesterday admitted he would not be releasing any of his own coverage maps. He has promised to tip $4.7 billion in taxpayer funds into a public-private partnership with the group that wins a public tender for the project.

"The network configuration is drawn from commercial in-confidence information that Telstra, understandably, will not allow us to publish," Senator Conroy said last night.

"Ours are based on phone lines in the ground."

Katherine Jimenez | October 19, 2007

SUNCORP yesterday announced that up to 250 back-office jobs could be transferred to Infosys, the India-based business process outsourcer, as the Queensland group embarks on a retail growth push.

As part of the revamp, 270 customer-facing jobs will be created over three years to support a $50 million investment in Suncorp branches in Australia's two fastest growing economies, Queensland and Western Australia, and mortgage broker expansion, mainly in the southern states.

The 270 customer-facing jobs will be relocated out of Suncorp's back-office operations, which process loan applications and data entry activities.

To fill the back-office gap, the bancassurance company has entered into partnerships with Perpetual and Infosys in an attempt to develop a more efficient and scalable process in parts of the bank's back office.

By 2011 up to 250 back-office jobs could be transferred to Infosys, which would provide services through a mix of onshore and offshore resources. However, it is understood that most of the jobs transferred to Infosys will be offshored to India.

Kate Holton in London | October 19, 2007

BRITAIN'S public broadcaster has announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs and integrate its TV, radio and internet news operations to confront the digital-age shift away from traditional media.

The BBC, paid by the British public to "inform, educate and entertain," said 2,500 posts would go, but it will also create new positions to offer content when and where the audience wants it.

"Media is transforming, audiences are transforming," BBC director general Mark Thompson told staff. "I care too much to see (the BBC) drift steadily into irrelevance."

"It would be easy to say that the sheer pace of this revolution is too fast for the BBC … but I think we can see both here and around the world the price you pay for taking what looks like the safe option."

News and factual departments will be hardest hit in the move, which follows almost 4,000 job cuts announced in 2005. Most jobs are likely to go sooner than the plan's 2012-13 deadline.

Staff have said morale at the BBC, fondly known as "Auntie" or the "Beeb" in Britain, is terrible and unions, fearing quality will suffer, have threatened strike action.

Michele Gershberg and Eric Auchard in San Francisco | October 19, 2007

NEWS Corp's MySpace, the world's largest online social network, said it will allow outside developers further access to its service to counter the growth of smaller rival Facebook.

News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch joined MySpace chief executive Chris DeWolfe to make the announcement before Silicon Valley's internet elite and answer questions about the media conglomerate's digital future.

"We are opening our platform in the next couple of months," Mr DeWolfe said, confirming months of speculation that MySpace would follow in the footsteps of Facebook, which emerged as a serious competitor after allowing software developers to create applications for its users.

At the same time Murdoch signalled lower expectations for MySpace revenue in the company's 2008 fiscal year ending in June, suggesting it may not reach a previous forecast of over $US800 million ($893 million).

"I might say $US750 (million) but it's at least 30 times what it was the day we bought it two years ago," Mr Murdoch said at the web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. "If we keep that trajectory going like that we'll be very happy."

Mr Murdoch's acquisition of MySpace for $US580 million in 2005 crowned him as the smartest media executive at the time, once rivals realized the potential of its growing base of users for promotions and advertising.

Nicki Bourlioufas | October 18, 2007

THE Commonwealth Bank has upgraded its online banking service NetBank after customer feedback as the big banks try to push more services online.

The bank’s online banking service NetBank has been revamped with a new homepage and links to finance tools, with the changes to go live on Saturday.

"NetBank …features an improved home page, simpler short cuts, customer news bulletins and links to useful tools such as budget planners and a home loan calculator," Ross McEwan, CBA group executive, retail banking services, said.

"We started the ball rolling six months ago with the introduction of two-factor authentication for NetBank to deliver safer and more secure online banking."

CBA has simplified the navigation process on its homepage and boosted the search function on the website.

The bank has an average of 100,000 visitors each day and close to three million unique visitors every month, Commonwealth Bank chief marketing officer Mark Buckman said.

"The website has been redesigned to emphasise simplicity and deliver a positive experience when our customers visit the site either for online banking, or product and service information," he said.

Daisuke Wakabayashi in San Francisco | October 19, 2007

ADOBE Systems is working to deliver all of its software via the web as a service rather than a packaged product, but the transition to earn money from subscriptions or advertising could take a decade.

Adobe, a leading maker of graphic and web design software, earns most of its money through the sales of packaged software that runs locally on a computer's hard drive but it has started offering some of its applications online as service.

Speaking at the web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Adobe chief executive Bruce Chizen said running software on the desktop is still optimal for most of its customers, but that will change over time.

"The desktop is a powerful, powerful machine in which to run applications. Broadband, as quick as it gets, is still going to have some limitations in the short term," said Mr Chizen in a question-and-answer session on stage at the conference.

Mr Chizen answered a question about whether a complete shift to web delivery would take five or 10 years and he indicated it would be closer to a decade.

Like many traditional software makers including Microsoft, Adobe must fend off rivals delivering competing applications over the web and it also needs to adopt a new business model after years of selling software in boxes.

Mr Chizen expects professional customers of products like Acrobat document-sharing or Photoshop for editing images would opt to pay for subscriptions versus facing a steady stream of advertising to use tools critical to their jobs.