Now, the first thing you need to know about the AFR’s new website, is that it isn’t a website. As per the ads that announced the venture in today’s AFR, AFR Access is "the serious investor’s toolkit".

I’ve actually participated in an internal trial, and it operates something akin to a sophisticated AJAX application - except that it’s built using Macromedia. So what, exactly, is AFR Access? Well, you can subscribe to different content packages that include the AFR and different news and information sources from around the world. It also has a bunch of financial tools, as per the tag line. And it costs money.

What do I think? It does what it was designed to do, which is not be a free news website. I’m not aware of many other online apps from a big media outlet out there like this, so it seems to me we’re unchartered waters. There’s a free trial and an online demo at the site, so I’d be interested to know your reaction. Don’t be shy now.

Google launched its new Australian and New Zealand head office today, located in an office tower overlookig Sydney’s Darling Harbour. In fact, it’s seven floors below me in the Darling Park building, and just one floor below the Fairfax executive level. Now there’s an interesting bit of trivia.

So aside from news about the long distance I traveled to the launch this morning, I also have these cameraphone pics, below. Couple of interesting things to note:

1. Google actually let us take photos. This activity is banned at HQ in Mountainview, Calif. I should know, cos a security guard busted me last July on my visit.

2. Check out the cool tractor beam! Geeks rejoice.

3. Federal IT minister Helen Coonan came to open the ‘plex. That’s pretty high praise in this country.

4. They have about 30 staff, 75% sales and 25% real engineers. They’re hiring like crazy, and are boosting the engineering staff. Larry and Sergei themselves gave the OK to ramp up the Sydney operations. Local engineers are contributing to real code, not just localising Google products. In fact, Aussie engineers are responsible for 50% of the work that went into Google Maps.

5. Speaking of staff, this shot through the door into their off-limits work space gave me an insight into their plans.  It looked to me like there was room enough for many, many more people. They have a lease on the whole floor, which by my guess can hold 200+, judging by the AFR’s space.

Here’s a few more random shots, including the requisite pool table and kitchen that supplies Googlers with free food every day:

This NYT piece caught my eye and made me smile, particularly this observation by a Journalism graduate:

"Newspaper people are too pessimistic," he [Diego Sorbara, who is graduating shortly from the Missouri School of Journalism] said. "Part of the nature of journalism is to adapt to your surroundings. We can’t all stay in our ruts. If you get into this whole spiral of, ‘Woe is us, the industry is going down,’ then it will go down."

I’m not going to say a word, beyond suggest you get a copy of today’s AFR if you still can. Big report on the newspaper fightback. Contains juicy, fightback-type quotes like this from APN executive Brendan Hopkins: "Newspapers are not dead and will never be dead."

I chatted briefly to Cameron Reilly today - he’s gonna have a field day on this one.

Man, I do love a good online argument. And this one’s a pearler. One of Telstra’s PR bloggers at Now We Are Talking, Rod Breum, has come out fighting after another stinging missive from AFR journo Pamela Williams last Friday, called "Connections line up at Telstra." (I’d link you to the story, but it costs $3.30 to view, and there’s no permalink. Sigh.)

But to summarise, her argument is that Telstra has breached its own procurement guidelines by appointing billions of dollars in IT contracts to companies like Alcatel without a decent tender process. Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has not only imported dozens of Americans to run the company, but he has abandoned its historical rigorous tender processes where multiple suppliers lined up. Sol is all about quick deals with mates, she argues. It’s a big piece, thoroughly researched, and over 5000 words. My only criticism would be that she uses a lot of unnamed sources.

Here’s Rod’s first post in response, which contains the internal memo Telstra sent to staff. It contains all the usual PR drivel you’d expect. My favourite line:

What readers were not made aware of, was that the journalist Pam Williams has been bombarding Telstra with questions for several weeks.

Gasp! News Flash! Pam was doing her job.

Then in an incredible display of maturity, Rod continues by posting the questions he fired back at Fairfax in retaliation. They’re really un-funny, and bizzare. For example: "Will you please explain the process that was undertaken in Fairfax’s most recent decision to procure newsprint? Was this a fully competitive tender advertised internationally? How many tenderers were there? Please name the unsuccessful tenderers."

To follow, was another post which contained Fairfax’s response. You guessed it, no comment. But the biggest sensation is that Rod has accused Fairfax of breaching its own, and the media industry’s, code of ethics:

The biggest threat to Fairfax and its so-called “rivers of gold” classified advertising is Telstra and Sensis…While the journalist Pam Williams put her name to this attack on Telstra, Fairfax insiders tell me it was driven by people much higher up in the company with an obvious agenda

The idea that an AFR journalist applied a commercial agenda to a story of this nature is laughable to say the least. Rod, you really have lost the plot. I’ve said it before after the first William vs Bruem fight, use the Telstra blog for a useful conversation rather than this emotional drivel.

Simon Sharwood, an Aussie IT Journo and one of the many people to offer insightful comments on the Telstra posts, says it well: There’s a problem here. On the one hand, you would have us believe that Fairfax is not upholding standards it holds you to. On the other, you are willing to use the same "anonymous sources" tactic you decry to justify your assertion the AFR’s story is a commercial attack on Telstra. You cannot have it both ways, Rod.