Reuters is reporting that HBO, owned by Time Warner, is to start selling its shows on Apple’s iTunes store, with flexible pricing on some of its shows.

Episodes of HBO, a premium cable network, are likely to sell above the standard $1.99 per episode, making it the first time Apple has allowed different prices on episodes. NBC Universal pulled out after both parties failed to agree on a selling price.

Shows like "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City" will make their debuts in electronic form; and it is currently testing a broadband service in Wisconsin to allow subscribers to stream episodes after their first airing.

HBO is also said to make some of its shows available after their DVD release, preserving a relationship between the subscribers and operators who pay HBO a fee for every new subscriber. This contradicts other broadcast and cable networks, as they put their shows the next day after being broadcast.

NEWS IN BRIEF: According to the Wall Street Journal, Dell will be phasing out its XPS desktop gaming machines. This will leave Alienware as the only high-end PC offering at the company, after acquired it in 2006.

Apparently, the Dell’s XPS PC Line "ate into" the sales of Alienware; where it competes with other brands like HP’s Voodoo and Falcon Northwest.

The report also says that Alienware will bring out new, redesigned systems based on new materials.

Singapore Telecommunications, or SingTel, has announced that it would be selling the iPhone in Singapore and many other markets with its associates.

The markets as of press time have been said on a press release were India, via the Bharti Group, The Philippines by Globe Telecom.

As well, rumours have been true, Optus will sell the iPhone thanks to this new deal.

This brings Vodafone and Optus having contracts to sell the iPhone, via region-wide deals. Rumours about Telstra being the third provider have been proven false as of this time, but it is still unknown as of this time.

SingTel owns 100% of Optus, but less than 50% stake on both Bharti and Globe.

Windows XP users who just upgraded to the new service pack will not be able to downgrade back to Internet Explorer 6 after that option would be impossible. This also applies to those who are running the beta version of IE8.

Jane Maliouta, deployment manager for IE8, has written on MSDN that the decision to prevent downgrading was "by design".

Those who have the Beta 1 version of IE8, you will not get SP3 in your Windows Update to dissuade users from finding themselves not able to downgrade.

Microsoft and the European Union have not had a best relationship, especially on Microsoft’s business policies. After alleging that the giant engaged in price fixing, the European Commission handed down massive fines.

The first was handed down in 2004 after losing their case with the Commission and was handed down a USD$690M. The second was handed down after an appeal and not paying the first fine and handed down a record USD$1.4 billion.

Now it looks like the Commission want more money, as it has currently two investigations against the giant.

But Microsoft is fighting back, after announcing that it will be fighting the latest fine; appealing to the European Court of First Instance (How many courts do they have?), hoping it could be reduced or dropped.

A spokesperson of the Commission, Jonathan Todd, has defended the decisions, saying that the courts upheld that Microsoft refused to comply with the ruling for 3 years.

But if that does not work, Microsoft is trying to get on the good side; with trying to create an “open” standard to help defend itself against one investigation launched, which is about Microsoft engaging in anticompetitive behaviour in the word processing market with Microsoft Office.

Australian internet service provider iiNet has said that it would buy fellow Western Australian ISP Westnet for $81 million.

This will bring iiNet closer to the top two ISPs in Australia, in subscriber numbers; with 685,000 subscribers. Optus has one million subscribers, with Telstra having around 2.5 million.

The privately owned Wesnet is the sixth-largest ISP in Australia, with 180,000 subscribers. It also provides telephony services and web hosting. Over half of its revenue, according to ZDNet Australia, comes from reselling wholesale ADSL broadband connections over Optus and Telstra.

The acquision comes after the continuing trend of ISPs merging with each other; with SP Telemedia (Soul) forked out $150 million for fellow competitor TPG in February.

Another source has confirmed to CNET.com.au that Telstra will be the third provider of the so-called ‘god machine’ at the end of June.

The news comes after that Optus and Vodafone will be selling the iPhone, with Vodafone confirming that it is selling it, and in New Zealand.

While there is no confirmation from Apple, Telstra and Optus on the deal; the iPhone was speculated not to be on the Telstra network as it was thought the iPhone would be only on the 850MHz 3G frequency, which Telstra does not have on the Next G network.

But with this latest news, it could see a multi-frequency (850/2100MHz) 3G capable iPhone to work on both Next G and Optus/Vodafone’s network. Vodafone and Optus supports both the 850MHz and 2100MHz.

Telstra declined to comment on the matter, but CNET.com.au understands that the deal will be announced at the end of the month.

Universal Music Group has confirmed on Tuesday that it has reached a deal with Qtrax, a legitimate file-sharing site, to allow free and legal downloads of Universal Music.

In January, Qtrax announced that it had the backing of all the major labels. This, however, came to a halt after it had been revealed by Warner Music that it had not authorized the use of its content on the service.

Universal Music and EMI both said that they had not signed contracts at the time with Qtrax.

It currently has contracts with finetunes, Sony/ATV (owned by Michael Jackson and Sony BMG) and TVT Records.

Qtrax was first launched in 2002, but shut down to avoid legal troubles. It relaunched late last year with some criticising the service.

Microsoft has started offering television shows on the Zune, two years Apple introduced it for its famous iPod, in an attempt to gain some market share.

But, it may have already gain one point against Apple; it has the programming lineup of NBC Universal, who pulled out of Apple late last year over pricing. NBC Universal has now offered its programming in many other outlets competing with Apple.

Shows from NBC, USA Network, Telemundo and many of its other properties will join more than 800 episodes of Comedy Central’s "South Park" and MTV’s "The Hills", both from Viacom.

The pricing structure has been revealed to be the equivalent of $1.99 in Microsoft Points that have to be purchased in advance. Microsoft Points are used in the Zune and Xbox 360 Marketplace to buy games, videos and music.

Optus has announced that it will expand its 3G network coverage to 98 percent by next year and will bring its speeds up to 42Mbps by 2010, to compete with Telstra.

While upgrading its coverage from 96 percent to 98 percent by December 2009, it will cost the telco AU$315 million. This price will also include upping the bandwidth to 28Mbps in 2009 and with the aim of "strategic partners", it will increase that to 42Mbps by 2010.

Telstra is expected to beat Optus to that speed after it was announced in February that it will have its Next G network running at 42Mbps by the end of 2009.