Telstra has said that it would only sell the iPhone in 15 stores nationwide on Friday Morning, including its T-Life branded stores in George Street, Sydney and Bourke Street, Melbourne. The two stores will open two hours early than usual, at 6am on opening day.

It also raises questions that the telco currently has a limited supply, which could lead to problems in fulfilling the demands to the iPhone.

Optus, however, will open its Sydney store at midnight - only limiting those who have made a deposit to buy the phone. Vodafone also has plans to celebrate the launch, however will do it early in the morning.

The other thirteen stores are:

• Canberra Centre, Canberra (ACT)
• Macquarie Street, Dubbo (NSW)
• Casuarina Shopping Centre (NT)
• Todd Mall, Alice Springs (NT)
• Queen Street Mall, Brisbane (QLD)
• Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore (QLD)
• Marion Shopping Centre, Oaklands (SA)
• Bathurst Street, Hobart (TAS)
• Moorabool Street, Geelong (VIC)
• Chadstone Shopping Centre (VIC)
• Westfield Doncaster (VIC)
• Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie (WA)
• Morley Galleria, Collier Road, Morley (WA)

The Herald Sun is reporting that the Victorian Government’s $21.5 million fibre-optic network, installed along the "Fast Rail" tracks to Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Latrobe Valley, has only three companies after opening three years ago.

The network was said to bring high-speed internet for 700,000 Victorian homes and contained 30 fibres, allowing 50,000 television channels. It promised to close the digital divide between the city and the country, allowing regional areas access to an "information super-railway".

The subscribers are V/Line, Central Gippsland TAFE and the internet company Wideband Networks. As well, taxpayers are footing $702,000 for maintaining the failed line.

Vodafone has released its iPhone pricing plan for both New Zealand and Australia, but has failed to better the offering from rival Australian carriers, Telstra and Optus.

According to the pricing plan, which has been removed, the carrier will offer eight plans, four for business and four for consumers. All plans, except the $169 plans will see you paying for the 8GB model, but you will need to pay for the 16GB model for any plan regardless.

There is not any difference in plans, except for the amount. For the $69 plans, you will get $310 worth of talk and text & 250MB data. The $99 plans will get you $600 worth of talk and text & 500MB of data. The $119 plans will also offer 500MB worth of data, but includes $800 worth of talk and text. The $169 plans offer $1200 worth of talk and text & 1GB of data.

For New Zealanders, there are three plans - the iPhone 250, 500 and 1GB. The 250 plan will cost you $80 and include 120 minutes, 600 text messages and 250MB. The 500 plan will cost $130 and will include 250 minutes, 600 text messages and 500MB. And if you can afford it, the 1GB plan is for $250 and will include 600 minutes, 600 text messages and 1GB of data.

All plans in New Zealand will also see the consumer footing some money to pay for the phone - but it is unknown if it is a one-time thing or in monthly instalments. There are options for an iPhone without a plan, but it would cost you a bit. The 8GB model will cost $979 and the 16GB will cast you $1,129.

Comparing it with Telstra and Optus’ offerings - it is crap! So, that leaves Vodafone out of the race.

For animation studios, computers need to contain high quality chips and high quality components or else your animation would look crap. Upgrading, however, is a different story - as they want to get the “next-big” thing.

And taking that up is Dreamworks Animation and the have signed a deal to replace their AMD-powered computers to brand new Intel-powered computers from HP. HP provided the now-obsolete computers powered by AMD chips.

The chips will be used to help the studio to produce films n stereoscopic 3-D. The first film that will be using the new computers will be “Monsters vs. Aliens”, who will make its debut on March 27, 2009. The financial deal were not disclosed.

The Activision/Vivendi Games merger is now likely to get the go-ahead after Activision’s stockholders have agreed to the merger with Vivendi Games, the owners of Blizzard (the creators of World of Warcraft). The proposal saw more than 92 percent of the shareholders agree to the merger.

Under the deal, Vivendi will receive more than 295.3 million new shares of Activision, and the parent company will buy 62.9 million for $1.7 billion - meaning that Vivendi will have a 52% stake in the new company. The company will be still trading under Activision’s ATVI in Nasdaq.

The new merger also creates a new powerhouse, rivaling Electronic Arts - where the value of Activision Blizzard stands around $18.9 billion, comparing to EA’s capitalization on Monday’s market close of $14.1 billion.

The deal is expected to close on July 9.