The UpStream

From $1 billion, to $580 million to this week's $35 million, my_____ (Myspace) has been sold again. News Corp. has sold the once-famous social networking site to Specific Media, an advertising network, for below what they wanted to, and well below what they paid for it. This isn't exactly the death that 24/7 Wall St predicted would happen, but the fat lady hasn't quite sung her last note yet.

The deal will also cut my_____'s staff in half from 400 to 200 employees, along with other obvious cuts. CEO Mike Jones (who?) will stay with the company temporarily through the transition.

For press releases and more, check after the break.

We know that Google is very interested in the future of HTML5 and to prove it, they launched a new product in Google Labs this week called Swiffy. The service, as it stands, allows you to upload an Adobe Flash file and convert it into HTML5.

The positive of the service is that it allows you to take an existing Flash application and create something that can be used on an iPhone without having to recode everything from scratch. The downfall, however is that the code only works in webkit browsers. For most mobile phones, that is no problem, but it does create a major problem for most of the users of computers.

How does this affect regular computer users? Hit the break to find out.

As we see Microsoft starting to center itself around the Xbox brand and make all of their products link to and from each other, we learned last week of Xbox Live popping up in Windows 8. At E3, we also saw the Xbox gaining the search functionality of Bing. This week, Microsoft announced it was merging another one of their products, Games for Windows.

Games for Windows Marketplace will fully transition over to Xbox.com. Now you can get all of your gaming needs in one place. It's convenient, it's concentrated, and it's a whole lot of great games.

It makes sense that two gaming services be merged into the more popular one. One place for all things gaming. The Path to gaming starts at Xbox.com now. I see where they're going with this, and hopefully soon everyone else will, too.

Not everyone is in support of this change though, and we have users' comments after the break.

IBM claims to be building a smarter planet. One way they are trying to accomplish this is through memory development. Now, they aren't doing crossword puzzles; instead they are developing new memory technology for electronics. The new chipset, developed by IBM, allows for writing at 100 times that of current flash memory chips.

If this chipset can really do what IBM says it can, it will change the way computing happens. It is small enough, fast enough and has the capacity to become a universal memory of sorts. This phase-changing memory used as a universal memory could allow for computers to boot almost instantly right back to where they were when shut down. It allows for large data storage for long periods of time without the need for large spinning magnetic platters.

When might we see this technology? Hit the break to find out.

Normally when I write about Google, it is to talk about a terrible decision the company has made about their Android product, or a product launch gone terribly wrong. It isn't often I write to congratulate them on something they have done. This will be one of those times I break convention.

Google has always had a very firm, open policy on hiring. They believe that a good mix of people is the best way to get a good mix of ideas. Because of this, they openly encourage LGBT candidates to apply and encourage their employees to be themselves. In addition, they also support LGBT causes, most recently at Pride last weekend in NYC.

What did they do and what does the image have to do with it? Hit the break to find out.

We have talked in the past about what some people might do to get an iPhone, such as selling a kidney on the Internet. Well, it turns out that a kidney is worth a lot more than we expected. In fact, it is worth about the same as the virginity of a teenage girl.

Instead of a Chinese boy and a kidney, this time we have a Chinese girl who has offered her virginity in exchange for an iPhone 4. While the boy found a broker to sell his kidney, the girl took to a Twitter-like service in China, called Weibo, looking for sex. She says that her dream is to own an iPhone 4 but her father refuses to purchase one for her.

There are a couple of possible situations here. First, it's possible that a friend or hacker has gained access to her account and is playing a really weird prank on her. Second, Apple's marketing has finally affected the morality of the population as a whole instead of just those who work for the company. The most likely situation, however, is that the Chinese media blackout has prevented this girl from knowing an iPhone 5 (or iPhone 4s) is right around the corner and she should just wait a few months.