The UpStream (Page 538)

You hate banks, admit it. It is such a haste to go down there and wait in line, or deal with those terrible ATMs. Well, USAA Bank understands your frustration, and has found a way for some of you to avoid almost all of it. They have released an iPhone app to allow you to deposit checks into your account just by taking a picture of them. Wayne Peacock, EVP of the bank, told The New York Times:

Last month we announced that most of Midway was purchased by Warner Brothers, and since, the Newcastle studio has been closed due to lack of a buyer. That left us with the question of what would become of San Diego. We now have an answer, and this one isn't the terrible result Newcastle faced.

THQ purchased the studio this week for $200,000 plus liabilities and employee expenses, including unpaid vacation time. The publisher has made 4o offers to studio employees to stay on as developers for THQ, with more to come. One thing that didn't seem to come with the deal was the franchise developed at the studio, TNA iMPACT!, although the game engine was included. There is no telling what this means for the future of the franchise, but we will keep an eye out and let you know when we hear.

I haven't been using Facebook long, but I know it is the major player in social networking world. I remember a time when Friendster and mySpace were the major players, now most people don't even remember the first one. In the new world of social networking, companies like Facebook are always looking for ways to increase their market share, and the easiest way to do it is to buy the competition, and here we have another good example.

FriendFeed is a site that has been doing well as of late. It gives you the ability to combine status updates and microblogging, bringing the ideas of Facebook and Twitter together. They pioneered the idea of the "Like" button (now used on Facebook, Google Reader, etc.). They also give you the ability to combine your feeds from other sources into one place.

I am almost tired of following the story of the PS3 Slim. Every day I am reading articles, speculations, sifting through photos and watching TERRIBLE videos on YouTube just so that I can find the things that are credible for you guys. Today I have some for you in the form of an interview with a European retailer who says he has received information through his wholesale channels about the PS3 Slim.

Have you ever wondered why Microsoft has limited your number of friends to 100? Is it because they figure gamers are loners who have no friends? Is it because technology is a mystery to them? Or is it because they are still nurturing an old system because people still want to use it? Obviously it is the second option... I mean, the third. Sorry.

According to TheFeed, an inside source at Microsoft has blamed the issue on Halo 2. Now, you're thinking "I haven't thought about that game in years!" You are not the only one, but there are a lot of people who still play, and still do it online.

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo is fully aware that their E3 press conference was terrible. He also acknowledges that their hardware sales are down, and the economy is in the toilet. That being said, he is also fully convinced he has three titles in his new games catalog that will break 10 million units: Wii Sports Resort, New Super Mario Bros. and Wii Fit Plus. Iwata says: