No week without acquisition news: News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace, is in the process of acquiring Photobucket photobucket.com for about $250million. The photo sharing site is now the world’s number one, with more than 40 million users - that’s more popular than competitors such as Flickr. eBay, meanwhile, is buying StumbleUpon, and Microsoft was this week rumoured (again) to be in talks to acquire Yahoo.

Microsoft also made headlines with the announcement of Windows Live Hotmail. The new service seems to reinvent the old Web 1.0 dinosaur with Ajax, and you’ll be able to send instant messages to your contacts. Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington wasn’t impressed, but it’s definitely one to watch.

Finally, New Scientist reports that Google Earth may soon include sounds. Californian company Wild Sanctuary owns more than 3,500 hours of soundscapes from all over the world and currently is in talks with Google.

Have a cracking weekend