My sources tell me that Browster, based in San Francisco, will soon announce that it has been acquired. The buyer is understood to be News Corp, which owns MySpace. The financial terms are not known at this time.

Browster's technology works with the Microsoft and Firefox browsers and downloads the page behind links. When a user moves the mouse cursor over the links, the web page instantly pops up.

The company recently created a new version that has been customized for MySpace (PDF). It was this move that caught the attention of News Corp. With the MySpace Browster, News Corp. can help keep users on the MySpace site. Plus, downloading MySpace pages in the background will enable News Corp. to show a higher traffic count, which will strengthen ad revenue.

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Please see SVW:

Browster—a nifty search utility or a new way to "frame" third party web sites?

Browster helps you sift through search results by adding instant page previews. But there could be some ugly side effects, such as a backlash from content owners and a massive increase in bandwidth use.