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Sean Parker on his wedding, redwoods, and death threats

So much for the honeymoon.

Sean Parker -- Napster co-founder, first Facebook president, portrayed on the big screen by Justin Timberlake -- had expected to spend early June relaxing with his longtime girlfriend and new bride, Alexandra Lenas.

Instead, the newlyweds and their newborn are holed up at an undisclosed location in Menlo Park, Calif., while Parker works the phones to get out his side of a story he describes as "simultaneously the silliest and the most damaging PR crisis that I've had to deal with."

If you've missed the uproar, just Google "Sean Parker … Read more

Google expected to sell $8.8B in mobile ads this year

Google is expected to sell more mobile ads this year than the rest of its competitors combined for the second straight year, according to a new forecast.

The Web giant will generate $8.8 billion in revenue from mobile advertising this year after paying commissions to its ad partners, a 92 percent increase over the previous year, according to a forecast released Thursday by research firm eMarketer.

Mobile ad sales are expected to hit nearly $16 billion this year, meaning Google will have a 56 percent share. Google sold $4.6 billion in mobile ads in 2012, capturing 52 percent … Read more

U.S. embassy Facebook video sparks anger from Pakistanis

A seemingly benign promo video for the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, which was posted to Facebook on Wednesday, has sparked some angry commenter back-and-forth on the social network.

It appears that it's not necessarily what's in the video that bothers Pakistanis, but rather the reminder of the U.S. presence in Pakistan at a time when relations between the two countries are clearly strained.

The video, "Sunday in Islamabad with Ambassador Olson," shows the ambassador donned in a pink button-up and khaki slacks cruising around Pakistan's capital city chatting with people, sampling the local … Read more

Facebook mimics Twitter with hashtags

CNET Update is #trending:

In this episode of Update:

- Follow trending stories on Facebook with hashtags.

- Get excited for universal game controllers for iPhones and iPads.

- Lose a dimension when ESPN drops its 3D channel.

- Keep track of all the Galaxy S4 smartphones, as Samsung reveals the S4 Active.

- Print anywhere from your Android phone with the Cloud Print app.

CNET Update delivers the tech news you need in under three minutes. Watch Bridget Carey every afternoon for a breakdown of the big stories, hot devices, new apps, and what's ahead. Subscribe to the … Read more

Facebook struggles with monetizing search, kills sponsored results

Facebook is removing sponsored results from search less than a year after the ad unit's introduction.

"In keeping with the goal of streamlining our ad products, starting in July advertisers will no longer be able to buy sponsored results," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET.

The failed unit, which let marketers target users during the search process, suggests that the company is still struggling to understand how best to monetize search attention, something that competitor Google mastered long ago. Sponsored results seemed to be modeled after Google's sponsored search ads. As a user typed in a query … Read more

Vouchr makes it easy to brighten up a friend's day

There are times you want to treat a friend to a scoop of ice cream, but quickly getting a gift card into his possession isn't always possible. And you don't always know if your gift was actually used, since there's no alert mechanism to notify you when a gift card has been redeemed.

A free iOS app, called Vouchr, will allow you to create a gift certificate (of sorts) and let any of your Facebook friends claim it when they visit a location you've specified. Originally launched in a small beta just in Canada, it's … Read more

Star Apps: eBay's Steve Yankovich

When an Apple rep initially contacted eBay about developing a proprietary app back in 2008, the latter hadn't even heard of the iPhone or Objective-C. But seeing the potential of mobile software, a number of eBay employees believed that developing a mobile app would profit the global commerce and payments leader in the long run. In early 2009, they began raising funds for the formation of a mobile-specific group and commissioned an outside company to build the first eBay app.

Many software releases later, the app has helped the largest online marketplace blast off into mobile commerce, as eBay'… Read more

Wrapp hits 15 million digital gift cards, raises $15 million

Wrapp, the company that lets Facebook friends send digital gift cards to one another, has picked up $15 million from investors in the mobile manufacturing and mobile payments industries.

The money is going toward the development of the app's latest feature: brand pages. Users can now follow a brand for special deals for themselves.

"The whole idea with Wrapp is to build a win-win relationship between consumers and retailers," CEO Hjalmar Winbladh told CNET. Wrapp will start to add other features as well, he said.

The company is truly mobile first, according to Winbladh. Wrapp users access … Read more

Parse hits 100,000 apps after Facebook acquisition

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook's latest acquisition, Parse, announced on Wednesday evening that it has grown 25 percent since the social network bought it two months ago.

Parse CEO Ilya Sukhar told an audience at a World Wide Developers Conference event that the platform has grown by 20,000 apps since last month.

"We agreed to have Facebook buy us to accelerate our vision," he said.

Facebook bought developer platform Parse in April, letting the social network dip into the back end of thousands of mobile applications. More apps, more data.

Third-party apps are important to Facebook because … Read more

Facebook's Parse now powering 100,000 apps

Parse is simultaneously shooting down naysayers and tooting its own horn with the announcement that it's now powering more than 100,000 applications, a 25 percent increase since being picked up by Facebook.

At the end of April, Facebook purchased 2-year-old Parse, a backend services provider for mobile-app makers, for a reported $85 million as part of an ongoing strategy to entice developers to incorporate Facebook hooks into their apps. The deal also had the potential to scare away future or existing customers worried that Facebook would abuse its power as the new landlord of their data.

But that … Read more