SeanParker
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Facebook tackles the question of whether social media is bad for us
As part of its "Hard Questions" series, Facebook took on the question of whether social media is good or bad for us. Citing a handful of academic studies, some done by Facebook researchers, Facebook Director of Research David Ginsberg and research scientist Moira Burke say that it can be both and it really depends on how you use it.
Sean Parker says Facebook ‘exploits’ human psychology
Napster cofounder Sean Parker appears to have some regrets about the role he played in bringing social media to the world. Before speaking at an Axios event yesterday, he told reporters that he was now "something of a conscientious objector" on social media, according to Axios, and he shared a few thoughts on how he and others designed sites like Facebook to suck people in.
Sean Parker team-up will use algorithms for cancer prevention
Napster co-founder Sean Parker's Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy isn't wasting much time putting technology to work in treating disease. It's partnering with the Cancer Research Institute on predictive algorithms that can spot cancer neoantigens (substances in tumors that will produce an immune response) in DNA to use them as preventative treatments. Scientists from six organizations (including the Broad Institute and Caltech) will receive both cancerous and healthy gene sequences in the hopes that they'll identify those sequences recognizable by immune system T-cells.
Meerkat team reportedly behind 'Houseparty' app
Now that Facebook and Twitter have live streaming locked down, Meerkat is done with it. As it promised, the company has now pirouetted to the next trend -- group video chat. According to Recode, the company behind it has quietly launched Houseparty, a relatively simple app that lets you host video calls with friends. To use it, you just create a new group chat link and invite others using SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook and other social networks. If any of your friends are on the app, they'll be able to join a new chat instantly.
Sean Parker revives Airtime as group video chat app
When the ex-Napster duo Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning first launched Airtime in 2012, it was a one-on-one Chatroulette-style video app with some social functions. Suffice to say, that didn't work out too well, and the app was in limbo for several years. However, the company continued working on it, and Airtime is now officially back in beta as a group video app. The idea is to create a "room" where you and your friends can chat, Google Hangouts-style, or watch videos, share links and listen to music.
Napster co-founder's new institute aims to beat cancer
Sean Parker is known for many things: co-founding Napster, joining Facebook in its early days, starting charities and creating his share of technology startups. If all goes well, though, he'll also add "helped cure cancer" to that list. He just founded the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, a $250 million effort to fight cancer by relying on the body's immune system. The organization will unite six universities (covering 40 labs and over 300 scientists), encouraging them to share research rather than compete. As Parker puts it, humanity is on the "bleeding edge" of what you can do with synthetic biology... it might just need a nudge to turn those findings into real-world treatments.
Napster founder is making a day-and-date movie release service
Sean Parker, Napster co-founder and ex-Facebook president, is cooking up another big project. According to Variety, he and Prem Akkaraju (an exec at SFX Entertainment, Inc.) have recently pitched a premium day-and-date movie release service to studio representatives. It's reportedly called "the Screening Room," and the duo promised studios that it can protect the movies with a secure anti-piracy technology.
Sean Parker's post-wedding punishment includes making a beach-finding app
A few things happened after Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker got married in a gorgeous redwood forest in Big Sur, California. The California Coastal Commission took him to task for creating a bizarre fantasy realm without the proper permits. Journalists gleefully jumped into the fray. He wrote a nearly 10,000 word defense of his wedding that also served as a meandering takedown of "internet journalism". As it turns out, Parker's penance wasn't just limited to a $2.5 million charity payout -- SFGate reports he's working on a beach-locating app for the very agency that he ignored when creating his dream wedding.
ATD: Gates, Ballmer and Sean Parker join Zuckerberg's FWD.us lobby group
Mark Zuckerberg showed he's more than just a social butterfly earlier this month, forming the tech-focused political lobby group FWD.us alongside some other big names in the industry. Now, according to AllThingsD, a few more heavy-hitters have signed up to offer their expertise, including Sean Parker (Napster co-founder) and Microsoft's Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Brad Smith. Not a bad crew to have on your side when technology issues are up for discussion, especially Ballmer -- he's notoriously good at getting his point across. Update: This post has been corrected to reflect that the Brad Smith involved is General Counsel and EVP at Microsoft, and not Intuit CEO Brad Smith.
Sean Parker and Lars Ulrich talk Napster vs. Metallica, hug it out with Spotify
One of today's many, many Spotify announcements was that legendary thrashers Metallica would be coming to the streaming service. As part of the announcement CEO Daniel Ek brought out the bands notoriously outspoken drummer Lars Ulrich and Spotify board member Sean Parker who, as you might remember, had a hand in founding Napster. While there was some broad discussion about the direction of the music industry and the future of music consumption, a large chunk of the half hour-long conversation revolved around the shared history of the two and the legal feud between the pioneering file sharing service and the band. The two were surprisingly cordial, if slightly uncomfortable looking, and delved deep into the details of what both described as a "street fight" between the parties. Ultimately, both admitted that things got blown out of proportion and escalated unnecessarily. But there also seemed to be some admission by Lars that there was an element of Luddism to his band's reaction. To see the entire, extremely interesting conversation, check out the video after the break.
Airtime lets you share media while you video chat, reminds you That Napster Guy is still around
Hey, remember the guy that created Napster, Shawn Fanning? Do you remember Facebook co-founder (and supposed Justin Timberlake doppelganger) Sean Parker? Good, as that'll make it easier to understand why the two have created Airtime, a heavily hyped new peer-to-peer video chat service. The aim is to offer a one-on-one conversation that helps people understand each other, with shared interests and the ability to quickly fling that LOLcat video to a friend or significant other. It's launching first on Facebook, which is nothing new for video chat, but the absence of any in-between servers and special plugins beyond Flash eliminates a lot of the usual hurdles. More features are coming in the near future, including a decidedly Flash-free iOS app, music streaming and games -- leaving us with considerably more things to do while we reconnect, or at least a more engaging way to reminisce about the Napster days.
Spotify director Sean Parker: Apple tried to keep Spotify out of the United States
Daniel Ek (co-founder of Spotify) and Sean Parker (Director at Spotify) just took the stage here at D10, with Walt Mossberg asking the two about the company's impact in America, negotiations with record labels and -- perhaps surprisingly -- its links with Apple. Outside of confirming that there's still around 10 million Spotify users worldwide (with around three million of those being of the paid variety), the duo also confirmed that it's working daily to improve the catalog. Said Ek: "We're up to 18 million songs, growing at 10,000 or 20,000 songs per day -- it's very much a growing catalog." Walt was curious as to why iTunes had upwards of 30 million tracks, and why all of the services simply don't have the same library, but both players were quick to brush off the topic and pivot directly to the importance of playlists. Ek stated: "If you look at iTunes, the vast majority of songs haven't been purchased by anyone -- it's driven by hits. We see 80 percent of our whole catalog listened to." Following that, Parker contributed: "The playlist is now the CD. It used to be a few songs were wanted by the consumer, and the rest of it was garbage. It's the new mixtape, but accelerated on a massive scale." As it turns out, Spotify actually sells "bundles" (which are glorified playlists) as pay products in Europe, and when Walt asked why these weren't available in America, Parker obliged: "We just haven't released it yet." In other words, they're coming soon.
