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Facebook may be aiming to spend anywhere from $800 million to $1 billion to acquire Waze, an Israel-based company that offers a socially informed GPS app for drivers.

Talks reportedly kicked off six months ago, according to Israeli business-news site Calcalist, which says that due diligence is currently under way. This would mean that the two companies are checking each other out before signing on the dotted line. The two also have signed a term sheet, or an agreement in principle on the sale, according to Calcalist.

An agreement sounds like it could be close. However, sources close to Waze … Read more

Finding a Facebook friend for a benefits-only rendezvous is now more convenient than ever with the hump day release of the Bang With Friends mobile apps for iPhone and Android.

Bang With Friends (Official) for Android and BWF (Official) for iPhone arrived Wednesday to help Facebook members discreetly facilitate hook-ups from their smartphones.

The Facebook-connected application first arrived on the Web in January and has around 1 million one-night-stand seekers. And though its founders remain anonymous, Bang With Friends is reportedly close to securing $1 million in funding.

The new mobile apps work like the Web service and allow people … Read more

Facebook Engineering Director Josh Wiseman has departed the social network with the intention of tackling social problems, according to AllThingsD. Facebook confirmed Wiseman's exit to CNET.

The six-year Facebook veteran is joining the philanthropic-focused venture capital firm Social+Capital as an entrepreneur-in-residence.

Wiseman started at Facebook as an engineer in 2007 after intern stints at Apple and Pixar. Over the years, he climbed the ranks to manage some of the social network's most significant product releases, including Facebook Timeline. According to his LinkedIn profile, Wiseman also managed releases for Facebook flagship products such as photos, video, and chat.… Read more

The HTC First, also known as the Facebook phone, was unofficially declared a disaster after AT&T dropped its price from $99 to 99 cents on Wednesday.

Is anybody surprised?

Even in an industry known for liberal smartphone discounts, the price drop of the First -- which comes less than a month after its debut -- came relatively quickly. That suggests what many of us have suspected: that the First was dead on arrival.

Despite an army of naysayers, the First actually had a lot going for it. It had the backing of a well-known name in Facebook, which … Read more

Less than a month after its release, the HTC First, also known as the first "Facebook phone," is selling for the clearance price of 99 cents with a two-year contract with AT&T.

The mid-range smartphone, which arrived on April 12 and was previously selling for $99, comes preloaded with Facebook Home, the social-networking software package that turns the device's home screen and lock screen into Facebook-only zones.

The dramatically reduced price point seems to confirm our earlier suspicions that Facebook wasn't proving to be much of a sales pitch.

HTC avoided sharing sales figures … Read more

"My agent just sent my book to publishers! Fingers crossed!" That's the status message I just stopped myself from writing on Facebook.

It took all the willpower I've ever had.

In fact, I'm now eating a block of cheese because focusing so hard on not updating Facebook with that status has depleted my willpower reserves. My diet is left defenseless.

I'm 29, and I'm working hard to make a living, to produce something I am proud of, to pay the rent, to scrape some savings together, to make time for love, to eat … Read more

Less than two weeks after announcing its sale to Facebook, mobile app development platform Parse has expanded its product suite to include hosting for app makers who want a Web presence, no servers required.

Parse plays host to 80,000 iOS, Android, Windows, and HTML5 apps, whose makers have entrusted their infrastructure and people management needs to the company. Facebook reportedly picked up the 2-year-old company for $85 million in cash and stock.

Today, Parse introduced a Web-hosting option geared for developers who want a painless way to port apps to the desktop. The company created AnyYolk, a sample Web-based … Read more

Ever had the need to show what you're feeling on Facebook Messenger with an image of a cute pink critter holding a heart-shaped pillow? Well, you're in luck.

The social network updated its iOS Messenger app on Monday with a grab bag of stickers. For those people unfamiliar with stickers, they're basically emoticons that users can tack onto messages for added sentiment, gusto, or laughs. Facebook will be rolling out the stickers on its iOS Messenger app over the next few weeks; Facebook Messenger for Android already has the stickers.

Currently, Facebook's stickers are free, but … Read more

Jim Breyer, the early Facebook investor who is leaving the company's board, has dumped roughly $38 million worth of Facebook stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing published Monday.

Breyer is a venture capitalist whose firm, Accel Partners, was one of the social network's first investors. The filing from Wednesday shows that he sold 1.3 million of his own shares, valued between $28.19 and $29.03. The amount is a drop in the bucket for Breyer, who is still hanging onto 7.8 million shares, which were worth roughly $223.6 million at the … Read more