Franklin Simmons
Franklin Simmons is BusinessPundit's Tech Editor. His life is consumed with a love of augmented reality, mobility, and emerging technology. He extensively covers all areas of technology, including the computing, automotive, and healthcare sectors.
-
Shazam’s cofounder gave his company a 4% chance of working now it’s worth $1 billion
When Shazam cofounder Dhiraj Mukherjee started his music discovering service in the early days he gave it a 4% chance of working. Speaking at the Startup Grind Europe conference in London, Mukherjee said he calculated the figure in the company’s early days when he realizes Shazam’s complex technology had just a 25% chance of actually working. […]
-
Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion
Microsoft is buying LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. The tech giant announced the deal on Monday. Microsoft will pay $196 per share for the social enterprise company. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of the professional social network, and will report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The company says LinkedIn will maintain its “distinct brand, […]
-
Paul English sold his business for $2 billion and now he’s an Uber driver
Uber driver Paul English isn’t your typical ride-sharing business owner. In 2012, he sold his internet travel service Kayak to Priceline for $1.8 billion. After the sale, English realized most of his outings were with tech and nonprofit people, Inc.com explained. Wanting to expand his horizons he started driving for Uber. In his Tesla Model […]
-
Spotify family plan drops pricing to $14.99 for 6 people
Spotify just became much more competitive with Apple Music, dropping the cost of its family plan to $14.99 for up to six people in a household. Families can now subscribe to Spotify Premium for $14.99 per month and get six different Spotify accounts and profiles. Spotify introduced its family plan in 2014 but sold the […]
-
IBM is hiring 20,000 new employees for its cloud services business
In the middle of layoffs that target thousands of current employees, IBM has also posted 20,000 current job openings. The company is in the middle of a transition from its software and services businesses to cloud-based offerings. That means firing employees who haven’t transitioned into the company’s new business while hiring workers who understand the […]
-
Twitter’s 140-character problem will no longer include links and photos
When Twitter announced in January that it was considering the removal of its 140-character limit, the company’s biggest power users said they would revolt. Now, in place of removing that character limit, the company is planning to no longer include web links or photos in the character count, according to a report by Bloomberg’s Sarah […]
-
Google is creating an in-house startup incubator for its own employees
Google is planning to keep its talent closer to home by creating an in-house startup incubator for its most entrepreneurial employees, according to a report by The Information. The incubator is called “Area 120” and will be headed up by Google executives Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz. Here’s how Area 120 is setup: Teams at Google will […]
-
Apple recovers 2,204 pounds of gold from recycled iPhones
Apple has discovered a method to make money from its old, broken, and discarded iPhones. The company has announced that it recently recovered 2,204 pounds of gold from recycled iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Based on current gold prices the company earned more than $40 million for its efforts. Gold is an important part of most […]
-
Google drones could one day deliver medical help
Google was recently awarded a patent for a new drone system that could help the company revolutionize the emergency medical industry. The patent, first spotted by Quartz’s Mike Murphy, outlines a system where drones would bring medical aid to people in distress. For example, someone in need uses a nearby Google drone box and inputs that someone […]
-
Apple’s one billionth iPhone will be sold by this summer
When Apple debuted the iPhone series on June 29, 2007, nobody knew the company had invented a smartphone that would sell one billion units. But that’s exactly what the company is about to accomplish. At the end of 2015 Apple had sold through 896 million iPhone devices. Wall Street analysts’ believe after the company reports […]
-
Google Fiber is attempting to make home phone service cool again
Google Fiber is the nation’s premiere internet service provider and it’s about to go old school. The company is planning to launch a landline service for customers, allowing them to maintain a home phone along with their Google Fiber service. For $10 a month (phone not included), Fiber Phone will do all the things landline […]
