In Brief: Instagram integrates Swiggy, Zomato on app; Grofers CTO resigns

Users of social media platform Instagram can use its app to order food from Swiggy and Zomato, as per a report on Livemint. The Facebook-owned platform has rolled out food order stickers, which would direct users to the delivery platforms, the report said. The feature was reportedly introduced in the US and Canada earlier this year.

Grofers CTO Jacob Singh steps down

Jacob Singh, the chief technology officer of online grocery delivery platform Grofers, has stepped down from his role after three years, according to an Entrackr report. He is currently mentoring high-growth technology startups and looks to take up independent consulting opportunities in the future, Singh told the news website. 

TRAI’s blockchain solution to curb spam hits legal roadblock

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) plan to deploy a blockchain solution to curb spam messages and calls has hit a legal roadblock, as per a report on The Economic Times. Ventes Media, a telemarketer, has filed a petition at the Delhi High Court, alleging that TRAI’s move is “detrimental to free, fair commerce and competition, regulatory ethics and also the arm’s length principle”, the report said. The telecom regulator is expected to respond to the petition by June 15, it said.

Uber rolls out hourly rental service in Bengaluru

Ride hailing platform Uber has rolled out hourly rentals, a 24x7 on-demand, intracity service, in Bengaluru. This service will allow riders to retain a car with its driver for several hours, and make multiple stops on their journey, according to a statement. The service is currently available in 16 other cities in India, it said.

Read: Uber resumes essential travel services in Mumbai

Esper, Bluebird collaborate to modernise logistics services 

Bengaluru and Seattle-based android device management platform Esper has entered into a strategic alliance with internet of things (IoT) device solutions provider Bluebird to modernise logistics and transportation services. The companies aim to accelerate innovation and improve the supply chain in the logistics and transportation sector in India, as per a statement.

LinkedIn introduces ‘poll’ feature on its platform

Networking platform LinkedIn said it has rolled out a poll feature to enable users to reach out to their networks for feedback, share it with others, engage in new conversations, and make informed decisions based on the responses. Social networking platforms Twitter and Instagram already offer a similar service. 

Flipkart launches voice assistant for grocery platform 

Walmart-owned ecommerce platform Flipkart has rolled out a multilingual voice assistant on its grocery offering Supermart. The service, which currently caters to Hindi and English-speaking users, was built by an in-house technology team who leveraged speech recognition, natural language understanding, machine translation and text-to-speech solutions, a statement said.

OYO appoints Albrecht as non-executive director

Budget hospitality chain OYO has appointed W Steve Albrecht as a non-executive director on its board. Albrecht is expected to guide the management on business decisions, a statement said. He has also been on the board of various public and private companies such as Red Hat, Cypress SemiConductor, SunPower Corporation and ICON Health & Fitness.