Tech Wrap: Audio tweets, Jio-PIF deal, iPhone SE assembling in India and more 

Today’s mixed bag of tech news starts with Twitter introducing a new way of tweeting - by voice. Yes, audio tweets are now a thing. Homegrown 19-year old Palash Taneja became one of the 350 students selected by Apple for it’s WWDC Swift Student Challenge.

Reliance Jio made headlines again with another deal for its Jio Platforms. Speaking of deals, Spotify bagged one with Warner Bros. for exclusive podcasts on DC characters. Later in the day we got to know that Apple will start assembling the iPhone SE in India.

So here’s a look at the top tech news from today.

Audio tweets

Twitter users can now post audio notes as tweets. A new button with the wavelength icon will be visible on the compose button. Users can tap on this to record audio not longer than 140 seconds and tweet it. This feature is currently available only on Twitter’s iOS app.

WWDC Palash Taneja

Delhi boy Palash Taneja just finished his freshman year at the University of Texas in Austin. He has been selected by Apple for his Swift playground that teaches coding while simulating how a pandemic moves through a population. This program is based on the backdrop of Covid-19.

Jio-PIF deal

Jio Platforms raised ₹11,367 crore from Saudi Arabia’s The Public Investment Fund (PIF). PIF’s investment will translate into a 2.32% equity stake in Jio Platforms on a fully diluted basis. This is the eleventh investment in Jio Platforms, and it comes less than a week after Jio announced TPG raising ₹4,586.80 crore.

Spotify-Warner Bros.

Spotify will now produce and host narrative scripted podcasts from the DC Universe. It has partnered with Warner Bros. for the podcast deal which will start with shows based on the DC characters. It plans to venture into more original programming, and even streaming classic DC titles on Spotify.

iPhone SE India

Apple will reportedly start assembling the new iPhone SE in India. Apple has asked one of its Chinese suppliers to start shipping iPhone SE components in India to start the assembling process. Apple already assembles some of its iPhones in India at its Foxconn plant in Chennai, and Wistron plant in Bengaluru.