Technology

Following scathing reviews of a computer game it released in May, Amazon is delaying its next big-budget game by at least six months. The decision represents another setback for the technology giant’s ambitions to break into the gaming industry. The next game, New World, was supposed to debut in late August but is now scheduled for spring 2021, Rich Lawrence, director of Amazon’s game studio, wrote in a blog post Friday. The company wants extra time to implement changes suggested by players who have been testing the game, he wrote….

If you see self-driving robots getting lost, or robot-minders feverishly trying to control them from smartphones, you can put it down to a buggy navigation system based on open source software. Many robot makers skip building the autonomous navigation system because of their  complexity. They rely on “black boxes” available from companies like Bluebotics in Switzerland or cheaper alternatives from China, instead of taking months to write their own code. The black boxes can be retrofitted into various machines to turn with them into autonomous mobile robots. But the scope…

Homegrown e-commerce marketplace Flipkart on Friday said it has signed an MoU with Karnataka MSME and Mines department to promote the states arts, crafts and handloom sectors by bringing all of them on to e-commerce and providing market access. The partnership which is under the Flipkart Samarth programme will enable local artisans, weavers and craftsmen of Karnataka to showcase their hallmark products to a pan-India customer base, the company said in a release. Both the Government of Karnataka and the Flipkart Group will focus on creating avenues to increase business…

WhatsApp has started rolling out animated stickers for Android and iOS users. Animated sticker packs are now showing up alongside the regular sticker packs in the in-app Sticker Store. There is a play button next to these animated sticker packs, differentiating them from the regular ones. In both the WhatsApp for Android and WhatsAppp for iOS apps, newly introduced animated sticker packs include Rico’s Sweet Life, Playful Piyomaru, Bright Days, Moody Foodies, and Chummy Chum Chums. The animated stickers support is rolling out for WhatsApp for Desktop app as well….

Google abandoned plans to offer a major new cloud service in China and other politically sensitive countries due in part to concerns over geopolitical tensions and the pandemic, according to two employees familiar with the matter, revealing the challenges for U.S. tech giants to secure business in those markets. In May, the search giant shut down in the initiative, known as “Isolated Region” and which sought to address nations’ desires to control data within their borders, the employees said. The action was considered a “massive strategy shift,” according to one…