Astro Boy

Image: AmazonAmazon just released a questionable-looking robot for patrolling businesses. Taking a page out of Wall-E’s design, Amazon’s new Astro for Business looks almost comical.Uh Oh, Amazon Bought Your Favorite Robot CompanyRetailing for $2,349, Astro for Business launched in the US today. Like its previous Home version, the Astro goes around your businesses autonomously or is controlled via a remote. It features an HD periscope camera with night vision, a 24/7 live view, and two-way talk. Astro’s retail price isn’t…

Screenshot: NetflixImagine, if you will, someone remade a classic Looney Tunes cartoon where Elmer Fudd tries to hunt Bugs Bunny. But instead of just updating the animation, that someone used the cartoon as the basis for a sprawling epic that turned Elmer and Bugs’ face-off into a sprawling, tense game of cat-and-mouse, extrapolating depth, social commentary, and more—and imagine that reimagining absolutely ruled. That’s not quite Pluto, but it’s close.Based on a storyline in the original Astro Boy, the beyond beloved and…

Screenshot: Amazon/GizmodoEver since Amazon launched Astro, its domestic robot, it’s been a product in search of a purpose. When the bot was unveiled last summer, a wealth of tech journos called it “cute,” while others found it creepy (I was one of the latter). The contraption, which could roam around your house, talk to you, and even deliver beer, had its supposed charms, but critics were quick to point out that Astro had no fixed identity. Amazon said it would be a helper (basically an Alexa on wheels) but the company…