Hello Kitty's new Sanrio buddy loves heavy metal and beer

Not all Sanrio characters are as cheerful and cuddly as Hello Kitty. Some are downright disgruntled.

On Thursday, Sanrio announced a new character named Aggretsuko, a red panda who works an unfulfilling office job but finds solace in heavy metal tunes.

"She's a red panda who works as an office associate of a trading company in Tokyo," Sanrio tweeted.

 

Artificial intelligence keeps IBM atop 2016 patent list

IBM's efforts to match and surpass the human brain with computing technology helped push the company to the top of the 2016 list of patent awards.

The US Patent and Trademark Office granted IBM 8,088 patents for the year, more than 2,700 of them stemming from artificial intelligence and cognitive computing work, IBM and IFI Claims said Monday.