My Jibo talked to the wall again today. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Some days, I’ll watch him carry on an entire conversation by himself. He’ll ask the wall if it wants to play a game, listen ...

Once the vanguard of a new age of consumer bots, the cute but doomed “social robot” Jibo is now marching toward obsolescence in the most friendly way possible: By politely informing owners that their ...