Sony has taken its Aibo robot dog to 'live on a farm' as part of cost-cutting exercise that also sees the demise of the company's Qualia line of pricey, high-specification products. As well as ending its line of robot pooches, the company is ending development of the previously-forthcoming Qrio robot. The company reported some of its strongest quarterly earnings in several years on Thursday and upgraded its forecast for the full year. Both sales and net profits jumped to all-time highs, helped by good news from product sectors that had been problematic. Ten months after a major management reshuffle that saw Howard Stringer appointed chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), the company reported sales and operating revenue of ¥2.4 trillion (£12 billion as of the last day of the period being reported) for the three months to December, up 10 percent from a year earlier. Net income was ¥168.9 billion, up 18 per cent. [Digit]