Business

Google snapped out of an unprecedented advertising slump during its latest quarter, signaling a return to growth cycle needed to fuel investments in artificial intelligence technology that expected to reshape the competitive landscape.

The same day Elon Musk abruptly dropped Twitter’s name and bird logo as part of its supposed transition to an “anything app” called X, TikTok impishly announced it will begin letting its users post — you guessed it — text-based messages.

President Joe Biden said Friday that new commitments by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies that are leading the development of artificial intelligence technology to meet a set of AI safeguards brokered by his White House are an important step toward managing the “enormous” promise and risks posed by the technology.

Without a doubt, it is difficult to find something upbeat about California’s current commercial real estate market. Property owners, economists and appraisers all agree that the market is facing one of the most challenging times in decades. For example, in San Francisco, an office tower that was worth $300 million in 2019 sold just a few months ago for less than $70 million. Several hoteliers in the city have stopped making payments on their loans, and national retailers that have been leaders in the market for decades have announced plans this year to close their San Francisco shops.

Netflix enjoyed its biggest springtime spurt in subscribers since the early days of the pandemic three years ago, providing the latest sign that a recent crackdown on password sharing and the rollout of a cheaper subscription option are paying off.