Home Depot reported another drop in sales in the third quarter, trimming back its outlook for the rest of the year. The company said shoppers pulled back as repair projects slowed.

Executives blamed weak housing activity and an unusually calm stretch of weather. Fewer storms meant fewer emergency fixes, which normally push traffic. Shoppers also scaled back on home-improvement projects, especially the bigger jobs that usually follow a move or a remodel.

A dip at Home Depot often points to where the economy is heading next. A softer quarter means homeowners are being cautious. It also hints that the broader economy may be losing some steam.

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Panera Bread Is Going Through Multimillion-Dollar Makeover After Sales Go Stale

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Panera Bread is gearing up for a reset. Sales fell about 5 percent last year. That drop pushed new CEO Paul Carbone to admit the company lost it’s way and needed a course correction, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The changes start with the basics. Panera is bringing back better ingredients, beefing up its portion size, and reworking its salads. Stores are being freshened up. Staffing is being rebuilt. The company also put its planned IPO on hold until the turnaround takes shape.

The move shows how rough the fast-casual landscape has become. Diners are fussier. Margins are tighter. If Panera Bread can heat back up, the rest of the sector will be watching.

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Netflix’s Next Big Move? Live Events and Merch.

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Netflix is taking a page out of the playbook of rivals such as Disney and Universal, and turning its shows into merch, games, dolls, and real-world experiences people can buy.

Netflix has already tested Bridgerton balls and Squid Game live challenges. Now it wants a steady pipeline of merch and attractions tied to upcoming releases. This month it opened Netflix House in Philadelphia, which features immersive experiences, games, live shows, and themed restaurants. Look for KPop Demon Hunters dolls to drop soon.

With streaming down overall, the company is looking for revenue it can’t get from subscriptions alone. And as more streamers fight for attention, Netflix is betting that selling the world around its hits will matter as much as the hits themselves.

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Google Debuts Gemini 3 Pro for Smarter Search

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Google has unveiled its latest AI model, Gemini 3 Pro. The much-anticipated model will power “AI mode” in Google Search and the standalone Gemini app. It’s in preview now, but it represents the biggest upgrade to Google’s AI-powered search experience since Gemini launched last year.

The model handles text, images, audio, and video in one system, and it’s built to deliver leaner answers and even interactive graphics. Google is pairing it with a new developer tool called Antigravity that lets programmers describe an app they want to build rather than write out every line of code.

This is the first time Google is pushing a brand-new model directly into its search product. As the AI Wars continue, this is the company’s latest attempt to keep pace with competitors such as Open AI and show that Google can still shape how people search and build with AI.

Silicon Valley Billionaries Set Their Sights on Suisun City

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Billionaires trying to build a brand-new city in Northern California may have found a surprising partner: Suisun City.

California Forever, the tech-backed group behind the plan, wants the small, depressed Solano County city (pop: 30,000) to annex nearly 23,000 acres and pull the ambitious project inside its borders instead of constructing a standalone city on farmland.

The proposal includes sustainable housing, jobs, manufacturing sites and long-term growth for as many as 400,000 people. Suisun City, threatend with insolvency, sees a chance to grow its tax base and upgrade services. If approved, the controversial “new city” experiment becomes a real test of local politics and urban expansion.

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Cloudflare Outage Takes Many Sites Offline

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If you were having trouble getting on X earlier today, it wasn’t just your internet. A widespread outage at Cloudflare caused many major websites and apps to throw internal server errors. The issue began around 6:40 a.m. ET and affected consumers worldwide.

Cloudflare is a major web-infrastructure firm that powers about one-fifth of all websites globally.

Service was restored, but the outage showed how critical and centralized internet infrastructure has become. When a single provider like Cloudflare hits an error, a huge range of platforms — including X and ChatGPT — can go offline in an instant.

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Judge Rules That Meta Is Not a Monopoly

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A federal judge ruled that Meta is not an illegal monopoly and will not have to spin off Instagram or WhatsApp. The decision knocks down the Federal Trade Commission’s long-running claim that Meta built its power by buying up would-be rivals.

The FTC argued that Meta used a “buy or bury” strategy to dominate personal social networking. Regulators said the Instagram and WhatsApp deals were designed to box out competition. Judge James E. Boasberg rejected that view and said the agency failed to prove Meta still holds monopoly power, especially with TikTok and YouTube in the mix.

The ruling is a major blow to the government’s push to rein in Big Tech. It raises questions about how regulators can define markets in a fast-moving industry. And it leaves Meta’s empire — and its core business model — fully intact.

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