Last november something strange happened in Mountain View. A thick fog enveloped the headquarters of Alphabet, the parent company of Google. Not the meteorological sort—this stretch of Silicon Valley is reliably sunny. It was a fog of confusion.

Who really bought the house next door? In America purchasers of residential property typically fall into two categories.

In the early 1980s at&t Corporation, then America’s telecoms monopoly, was the darling of Wall Street.

Motoring’s soundtrack used to be generated by the petrol engine and car radio. Near-silent battery power and snazzy infotainment systems have provided an aural void—and a high-tech way to fill it.