Tim Cook takes victory lap as Apple’s financial results soar past Wall Street expectations

Apple blew past Wall Street expectations in its first earnings report since it announced CEO Tim Cook would be stepping down.Cook shared his thoughts about the leadership transition on Thursday, saying: “There’s no one on this planet I trust more to lead Apple into the future” than incoming CEO John Ternus. Asked by an investor what advice he has given Ternus, Cook said: “Never forget the north star for the company. You know, we’re about making the best products in the world that really enrich other people’s lives.”Ternus spoke briefly, too, praising Cook’s thoughtfulness in financial decision-making and saying: “This is the most exciting time in my 25-year career at Apple to be building products and services

Meta threatens to shut down social networks in New Mexico over child safety court case

Meta has threatened to block access to Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp in New Mexico, which would be an unprecedented move in its home country. The ultimatum, made in a court filing this week, comes after the company was found liable and fined $375m for child safety failures in a landmark lawsuit brought by the state’s attorney general. The second phase of the suit, known as the remedies phase, is scheduled to begin on Monday and will determine what actions the tech giant is obligated to take in response.Should Meta lose the second phase of trial, which will begin on 4 May, it would be compelled to introduce a series of reforms to its products. The New Mexico department of justice argues these changes would make Meta’s social networks safer for underage users in the state

Judge cuts off Musk’s AI doomsday talk as his testimony ends in OpenAI case

Elon Musk’s court case against Sam Altman continued on Thursday, after a day of contentious exchanges during OpenAI’s cross-examination of the Tesla CEO. Musk faced more combative questioning throughout the morning, in a glimpse of what may await other prominent witnesses set to take the stand.Witness testimony and evidence has revealed formerly private emails, text messages and diary entries surrounding the formation of OpenAI, giving a behind-the-scenes look at how the tech behemoth was created. Many of the tech industry’s most powerful players are named as witnesses and will give their accounts on the origins of Musk and Altman’s bitter feud. Altman will testify later in the trial, which will last three weeks

AI outperforms doctors in Harvard trial of emergency triage diagnoses

From George Clooney in ER to Noah Wyle in The Pitt, emergency department doctors have long been popular heroes. But will it soon be time to hang up the scrubs?A groundbreaking Harvard study has found that AI systems outperformed human doctors in high-pressure emergency medicine triage, diagnosing more accurately in the potentially life and death moments when people are first rushed to hospital.The results were described by independent experts as showing “a genuine step forward” in the clinical reasoning of AIs and came as part of trials that tested the responses of hundreds of doctors against an AI.The authors said the results, published in the journal Science, showed large language models (LLMs) “have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning”.One experiment focused on 76 patients who arrived at the emergency room of a Boston hospital

Calls grow to ban Palantir in Australia after manifesto described by UK MP as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’

Just weeks after it implied some cultures are inferior to others in a manifesto described by one UK MP as the “ramblings of a supervillain”, the US spy tech company Palantir says it is just “a software company” amid calls for Australian government agencies to ban any new contracts with the controversial company.In Australia, state and federal contracts with Palantir have reached nearly $80m, and federal investment in the company is reportedly more than $160m.Palantir, a Trump-aligned company that was co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, develops software for companies and government agencies to analyse vast amounts of data.Earlier this month, Palantir published a manifesto on X, arguing the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others.“Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive,” Palantir wrote in the post

Galaxy S26 review: Samsung’s still-compact flagship Android

Samsung’s compact flagship phone hasn’t changed much in a year, but the S26 is still one of the best smaller handsets available as rivals grow larger and larger.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The S26 is the cheapest and smallest of this year’s top Samsungs, dwarfed by the top-of-the-line S26 Ultra in size and price