The Toll
Apple was supposed to be the AI loser — two years behind, no model, capex moving the opposite direction from everyone else. On the day it posted the best quarter in its history, the company couldn't ship Mac minis fast enough because the model-builders were buying them all.
Apple reports Q2 revenue up 17% YoY to $111.18B, vs. $109.66B est., net income up 19% YoY to $29.58B, and China revenue up 28% YoY to $20.5B, vs. $18.9B est.
March quarter records for total company revenue, iPhone revenue, and EPS — Services revenue reaches new all-time high
Researchers detail CopyFail, a now-patched Linux vulnerability that lets unprivileged users gain admin access, as many distributions have yet to apply the fixes
Publicly released exploit code for an effectively unpatched vulnerability that gives root access to virtually all releases of Linux …
Musk v. Altman: when asked whether xAI has distilled OpenAI models, Elon Musk says the claim is “partly” true
While answering questions under oath, Musk argued it's standard practice for AI labs to use their competitors' models. — While testifying on Thursday in federal court …
The US Senate unanimously passed a rule barring senators from trading on prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, amid rising concern over insider trading
The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a rule barring senators from trading on prediction markets effective immediately.
Apple has stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini globally; Mac mini now starts at 512GB for $799 in the US
Apple this week stopped offering a 256GB storage option for the Mac mini worldwide. As a result, the desktop computer now has a higher starting price.
Reddit reports Q1 revenue up 69% YoY to $663M, vs. $611M est., DAUq up 17% YoY to 126.8M, above est., and forecasts Q2 revenue above est.; RDDT jumps 10%+
Reddit reported better-than-expected profit and revenue in its first-quarter earnings report on Thursday, and also issued an optimistic forecast.
Experts say supply chain attacks compromised SAP and Intercom npm packages, plus the PyPI package Lightning, in a campaign that calls itself Mini Shai-Hulud
The wave of supply chain attacks aimed at security and developer tools has washed up more victims, namely SAP and Intercom npm packages, plus the lightning PyPI package.
Tim Cook says that the Mac Studio and the Mac mini, which many are buying for AI and agentic tools, “may take several months to reach supply demand balance”
During today's earnings call for the second fiscal quarter of 2026, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the Mac mini and Mac Studio could be hard to get for months to come.
Servers operated by Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical have been down for more than a day, following a “sustained, cross-border attack”
Servers operated by Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical were knocked offline on Thursday morning and have remained down ever since …
Court filing: Meta says it might be forced to withdraw its apps from New Mexico if a state judge orders it to adopt the state's proposed safety features
Mark Zuckerberg's Meta is threatening a total shutdown of Facebook and Instagram in New Mexico if a state judge orders the company to adopt new safety features …
Sandisk reports Q3 revenue up 251% YoY to $5.95B, vs. $4.72B est., $3.62B net income, $820M in consumer revenue, below est., and forecasts Q4 revenue above est.
The company says it's transitioning to a business model of ‘multiyear customer engagements’ — Referenced Symbols
Western Digital reports Q3 revenue up 45% YoY to $3.34B, vs. $3.25B est., net income up 320% YoY to $3.17B, and forecasts Q4 revenue above estimates
Western Digital (WDC.O) forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, expecting strong demand for data storage …
Anthropic's Claude Security, formerly Claude Code Security, is in public beta for Enterprise users; the Opus 4.7-powered tool can scan code for vulnerabilities
Anthropic has published Claude Security today for Claude Enterprise customers globally, according to company materials shared with The Implicator.
Google rolls out Gemini to cars that have Google built in, replacing Google Assistant, starting with English in the US; cars with Google first arrived in 2020
The current Google Assistant is being replaced with a smarter, more conversational upgrade. … Google is preparing to update vehicles that have Google built-in with its Gemini AI assistant.
Apple CFO Kevan Parekh says that “the iPhone 17 family is now the most popular lineup in our history” and “we believe we gained market share during the quarter”
John Ternus pledges to continue ‘deliberateness and discipline’ in first comments since being named next CEO
Sources: Meta HR chief Janelle Gale told employees she can't rule out further layoffs while Zuckerberg said AI automation is not the driving factor behind them
- Meta previously announced it will cut 10% of its staff next month. — Meta's HR chief told staff in a meeting that she can't promise further layoffs won't happen.
Meta acquires Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup developing AI models for robots; Assured Robot Intelligence's team will join Meta Superintelligence Labs
Meta Platforms Inc. has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence, a startup developing artificial intelligence models for robots …
Twilio reports Q1 revenue up 20% YoY to $1.41B, vs. $1.34B est., net income up 350% YoY to $90.1M, and forecasts Q2 revenue above estimates; TWLO jumps 15%+
Twilio (TWLO) stock popped after the communications software maker reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that topped consensus estimates.
Intel's stock jumped 114% in April, hitting a record on April 24 and lifting its market cap past $470B, closing out the chipmaker's best month on record
Intel is on a winning streak unlike any since it became one of the first companies to go public on the Nasdaq nearly 55 years ago.
Roku reports Q1 revenue up 22% YoY to $1.25B, ad revenue up 27% YoY to $613M, subscription revenue up 30% YoY to $519M, and raises its 2026 profit guidance
Roku beat Wall Street earnings forecasts for the first quarter of 2026 and raised its full-year profit guidance as the company continues …
Alphabet's stock climbed 10% on Thursday and 34% in April, its best month since 2004; Meta's stock plunged 8.5% on Thursday, its steepest drop since October
Alphabet's stock surged on Thursday, lifting Google to its best month on Wall Street since 2004, after the company reported better …
The FBI warns of rising cyber cargo theft, where attackers hack freight brokers' accounts and dupe carriers; 2025 cargo theft losses in N. America rose 60% YoY
The FBI warns of rising cyber cargo theft, with hackers targeting brokers and carriers. Experts say digital attacks are replacing traditional cargo theft.
Roblox reports Q1 bookings up 43% YoY to $1.7B, vs. $1.73B est., net loss up 15% YoY to $248M, and DAUs up 35% YoY to 132M, below 143.8M est.; RBLX drops 15%+
Roblox Corp. reported first-quarter users that fell short of analysts' expectations after implementing safety features restricting how kids …
Meta sells $25B of investment-grade bonds, after investors placed $96B in orders for its securities; Meta sold $30B of corporate bonds in October 2025
Meta Platforms Inc. sold $25 billion of investment-grade bonds, hitting the market with a jumbo deal for the second time in six months as investors are starting to show some signs of fatigue.
Cybersecurity analysis: GPT-5.5 reaches a similar level of performance as Mythos Preview and is the second model to solve a multi-step cyberattack simulation
In April, our evaluation of Anthropic's Claude Mythos Preview found that it represented a step up in cyber performance …
A bug in popular cPanel, WHM, and WP Squared software has reportedly been exploited since Feb.; CISA it gives a 9.8 CVSS score, tells agencies to patch by May 3
Federal agencies have until May 3 to resolve a security issue impacting a critical system for server and website management.
Fun, which builds fiat and crypto payment rails for platforms like Polymarket and Aave, raised a $72M Series A in January, co-led by Multicoin and SignalFire
The finer details of back-end payment systems are enough to make most people's eyes glaze over, even those in crypto.
Atlassian reports Q3 revenue up 32% YoY to $1.79B, vs. $1.69B est., net loss up 39% YoY to $98.39M, and raises its annual revenue forecast; TEAM jumps 20%+
Atlassian (TEAM.O) raised its annual revenue forecast on Thursday, banking on AI-driven features and a push into the enterprise segment …
The persistent idea that AI disruption could create a permanent underclass signals how much collateral damage AI companies will tolerate in their pursuit of AGI
Most people I know in the A.I. industry think the median person is screwed, and they have no idea what to do about it.
Pushing back on AI job loss fears, AWS CEO Matt Garman says Amazon plans to hire 11,000 software engineering interns in 2026, a figure in line with recent years
- AWS's CEO, Matt Garman, said Amazon sees demand for hiring new software engineers “accelerating.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issues new rules saying acting and writing must be performed by humans and not AI to be eligible for Oscars
Academy Awards organizers issued new rules on Friday to clarify that acting and writing must be performed by humans …
Sources: the NSA has been testing Anthropic's Mythos model to find vulnerabilities in Microsoft products and widely used software from other companies
The National Security Agency has been testing the capabilities of Anthropic PBC's new artificial intelligence model to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities …
Apple Q2: iPhone up 22% YoY to $56.99B, vs. $57.21B est., Mac up 6% YoY to $8.4B, iPad up 8% YoY to $6.91B, and Wearables, Home, and Accessories up 5% to $7.9B
Apple issued a better-than-expected revenue forecast for the current period after beating on sales and earnings in the fiscal second quarter.
The DOD strikes deals with AWS, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and Reflection AI to use their AI tools on classified military networks “for lawful operational use”
The Pentagon has struck agreements with four more technology companies for expansive use of advanced artificial intelligence tools …
xAI launches Grok 4.3, featuring “always-on reasoning”, 1M token context window, and low API pricing, and releases a voice cloning suite called Custom Voices
While Elon Musk faces off against his former colleague and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman in court, Musk's rival firm xAI …
How influencers boosting US-based AI and opposing Chinese AI are paid with money tied to Leading the Future, funded by execs from OpenAI, Palantir, a16z, others
Build American AI, a nonprofit linked to a super PAC bankrolled by executives at OpenAI and Andreessen Horowitz …
Amazon debuts “Join the chat”, an AI-powered feature that lets users ask questions about products and get conversational audio responses generated in real time
Amazon launched a new AI-powered feature on Tuesday that allows users to ask questions about products …
The gender gap in AI use may be a matter of visibility more than usage, as data suggests women face more judgment for using AI and are less likely to admit it
Women are using artificial intelligence at lower rates than men. But are they being “left behind”?
“Podslop” is flooding listening platforms like Spotify; Podcast Index: of ~11K new podcast feeds in a recent 9-day span, ~39% were likely for AI content shows
Over the past nine days, 39% of new podcasts were likely AI-generated, according to the Podcast Index. — Welcome back to Soundbite.
Musk v. Altman: the judge told Musk's lawyer she did not want talk of AI's existential threat to seep into the trial, and to focus instead on facts about OpenAI
OpenAI's lawyer piped up and both him and Musk's counsel started raising their voices until the judge said they all need to shut up nothing like being dressed down as an adultRat King /@mikeisaac:judg...
Sources: Coatue formed Next Frontier in 2025 to buy land for data centers; Next Frontier has a JV with neocloud Fluidstack that has raised $5.7B via junk bonds
Philippe Laffont's firm has launched Next Frontier, whose facilities will be meant for AI companies including Anthropic
Netflix rolls out a vertical video feed in its own Clips tab in Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, the UK, and the US
Sources: Cerebras is seeking to raise as much as $4B in its IPO and is targeting a valuation of about $40B
Cerebras Systems Inc. is seeking to raise as much as $4 billion in its initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter, as demand for the artificial intelligence chipmaker …
Spotify rolls out a Verified by Spotify badge to identify human artists; criteria include artist presence on and off platform and consistent listener activity
The US Senate Judiciary Committee endorses a child safety bill requiring AI companies to implement age verification, bar AI companions for minors, and more
Cloud computing provider Nebius agrees to acquire Eigen AI, which optimizes the performance of chips that run AI inference tasks, for ~$643M in stock and cash
Cloud computing provider Nebius Group NV agreed to buy Eigen AI, a startup that boosts the performance of chips used …
Sources: Huawei expects AI chip revenue to hit ~$12B in 2026, up 60%+ from $7.5B in 2025, as orders for its Ascend 950PR chip surge and Nvidia stalls in China
Chinese tech companies place large orders for the Shenzhen-based group's latest range of AI processors
Sources: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund raised $6B for a fund to invest in later-stage companies, marking its largest haul ever; $4.5B comes from limited partners
Peter Thiel's Founders Fund has raised $6 billion for a new fund to invest in later-stage companies, according to people familiar …
Apple forecasts Q3 revenue above estimates, with sales expected to rise between 14% and 17%, and says memory expenses will climb “significantly higher” in Q3
Apple Inc. delivered a surprisingly strong revenue forecast for the third quarter, even as it warned that memory-chip costs …
Some retail traders are training AI agents to buy and sell assets on their behalf, as exchanges like Polymarket and Bybit roll out agent-friendly interfaces
Jake Nesler's AI trading bot got one big decision right in its first week. It ignored the chase.
North Korea-linked hackers stole ~$577M across the Drift Protocol and KelpDAO hacks from January to April, accounting for 76% of total crypto hack losses YTD
China's EV makers are competing on in-car AI features; ByteDance says its Doubao AI is used in 7M+ cars across 145 models, including from Mercedes, Audi, and VW
- China's EV price war is evolving into a “feature war” focused on AI and cockpit tech — ByteDance's Doubao AI chatbot …
Tim Cook says iPhone sales, which slightly missed Q2 estimates, were held back by supply constraints for advanced chips, as “demand was off the charts”
Apple (AAPL.O) on Thursday reported results that beat Wall Street estimates, with customers showing eagerness to buy a new MacBook model driven …
US Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Dave McCormick introduce a bill banning members of the legislative and executive branches from trading on prediction markets
not lining their own pockets with insider information.
The US Navy awards Domino Data Lab a contract worth up to $100M for AI software that teaches underwater drones to identify new mines in the Strait of Hormuz
The U.S. Navy is ramping up its AI capabilities to hunt for Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes …
Instagram is expanding its recommendation restrictions beyond Reels to photos and carousels, targeting accounts that post unoriginal content like tweet roundups
Study: long-shot Polymarket bets on military action, defined as $2,500+ wagers at odds of 35% or less, have a ~52% average win rate, vs. 25% for political bets
Cloudflare says AI agents can now create Cloudflare accounts, start paid subscriptions, register domains, and deploy apps on behalf of users
The US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand publish guidance on orgs' use of agentic AI systems, saying many give AI more access than can be safely monitored
Apple reports Q2 revenue from Services, which includes the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, and more, grew 16.3% YoY to $30.98B, beating estimates of $30.4B
Todd Spangler /Variety: