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Deals: AirPods Pro 3 $50 off, M4 MacBook Air $300 off, MacBook Neo + $50 credit, M3 iPad Air $200 off, more

Today’s 9to5Toys Lunch Break is headlined by one of the best prices to date now live on AirPods Pro 3 down at $200 alongside the return of Apple’s 24GB M4 MacBook Air models at $300 off. We also spotted Best Buy doubling down with FREE $50 credits on new MacBook Neo purchases for members, alongside Apple’s most affordable current-gen iPad at $299 and M3 iPad Air models at $200 off the original list prices. Head below for a closer look.

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Apple pushing back on ‘vibe coding’ iPhone apps, developers say [U]

Updated with Apple’s statement to 9to5Mac after the story.


AI is making app development easier than ever. However, a new report claims Apple’s App Store isn’t fully embracing these new tools. Companies behind two “vibe coding” apps that let you create tools by entering text prompts into an AI system say Apple is pushing back on the category.

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Ikea smart home failings point to a major problem with Matter

Ikea smart home failings point to a problem with the Matter standard | Stock photo of someone using a touchscreen in a kitchen next to a coffee machine

Ikea smart home products have long been the preferred choice of those who want to begin or expand a smart home at an affordable price. The company’s use of physical remotes also simplified the process for those new to the technology.

But when the company expanded its lineup with some budget Matter-over-Thread devices, things rather quickly headed south – with Apple Home users among those affected …

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Security Bite: Your Instagram DMs were likely never encrypted to begin with

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Meta quietly updated its Instagram Help Center recently announcing that end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging will no longer be supported on the platform after May 8, 2026. If you have encrypted chats, you will want to export them before the deadline.

The company’s official reasoning: low adoption. “Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we’re removing this option from Instagram in the coming months,” a Meta spokesperson said. “Anyone who wants to keep messaging with E2EE can easily do that on WhatsApp.”

That explanation could be technically true, but still a little hard to take seriously…

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9to5Mac Daily: March 17, 2026 – MacBook Neo teardown, more on AirPods Max 2

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Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts appStitcherTuneInGoogle Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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Meta’s Manus launches ‘My Computer’ to turn your Mac into an AI agent

AI startup Manus has released its answer to OpenClaw and Perplexity’s Personal Computer. The similarly dubbed “My Computer” system runs on your Mac or PC, turning your machine into a personal AI agent.

Manus originally started as an independent AI firm before being acquired by Meta at the end of last year. (Meta also recently acquired another OpenClaw-adjacent project: MoltBook, the social media site for AI.)

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