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At $149, Google unveils its cheapest Chromebooks yet: Haier and Hisense 11.6" laptops, up for preorder today | VentureBeat | Gadgets | by Emil Protalinski : "If you have $149 to spend, you should probably go with the Haier Chromebook 11. It is slightly smaller, lighter, and allegedly has a better battery life." Fascinating, Captain! No Intel to be found. I suspect they've been keeping the price of processing artificially high due to a rapidly eroding monopoly position in the market.

Rumor: Apple's jumbo 'iPad Pro' allegedly shown in spy shots with potential second port : "As has become a rite of passage for rumored Apple products, the company's long buzzed-about 12.9-inch 'iPad Pro' was allegedly shown off in a series of photos posted to Chinese microblogging site Weibo on Monday, suggesting that it could house a USB type-C port or a second Lightning connector." Seems like the Macbook and iPad teams need to get together and decide if the future of devices is one connector or two connectors.

Claimed ‘iPhone 6C’ rear shell leaks, lends further credence to rumors of new 4-inch model | 9to5Mac Some new photos posted by Future Supplier claim to show the leaked rear casing to the rumored “iPhone 6C.” Recent reports have said that the device will sport a 4-inch screen like that of the iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S, allowing it to appeal to those who prefer smaller displays over the larger iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. iPhone 6C leaked! You heard it here last!

FTC denies that decision to clear Google of antitrust charges was “a close call” | 9to5Google The WSJ yesterday obtained part of one of the investigative reports, which included a sentence reading “Although it is a close call, we do not recommend that the Commission issue a complaint against Google for this conduct.” It seems like yesterday that we were all selling Apple ][ apps on 5.25" floppies. Long live Wolfenstein and Taxman!

Intel & Micron's new 3D flash memory could mean cheaper, larger storage for Apple's Macs, iOS devices Intel and Micron have announced the launch of a new 3D NAND flash technology, one which could substantially improve the amount of data storage possible in Macs, iPhones, iPads, and numerous other devices. Moore's law is going to run out of gas "any day now." It's good to be the Moore. "640K oughta be enough for anybody"...

10 reasons why Apple is to blame for the decline of iPad sales | 9to5Mac : "It has been a tough slough for Apple’s iPad since the height of its popularity in 2013. Facing its second straight year of negative growth, there isn’t a consensus on why iPad sales have declined. I believe the slump is attributable to a combination of factors." I was a little worried about iPad until I read this article.

Why Apple is banking on USB-C for its all-new 12-inch MacBook and beyond Apple recently made a splash by announcing a new 12-inch MacBook that features a single port for both power and data transfers: USB-C, a new connector spec that may sweep away not just USB 2.0, but also Thunderbolt — and possibly even Apple's Lightning. Great little piece on the all-in-one everything you can eat USB-C.

Jony Ive feared Jobs would fire him on returning to Apple, book excerpt says : "In a book excerpt published on Friday, lead Apple designer Jony Ive says he was worried he would be fired when Steve Jobs returned to serve as the company's CEO in 1997." The latest news is: Steve Jobs issued farts that did not smell.

iMovie gains haptic feedback on Apple's new Force Touch trackpads : "Haptic feedback is enabled in three situations: when dragging a video clip to its maximum length, snapping a title to the beginning or end of a video clip, and when snapping to alignment guides during video cropping. The changes, which were first noticed by Final Cut blogger Alex Gollner, came as part of the iMovie 10.0.7 update released earlier in March." A once great app is now available with simulated masturbation.

Tumult releases Hype 3 and Hype Professional with new HTML5 physics, responsive design tools | 9to5Mac Hype 3 ($49.99) is a free upgrade for Hype 2 owners, refreshing the app with a new user interface — notably with a Yosemite-matching Light color theme — while making improvements to HTML accessibility, timing functions and timeline adjustments. Using Hype, even amateur designers can create interactive HTML5 web sites that work perfectly on desktop, laptop, tablet, and smartphone screens; no coding is required. Neato! A product category ripe for innovation!

Did Apple invent USB Type-C? Maybe a little bit | 9to5Mac : "That’s a bit weird, because if Apple did invent USB Type-C, it would seem like a no-brainer for replacing Lightning. But Gruber noted in a post earlier this week that he didn’t think Apple would replace Lightning with USB Type-C." It's great we're moving to one connector. Maybe not so great that it's only one port.

The art of deception: How Apple attempts to keep its secret projects under wraps But over a decade ago, Apple took a different approach, and attempted to force news publications to reveal their sources so it could crack down on leaks. Apple sought to subpoena editors at AppleInsider and PowerPage in an effort to identify sources who provided accurate details of an unreleased hardware product code-named Asteroid. Think seekret.

Poll: Which MacBook are you? Space Gray, Silver or Gold | 9to5Mac : "If you are like us, probably the toughest decision you are facing this year is figuring out which new Retina MacBook color you will be getting. The buying process otherwise is more like buying an iPad than a Mac with only 2 speed/storage models." I'm black, personally. Well, I guess space gray is close enough...

Roundup: All the news from Apple’s Spring Forward event | 9to5Mac : "Third, Apple officially unveiled the all-new 12″ MacBook, its thinnest and lightest Mac laptop yet, with a Retina display, single USB-C port, and Force Touch trackpad, starting at $1,299. A collection of new USB-C adapters are required to connect the MacBook to traditional USB devices and wired displays. It also updated the older MacBook Air and 13″ Retina MacBook Pro with faster Intel Broadwell processors, faster SSDs, and battery improvements." Hands on with the new ultra-thin MacBook.

WSJ: Google’s wireless network to launch in coming weeks, but only w/ support for Nexus 6 | 9to5Google : "According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, Google’s upcoming wireless service will only work with the Nexus 6 and no other devices. Citing people familiar with the matter, the report doesn’t delve into too many details regarding Google’s reasoning for why it’s limiting the service to the Nexus 6." Kind of unbelievable!

AAPL joining famed Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing AT&T | 9to5Mac : "Apple will be joining the Dow Jones Industrial Average taking wireless carrier AT&T’s spot on the famed stock market index, CNBC reports. The change will take place in just under two weeks at the end of trading on March 18th. The Dow is heavily viewed as being indicative of the overall stock market performance in the United States, and Apple’s rising stock price will soon be a significant factor to that number." Some might say Apple is good and AT&T is evil.

Review: Brydge keyboard for iPad Air/2 — can this all-aluminum model beat the ClamCase Pro? | 9to5Mac One thing I love about 9to5Mac readers is how engaged they are in the comments. My review of the ClamCase Pro iPad keyboard case last month led to a lively discussion about the relative merits of that vs the Brydge keyboard, so I decided to give that a try for a retrospective shoot-out. iPad keyboard reminiscent of MacBook Air.

You can now embed Twitter video on your website | VentureBeat | Business | by Ruth Reader : "Today, Twitter is announcing a way for you to embed video created on its platform to your website or blog. The new feature follows the recent release of a series of video tools for the micro-blogging site." We here are bullish on Twitter, Vine and Twitter video. But not necessarily in that order.