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 None of the new MacBook Neo, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro models unveiled this week come with a charger in the UK and EU countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. This change began with the base 14-inch MacBook Pro last year.
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 The new MacBook Neo is equipped with two USB-C ports, but they are not the same. The left USB-C port supports USB 3 speeds of up to 10 Gb/s, while the right USB-C port closer to the trackpad is limited to USB 2 speeds of just 480 Mb/s. As a result, Apple says external display connectivity is supported on the left port only.
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Google is officially doing away with its 30 percent cut of Play Store transactions, and rolling out changes to how third-party app stores and alternate billing systems will be handled by Android. Some of these tweaks were proposed as part of the settlement the company reached with Epic in November 2025, but rather than wait for final judicial approval, Google is committing to revamping Android and the Play Store publicly.
The biggest change is to how Google will collect fees from developers publishing apps on Android. Rather than take its standard 30 percent cut of in-app purchases through the Play Store, Google is lowering its cut to 20 percent, and in some cases 15 percent for new installs of apps from developers participating in its new App Experience program or updated Google Play Games Level Up program. Google will also now charge a five percent service fee for developers in the UK, US or European Economic Area (EEA) using its billing system, and "a market-specific rate" in other regions. Of course, for anyone trying to avoid those fees, using alternatives to Google's billing system is also getting easier.
As part of these changes, Google says that developers will be able to offer alternative billing systems alongside its own or "guide users outside of their app to their own websites for purchases." The setup, as described by Google, appears to be more permissive than what Apple settled on in 2025. For iOS apps on the App Store, develo
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 Apple's press release and marketing materials for the new Studio Display and Studio Display XDR models do not mention which chips are inside the monitors, but MacRumors has confirmed this information in the latest Studio Display firmware.
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Apple is looking to gain a foothold in the more budget-friendly end of the laptop market with the MacBook Neo. The system starts at $599, which is darn inexpensive for an Apple laptop — it even has the same starting price as the M4 iPad Air.
As such, the MacBook Neo should help Apple compete with cheap Windows laptops and Chromebooks. Pricing it at $499 for educational use won't exactly hurt either.
Apple is really lowering the cost of entry for those looking to pick up a new MacBook here. The base MacBook Neo costs $500 less than the cheapest M5 MacBook Air, which is now officially Apple's midrange laptop.
Of course, there are a lot of tradeoffs you'll make by opting for a MacBook Neo instead of a MacBook Air. If you're curious about all the differences between the Neo and the base 13.6-inch Air (and perhaps what you'll be foregoing if go you with the cheaper option), we've got you covered.
MacBook Neo vs. MacBook Air exteriors
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Today the White House announced that several major players in tech and AI have agreed to steps that will keep electricity costs from rising due to data centers. Under this Ratepayer Protection Pledge, companies are agreeing to practices that are intended to protect residents from seeing higher electricity costs as more and more businesses create power-hungry data centers. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI have all apparently signed on. A few of the participants — Amazon, Google and Meta — had conveniently timed press releases patting themselves on the back for their participation and touting whatever other policies they have for mitigating the negative impacts of data center construction.
The main provisions of the federal pledge have tech companies agreeing to "build, bring, or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands, paying the full cost of those resources." It also claims they will pay for any needed power infrastructure upgrades and operate under separate rate structures for power that will see payments
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A Nature Medicine study finds ChatGPT Health misjudged over half of medical emergencies and sometimes advised delayed care, raising concerns about AI triage reliability.
The post Would ChatGPT Health Recognize Your Medical Emergency? New Study Raises Doubts appeared first on eWEEK.
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 Apple today released a new firmware update for the Studio Display and Studio Display XDR, two products that aren't set to launch until March 11.
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Apple's latest developer beta adds AI-generated Apple Music playlists, early testing for encrypted RCS messaging and a new setting to tone down iOS 26's brighter visual effects
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Apple announces in an industry newsletter that it's implementing a new metadata tagging system to identify content created by AI.
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted approval to TerraPower to begin construction of a reactor in Wyoming. The project is the first new US commercial nuclear reactor in about a decade, according to The New York Times. TerraPower was founded by Bill Gates, and it took years for the business to receive regulatory approval for this construction effort.
TerraPower is part of a push to create more efficient and less expensive nuclear facilities as an alternative power source, particularly as AI companies and data center construction places more demands on the US' current infrastructure. TerraPower's project involves tech it has dubbed Natrium in its planned reactor. Using this liquid sodium approach rather than a traditional light-water reactor i
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ChatGPT uninstalls surged 295% after OpenAI accepted a Pentagon contract that rival Anthropic had rejected, triggering backlash and a surge in Claude downloads.
The post ChatGPT Uninstalls Surge 295% After OpenAI Accepts Pentagon Contract appeared first on eWEEK.
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 Earlier today we began tracking the first pre-order offers on the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, and now the MacBook Neo has joined in at Best Buy. If you pre-order the new low-cost MacBook Neo at Best Buy, you'll get a free $25 Best Buy gift card after purchase.
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 Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.3.1, a minor update to the ?macOS Tahoe? operating system that came out last September. ?macOS Tahoe? 26.3.1 comes three weeks after Apple launched macOS Tahoe 26.3.
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OpenAI, Google, and Alibaba unveil faster, cheaper AI models built for real-time apps and local devices, signaling a shift from AI power to speed and efficiency.
The post OpenAI, Google, and Alibaba Drop Faster, Cheaper Models appeared first on eWEEK.
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See photos of Apple's new budget laptop that costs $500 less than the cheapest MacBook Air.
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The new, colorful MacBook Neo is full of surprises, including a mobile chip.
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Lightning struck twice in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia earlier this month. First in the eerie stillness of a classroom where eight lives were stolen. Then, in Ottawa's halls of power where officials demanded answers from Silicon Valley about what a chatbot knew and when it knew it. As Canada grapples with one of the worst […]
The post OpenAI Discovers Mass Shooter's Secret ChatGPT Account appeared first on eWEEK.
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 Apple is working with German confectionary brand Ritter Sport to offer a unique Apple Music promotion.
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Sometimes you can notice the signs of a failing SSD. For instance, the once-quick transfer speed slows to crawl, there are frequent program or system crashes, or file system access errors or SMART errors occur. If you notice these things, especially in combination, there's a good chance your SSD is on its way out. In that case, it's time to prepare for the worst and do the following:
Back up critical files
It goes without saying that the first thing you'll want to do if you think your SSD is on the blink is to back up your critical data. Backups should be done regularly anyway, but even if you're doing that, you'll still want to make a new backup of your critical files at this point to have them ready to go should your SSD suddenly die.
See our roundups of the best Windows backup software and
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