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

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Friday’s best deals are here to wrap up the work week. Through the end of the day, you can score an all-time low on Apple’s latest AirPods 3 at $140 to go alongside a collection of official iPhone 15 silicone cases from just $15. Plus, the first discount on the Sonos Move 2 portable speaker with AirPlay 2 is live at $359. Hit the jump for all that and more in the latest 9to5Toys Lunch Break.

It’s happened, Spotify has finally launched a miniplayer for desktop that supports music and video (including podcasts). As shown above, you can use a few designs including a minimal bar, or resizable square or rectangle.

After literally years of investigation, the DOJ antitrust lawsuit is finally official. Apple is accused of using a dominant market position to lock in customers, block competitors, profiteer, and stifle new technologies.

The lawsuit mirrors moves made in the EU, most notably through the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which obliges Apple and other tech giants to adopt a less aggressive approach to protecting their own financial interests against competition …

Earlier this week, news broke that Apple was in talks with Google to license its Gemini models to be used to power some generative AI features in the upcoming version of iOS, iOS 18, for the iPhone. It was also said to have spoken with OpenAI about a possible deal.

Today, the Wall Street Journal says Apple also held talks with Baidu, to license its models. This would likely be intended to serve AI requests to Apple customers in China, as Chinese law requires models to be approved by its regulator before they are allowed to be used.

University researchers have found an unpatchable security flaw in Apple Silicon Macs, which would allow an attacker to break encryption and get access to cryptographic keys.

The flaw is present in M1, M2, and M3 chips, and because the failing is part of the architecture of the chips, there’s no way for Apple to fix it in current devices …

The DOJ lawsuit is 88 pages long, and I freely confess I haven’t yet finished reading it, but it seems one tech writer has – finding a claim that CarPlay is anticompetitive.

As the piece notes, it seems clear that the Department of Justice doesn’t actually understand what CarPlay is, or how it works, as the claim simply makes no sense …

If you’ve suddenly been logged out of the Instagram and Threads apps, it’s not just you. There’s a bug affecting a number of users of Meta’s platforms on Thursday night, causing their accounts to be logged out for no reason. Read on as we share more details about the bug.

A recent report revealed that Apple is gearing up to launch Vision Pro in more countries soon. To add fuel to the fire, the company has published new job offers on its website looking for specialists to work with Apple Vision Pro in countries such as Australia, China, and Japan.

Apple last year launched its hardware diagnostic tool for anyone interested in DIY repairs as part of its Self Service Repair program. Before that, the software was limited to Apple Retail Stores and Authorized Service Providers (AASP). iFixit has now shared an in-depth analysis of Apple’s diagnostic tool and how helpful it is.

Benjamin and Chance react to the news that Apple is partnering with Google to use their Gemini models to power some AI features coming in iOS 18. Also, there’s more details about the two new AirPods models set to debut later this year. There’s also rumors about anti-reflective matte screens for iPhone and iPad, and Walmart announces that it is selling Macs for the first time, starting with the cut-price $699 M1 MacBook Air.

In Happy Hour Plus: Chance tells Mayo about his experience seeing the Rivian R2. Subscribe at 9to5mac.com/join.

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It’s been a while since WhatsApp introduced the ability to pin a message to a chat, so that it is always visible in that conversation. With the latest version of the app, Meta has introduced a small change to this feature that now lets users pin multiple messages to the same chat.

The US Department of Justice filed its antitrust lawsuit against Apple today, with the supposed goal of “freeing smartphone markets from Apple’s anticompetitive and exclusionary conduct and restoring competition.”

Apple has another take, arguing that the goal of the lawsuit is to turn the iPhone into an Android phone.

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

Sponsored by DirecTV Stream: The best way to watch every single NCAA March Madness game on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Save $30 and start watching now. 

Introducing 9to5Mac Daily Plus! Support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock: 

• Ad-free versions of every episode
• Monthly bonus episodes 

Join for $5 per month or $50 a year at 9to5mac.com/join. 

Apple and the MLS are running a new promotion to offer a one-month free trial of MLS Season Pass, available to new sign-ups. Interested fans can access the promotion by following the link on Lionel Messi’s Instagram page.

As part of its response to the United States DOJ lawsuit today, Apple confirmed that it at one point considered creating an Apple Watch for Android. The company tells me that it spent three years working on bringing Apple Watch to Android before ultimately scrapping the idea.

Apple has officially released iOS 17.4.1 for iPhone users today. The update comes two weeks after Apple released iOS 17.4 with major changes in the European Union.