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Ben Lovejoy

benlovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer who started his career on PC World and has written for dozens of computer and technology magazines, as well as numerous national newspapers, business and in-flight magazines. He has also written two technothriller novels , a romcom novel, and an SF novella series.

He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air 11, 12.9-inch iPad Pro (LTE 256GB), iPhone 13 Pro Max (256GB), Dell Ultrawide 49-inch monitor, an Apple Watch (Series 4 WiFi) and multiple HomePods – he suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.

He thinks wires are evil and had a custom desk made to hide them, known as the OC Desk for obvious reasons.

He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:

He considers 1000 miles a good distance for a cycle ride and Chernobyl a suitable tourist destination. What can we say, he’s that kind of chap.

He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.

If @benlovejoy-ing him on twitter, please follow him first so that he can DM you if appropriate. If you have information you can pass on, you can also email him. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.

Connect with Ben Lovejoy

FTC bans General Motors from selling driving data without permission, adding to case for CarPlay 2

FTC bans General Motors from selling driving data without permission | Corvette ZR1 Coupe interior

The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against General Motors and OnStar for selling location and driving data from millions of GM car owners, allegedly without informed consent. This data was collected as frequently as every three seconds.

Both companies have been banned from selling location and driving behavior data for a period of five years, and will need to ensure they disclose any future sharing plans, and obtain proper consent for it …

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Apple denies App Store profit margin is 75% – claims to have no clue

Apple denies 75% profit margin on the App Store – says it can't be calculated | iPhone calculator app showing zero

Apple’s incoming CFO didn’t get much time to settle in before he found himself in court defending the company against a class action lawsuit. Kevan Parekh yesterday claimed that the company that it has no clue about its App Store profit margin.

This is a stance the company has taken before. Indeed, Apple Fellow Phil Schiller even went as far as to claim he didn’t even know whether the App Store made a profit at all …

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Apple was fined $2.1B last year, but could pay it all off in a week

Apple was fined $2.1B last year, but could pay it all off in a week | Close-up of a hand flicking through a stack of $100 bills

Apple was fined a global total of more than $2.1B last year for antitrust violations, but the sum was only the equivalent of just over a week’s worth of free cash flow.

Encrypted email company Proton put together its latest Tech Fines Tracker, in which Google was the most heavily-fined company, with Apple in second place …

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How to stream the 2025 Super Bowl in 4K for free on any Apple device

Here's how to stream the 2025 Super Bowl in 4K for free | FOX Sports graphic on grass background

If you’re looking for a way to stream the 2025 Super Bowl in 4K for free, Tubi will be showing the entire event – including Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show. The Tubi app is available for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Vision Pro, as well as on the web.

FOX Sports says that it will be doing a special takeover of Tubi for the game, with no sign-in required …

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iPhone drops from 1st to 3rd place in China, as Apple struggles to launch AI features

iPhone drops from 1st to 3rd place in China, as Apple struggles to launch AI features | Riverside buildings at night in Fuzhou, China

The iPhone has lost its crown as the best-selling phone in China, dropping to 3rd place in the latest market intelligence data.

One factor is the company’s struggle to launch Apple Intelligence features in the country after being unable to get permission to use its own generative AI model there …

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The $17B gamble made on the basis of a handshake with Steve Jobs

The $17B gamble made on the basis of a handshake with Steve Jobs | iPhone 3G shown

It seems to be a week for interesting peeks at Apple history, a new piece telling the story of Softbank founder Masayoshi Son making a $17B gamble on the basis of a gentleman’s agreement with Steve Jobs.

Invariably known as Masa, the Japanese entrepreneur – who holds the interesting record of having been the richest man in the world for three days – figured out that Apple had to be working on a phone, two years before it was announced …

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Latest Apple store again has curved frontage with seamless transition to interior

Latest Apple store again has curved frontage with seamless transition to interior | Photo of Apple MixC Hefei

The latest Apple store opens on Saturday, and the company has shown off a few photos ahead of time. It has the same curved frontage we’ve seen in a couple of earlier mall stores.

Apple has previously aimed for a relatively seamless transition between the exterior and interior of these stores, and the latest example in Hefei, China, continues this trend …

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TikTok may shut down totally on Sunday unless the ban is delayed by new law [U]

TikTok may get a 270-day extension before a ban; denies Elon Musk report | Image shows the TikTok name with a prohibited symbol as the letter O

TikTok may shut down totally in the US on Sunday, with the app no longer opening at all, according to a new report. This would go well beyond the legal requirement of the ban, which would only prevent new downloads.

However, Congress may be about to throw the company a lifeline, through a proposed new law granting it another 270 days before the ban comes into effect

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Tony Fadell wanted Apple to buy Sonos; Steve wanted to sue it

Tony Fadell wanted Apple to buy Sonos; Steve wanted to sue it | Sonos kit in a featureless room

A fun piece of Apple history has been revealed thanks to a look at how Sonos started and where it is headed. It turns out that ‘father of the iPodTony Fadell wanted Apple to buy the premium audio company.

Fadell tried to persuade Steve Jobs to do so, but Apple’s co-founder refused, saying that he instead wanted to sue the company …

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Apple may have solved the biggest problem with embedding Face ID in the display

Apple may have solved the biggest problem with embedding Face ID in the display | Render of iPhone with only a camera cutout

We know from previous Apple patents that the company is hard at work figuring out ways of embedding Face ID in the display of future iPhones.

The biggest barrier here is that the infrared light needed for Face ID doesn’t travel well through a display – but a newly-granted Apple patent suggests that the company may have figured out a solution …

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EU denies pausing action against Apple and others ahead of new US presidency

EU denies a report that it's pausing action against Apple and other US tech giants | An Apple Store in Paris

The European Union has denied a report that it has paused action against Apple and other US tech giants in the light of anticipated pressure from the incoming US president.

The report claims that the EU is “reassessing” antitrust investigations of Apple, Meta, and Google and that all decisions and fines will be paused until this process is complete …

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Security vulnerability in iPhone’s USB-C port, and a gotcha with iMessage scams

Security vulnerability in iPhone's USB-C port, and a gotcha with iMessage scams | Scam parcel delivery message shown

A security vulnerability has been discovered in the USB-C port controller fitted to the iPhone 15 and 16. However, exploiting it would be so complex that both Apple and the security researcher who discovered it concluded that it is not a real-world threat.

However, a security concern that does pose a threat to iPhone users is a tactic scammers are using to bypass one of Apple’s built-in protections …

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Everything we expect from a lower-priced Apple Vision headset in 2026

What to expect from a lower-priced Apple Vision headset in 2026 | Existing model shown

It’s always been clear that Vision Pro was simply Apple’s first step into the AR/VR headset world, and that a lower-priced Apple Vision product would follow, but there have so far been mixed reports on when we might expect to see it.

We’ve so far seen reports variously suggesting that the non-Pro Apple Vision headset would launch in 2025, 2026, and 2027 – with the latest of these saying the company is “ramping up” development work …

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Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is out after company ‘let far too many people down’

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is out after company 'let far too many people down' | Sonos Beam soundbar shown

Sonos CEO Patrick Spence has been replaced in his role and is leaving the company. Its interim CEO says this is because the company “let far too many people down.”

Customers have been calling for Spence to be sacked ever since the disastrous launch of a new app left many of them struggling with connectivity problems and broken features …

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Samsung reportedly working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for iPhone [U]

Samsung reportedly working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for iPhone | Existing iPhone 16 Pro Max camera module shown

Sony has had the exclusive manufacturing contract for iPhone camera sensors for more than a decade, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last year suggested this would be changing with the iPhone 18. This has now been backed by two further reports, one of which provides a little more detail.

Samsung is said to be working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for Apple, which should improve the performance of future iPhone cameras. Update: Digitimes now backs the report …

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