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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 several books, and creates occasional videos.

He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, an M1 13-inch MacBook Air, an iPad mini, an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and multiple HomePods. He suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.

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

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

He gets a lot of emails and can’t possibly reply to them all. 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

Three AirDrop vulnerabilities discovered, with Apple working on a full fix

Three AirDrop vulnerabilities discovered, with Apple working on a full fix | Two iPhones exchanging contact details via AirDrop

Three AirDrop vulnerabilities have been discovered by a security researcher, affecting both iPhone and Mac, with similar ones found in Android’s Quick Share.

An attacker could easily exploit the vulnerabilities to cause AirDrop, AirPlay, Handoff, Universal Clipboard, and Continuity Camera to crash and remain unavailable for as long as the attack continues …

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Apple may have to allow 3rd-party app payments and Apple Pay rivals in UK

Apple may have to allow 3rd-party app payments and Apple Pay rivals in UK | Photo shows an Apple Pay transaction

Britain’s antitrust regulator has proposed forcing Apple to allow developers to link to third-party payment options to purchase apps and subscriptions outside of the App Store.

The proposal would specifically ban Apple from using the same forms of “malicious compliance” it has tried in both the US and EU …

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A maxed-out 16-inch MacBook Pro now has a 5-figure price tag

A maxed-out 16-inch MacBook Pro (shown) now has a 5-figure price tag

A maxed out MacBook Pro has never been cheap given Apple’s pricing on both RAM and SSD upgrades, but the recent price hikes mean that the 16-inch model now tops out at a five-figure sum.

John Gruber ran the numbers and noted that while the base model prices only went up by around 14%, there were massive increases to both RAM and storage options …

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Apple may struggle to get clearance for Chinese RAM, even for Chinese iPhones

Apple may struggle to get clearance for Chinese RAM, even for Chinese iPhones | Photo shows an Apple Store in Beijing

We learned yesterday that Apple is trying to persuade the Trump administration to allow it to buy memory chips from two Chinese companies blacklisted by the Pentagon, CXMT and YMTC.

Apple previously sought permission from the Biden administration to do the same thing back in 2022, and that did not go well – despite promising to use the chips only for iPhones sold in China …

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Will Apple reverse the price increases when the memory shortage eases? [Poll]

Will Apple reverse the price increases when the memory shortage eases? | Photo shows the Apple Store in Nanjing

Apple’s price increases were both swift and dramatic. As some of us suspected, there was just over a week between CEO Tim Cook warning that the move would be unavoidable and the new pricing taking effect.

The increases were substantial in both percentage and absolute terms. The highest percentage increase was the Apple TV 4K, with a 55% increase …

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The most surprising Apple price increase is to the MacBook Neo

The most surprising Apple price increase is to the MacBook Neo (shown here in silver)

Earlier this week, I outlined three reasons for agreeing with Mark Gurman that the Apple price increases could be imminent, and that indeed proved to be the case.

iPhones have escaped the increases, but they are otherwise both broad-reaching and pretty dramatic. But perhaps the most surprising thing is that the MacBook Neo has been included …

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iPhone Ultra 3D-printed hinge problems reportedly solved, ready for September launch

iPhone Ultra 3D-printed hinge problems reportedly solved, ready for September launch | Render of the iPhone Ultra shown

Talk of a delayed launch for the upcoming iPhone Ultra now seems to have faded away, with all recent reports pointing to Apple’s foldable being unveiled during the September keynote.

The latest supply-chain report says that earlier issues with the 3D-printed hinge module have now been resolved, with the device now entering the next stage of production …

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Can you save money with a USB4 cable over a Thunderbolt 4 one?

USB4 versus Thunderbolt 4 | Cable connecting a MacBook Pro to an Apple monitor

The USB-C standard effectively played a nasty trick on us, especially where cables are concerned. That’s because it isn’t really a standard at all, but is instead merely a common plug and socket form-factor that can encompass a wide range of capabilities and standards.

Ensuring you buy the right USB-C cable for your needs has been a problem for many years now. That’s because you don’t want to buy a cable that doesn’t fully meet the standards, but at the same time there’s no point in paying for a higher-spec cable than you need for your particular application …

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Buying an iPhone Ultra could be an expensive experiment, warns resale site

Buying an iPhone Ultra (render shown) could be an expensive experiment, warns resale site

If you are planning to buy an iPhone Ultra to find out how useful it is in practice, with the idea of selling it if it doesn’t live up to expectations, a resale site warns that it could prove a very expensive experiment.

Data shows that foldables lose more resale value in their first year than any other smartphone category, whether measured in percentage or absolute terms …

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Apple’s productivity apps have a small but useful AI enhancement in macOS 27

Apple's productivity apps have a small but useful AI enhancement in macOS 27 | Screenshot shows Apple's Pages apps suggesting a filename

While the new Siri AI is, of course, taking the headlines, there are a number of less spectacular but still useful AI enhancements in Apple’s upcoming operating systems.

I recently highlighted the new AI photo editing tools, and Macworld has spotted a small but handy AI enhancement to Apple’s productivity apps …

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The Oura Ring 5 is the ultra-smart wearable you won’t know you’re wearing

The Oura Ring 5 is the smart wearable you won't know you're wearing | Photoshow shows a woman wearing the rose gold finish

I’m a well-known grump when it comes to subscription apps, so when you find me endorsing a relatively expensive piece of hardware that requires an annual subscription for full functionality, then you know it has to be good.

2024 was a bit of an eventful year for me on the wearables front: after nine years of use, I ditched my Apple Watch in favor of dumb watches, and reinstated smart health and activity tracking by using the third-generation Oura Ring. I’ve recently upgraded to the latest 5th-gen model …

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Here’s why I think the AI photo features in iOS 27 are so well considered

Here's why I think the AI photo features in iOS 27 are so well considered | A screenshot showing the new AI photo tools

In my roundup of what I saw as the 11 key AI features announced by Apple at this year’s WWDC, I said that the camera features seemed extremely well thought through.

In the two weeks since, my view has been very much reinforced. The Clean Up tool is now significantly more powerful, while the Reframe and Extend tools address similar real-life needs …

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