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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

There’s one big problem with the iPhone Fold, and it’s almost the obvious one

There's one big problem with the iPhone Fold (render shown), and it's almost the obvious one

The iPhone Air was arguably the biggest innovation in iPhone design since the iPhone X. The iPhone Fold we’re expecting to see launch next year will be an even bigger shift.

All the signs point to the iPhone Fold being the best foldable smartphone launched to date, but there is one big problem with it – and it’s almost the obvious one …

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EU backs down on CSAM scanning but Apple isn’t off the hook yet

EU backs down on CSAM scanning but Apple isn't off the hook yet | Image shows a pile of photographs on a table with a pair of eyeglasses

Apple has had quite the rollercoaster ride over plans to scan devices for the presence of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).

After announcing and then withdrawing its own plans for CSAM scanning, it appeared that it might be legally required to do it anyway. The EU has now backed down on this, but that doesn’t necessarily let Apple off the hook …

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PSA: OpenAI is notifying all users of a data breach, but you probably aren’t affected

OpenAI is notifying all users of a data breach, but you probably aren't affected | IPhone app shown

If you receive a notification from ChatGPT provider OpenAI that one of its partners has suffered a data breach, it’s likely that your own data is safe. Only those who have an API account may have been affected

The company says it is being transparent by notifying all subscribers, even though only a small subset of them will have been impacted …

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Plex paywall for remote streaming now being enforced

Plex paywall for remote streaming now being enforced | Image shows screen grabs of the streaming feature

The Plex personal media server had long allowed remote streaming for free users. The company announced back in March that this would in future require a paid Plex Pass subscription, which was set to come into effect from the end of April.

The company initially hadn’t appeared to enforce the new rule, but it appears that it is now starting to do so, with the Roku app first in the firing line …

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This looks set to be the most expensive Apple collectible ever sold

The contract that founded Apple will be auctioned for an estimated $3M | Close up of the signatures

The contract that founded the Apple Computer Company (now Apple, Inc) is set to be auctioned and is expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million. It will likely be the most expensive Apple collectible ever sold.

Auction house Christie’s hasn’t yet added the document to its website, but it is reportedly offering the contract in an auction taking place on January 23 …

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This ChatGPT voice update previews what we can expect from the new Siri

This ChatGPT voice update previews what we can expect from the new Siri | Frosted glass rendition of the new Siri logo

A new ChatGPT voice update has made interacting with the chatbot far more flexible than it used to be, and I think is an example of one of the key things we can eventually expect from the new Siri.

While OpenAI’s change might seem like a relatively small one on the surface, I’m already finding that it completely transforms the experience of using ChatGPT

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Coding assistance websites exposed credentials for banks, government, and more

Coding assistance websites exposed credentials for banks, government agencies, and more | Website code shown on a MacBook screen

Two websites intended to help software developers format and structure their code have exposed thousands of login credentials, authentication keys, and other highly sensitive information.

Cybersecurity researchers found that this sensitive data belonged to organizations in many high-risk sectors like government, banking, and healthcare …

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Apple falsely accused of misleading users about App Tracking Transparency privacy

Apple falsely accused of misleading users about App Tracking Transparency privacy (permission dialog shown)

A competition regulator has accused Apple of misleading users about the level of privacy offered by the App Tracking Transparency feature. That accusation, while made in good faith, is based on a misunderstanding.

The iPhone maker has responded by saying that it may be forced to withdraw the privacy protection from EU users …

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I’d love to see Apple adopt a tick-tock approach to software releases

I'd love to see Apple adopt a tick-tock approach to software releases | Photo shows a young snow leopard

A Bloomberg report suggests that next year could be a Snow Leopard-style update for each of Apple’s operating systems. In other words, the company will prioritize working on bug fixes and reliability over new features.

The timing of this claim seems dubious to me: as Gurman himself acknowledges, Apple absolutely has to introduce a lot of AI improvements next year, so I don’t see how it can possibly qualify as a bug-fix year. Timing aside, however, this is something I would love to see …

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Retail chain accidentally sold iPad Airs for $17 – and wants them back

Retail chain accidentally sold iPad Airs (shown) for $17 – and wants them back

A large retail chain offered 13-inch iPad Air models to loyalty card holders for $17, with both online orders and in-store collection sales processed and the iPads handed over to their new owners.

It took the company 11 days to realize it had made a mistake, and it is now asking customers who bought the iPads to either return them or pay almost full price for them. Unfortunately for the retailer, the terms and conditions attached to the order did not exclude pricing errors …

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Hackers steal customer data from JPMorgan Chase and Citi

Hackers steal customer data from JPMorgan Chase and Citi | Stock photo of a modern skyscraper

Hackers have obtained customer data from a third-party company used by major Wall Street banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Citi. The disclosure comes just days after a Doordash data breach exposed names, addresses, phone numbers, and more.

SitmusAMC helps banks process mortgage applications and other real estate loans, and says that accounting records and legal agreements have been impacted by the hack …

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New Apple video highlights vapor chamber liquid cooling in iPhone 17 Pro

New Apple video highlights vapor chamber liquid cooling in iPhone 17 Pro | Screengrab water droplet with the strap line: Vapor cooled for serious performance

One of the new features of the iPhone 17 Pro is a liquid cooling system known as a vapor chamber. Apple has today highlighted the benefits of this in a new video on its YouTube channel, called Peak Performance.

The minute-long video opens with a man running in a desert and a drop of water falling from the sky to land on his forehead with a sizzle …

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A cluster of Mac Studios is just one reason we no longer need a Mac Pro

A cluster of Mac Studios is just one reason we no longer need a Mac Pro | Mac Studio on a desktop (sorry about the xmas trees, it was a colorful image ...)

Back in the Intel days, the Mac Pro was the computer many of us lusted over even if we had no possible justification for actually buying one. It was by far the most powerful Mac and the easiest to upgrade – not to mention one of the most beautiful machines the company ever made.

The 2023 Mac Pro was even more gorgeous than its predecessor, but with the radical new architecture of Apple Silicon, the writing was already on the wall …

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