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.
That was quite the keynote! While Vision Pro of course took the headlines, the company packed in a huge number of announcements. So much so that even Apple thinks we need a summary of everything announced at WWDC 2023.
The company has provided its own take on the highlights of the event, attempting to fit each section of the keynote into a single paragraph – even for Vision Pro …
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Apple today formally introduced macOS 14, alongside iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 – and Apple is dropping support for almost all Intel Macs.
The company has provided a list of the Macs able to run macOS 14 …
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Apple today formally introduced iPadOS 17, alongside iOS 17 and macOS 14. As always, Apple aims to allow as many older iPads as possible to support the latest version, without compromising performance on hardware too weedy to do it justice.
The company has provided a list of the iPad models able to run iPadOS 17 …
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Apple’s reputation is rated No. 10 in a new poll of the best-known US brands, while social networks Meta and Twitter come in the bottom 10 – not far ahead of The Trump Organization’s last place.
Poll company Harris has been using the same methodology for 24 years now, asking a large, nationally representative sample of Americans to name the two brands they consider to have the best reputation, and the two they consider to have the worst …
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Reddit is going dark in protest at Reddit’s new API pricing, after third-party app Apollo was faced with an unaffordable bill of $20M per year. Dozens of the biggest subreddits plan to go private for two days, with hundreds of others joining in.
In other app news, Elon Musk’s claim that Twitter advertisers have returned appears to be misleading …
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There are very mixed views as to whether the Apple headset and its successors can be the device to transform AR/VR from a niche interest to a mass-market product. But a report today says that those working within the sector firmly believe that it can.
Oculus founder Palmer Lucky said last month that the Apple headset is “so good,” and others in the business are said to be “jubilant” at today’s announcement …
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US Amazon Prime members may soon be able to get highly discounted or even completely free mobile service, according to a report citing people close to negotiations with carriers.
Amazon is said to have been in discussion with three different mobile carriers for the past six to eight weeks, as part of a plan to revitalize Prime …
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We learned yesterday that an Apple Store at Battersea Power Station would be one of around 50 new retail stores the company plans to open in the next four years – and it turns out we don’t have long to wait for that one. The company has now revealed that it opens on June 15.
The former power station is home to Apple’s UK headquarters, and it was known that the company planned to open a store there too, but only now do we have a few details …
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A serious Windows iTunes security vulnerability has been revealed, affecting all versions prior to the latest update, released a week ago …
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We all know Apple doesn’t jump on the latest fads, so while Samsung rushed out foldable smartphones, the Cupertino company has been in no hurry to offer a folding iPhone.
But with Motorola pointing to growing numbers of iPhone users abandoning Apple to buy its foldable phones, and our sister site concluding that the Motorola Razr finally nails the form factor, the pressure is now starting to build …
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I won’t be buying Reality Pro. That’s partly down to the anticipated price, but also because I haven’t yet found either augmented or virtual reality to be in any way compelling.
Cute, yes. Impressive, also yes. But I can’t remember the last time I used an AR app, and while I did buy a VR headset, I also can’t remember the last time I dug it out of the back of a drawer …
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Hello Games founder this week tweeted two Apple emoji, interpreted as potentially teasing two upcoming announcements. A No Man’s Sky Mac app was promised at last year’s WWDC, and has today launched. That accounts for one Apple emoji.
The second one is widely assumed to relate to No Man’s Sky landing on the upcoming Reality Pro headset …
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Ring camera privacy has been under fire since 2019, with two separate issues leading to a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). That has now resulted in Ring owner Amazon being fined – but only $5.8M.
The company was also fined $25M for using Alexa data from children to train its algorithms, something the FTC said was clearly illegal …
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Russia has claimed that the NSA hacked iPhones belonging to both Russian citizens and foreign diplomats based in the country.
More than this, it claims that Apple assisted the NSA by providing backdoor access into iPhones …
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Just a few days before Apple officially unveils Reality Pro, an Oppo MR headset has been announced – but it will only be available in China, and is aimed solely at developers.
The Oppo MR Glass Developer Edition has the same mixed-reality (MR) focus, reflected in the name, and the company’s long-term goal is very much in line as that rumored for Apple Glasses …
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Back in January, a top US Air Force general predicted that a Taiwan invasion would occur in 2025, while the US is distracted by the likely fallout from the 2024 presidential election. That scenario is gaining in credibility among companies in Apple’s supply chain – but they say there is no possible way to put in place the necessary contingency plans.
Production of iPhones would likely be rendered impossible given the company’s complete dependence on both Taiwan and China …
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The Apple Watch Ultra was launched to appeal to those wanting a more rugged and powerful version of its existing wearable, and a new range of Garmin Pro smartwatches is now following suit.
While a different proposition to the $800 Ultra, the new Fenix Pro and Epix Pro models do have some overlap, including the starting price …
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Elon Musk recently admitted that Twitter is now worth less than half of the $44B he paid for it, but it now appears that the current Twitter valuation may actually be a third of the sum he paid …
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Late last year, Apple finally updated the entry-level iPad to bring it into line with the all-screen design of its more expensive models – and that decision appears to have paid off.
Market intelligence data suggests that Apple achieved dramatic growth in iPad shipments during the first quarter of this year …
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Whether or not we expect to buy, I suspect most of us would like to at least try Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset. But the availability of Reality Pro demos is likely to be limited, even after the product goes on sale toward the end of the year.
It may even be that Apple takes a similar approach to the original gold Apple Watch – where you not only had to make an appointment, but one that took place off the main sales floor …
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There have been conflicting views on the risks to humanity posed by artificial intelligence, with some even going as far as suggesting that AI could make humans extinct. Surprisingly, however, that latter view is shared by many leading experts in artificial intelligence – including the CEOs of both OpenAI and Google DeepMind …
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One of the most oft-heard complaints about Apple’s AirPods is that they are only available in white. Many have wondered why the company doesn’t offer a range of colorful AirPods, to match iPhone colors.
The same Apple collector who yesterday revealed that Apple prototyped a color-matched MagSafe charger says that the company did the same for AirPods – and came very close to launching them …
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The US government banned the use of NSO’s Pegasus spyware 18 months ago, but a new report today says that at least one government agency is using very similar malware from a rival company: Paragon Graphite.
Graphite reportedly has the same capabilities as Pegasus, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is said to be using it …
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Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant – colloquially known as iPhone City – appears to be struggling to recruit and retain enough staff. The company is reported to have raised iPhone worker bonuses three times in one month as it preps for mass-production of the iPhone 15.
In particular, Foxconn is offering substantial incentives for remaining on the production line for at least three months, to see it through the busiest period, and avoid a repetition of last year’s major disruption …
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