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.
Mint Mobile data plans are being upgraded, with most subscribers getting an extra 5GB of mobile data per month. The upgrade applies to what are currently 10GB, 15GB, and “Unlimited” plans – while 4GB subscribers get 1GB extra …
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There’s no letup in the Twitter verification mess, after Musk’s stated deadline for legacy verified accounts to lose their blue checkmark passed with little change. He’s now said they will be given more time, though this decision may have been forced on him …
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A supply chain report says that M2 chip production was completely halted during January and February due to limited demand for M2-powered Macs. This is believed to be the first time that Apple has ever suspended chip production for current-gen products.
Production resumed in March, but is reportedly at half the level of M1 chip production in the same period last year …
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Exceptional Minds, a non-profit which helps neurodivergent creatives turn their passions into their careers, is receiving support from Apple’s community grants program.
Funding is provided through the Employee Giving scheme, where Apple matches every dollar donated by employees, and provides an additional sum for every hour of voluntary service by Apple staff …
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A court has ordered that code-collaboration site Github must identify the Twitter source code leaker. The social networking company had earlier applied for the court order, which has now been granted …
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The iPhone 15 Pro buttons, which will be capacitive rather than mechanical, will still work with gloves, according to a reliable leaker.
The leaker, who got details right about the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro, has expanded on a previous report about the iPhone 15 Pro mute switch being replaced by an Action button …
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Both iPads and Macs have enjoyed remarkable success in India, a market in which price often dominates purchase criteria.
New market intelligence data suggests that Apple saw 135% growth in iPad shipments in the final quarter of last year. This saw it overtake previous market leader Samsung to become the best-selling tablet brand in the country …
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A supply-chain report says that a 13-inch OLED MacBook Air is now in development, with Samsung Display set to be the exclusive supplier.
It says that a more advanced OLED screen is expected to be used for the MacBook Pro …
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Parent company Meta reportedly plans to allow users to opt out of Instagram and Facebook tracking – but only if you live in Europe …
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Netflix games are currently only available on iPhone, iPad, and Android – but code discovered within the app suggests that they may finally be coming to TV.
As for game controllers, the code suggests you may already own one: It references using an iPhone or Android smartphone to play them …
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One of the headline features of this year’s iPhone lineup will be the iPhone 15 Pro Max periscope lens, allowing much greater optical zoom for the telephoto lens. It’s likely to allow at least 10x zoom, compared to the maximum 3x available on the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
A new report from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple is paying supplier Largan just $4 for this lens, a sum which barely allows the supplier any profit margin at all …
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Some people can already use Apple Pay Later, with the company promising that it will come to “all eligible users” in the next few months. But while you will be able to use it soon, the question is: Should you?
On the surface, it seems like a decent option. It’s interest-free, there’s no application form to fill out, there’s no impact on your credit rating, and you’re dealing with Apple rather than a bank or finance company. But there are a few things to consider …
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If you’re currently using the OverDrive app when borrowing e-books from libraries, you’ll need to switch to Libby from May 1. The company first announced plans to sunset the older app way back in 2021 …
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Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak has joined Elon Musk and leading AI academics in calling for a pause in advanced AI development. Specifically, the open letter asks for a minimum six-month pause in the development of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 …
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It appears one feature of the Apple Watch Ultra may be making its way to the iPhone Pro models this year. The mechanical mute switch is being replaced by a capacitive button, and a reliable source indicates that this may also function as a user-programmable iPhone 15 Action button.
It’s possible that the new volume rocker switch may also allow users to choose exactly how it works …
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A few preview photos of the latest Apple Store have been shared, ahead of the opening of Apple Gangnam on Friday, March 31. It will be Apple’s fourth store in South Korea.
The new store features what Apple says is a unique facade that changes in appearance across the course of the day, and across seasons …
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Late last year, Philips Hue Matter support was said to be coming “by March 2023.” With just a few days left before that deadline, the company has now said that the release date has been put back to an unspecified time.
It’s the latest delay to hit the industry-wide Matter standard, which was itself pushed back from a planned 2020 launch to late 2022 …
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Security researchers have identified a new piece of Mac malware, which they’ve dubbed MacStealer. The malware extracts your iCloud passwords, a wide variety of files, and credit card details stored in browsers.
The good news, however, is that you’d have to be very naive to fall victim to it …
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A union has alleged that five Apple Store workers were illegally fired, in retaliation for their union-related activities. Formal charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – which are in addition to those already filed against Apple for other forms of union-busting.
The Communications Workers of America says that while the official reasons for the firing were attendance-related, this was simply a pretext. In one example, a union activist was subjected to disciplinary proceedings for being an average of one minute late on three occasions …
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One of the features of iPadOS 16.4 is an improved Apple Pencil hover feature, in the form of support for Tilt and Azimuth.
Apple and Procreate execs have highlighted the benefits to both users and developers of the latest feature for iPad Pro and Apple Pencil users …
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A new Apple Music Classical video tour provides a quick overview of the app, highlighting the powerful search features, hidden gems by popular composers, the ability to browse by instrument, and more.
Apple has also explained a workaround for the fact that the app is only available on iOS, explaining how to listen to your selections in the main Apple Music app …
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The Apple Music Classical app appeared on the App Store for pre-order, with the iPhone maker confirming it would go live on March 28. Now that this date has arrived in some countries, the app is beginning its global rollout.
Apple confirmed the timing earlier in the month …
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The Apple Car LiDAR system could be made by the same company which makes the laser scanning system used in some iPhone models to help mimic shallow depth of field in Portrait photos and Cinematic Video footage.
While self-driving cars can use a variety of different technologies to make sense of the world around them, it’s believed that Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) will be the primary one used by Apple …
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Parts of Twitter’s source code were posted to code-sharing site Github, and have seemingly been available there for several months before the company noticed …
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