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.
Putting AirTags in baggage was one of the things I did as soon as I got mine, and this seems to have become a very popular use of the tiny tracking devices.
But while they can be a big help when baggage gets lost, a number of reported experiences show that they still can’t solve airline incompetence …
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Update: Twitter is back as of 8:43 a.m. ET, after an outage of around 40 minutes.
Social networking platform Twitter is down for many users, with feeds no longer updating in either the official Twitter app or third-party ones, while the web version is showing various error messages.
The outage happened at around 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT this morning …
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Update: The vote on the bill is now expected to be delayed until the fall – see end for more details.
A proposed new CSAM law in the UK could force all messaging companies to use the type of client-side scanning approach that Apple planned to launch to detect child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on iPhones.
An amendment to the Online Safety Bill has been put forward that would require tech companies to identify and remove CSAM, even in end-to-end encrypted private messages …
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Pixelmator 2.7 is out today with a modern redesign, support for Pixelmator Pro documents, and performance improvements, thanks to the use of Metal graphics.
The company warns that Pixelmator Pro document support is limited at present but promises more to come.
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A new supply chain report reiterates that things are still on track for an Apple headset launch date sometime early next year, but goes on to suggest that a second-generation model will go on sale earlier than expected.
Kuo recently predicted that the 2nd-gen mixed-reality headset wouldn’t launch until 2025, but today’s report says that Apple appears to be targeting 2024 instead …
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We’ve seen iPhone 14 Pro renders before, based on simple CAD models and schematics, but now you can play with a 3D model, examining the Pro and Pro Max models from any angle.
CAD creator Madmix has used the same schematic to create 3D models which can be viewed in a number of popular design apps …
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It was reported yesterday that the Jony Ive LoveFrom contract with Apple has ended, meaning that the company’s longtime design chief is now fully detached from the iPhone maker.
My own view, though, is that the “news” means nothing, and that the contract has served the only purpose it ever had: preventing AAPL investors from panicking when Ive left the company …
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Primary iPhone assembler Foxconn has reportedly bought a stake in China’s top chipmaker, Tsinghjau Unigroup – but appears to have done so without the necessary government approval.
The move comes at a time when Apple is seeking to widen its chip supplier roster to guard against supply chain disruptions …
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The TikTok algorithm has been at once the key to the success of the video streaming app, and the biggest criticism leveled against it. But it is now offering users the ability to filter out topics you don’t want to see.
The company is also introducing new automated moderation tools, including one that (finally!) applies age restrictions to videos not suitable for children, and another that aims to address the “rabbit hole” problem of users being shown a succession of depressing or other potentially harmful videos …
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I know, the idea that iPhones will replace DSLRs seems pretty crazy today. But already a little less crazy than yesterday, and that’s because Nikon has joined Canon in abandoning work on future DSLRs (digital single-lens reflex cameras).
Canon announced in December that the 1DX Mk III would be its last pro body. (It says that it is, for now, continuing to develop consumer DSLRs, but nobody expects that to last for long.) And today, Nikon is reportedly ceasing development work on DSLRs altogether …
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The father of an autistic child with Down syndrome has said that an iPad with a speech app has made more difference to his son’s life than the far more expensive dedicated device offered under state programs.
The piece highlights the gap between what will most benefit kids with special needs, and what healthcare and education programs are willing to pay for …
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The Apple Ericsson patent battle jumped to a new level yesterday, when the first iPhone sales ban went into effect in Colombia. Now Apple appears to be set on obtaining an injunction against the import and sale of Ericsson products.
The specifics of the move are a legal first for the company, made possible by its billion-dollar acquisition of Intel’s modem business back in 2019 ….
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A new supply chain report says that OLED iPads, reported to be launching in 2024, will offer more than just improved display quality.
Apple is said to be employing an advanced OLED manufacturing process for the first time, which allows the display to be both thinner and lighter …
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While it’s likely that only a tiny number of people within Apple Park has seen an Apple Glasses prototype, I can’t help feeling like Oppo’s Air Glass is giving us a kind of sneak preview at the likely state of play.
It still looks a long way from a finished product, but at the same time it’s a lot closer to a Glasses product than the type of clunky mixed-reality headsets we’re expecting to see first. I also think Oppo may be on the right track with one particular aspect of the design …
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Apple slipped from fourth to fifth place in the global PC market in the second quarter of the year, according to new market intelligence data.
The whole market dropped significantly, but Apple was hit particularly hard – though likely for the right reason …
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We’ve long been expecting a new ruggedized version of Apple’s smartwatch, and Mark Gurman’s “Power On” newsletter yesterday suggested that this would be branded as the Apple Watch Pro. I can easily believe that.
However, he went on to suggest that the new Pro model would replace the Apple Watch Edition – and that makes no sense at all to me …
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Ericsson has been seeking an iPhone sales ban in multiple countries due to 5G patent infringements, and has now succeeded in obtaining the first of these, in Colombia. The ban applies to the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPad Pro models with 5G capabilities.
Apple is of course fighting the injunction but has been accused of double standards for objecting to three separate legal tactics that it has used itself in the past …
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An insane TikTok blackout challenge has been responsible for the deaths of seven children, according to a horrific new report today …
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The new Apple Maps detail has rolled out to three more countries and territories, making 16 in total. Apple began the process of creating its own mapping data from the ground up back in 2018, and the latest expansion covers France, Monaco, and New Zealand.
The new map data offers significantly more detail in both 2D and 3D representations, with the greatest difference seen in buildings of particular significance …
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A Twitter Co-tweet feature is being tested, letting two people co-author a tweet. The tweet appears with both names, and is added to both timelines.
You can invite literally any Twitter user to co-tweet with you, but they of course have to accept the invitation …
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Apple had big security news yesterday, announcing that iOS 16 will introduce a new iPhone Lockdown Mode designed to protect users from even the most sophisticated cyber attacks like those carried out by NSO’s Pegasus spyware.
Apple says that the mode offers an “extreme” level of security that will be needed only by the tiny percentage of people who might be targeted by state-sponsored attacks. But it’s been argued that although most of us will never use it, we may still benefit from it …
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Apple has today been granted a patent for an AirPods safety feature which could detect when a wearer is at risk. AirPods could respond by pausing or lowering the volume of your music, to enable to you concentrate on the potential danger.
The patent also describes a possible smart workout mat, which would detect how safely or effectively you are exercising …
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Back in March, we warned of the risk of Apple’s disaster scenario: Chinese takeover of Taiwan. Yesterday, the heads of both US and UK security services gave an “unprecedented” warning that this is not only possible but that China has been taking steps to prepare for this.
If it happened, it would lead to the almost total disruption to the vast bulk of Apple’s manufacturing resources …
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We knew that Facebook’s parent company Meta was working on a new high-end VR/AR headset, but a couple of new reports reveal both the name – Meta Quest Pro – and more about what to expect.
The broad specifications for the combined virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headset seem close to what has been reported for the upcoming Apple Headset …
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