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.
Chinese display manufacturer BOE has been given the go-ahead for iPhone 14 screen production, despite having been caught cheating by Apple.
The company changed the specs of the displays it was making for the iPhone 13, but this was detected by the Cupertino company – which ordered BOE to cease production. Apple’s reason for the change of heart may be a cynical one …
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Apple has announced that M2 MacBook Air orders can be placed from Friday, July 8 – with deliveries starting a week later. The machine was first revealed last month.
Online orders open at 5 a.m. PDT at apple.com/store, and in the Apple Store app. The first deliveries will be made on Friday, July 15. Pricing starts at $1,199 …
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Europe’s Digital Markets Act has been approved by the EU parliament, opening the door to Apple being required to allow competing iOS app stores.
The antitrust legislation will also oblige Apple to allow developers to use third-party payment platforms when apps are sold through Apple’s own App Store, and could require it to make iMessage talk to competing messenger apps …
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TikTok shopping proved wildly popular in Asia, but plans to bring it to the US have been abandoned after a disastrous experience in the UK.
The UK launch was handled so badly that around half the staff working on the project walked out, and the exec in charge had to be replaced after deciding that he ‘didn’t believe’ in UK employment law …
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For anyone who was born this century, the idea that life before iPhone even existed would probably be hard to imagine. Fifteen years after the first iPhone went on sale, we’ve all grown used to having the ubiquitous device in our lives.
The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone – but it was the first smartphone to appeal to ordinary people. Of course, I’m not ordinary people: I’m a geek who owned a whole bunch of the digital devices which preceded the iPhone …
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The global VR headset market grew by 241.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest market intelligence data. Virtual reality (VR) headset shipments are expected to hit 13.9M units for the year as a whole.
But next year is expected to be the crucial one for the VR and augmented reality (AR) sector, as Apple enters the market …
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Sun Valley 2022 – a conference which has been described as ‘summer camp for billionaires’ – includes Apple CEO Tim Cook among the invitees. Both Cook and Apple Services head Eddy Cue attended last year’s event.
With a heavy attendance from the media sector, one key focus is expected to be the future of streaming video, with some speculating that Netflix could be an acquisition target for at least one of the companies attending …
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A piece on how to land a job with the most desirable tech company in the world provides some interesting examples of Apple interview questions.
It outlines the soft skills the company looks for, warns what not to do on your resume, walks you through the interview stages, explains the STAR method for discussing your accomplishments, and provides examples of the sorts of questions you may be asked …
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An Apple Big Ten bid – seeking to buy at least some of the TV rights for the college football division – has been described as not credible, but that may change.
Apple had been in earlier discussions with the Big Ten conference, but those hadn’t made any progress. However, when the news broke that USC and UCLA were coming aboard, an Apple exec picked up the phone …
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Mac sales in China have been growing in recent years, with Apple Silicon models accelerating their popularity. But the Chinese government has a plan to reduce its reliance on US tech from Apple and Microsoft: creating its own operating system …
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The video shorts battle of TikTok versus Reels looks set to intensify. After Instagram essentially copied the 15- to 60-second video short feature from TikTok, branding them as Reels, the company is now considering turning all Instagram videos into Reels. What would that mean … ?
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The CHIPS Act, which would provide more than $50 billion in subsidies for US chip production, is vital if TSMC’s Arizona plant is to proceed on schedule, says the company.
Apple was among the companies to lobby for the subsidy, but political battles mean that the passing of the bill is now in some doubt …
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The Coalition for App Fairness (CAF) claims that the majority of Americans want to see App Store competition, alongside other antitrust legislation.
CAF commissioned two polls which show strong support for antitrust bills, one of which would mean opening up Apple and Google app stores to third-party competitors and/or sideloading …
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Chinese iPhone sales down 4% year-on-year might sound like bad news for Apple, but in the context of a 25% fall in the country’s smartphone market as a whole, it’s actually the opposite.
It might also seem odd to track sales during a specific 18-day period in June, but there’s a very good reason for that …
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See the update at the bottom of the piece.
The iPhone 15 was expected to be the first lineup to use an in-house Apple 5G chip instead of the Qualcomm ones used in current models. A recent report suggested that this won’t be the case because Apple has hit problems with the design, but a new analysis suggests that this is only half-right.
Which is to say, there is a problem with the Cupertino company’s attempt to dump Qualcomm in favor of an Apple modem chip, but it’s a legal one, not a technical one …
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Plans for a Snapchat Plus paid subscription were uncovered by a developer earlier this month, pushing the company to confirm that the option was in testing. Snap has today announced that the subscription is official, and launching this week …
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Developers working on VR apps for Meta’s headsets have accused the Facebook owner of hypocrisy over commissions.
They say company founder Mark Zuckerberg described Apple’s 15-30% commissions as “monopoly rents,” yet Meta will take the exact same cuts from them for virtual reality apps …
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An FCC commissioner has called on both Apple and Google to delete TikTok from their respective app stores, giving the companies until July 8 to respond. It is not clear what measures the Federal Communications Commission might take if the companies do not comply.
The lengthy four-page letter says that TikTok is not a video-sharing app, but a “sophisticated surveillance tool” for the Chinese government …
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Apple may be fined by Russia for failing to store user data within the country, according to a new report today.
Twitch, Pinterest, Airbnb, and UPS have already been fined – though the sums involved are hardly likely to concern any of them …
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Apple’s Pro Display XDR stand came under fire for its $999 price tag when the monitor was first announced. So it’s probably best not to ask what Apple might charge for a dual-monitor stand after it was today awarded a patent for the design …
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The legal risks of prosecutors getting access to data from period tracking apps have been getting increasing attention. The Democratic party now plans to enact legislation to provide legal protection for the privacy of this data.
The news was announced by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who also outlined plans for additional legal protections for women seeking abortions …
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One of the things Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in his latest newsletter is that Apple is working on a new HomePod model, which will look and sound similar to the original.
That’s somewhat surprising, as Apple discontinued the 1st-gen model well over a year ago, though it took quite some time to sell its existing stock. So why would Apple relaunch a commercially unsuccessful product, and what could have a similar one succeed? I suspect three factors …
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It wasn’t long after the new(ish) MacBook Pro went on sale that we got to see some M2 speed benchmarks. These confirmed Apple’s claims in terms of improvements over the base M1 chip, but also confirmed that, as expected, the M1 Pro, Max, and Ultra chips still leave the M2 in the dust.
A new comparison table shows how the M2 speed compares to every other recent Apple Silicon chip, from the A13 Bionic in the iPhone 11, through to the M1 Ultra – and it makes for interesting viewing …
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The scale and reach of Chinese surveillance of its own citizens is well documented, but a new piece shows that the country’s government is now trying to use this vast trove of data to predict crimes and protests before they happen.
The Supreme Court ruling on abortion is also raising fresh concerns about the way that personal data may be used to prosecute women. We’re increasingly living in a world where Apple’s decision to have privacy be a major focus is looking increasingly prescient – but even the Cupertino company may now need to do more …
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