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.
We’ve seen some baby steps towards using our iPhone for proving our identity. But a couple of recent developments point to a future in which an iPhone – plus biometrics – could let us use our phone as a single means of verifying our identity, both online and in face-to-face interactions.
In all, Apple provides support for four initiatives which I think provide a clear pointer to a future in which the iPhone will be our one-stop device for ID …
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A Twitter closed captions button is now available to all users in both iOS and Android apps, following a successful test. The rollout will, however, likely cause some confusion …
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iPhone hacks developed by Italian company RCS Lab have been used by law enforcement agencies in Europe, according to a new Google report. The hacking tool used a variety of exploits to allow the firm’s customers to spy on private messages, contacts, and passwords.
However, Apple has patched all six of the exploits used in different versions of iOS (see below), so keeping your iPhone up to date will protect it from the hacking tools …
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Hopes of passing a federal privacy law during the current session of Congress are now fading. The problem to date has been getting enough Republicans on board, but now there are challenges on the Democrat side, too.
Two key Democratic figures say they are unwilling to see the current version progress any further …
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A video showing the changes in macOS from 1984 to 2022 really give a sense of what an amazing journey Macs have made. Hard as it is to believe now, that first blocky monochrome graphics system seen in the opening of the video was revolutionary when it first appeared …
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Instagram age verification – or rather, lack of same – has been a hot-button issue for some time with both parents and lawmakers. App owner Meta has so far made no effort to ensure that claimed user ages are correct but says that it is now testing three verification options.
However, even if one or more of these are implemented, it still won’t prove much of a barrier to underage kids who claim to be older …
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Almost exactly a year ago, the Senate approved $52B in funding to boost US chip production, and the House likewise gave its support in February of this year. Apple also lobbied for the deal. Despite this, the subsidy now appears to be in doubt.
Democrats and Republicans are reported to be bogged down in arguments about other measures in the bill …
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A next-generation Ikea augmented reality app has been announced, further building on the Ikea Place app first launched back in 2017. This latest version lets you virtually delete your existing furniture …
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We first heard about a potential Twitter Articles feature back in February. A new report today says that this has been rebranded as Twitter Notes, and is currently in testing with a limited number of users …
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NSO Pegasus spyware has been used by at least five EU countries, admits the company. The admission was made as part of a European investigation into the impact of Pegasus, with an interim report now published.
It’s likely that the true number is higher, with the company promising to provide a ‘more concrete number’ …
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The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act came into force in the US yesterday, with Apple having failed in some of its earlier lobbying attempts around the law. (Technically, the law came into effect in December of last year, but enforcement began yesterday.)
The law bans US companies from importing goods manufactured in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region unless they can prove that there was no forced labor involved anywhere in the supply chain …
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The formation of a Metaverse Standards Forum has been announced, with members comprising many of the companies expected to become major players in the space. Apple, however, was not one of them, despite its work on a mixed-reality headset.
The company didn’t offer any immediate comment on this, but it’s not a complete surprise …
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Ericsson’s 5G Apple patent infringement claim has now reached its sixth country, with the latest filing in the UK’s High Court. The Swedish telecoms company is trying to obtain import bans on iPhones in the US and elsewhere as it piles on the pressure for Apple to reach a settlement.
One patent expert says that “the noose is tightening” on the Cupertino company, as it is looking increasingly likely that Ericsson will succeed in obtaining an iPhone injunction sooner or later …
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The pandemic saw video streaming services achieve more than five years of projected growth during the COVID-19 peak years of 2020 and 2021 – but that boom period is now over, according to a new report.
The gradual return to a more normal world likely isn’t the only factor at play, though …
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Signify has announced a wide array of new Philips Hue lighting products to its ever-growing range, as well as a new switch designed to make it easy to dim lights and select scenes.
Additionally, the Hue app has been updated to offer a new Sunrise option to smart home owners, allowing existing color lights to mimick the colors of a sunrise to gently wake you in the morning …
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Editing iMessages was one of the new features introduced by Apple in iOS 16, along with the ability to completely ‘unsend’ a message. While these are long-awaited features which will be welcomed by most, some have expressed concern about the potential for abuse.
Fortunately, it would be easy for Apple to solve this problem in a way that works for all, and I have a few suggestions for how this might be achieved …
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This year’s WWDC announcements saw quite a few Sherlocked apps – the colloquial term for Apple announcing new built-in features which replicate those previously available in third-party apps.
At least one developer is fighting back, however, announcing new features that it hopes will enable its own app to remain relevant despite Apple incorporating its core functionality into macOS Ventura and iOS 16 …
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The Kantar Brandz 2022 report is out, and Apple retook the No. 1 slot as the world’s most valuable brand, for the first time since 2015.
The ranking is based on the actual value of the brand name itself – in other words, how much of a premium a company is able to charge thanks to perceptions of the brand …
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A US iPhone throttling compensation claim was settled back in 2020, when Apple agreed to pay up to $500M for intentionally slowing older iPhones with degraded batteries to prevent them shutting down. Now a UK claim has been filed, seeking a total of $750M ($910M) damages for British owners of affected iPhones.
The complaint has been filed by Justin Gumann, a retired market researcher who has since turned consumer advocate …
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Union busting works more often than not, say experts, but companies should be aware that it can have lasting and very harmful consequences for a company.
The warning follows Apple being accused of using illegal union busting techniques in response to moves by retail store workers to form or join unions …
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The announcement of Apple Pay Later has made waves in the Buy Now Pay Later world, with some suggesting that existing companies like Affirm are going to be hard hit. But some are fighting back …
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Apple gift card scams are one of the most common tactics of scammers impersonating the IRS, and a judge has now agreed with a group of victims who argue that Apple benefits from these scams, and ought to do more to help.
The scam victims filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Apple profits from the fraudulently obtained cards, and is in a position to block the use of them and refund purchasers. Apple asked for the case to be dismissed, a motion which has now been denied …
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Now that the second generation of Apple Silicon for Mac has landed (albeit in a machine almost nobody should buy), it’s time to look at the performance of the M2 versus the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra.
We don’t yet have any M2 benchmarks, but we still know a lot from Apple’s own statements …
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Chipmaker Qualcomm bribed Apple to the tune of billions of dollars, according to a European Union antitrust finding back in 2018. But a European court has now ruled that the case was not proven, and has overturned the billion-dollar fine imposed at the time.
The fact that Qualcomm paid billions of dollars to Apple is not in dispute; the issue is whether these payments influenced the iPhone maker’s choice of chip company …
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