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.
iPhone screen production has been hit by the on-going shortage of display driver chips, says a new report today. The shortage is set to affect production both this month and next.
The issue is expected to run into the millions of display panels…
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There have been a number of reports of an M2 Mac this year, including the slightly odd idea of an entry-level M2 MacBook Pro model sitting below the M1 Pro and M1 Max models. We’ll need to see whether that happens and wait for M2 Mac benchmarks if it does.
But a new piece today suggests that we may be able to get a reasonably good idea of M2 Mac benchmarks by extrapolating…
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Apple geeks may be aware of the mystery of the handwritten Apple 1 serial number present on some of the surviving machines. Namely, no one knew how they got there.
Steve Wozniak said that he didn’t write them. Steve Jobs said the same. Daniel Kottke, who assembled and tested some of the boards, said it wasn’t him. Likewise for Byte Shop owner Paul Terrell, who bought a batch of 50 of them…
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Google and Mozilla are warning that Chrome may break some websites from March 29, and Firefox on May 3. The reason? The version numbers…
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A company selling password-cracking tools says that a newly-discovered T2 Mac security vulnerability allows it to crack passwords on these machines, bypassing the lockouts.
The method used is far slower than conventional password-cracking tools, but although the total time needed could run into thousands of years, that could fall to as little as 10 hours when the Mac owner has used a more typical password…
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Google has announced plans for blocking cross-app tracking on Android phones, following Apple’s lead on iPhones, claims a new report today.
However, there are a number of problems with the report, suggesting it may be a case of ‘The headline giveth, and the small print taketh away’ …
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One of the biggest antitrust issues facing Apple has been around its monopoly on the iOS app market. One proposed solution has been to allow competing app stores, while another has been for Apple to allow sideloading of iOS apps in exactly the same way it does on Macs.
Apple argues that sideloading would be dangerous, opening up the iPhone to malware and scam apps – but Jason Snell has put forward an interesting argument that it could make iOS apps better, rather than worse …
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Twitter Safety Mode is a beta feature that aims to automatically block trolls from appearing in your Twitter feed. Previously in limited testing, the company is now making it available to around half of its users in a number of English-speaking countries…
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The new head of the federal broadband administration has revealed that part of his role will extend to reviewing competitiveness in the mobile app ecosystem, adding yet another source of antitrust pressure to Apple’s App Store.
This reflects an executive order from President Biden stating that ‘it is the policy of my Administration to enforce the antitrust laws to combat the excessive concentration of industry, the abuses of market power, and the harmful effects of monopoly’…
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If you’re looking for Steve Jobs memorabilia, an upcoming tech auction has a bunch of rare items, including an Apple Computers check signed by both Steves.
Other signed items include a job offer letter, a note about the future to a child, and a high school yearbook entry inviting his former school mates to ‘remember me as you may’ …
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When I bought the S5 ceramic, I said that, for now at least, I would be keeping my old Apple Watch as a dedicated sleep tracker – but wasn’t sure whether I’d continue to do so.
Expand Expanding CloseI’m honestly not sure whether I’ll keep this up, but since the watch is worth only slightly more than the trade-in Apple would offer me, I’ll hang onto it for now …
An Uber and Lyft pay rise has been announced in New York City – but the move has been instigated by the city, rather than the app companies themselves …
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The US patents ranking for 2021 is out, and Apple is seventh in terms of the number of patents assigned to the company in the course of the year. That’s up one from eighth place in 2020.
If you can guess the US leader in terms of 2021 patent assignments, you’re doing way better than me…
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Super Bowl ads for rival cryptocurrency apps Coinbase and FTX appear to have been successful. Data from a digital asset research company shows that the Coinbase app shot up the US App Store charts following its ad…
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The long-awaited Apple headset is expected to be expensive, but one insurer has reported that VR headsets can also result in expenses of an unexpected kind …
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The ridiculously named EARN IT bill – the Eliminating Abuse and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act – has made it through committee stage.
Like many measures designed to tackle Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), the bill is well intentioned, but could have some very significant unintended consequences. These may include making it harder to prosecute offenders, and making end-to-end encryption less available …
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Last year wasn’t an easy one for many, but Apple and other tech giants not only weathered all of 2021’s storms, but achieved some of their biggest ever revenue growth.
Wall Street was waiting for the holiday quarter earnings announcements from the major players before reaching their conclusions on the year from an investment perspective, and the results were spectacular…
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An ambitious new growth plan will see Xiaomi targeting Apple, aiming to overtake the Cupertino company to become China’s biggest premium smartphone brand.
It follows news that record iPhone 13 sales in China saw Apple take the top slot in China during Q4, achieving its highest ever share of the smartphone market in the country…
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One of Apple’s main flash storage suppliers has revealed a large-scale contamination incident at its production facilities, with TrendForce warning that this could see NAND chip prices rise by up to 10%.
It’s currently unknown whether any Apple products will need to be recalled …
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A secret CIA mass surveillance program captured personal data from at least “some” American citizens, according to a partly declassified letter. Details of the program were even withheld from the Senate Intelligence Committee until last year, but mass surveillance usually relates to monitoring internet and phone usage.
Very few details have been revealed, and two members of the committee have urged the Central Intelligence Agency to disclose to the public some key facts about the program …
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9to5Mac has learned that the Cellebrite kit sold to customers can’t unlock iPhones – but the company can and will if customers send the phones to them.
It’s likely Cellebrite wants to keep its methods in-house, fearful of another intervention like the Signal one last year…
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In a surprising twist, both Apple and patent troll Uniloc have asked a court to keep secret the license fees paid to the patent assertion entity.
However, while a ruling has been granted for now, the case has been referred back to the original judge to determine whether the secrecy is justified…
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Apple opened its third United Arab Emirates Apple Store just a week ago, but is already preparing to open its fourth. Like last week’s opening, this one too is in Abu Dhabi, but this time on Al Maryah Island.
The company unveiled a special barricade mural, celebrating Abu Dhabi’s history and culture …
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iPhone assembler Foxconn says it sees signs of component shortages easing, with major improvements expected during the rest of the current quarter.
This is in contrast with Apple chipmaker TSMC, which expects supply constraints to continue for at least the rest of the year …
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