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.
In an annual tradition, Apple has again devoted its homepage to celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a single-sentence quote. This year’s quote comes from a talk King gave to teenagers at Philadelphia’s Barratt Junior High School in 1967.
I believe that we can transform dark yesterdays of injustice into bright tomorrows of justice and humanity.
You can watch a video of the speech below …
Expand Expanding Close
Ransomware operations by the MacBook Pro design hackers REvil have been shut down, according to a statement by Russian authorities today, with all remaining members arrested.
It follows an arrest and seizure of funds late last year, after the group unsuccessfully attempted to blackmail Apple …
Expand Expanding Close
A survey by a software engineer recruitment company has found that three-quarters of developers want permanent remote-working arrangements, for at least part of the week.
Two-thirds of them say they are more productive when working from home, and it appears that Apple’s policy somewhat misses the mark for most …
Expand Expanding Close
A leaker with a mixed track record has posted some unlikely iPhone SE 3 renders, claimed to be based on leaked CAD drawings …
Expand Expanding Close
Health experts have been discussing the pros & cons of Apple Watch, Fitbit, and similar devices. While the consensus is that they do more good than harm, they caution that the increasing amount of health data presented to consumers can cause confusion and even anxiety.
In extreme cases, this can lead to people compulsively taking multiple ECG readings per day …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple chipmaker TSMC has reported record profits for the holiday quarter, comfortably beating analyst expectations. The company has also reported year-on-year revenue growth of 24.1%, a quarter of it generated by Apple.
TSMC, which makes Apple’s A-series and M-series chips, says that it has big expectations and big plans for the next few years …
Expand Expanding Close
Update: The app is a secondary one popularly used for electronic check-ins at venues, distinct from the government app which uses the Apple/Google API.
German police have misused a COVID-19 contact tracing app data by apparently faking an infection at a restaurant in order to obtain details of potential witnesses.
The joint Apple/Google API used by the government app can’t be abused in this way, as it doesn’t track locations, but a separate app for QR code check-ins was misused …
Expand Expanding Close
A judge last month gave provisional approval to a proposed Apple Store bag check settlement, in which the Cupertino company has agreed to pay a four-figure sum to compensate employees in California for unpaid time waiting for off-the-clock searches.
Details of the settlement are now available on Apple’s website …
Expand Expanding Close
Another suspected NSO phone hack has come to light, this of journalists and activists in El Salvador. Most of the journalists were working for an online news service that has been reporting extensively on alleged government corruption.
Two journalists contacted Citizen Lab after suspecting that their phones had been compromised, and an investigation confirmed their suspicions, and found that they weren’t the only ones …
Expand Expanding Close
A new report shows that 2021 Mac shipments grew almost twice as fast as the PC market as a whole. Annual growth for Mac was 28.3%, against 14.6% for the global PC market.
The impressive result was of course strongly driven by sales of the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models, which went on sale in October …
Expand Expanding Close
A new supply chain report says that some Korean suppliers have created Apple Car task forces following visits by the Cupertino company to discuss manufacturing plans.
Much of the focus appears to be on batteries for the car, with Apple reported to be working on custom-designed ones rather than using any existing power packs…
Expand Expanding Close
The 5G aviation dispute between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on one side and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plus carriers on the other appears to have been resolved…
Expand Expanding Close
If you have Wyze budget security cameras, the company has introduced a new, even more budget subscription tier called Wyze Cam Plus Lite. Sitting below the $1.99/month Wyze Cam Plus level, the company says you can choose how much to pay for it – including $0 …
Expand Expanding Close
The number of billion-dollar apps has now hit double figures, according to the latest App Annie report. The number of apps grossing more than $100M last year is also well into three figures.
Americans also continue to spend more time using apps than they do watching TV …
Expand Expanding Close
We noted yesterday that the abandonment of Apple Watch apps continues.
We can officially add Uber to the long list of major brands that have abandoned their Apple Watch apps. The ride-sharing company has quietly discontinued its watchOS app, displaying a brief message to users who try to launch it. Uber joins Twitter, Instagram, Target, Trello, Slack, Hulu, Evernote, and many other companies that have sunset their Apple Watch apps.
It’s a trend that doesn’t surprise me, because I think too many companies based their apps on an unrealistic idea of how most people use their Watch …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple Store robberies, where thieves grab display devices from tables, can be traumatic for those in the store at the time, as well as a hassle for the company and customers alike. An Apple patent granted today describes ways the company could fight back.
Groups of thieves have been able to steal many tens of thousands of dollars worth of display products within the space of just two or three minutes…
Expand Expanding Close
A new supply chain report corroborates Ming-Chi Kuo’s assertion that Apple had abandoned plans for an OLED iPad this year, but suggests that discussions with Samsung are ongoing, and that we may see one in 2024.
Both sources stated that the stumbling block was meeting Apple’s demanding quality requirements at a workable price …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple has finally announced that it will comply with a law in South Korea, requiring it to allow third-party App Store payments, some four months after the antitrust law was passed. The law also applies to Google, which is already in compliance.
As expected, the Cupertino company says that it will still take a cut of all App Store sales, though this will be at a reduced rate …
Expand Expanding Close
Laptop privacy features have become something of a trend at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show – including the capability to automatically blur the screen if a bystander looks at it.
Some features can extend battery life too …
Expand Expanding Close
There’s bad news for anyone trying to create a new hit podcast: new research shows that the podcast charts are dominated by shows that launched years ago…
Expand Expanding Close
Virgin Media O2 – which owns both the O2 and Virgin Mobile networks – has announced a U-turn on European roaming charges for UK customers following Brexit…
Expand Expanding Close
A new Netatmo Security Sensor aims to provide maximum compatibility in terms of both hardware and software.
On the hardware side, the device is two sensors in one, combining a door/window contact sensor with a motion detector …
Expand Expanding Close
The laptop component shortage is beginning to ease, according to a new report today, but high demand sees 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro shipping times currently sitting at around three to four weeks.
M1 Macs – both MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro – are available in one to three days …
Expand Expanding Close
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) has warned of the risks of smartphones and other devices being compromised by surveillance tools, and tweeted a link to NCSC tips on how to protect yourself from cyber attacks …
Expand Expanding Close