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.
There has been much discussion of a pair of iPhone 13 satellite communications reports, and it now appears that there may have been some degree of misunderstanding in these.
We’d already indicated that this was likely to be an emergency/backup communications system for remote areas only, but some are now going further and suggesting that it doesn’t involve satellites at all…
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A new report reveals Apple’s lobbying spend in Europe, and notes that tech giants spend more on trying to influence European legislation than any other sector. This includes both pharma and oil industries.
The biggest European legislative threat to Apple is the Digital Markets Act, which could force Apple to open up its App Store to third-party payment platforms, allowing developers to avoid the Cupertino company’s 15% or 30% cut …
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Apple’s App Store payment platform monopoly is ending in South Korea after an antitrust law was passed, affecting both the iPhone maker and Google. This is expected to encourage other countries to enact similar laws.
Currently, the App Store is the only way for developers to sell iOS apps, and they are not allowed to direct users to any third-party payment platform within their apps. That will now change …
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When Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo yesterday suggested the possibility of iPhone 13 satellite communications capabilities, that might sound exciting. The reality, however, is that is isn’t – at least, not for most of us.
That’s not just because Apple may not actually enable the technology, but even if it does, most of us will never use it.
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The Ted Lasso awards train keeps on running as Apple TV+’s hit comedy series notched up more wins than any other show in the first-ever Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards.
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Update: Bloomberg tech reporter Sohee Kim tweeted that the vote has been postponed due to extra time needed for a separate bill designed to tackle ‘fake news.’
Apple’s App Store commission is under threat from a new antitrust law in Korea that is “almost certain” to get the necessary votes today.
It would allow developers to choose their own payment platforms, and avoid the 15% or 30% cut they currently have to pay to Apple for app sales and in-app purchases.
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Apple’s App Store changes, announced yesterday, succeeded in settling a lawsuit – but do nothing to offer the company any protection against the far bigger threat of antitrust legislation.
Apple wants to give the impression that it has addressed one of the key antitrust concerns, something known as anti-steering, but it hasn’t really. The company literally did the absolute least it could have done …
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COVID-19 contact tracing apps built on the joint Google/Apple exposure notification API have saved thousands of lives in some countries, but have largely proven ineffective in the US.
A report examining data from the apps finds that many states didn’t even get as far as creating one; take-up was low; and very few users bothered to log infection in the app, rendering it useless …
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A new antitrust report says that unless the government reigns in tech giants, it could go the same way as Big Pharma and Big Oil, with all the power resting in the hands of very few companies.
It argues that tech companies are spending increasing sums on lobbying politicians in an effort to stave off antitrust legislation, and that this pressure needs to be resisted …
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A paywalled report suggests that Apple will be facing bigger bills from TSMC for its A-series and M-series chips …
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I’m expecting to buy the Apple Watch Series 7 when it is launched later this year, and this may be the first time I’m willing to spend the extra on a premium model.
Let’s start with why I’m pretty sure I’ll be upgrading this year …
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As Apple’s plan for staff to return to the office are again delayed, a new survey shows that two-thirds of US employees seek continued work-from-home arrangements; most of them would be willing to take a pay cut in return; and many would quit their jobs if ordered to return to the office full-time.
Apple announced a hybrid working model, with employees able to work from home on two fixed days a week, subject to line-management approval. Some, however, say they want greater flexibility, and would leave the company if they don’t get it …
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Update: Apple did make a security announcement, but only a supply-chain related one.
We learned earlier this week about a potential Tim Cook White House visit to attend a cybersecurity summit hosted by President Biden. Cook’s participation has now been confirmed by a list of attendees shared by an administration official, and could provide an excellent opportunity for Apple’s CEO to drive home the company’s stance on privacy and strong encryption.
A new report today also raises the possibility of a security-related announcement by Apple after the meeting has finished …
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The latest data from Canalys estimates that Q2 2021 iPad shipments in Western Europe grew by a massive 73% year-on-year.
Canalys says that this is partly explained by the popularity of the M1-powered iPad Pro models, but that a second factor proved key during the pandemic …
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A newly discovered NSO Pegasus zero-click iPhone attack against a human rights activist managed to succeed despite Apple’s Blastdoor protections, according to security researchers at Citizen Lab.
It is unclear, however, whether the protections Apple added to iOS 14.7.1 would have succeeded in blocking the attack, as it took place at a time when iOS 14.6 was the latest version available …
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A leaker with a good track record says that the upcoming Apple Silicon 14-inch MacBook Pro CPU will be identical to that of the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
This would represent a significant shift from Intel Macs, where Apple had reserved the fastest processors for the larger machines …
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The CSAM controversy ought to have been obvious to Apple, but it seems that it wasn’t. Instead, the company was left scrabbling to respond as it came under fire from all quarters.
The question is: What will Apple do now? I have my theory …
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Apple has confirmed to me that it already scans iCloud Mail for CSAM, and has been doing so since 2019. It has not, however, been scanning iCloud Photos or iCloud backups.
The clarification followed me querying a rather odd statement by the company’s anti-fraud chief: that Apple was “the greatest platform for distributing child porn.” That immediately raised the question: If the company wasn’t scanning iCloud photos, how could it know this?
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There has been a claimed AT&T hack of personal data from 70 million customers, less than a week after a confirmed hack of tens of millions of T-Mobile customer records. In both cases, the data includes social security numbers.
Update: The carrier denied in stronger terms that it was hacked.
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Two academics from Princeton University say they know for a fact that Apple’s CSAM system is dangerous because they built one just like it.
They say the system they prototyped worked in exactly the same way as Apple’s approach, but they quickly spotted a glaring problem…
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Tim Cook’s 4 a.m. starts are the stuff of legend. A new interview with Apple’s CEO opens with his explanation of why he’s at his desk by this time.
Alongside a lot of standard interview fare, a former Apple exec is cited declaring that Apple was more magical, more exciting, when Steve Jobs ran the company…
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Update: A likely explanation for this comment has now emerged.
An explanation for Apple’s controversial decision to begin scanning iPhones for CSAM has been found in a 2020 statement by Apple’s anti-fraud chief.
Eric Friedman stated, in so many words, that “we are the greatest platform for distributing child porn.” The revelation does, however, raise the question: How could Apple have known this if it wasn’t scanning iCloud accounts… ?
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Apple has lent its backing to the Biden administration’s plan to eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by 2035.
Apple’s environmental VP Lisa Jackson said that buying energy in the US should automatically mean buying clean energy…
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More than 90 civil rights groups around the world have signed an open letter objecting to what they call iPhone surveillance capabilities, asking Apple to abandon its plans for CSAM scanning.
Additionally, they would also like the iPhone maker to drop plans for the iMessage nude detection, as this could place young gay people at risk.
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