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.
Strategy Analytics is out with a new smartphone market report, and says that Apple experienced strong iPhone growth in Europe during the second quarter of the year.
The market intelligence firm’s data showed that Samsung was the only major brand to see a decline in European sales in the same period …
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Spotify is testing a new paid tier known as Spotify Plus, to sit between the free and Premium levels. The good news is the price; the bad news that you’ll still hear ads …
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NSO’s Pegasus spyware has reportedly been used by governments to obtain private photos from the phones of female journalists and activists.
These photos were then posted online with the aim of attacking their reputation, in at least one case by falsely suggesting that a bikini photo was taken at the home of a journalist’s boss …
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Slimmer chips could enable Apple to increase the size of battery fitted in iPhones and other devices, without affecting the overall dimensions.
A supply-chain report indicates that Apple will be increasing its use of a technology the company referenced in a patent last month …
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Future Macs will benefit from Thunderbolt 5 bandwidth of 80Gbps, according to a photo accidentally tweeted by an Intel exec.
This isn’t a complete surprise – Intel’s director of I/O said back in March that the company was expecting to roughly double the 40Gbps speed of Thunderbolt 4 – but this has seemingly now been confirmed …
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There have been multiple reports of M1 MacBook screen cracks occurring during normal usage of the machines, with both the M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro affected.
In some cases, Apple has repaired or replaced the machines free of charge, while most other users have been charged …
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NSO has blocked more clients from using its Pegasus spyware, according to a source within the company, while it investigates reports of misuse.
The Israeli company was reported to have previously blocked five governments from using the malware after conducting a “human rights audit,” and has now suspended access to others …
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Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EQ true wireless in-ear headphones have been announced, to provide some premium competition to AirPods Pro.
They offer wireless charging, adaptive active noise cancellation – the first time the Danish audio company has included the tech in true wireless earphones – and claim better battery life than AirPods Pro …
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HomePod sales estimates appear to validate Apple’s decision to launch the $99 HomePod mini before subsequently discontinuing the original HomePod. A new report today says that HomePod sales grew 180% from the second quarter of 2020 to the same quarter this year.
Market intelligence company Omdia does, however, suggest that Apple may need to launch a new version to maintain this momentum …
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Lightstrips are one of the most flexible and popular Hue products, and there’s an even better version on the way: the Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip Ambiance.
While existing Lightstrips let you choose from 16 million colors, the Gradient takes this to a new level …
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TSMC 2nm production is likely to begin sometime in 2023, after the company got the green light for its most advanced chipmaking process yet.
The news comes just one day after Intel said it believed it could catch, and overtake, TSMC’s chipmaking capabilities within four years…
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Spotify profitability is still not a priority for the company, claims the streaming music service, as it announced another loss-making quarter.
The company lost €20M ($24M) in the second quarter of the year, and also failed to hit its own growth targets, but there was some good news in the mix …
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An analyst has suggested that antitrust issues are the single biggest threat to AAPL, and that company execs should outline plans to address the matter during today’s earnings call.
We’re expecting to hear good news today, the Wall Street consensus anticipating revenue of $72.93 billion for the quarter, which would be dramatically up on the same quarter last year …
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Early rumors about the iPhone 14 suggest that Apple plans to lose the notch next year, with in-screen Touch ID or Face ID two possible ways to achieve this. A patent granted today describes how both forms of biometric authentication could be embedded into the display.
It would even be possible to embed the front-facing camera into the screen, though this is likely to be a later development…
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Hundreds of thousands of police officers are unofficially using apps for face recognition, and gaining access to a wide range of databases, from credit checks to medical records, according to a new report today.
The report says that companies aiming to sell these apps to police departments are first offering them to individual cops, hoping that this will then create the demand for official purchases. This approach means there is no oversight to ensure civil rights are protected …
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Qualcomm said earlier this month that it thinks it can beat Apple Silicon, and now Intel has made the same claim – thanks to a combination of new technology and rebranding.
Intel said that it expects to take the lead by 2025 …
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Apple yesterday released iOS 14.7.1, with a reference to an iOS security fix for a vulnerability that may have been actively exploited …
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Ahead of tomorrow’s AAPL Q3 2021 earnings report, analysts are expecting good news. The Wall Street consensus is that the Cupertino company will report fiscal Q3/calendar Q2 revenue of $72.93B – up from 59.69B in the same quarter last year.
They expect earnings per share to reflect both this dramatic revenue growth and continued stock buybacks that effectively increase the value of each remaining share …
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An Australian antitrust hearing has witnessed an Apple Pay versus Google Pay security tussle, as the iPhone maker defends its decision to use a proprietary system instead of an open standard.
Apple says it limits use of the NFC chip for payment purposes to Apple Pay for security reasons, but Google disagrees, stating its own use of an open banking standard for Google Pay is no less secure …
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Apple’s plans to require most workers to return to the office for three days a week may not reflect the new reality, suggest academics.
They say that the trend of people wanting to continue with full-time remote working arrangements may now be irreversible …
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A new analyst report says that we can expect to see the first-ever titanium iPhone body next year, the high-end material planned for at least one of the Pro models.
JP Morgan Chase says the iPhone 14 Pro will be made from a titanium alloy, while other models will have a stainless steel or aluminum chassis …
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iOS security researcher Will Strafach agrees with a recent claim that Apple can do more when it comes to combating NSO and others who exploit combat zero-day vulnerabilities in iOS.
It follows a report by Amnesty International that said that NSO spyware Pegasus was being used to mount zero-click attacks against human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists …
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The Apple TV Foundation adaption of Isaac Asimov’s award-winning science-fiction trilogy was commissioned after hearing a one-sentence pitch.
The story was told by filmmaker and show creator David S. Goyer …
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A new HomeKit-compatible Meross LED floor lamp has been launched, supplementing the company’s existing smart table lamp, smart LED light strips, HomeKit bulbs, and more.
The floor lamp comes in at a reasonably affordable $80, and offers both dimming and color temperature adjustment …
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