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.
Android and iPhone spyware sold by NSO Group enables state terror attacks in multiple countries, according to a new database released by Amnesty International and partner organizations.
NSO uses zero-day exploits to develop spyware for both iPhones and Android smartphones, allowing users to read text messages and emails, monitor contacts and calls, track locations, collect passwords, and even switch on the smartphone’s microphone to record meetings …
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Foxconn Q2 earnings were up 20% year-on-year thanks to demand for Apple products and other electronics made by the company. Around half of the company’s revenue comes from Apple …
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Less than a month after Apple paid $440M to settle one FaceTime patent infringement claim, it was faced with another one, by VoIP-Pal. In this case, however, Apple is calling for a court to reject VoIP-Pal’s claims in the most unambiguous of terms …
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Apple has successfully defeated an attempt by TikTok and others to bypass App Tracking Transparency in China.
Chinese tech giants believed that Apple wouldn’t dare to block popular apps like TikTok and QQ, but Apple apparently called their bluff …
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A new supply-chain report claims to have the answers to one question about the 2021 iPhones: What name will Apple choose?
While we’ve been referring to this year’s models as the iPhone 13, other possibilities have been raised …
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Qualcomm can beat Apple’s M1 chip, says the company’s CEO, for one good reason: It has a team of chip architects who formerly worked on Apple Silicon. This includes former A-series chip lead Gerard Williams.
You may recall Apple was so upset at Williams leaving the company that it sued him, accusing him of exploiting Apple tech and poaching other key engineers…
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Other suppliers of rigid flexible printed circuit boards (RFPCBs) are stepping in to produce the components for the iPhone 13 lineup, as Samsung begins exiting the business …
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Two Apple suppliers in India have been selected to receive manufacturing incentives, which are likely to be used for iPad production in the country. The scheme is known as a production-linked incentive (PLI) plan.
Foxconn and Wistron were among the companies to qualify for cash-back deals in return for boosting their manufacturing operations in the country …
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An Apple and Amazon antitrust investigation has opened in Spain, following a similar one in Italy, and earlier concern in the US.
While the Spanish authorities don’t go into much detail, it seems likely this relates to the global deal reached between the two companies back in 2018, and follow-on developments to this …
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The TikTok video length is being increased, following a successful test that began in December of last year. The company says the change is being driven by demand from creators …
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The EU digital vaccine passport goes live today, allowing travelers from all 27 European Union countries to use their smartphone to prove that they have been vaccinated, have tested negative, or have recovered from COVID-19. It’s available for both iPhone and Android smartphones …
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Chinese iPhone sales got a welcome boost last month thanks to Apple’s decision to participate in one of the country’s annual “shopping festivals.”
The 618 Shopping Festival peaks around June 18, with many retailers and e-commerce firms offering significant discounts …
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A British right to repair law comes into force today, requiring manufacturers to make spares available to both consumers and third-party repair companies.
However, despite claiming to cover “televisions and other electronic displays,”‘ the law somehow excludes smartphones and laptops…
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A number of high-profile British actors, artists, and authors are calling for a UK gadget tax of anywhere from 1% to 3% to “fairly reward creators and performers in making a living from their content.” They have dubbed the proposal “the Smart Fund.”
The tax would be applied to any device that can be used to download and store “creative content,” so would apply to iPhones, iPads, and Macs …
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AAPL investors have been told that while share prices are likely to climb higher this year, they should be prepared for volatility …
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We’ve seen several iPhone 13 dummy models so far, and we’re today seeing photos of the latest ones from Chinese social media site Weibo.
As with previous versions, they show a somewhat smaller notch, with reports suggesting that Apple has managed to shrink the size of the TrueDepth camera system used for FaceID, as well as relocating the ear speaker …
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Update: PrivacyShark appears to have been the first to report this, and has now obtained a statement from LinkedIn, below.
A second massive LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes the data of 700M users, which is more than 92% of the total 756M users. The database is for sale on the dark web, with records including phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries.
The hacker who obtained the data has posted a sample of 1M records, and checks confirm that the data is both genuine and up-to-date …
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Mac sales in India more than tripled year-on-year after Apple was finally allowed to open an online store in the country.
That made Apple the fifth-largest PC brand in the country as of the first quarter of 2021 …
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Update: Business Insider reports that a jury found Woz did not breach copyright.
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak – aka Woz – is being sued in somewhat bizarre circumstances. He apparently rather casually allowed a fan to use his name for a failed tech school, and the fan now alleges that Woz stole the idea for Woz U …
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A Taiwanese report cites supply-chain sources in suggesting that the Apple Watch Series 7 battery capacity will be boosted, alongside new colors.
A previous report has pointed to a new green color, while this one indicates colors plural but doesn’t say which ones …
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Mac, iPad, and iPhone PDF editing app PDFpen has been sold to Nitro, a company that offers Windows and browser-based PDF editors. PDFpen developer Smile is retaining ownership of popular Mac macro app TextExpander …
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An Australian regulator has urged parents to keep AirTags away from children for safety reasons. It follows a major Australian chain store withdrawing Apple’s location trackers from sale for the same reason. At least one regulator in another country is also said to be examining the safety of AirTags.
Although AirTags are designed to meet child safety standards, two concerns have been raised …
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A significant number of Western Digital My Book Live NAS owners are reporting that their drives have been totally erased. This has been done remotely by unknown attackers …
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The Zens ZEPP03M dual-sided MagSafe-compatible powerbank is one of four models the company announced earlier this month. Its USP is that it can simultaneously charge both an iPhone 12 and an AirPods case.
The company’s marketing is a little naughty, saying MagSafe in some materials and MagSafe-compatible in others…
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