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.
The US Senate has approved $52B in funding to boost US chip production, as part of an effort to address the global chip shortage, and to reduce dependence on China. Apple was one of the companies lobbying for the move.
In total, the US Innovation and Competition Act provides almost $250B in funding for US manufacturing, with $52B of it specifically allocated to chip fabrication. However, it is as yet unclear whether it will also pass in the House …
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One of the new privacy features included in iCloud+ is what Apple calls Mail Privacy Protection. While that’s designed to protect Apple Mail users from overly intrusive marketeers, some are worried that it could badly hurt small publishers of email newsletters.
That’s because it will deny them access to a key metric used to sell the advertising that makes many such newsletters viable …
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A review of job ads placed by Apple suppliers in China found that over a hundred ads across more than 30 companies were illegally discriminating against Muslim Uyghurs.
Other forms of discrimination found in ads that explicitly stated that the work was for Apple included age limits and bans on dyed hair and tattoos …
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Canalys is out with its estimates for US Mac shipments in the first quarter of the year, and there is mixed news for Apple when compared to PC brands.
On the plus side, Apple experienced dramatic year-on-year growth of 35.7%. This was driven by people working and studying from home during the pandemic, and being willing to spend more money on having good-quality up-to-date kit …
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We got a demo of how Universal Control works during Apple’s demo yesterday, but it left a few unanswered questions.
For example, we saw Craig Federighi drag his cursor from a Mac on the left to an iPad on the right – but how did Universal Control know where the iPad was in relation to the Mac? …
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We yesterday summarized everything Apple announced in the WWDC 2021 keynote, which covered iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, watchOS 8, iCloud+, and more.
Reactions have been mixed, with some suggesting that the event wasn’t as exciting as it could have been, while others have expressed the view that Apple has introduced a solid set of new features that will add up to a significantly better experience …
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Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting that Apple’s Augmented Reality headset will launch in the second quarter of 2022. This is expected to be a development tool and stepping stone toward Apple Glasses.
He made the prediction in an investment note seen by us …
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Apple has announced that Siri is coming to third-party devices for the first time. This means you’ll be able to make voice requests to things like smart-home devices from other brands.
Apple says that this ensures you have the same privacy protection as when using Siri on Apple devices …
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The four highest-earning iPhone games each gross more than a million dollars a day, with the leader topping $3M, according to a new analytics report out today …
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Global chip shortages could last significantly longer than expected, continuing until at least the middle of next year, and possibly into 2023. The warning was given by contract manufacturing giant Flex …
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Checks run by the Washington Post revealed that App Store scam apps make up almost 2% of the top-grossing apps, despite CEO Tim Cook’s insistence that the app review process is effective at rejecting them.
The paper estimates that the scam apps have cost iPhone owners a total of $48 million …
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A G7 tax deal will see Apple paying higher taxes on its European sales, with two aspects of the agreement impacting the Cupertino company’s bottom line.
An agreement in principle was reached over the weekend between the G7 nations – the US, the UK, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and Japan – and the European Union …
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A new Pew Research study shows that some 15% of US adults are now mobile-only internet users, which is to say they do not have a home broadband connection, but instead rely solely on their smartphone.
Coincidentally, the same study reveals that a further 15% of American adults still don’t own a smartphone …
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A Taiwanese Apple supplier has warned that the global chip shortage will worsen without a massive increase in COVID-19 vaccinations on the island.
The comment was made as the world’s leading chip testing company was forced to suspend production following a COVID-19 outbreak …
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A new Facebook policy for politicians is expected to be announced today, and reports of what is expected make it sound like rather a mess …
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An update to the TikTok privacy policy says that the app will now collect more personal data from US users, including “faceprints and voiceprints” …
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When it came to trying the upcoming Brydge Max+ keyboard for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, it seemed most sensible to write it up as a head-to-head against the Apple Magic Keyboard. Both are premium-priced keyboards with integrated trackpads, and are essentially chasing the same user demographic.
I’ve long been a fan of Brydge keyboards, and have used them with all my iPads – but have so far been using Apple’s Magic Keyboard with my 12.9-inch iPad Pro…
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Police and other law enforcement agencies requesting Ring video surveillance footage to help solve crimes will now need to make those requests in public. Previously, they had the ability to email Ring users to request copies of video that might show crimes in progress, or otherwise help to bring criminals to justice …
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It’s been almost two years since the first reliable rumor that there is a WhatsApp iPad app in the works, but the company has now dropped an official hint that this may finally be arriving in the coming months.
An interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart also officially confirmed reports of a disappearing messages feature …
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The Philips Hue app has been redesigned from scratch, greatly simplifying things like renaming lamps and moving them between rooms. Things that once required delving into the settings, sometimes two different places in Settings, can now be done right from the main screen.
The company says that there is more to come later in the year, including Dynamic Scenes, where the colors change gradually over time …
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An Apple Silicon Mac Pro concept provides an unusual take on one of the most controversial aspects of the two most recent designs – should expansion units sit inside or outside the machine?
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Okay, it’s a rather obvious PSA not to install a Chinese web browser on your iPhone, but Alibaba’s UC Browser is actually the fourth most popular browser in the world by user numbers, and the eighth most downloaded mobile app in the last decade …
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Apple’s Fortune 500 ranking has moved back up to third place, after being knocked into fourth place last year by Exxon Mobil.
Fortune has this year added an additional ranking, for diversity, equity and inclusion – and there Apple gets a rather low ranking of 188th …
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The Twitter verification program has reopened to applications after the company was apparently taken by surprise by the number of applications.
Getting the coveted blue checkmark has been a long process for some people. Twitter previously had a rather opaque approach, which gave little clue as to the criteria for verifying accounts …
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