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 two technothriller novels , a romcom novel, and an SF novella series.
He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air 11, 12.9-inch iPad Pro (LTE 256GB), iPhone 13 Pro Max (256GB), Dell Ultrawide 49-inch monitor, an Apple Watch (Series 4 WiFi) and multiple HomePods – he suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.
He thinks wires are evil and had a custom desk made to hide them, known as the OC Desk for obvious reasons.
He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:
He considers 1000 miles a good distance for a cycle ride and Chernobyl a suitable tourist destination. What can we say, he’s that kind of chap.
He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.
If @benlovejoy-ing him on twitter, please follow him first so that he can DM you if appropriate. If you have information you can pass on, you can also email him. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.
The iPhone 16 Pro camera could see a small-sounding improvement which could turn out to fix what I see as one of the biggest problems with current and recent models: internal reflections.
While iPhone cameras have gotten better with each generation, and are now good enough that many of us use them as our primary camera, there is one issue which can significantly degrade images when shooting into the light …
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While the Supreme Court denied appeal requests from both Apple and Epic Games in the App Store case, that didn’t put an end to legal wrangling between the two companies.
In January, Epic Games headed back to court to accuse Apple of failing to comply with the original antitrust ruling, and now the Cupertino company has asked a judge to dismiss the complaint …
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DownDetector shows Microsoft 365 down for some, with issues first showing up in the early hours eastern time, with reports running around ten times higher than normal …
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People have been complaining about Siri for years now, arguing that it’s fallen behind the likes of Alexa and Google Assistant. With clear evidence that 2024 is going to see dramatic improvements in Apple’s AI features, will iOS 18 Siri finally turn things around?
I’m very much hoping the answer is yes, and think there are three clues which provide some reason for optimism …
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A UK court has ruled that a near billion dollar developer lawsuit against Apple will be allowed to proceed, after the iPhone maker attempted to get it dismissed.
The £785M ($979M) antitrust lawsuit was filed on behalf of more than 1,500 British developers, and alleges that Apple’s monopolistic control of the market for iPhone apps allowed the company to charge ‘abusive’ levels of commission on app sales …
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Taylor Swift songs have returned to TikTok, after a ten-week gap resulting from a dispute between the short video app and Universal Music. That dispute hasn’t ended, but it appears that Swift has reached an individual agreement with TikTok.
Separately, TikTok has announced plans to use AI to create virtual influencers who will compete with real ones for brand deals …
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Ah, the saga of X’s blue checkmarks! Originally a sign that someone was who they claimed to be, and later sold so that cryptocurrency scammers could see their posts boosted, the company is now coming full circle with some journalists.
Update: After a number of journalist accounts got unwanted blue checkmarks, Twitter has now made it impossible to hide it – see update at end …
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It’s not uncommon for younger music fans to create their own song mixes for social media posts, especially on TikTok. The problem is that artists don’t get paid for these unofficial mixes, and that’s something an upcoming Spotify song remixing feature aims to (kinda) change …
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DuckDuckGo started life as a privacy-first search engine before adding a web browser, email protection and more, and the company has now announced its first ever paid subscription: DuckDuckGo PrivacyPro.
This bundles an open-source VPN service with personal information removal and identify theft restoration for $9.99 per month …
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Instagram is rolling out a new safety feature, designed to protect teens from being exposed to unwanted nude photos in Instagram direct messages. The system will blur nude photos in Instagram DMs when the recipient is believed to be a teenager.
The safety measure is designed to protect against three problems, including the growing problem of ‘sextortion’ on the platform …
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The judge due to hear the Apple antitrust case brought by the US Department of Justice has recused himself, meaning that he will no longer preside over the case.
Judge Michael E. Farbiarz yesterday filed paperwork stating that his recusal is “necessary” under Code of Conduct rules …
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One of Vision Pro’s most exciting capabilities, to me personally, is the ability to display multiple Mac monitors in virtual form. Viture One XR glasses have now gained that same capability.
When I first tested the glasses, I noted that while they could act as a Mac monitor, they were limited to a single monitor – this this has now changed …
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Dramatically rising streaming prices have lead to an increase in video piracy, and major Hollywood studios are now asking Congress to pass a new law to address it.
The exact same law, in fact, that it tried and failed to get passed in 2012, after major websites went dark in protest …
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Apple chipmaker TSMC appears to be on track with its work on a 2nm chip destined for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max in 2025 – as well as for the 1.4nm chips beyond that.
A new supply-chain report said TSMC has faced two challenges, but indications are that neither of them will significantly impact on its production schedule …
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One of the changes Apple had to make to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) was to present customers with a list of iPhone web browsers during setup, and to choose the one they want. Browsers must be listed in random order, so that Safari isn’t highlighted.
We’d previously seen some indication that the new antitrust law was proving effective, and a new report today says this is true for six leading browser companies …
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Internet service providers (ISPs) now have to display broadband ‘nutrition’ labels, being upfront about the true costs, speeds, and data allowances offered,
The rule was introduced in response to growing consumer complaints about hidden fees, data caps, and other misleading marketing of broadband packages – and takes effect today. You can see below full details of the information which must be provided …
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A new report says that one in seven iPhones are now made in India – pointing to a significant acceleration in Apple’s work to reduce its dependence on China.
Apple’s reliance on China as its key manufacturing hub has been placing the company in an increasingly vulnerable position …
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An Apple research paper describes how the company has been developing Ferret-UI, a generative AI system specifically designed to be able to make sense of app screens.
The paper is somewhat vague about the potential applications of this – likely deliberately so – but the most exciting possibility would be to power a much more advanced Siri …
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Subscription creep – the term given to increases in subscription fees after someone has signed up – hit a full two-thirds of US consumers in the past year.
Some of the increases were steep ones, and others imposed with little notice …
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We first heard last year that former Apple design chief Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were working on some kind of AI hardware project. It was later reported that Tang Tan, Apple’s chief iPhone and Apple Watch designer, was also joining the project.
A report now suggests that the pair are now seeking a billion dollars in funding, and are in talks with Steve Jobs’ widow, founder and president of the Emerson Collective, Laurene Powell Jobs …
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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has suggested that Apple is considering launch an Apple TV with a built-in FaceTime camera.
But does that idea actually make sense, compared to plugging in a separate camera, or using your iPhone as a camera … ?
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The need for a federal privacy law has long been clear to most, but making it actually happen has been another matter. However, a compromise could potentially see it introduced by the end of the year.
Apple has been calling for Congress to pass a GDPR-style privacy law since at least 2018, but little progress has been made since then. All that may be about to change, however …
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Spotify’s AI DJ feature launched more than a year ago now, but users had little control over it. A new AI Playlist feature changes that for beta uses, as you can now create playlists from ChatGPT-style text prompts.
Spotify recommends specifying a combination of genres, moods, artists, and decades – but you can also try off-the-wall things like “beats to battle a zombie apocalypse” …
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Apple chipmaker TSMC has announced plans to open a third Arizona chip plant, in addition to the two already under construction. This will be the most advanced of the three plants, making 2nm chips.
The expansion plan appears to have been part of a deal for the company to receive a total of $11.6B in US grants and loans …
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