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 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a fresh complaint against Apple, accusing the company of a fourth example of illegal union-busting.
The first Apple Store workers to unionize were denied employee benefits offered to other staff in the same store, in what the NLRB alleges was a (failed) attempt to influence a unionization vote at a second store …
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The iPhone 15 has proven hugely popular in Samsung’s home market of South Korea, says a new report today.
Market intelligence figures suggest that launch sales of the new iPhone line-up were more than 40% higher than those of last year’s iPhone 14 series …
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While Windows laptop users like to think they have their own version of Touch ID, it appears not to offer the same level of security. The Windows Hello fingerprint authentication system on the top three laptops to use it has been put to the test by security researchers – and all three failed.
To be fair, the team was carrying out the penetration tests at the request of Microsoft – but it was a Microsoft Surface product that turned out to be easiest to bypass …
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Amid all the OpenAI drama, the team has still been doing some work, it seems! The company’s newly-reinstated co-founder Greg Brockman has just tweeted that ChatGPT Voice is rolling out to everyone, not just paying subscribers …
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The OpenAI boardroom coup, which saw CEO Sam Altman fired as CEO, and co-founder Greg Brockman removed from the board, has been defeated. Sam Altman is now being reinstated as CEO.
The drama at the ChatGPT developer isn’t entirely over, however. The AI company is so far calling the deal an “agreement in principle” rather than a fact; there is to be an investigation into the whole saga; and the original corporate structure which led to the mess is to be retained …
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Apple’s decision to use tethered Vision Pro batteries raised a few eyebrows when the upcoming product was announced, with the decision apparently made to reduce the weight of the headset.
However, the company was concerned that the front-heavy weight balance of the device could cause neck strain, and a new Apple patent application puts forward a potential solution – which borrows from a Meta Quest headset accessory shown above …
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A new report has criticized Foxconn’s decarbonization credentials, rating the iPhone assembler at D-plus – the second lowest rating of any final assembly company. The rating is likely to focus attention on the feasibility of Apple’s environmental commitment to make its entire supply chain carbon-neutral by 2030.
Greenpeace issued its report just ahead of the upcoming United Nations COP 28 climate summit, which will review progress made toward the world’s collective climate goals …
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While not exactly our normal beat, it’s hard to ignore the biggest tech news of the day: the OpenAI drama which saw CEO Sam Altman abruptly fired from the ChatGPT developer. This happened without notice, and for reasons we can guess but which were not stated.
Latest updates: Almost all of the company’s 770 staff have now threatened to quit unless the board resigns and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, and it appears that their return to the company is now a strong possibility – more at the bottom …
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Apple was one of a number of major companies to suspend advertising on X, following a report showing that their ads appeared next to hate speech on the platform. That led to an X lawsuit against Media Matters, which first reported the problem.
A new report suggests that the lawsuit is unlikely to succeed, and in fact contains within it an admission by X that what Media Matters said was happening was indeed happening …
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Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo has been suggesting for some time now that we’ll see an iPhone 16 Pro periscope lens in next year’s line-up, rather than it remaining exclusive to the Pro Max model.
In a new note, he’s saying that this is still expected, and will be made possible by improved manufacturing yields on the part of tetraprism lens assembly supplier, Largan …
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We’ve seen a System 7 Mac emulator before, as an app, but a developer has now created a version which runs directly in a web browser …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook hosted a mental health summit in the Steve Jobs Theater on Friday, introducing keynote speakers first lady Dr Jill Biden, Korean singer Rosé, and US surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy. Dr Biden referenced the vision of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in her speech.
Cook’s introduction was interrupted by the failure of his teleprompter, leading him to briefly ad-lib, and seemingly cut short his speech …
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Having been a long-time on-ear headphone guy for mobile use, it was Master & Dynamic who persuaded me to switch to in-ear headphones for everything except flights. Five years on from the MW07, the company has just launched its third-generation model, the MW09.
If you’re in the market for a new pair of in-ear headphones, and are willing to pay a hundred bucks more than AirPods Pro pricing for a whole new level of audio quality – with a couple of important caveats – read on …
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Apple Music fraud has fallen by 30% in the past year, says a new report, after the company implemented stronger protection against so-called streaming manipulation.
The most obvious example of streaming fraud is where a musician uses a network of bots to constantly stream their music 24/7 in order to obtain royalties, but Apple says it has detected other examples …
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Invitation-only social media app Bluesky has just hit 2M users one year after launch, and just a couple of months after reaching the 1M user milestone …
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Yesterday’s Apple RCS u-turn came as a big surprise, as the company had previously indicated that it had no plans to support the rich communication services (RCS) messaging standard.
But while the announcement itself was a surprise, the timing of it was not a coincidence – and represents a rare example of Apple (sort of) getting ahead of antitrust legislation …
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After turning email into end-to-end encrypted communication, Proton Mail Key Transparency will close another potential security hole, says the company: ensuring you’re emailing the right person …
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One of the battery-slurping features of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max is the 120Hz ProMotion display. This dynamically adjusts the refresh rate of the screen between 1Hz (for the always-on display when the phone is sleeping) to 120Hz for things like scrolling content and gameplay.
But if you’re trying to maximize battery life, is it worth turning off the feature? New tests suggest not …
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While you can’t run Windows through Boot Camp on Apple Silicon Macs, there are still several ways to run Windows apps on Macs. But you can now also do the same on iPhone and iPad, using a new official Windows app.
Microsoft’s new app – which is currently available in beta form – lets you run a remote Windows PC and stream the output to your Apple device …
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Apple had to implement an iOS fix to solve iPhone 15 overheating problems – but a leaker today suggests that the company is looking to make a hardware change next year to improve passive cooling.
The report says that Apple may make two changes to improve cooling in next year’s iPhone 16 line-up …
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Apple is today highlighting an Apple Pay card balance feature in the UK after it was expanded to 10 banks and finance companies there.
It’s likely to quickly come to other UK brands – as well as rolling out in European Union countries – while the US rollout is likely to be significantly slower …
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Apple and Google should be held legally responsible for gatekeeping app downloads by teenagers, suggests Facebook and Instagram developer Meta.
The proposal to shift legal responsibility comes as social media platforms face increasing legal battles from parents and lawmakers alike …
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The First Amendment doesn’t protect developers from lawsuits alleging that apps like Instagram and TikTok led to social media addiction among teenagers, a US district judge has ruled …
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It’s been reported that Apple is working on making iOS 18 the biggest update in years, and I’ve argued that it needs to do so, with artificial intelligence at its heart.
In particular, I’d like to see Apple bring AI smarts to HomeKit. That is, make Apple’s smart home ecosystem truly smart …
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