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.
We learned earlier this month that Adobe Premiere for iPhone would be launching today, and it’s now available in the App Store.
Premiere Pro is a popular choice for filmmaking and videography pros, so the availability of an iPhone app comes as good news – but you don’t absolutely need to have the desktop app in order to use it …
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The first generation of Apple Silicon chips took other chip makers by surprise. While everyone knew it would be good, the M1 chip was so far ahead of its competitors in both power and efficiency that there must have been a lot of worried faces in Intel and Qualcomm’s respective boardrooms.
Three generations later, Qualcomm appears to have finally caught up with Apple’s M4 chip with its new Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme chip, intended for laptops. However, that situation may not last for long …
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I’m a huge fan of smart homes, and there are a great many benefits I value greatly. One of the drawbacks of having been a relatively early adopter, however, is that there’s been a certain amount of trial and error involved.
Most of the things I’ve done I would do again in a new home, but there are a couple of exceptions …
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Expectations that Apple will launch an iPhone Fold next year got further traction from a claimed Samsung announcement.
Update: Samsung has denied making the comments, calling it a “misunderstanding.” See the update at the end …
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Today brings a little flurry of social media app news, including better child protection measures in Meta’s AI chatbot; an expansion of ad-free subscriptions for Facebook and Instagram; and Snapchat starting to charge storage fees for higher volumes of Memories …
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OpenAI is about to launch a series of ChatGPT ads, airing on primetime TV, streaming, and social media – with the first video being broadcast later today during NFL Primetime.
The latest move adds further pressure on Apple by highlighting the vast gulf between the current capabilities of Siri and generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT …
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Researchers have discovered major Tile security flaws that could let both the company itself and a tech-savvy stalker track your location. These arise from two crucial differences between the security used for AirTags and Tile tags.
The flaw could even be exploited to allow a malicious actor to falsely frame a Tile owner for stalking, by making it appear as if one of your Tile tags is constantly in the vicinity of somebody else’s tag …
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Once upon a time, there was just a single iPhone. Today, things are rather more complicated, with a choice of four new models plus two older ones remaining on sale directly from Apple.
Next year may see the most fragmented iPhone lineup we have ever seen in the company’s history – and that could be bad news for some of us …
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Some users on Reddit and elsewhere are reporting that the search function in Apple’s Calendar app is broken in iOS 26.
Those affected say that no search results are found. A workaround has been successful for some, but not for all …
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A bizarre app that invites you to record and share your audio calls so that it can sell the data to AI companies has become the second most downloaded social app in the app store.
Neon Mobile says that users can sell their privacy for hundreds or even thousands of dollars per year by allowing their audio conversations to be used for AI training …
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A new study says there has been a dramatic rise in the number of fraudulent mobile apps on both iOS and Android. Many of these appear to have been either generated with, or powered by, AI tools.
So far in 2025, there’s been a 300% increase in fraudulent apps on iOS, and a 600% increase on Android …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently in Tokyo and has shared a photo taken outside the Apple Ginza store, which reopens tomorrow with an all-new design.
Cook also shared a photo of himself meeting Pikachu, the Pokémon mascot, and described Japan as a gamer’s paradise …
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The European Union is currently carrying out a consultation process into the impact of its Digital Markets Act (DMA). This is the antitrust legislation which required Apple to permit third-party app stores and which the company says has made it impossible to release some software features to EU users.
In its response, Apple says it has not yet released either iPhone Mirroring or AirPods Live Translation within EU countries over privacy concerns, and it expects more features to be delayed in Europe. The company in its submission to regulators said there was a possibility some hardware launches might be affected …
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Social media app Bluesky is down for some users. Some are reporting that their feed appears to be frozen with only older posts appearing, while others are seeing an error message …
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Legacy paid users of the popular podcast app Pocket Casts are being shown ads and directed to pay a subscription of $40 a year in order to remove them. This violates an agreement which promised them ad-free usage for life under what was initially branded Pocket Casts Lifetime and later rebranded to Pocket Casts Champion …
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Spotify has announced support for popular Mac DJ software like djay, rekordbox, and Serato. Simply logging into Spotify from within the DJ app gives you access to the entire music catalog, including your own playlists and those put together by Spotify …
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For many years, it was accepted wisdom that Mac malware wasn’t really an issue. One of the reasons for that was that the market share was simply too low to make it a worthwhile target for attackers.
Today, of course, is a very different world. Macs are the fourth most popular brand of personal computers, and as owners of a premium brand, Mac owners make a juicy target. Does that mean you need third-party antivirus software on a Mac, or are the built-in security protections good enough? A very thorough test sought to find out …
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Apple has frequently cited insecure and scam apps as justification for wanting all iPhone apps to be sold exclusively in the company’s own App Store.
Numerous reports, however, have found that there is no shortage of scam apps making it through Apple’s app review process, and the company is now under fresh legal scrutiny in the EU over this issue …
Update September 23, 2025, 10:41am PT: Apple has issued the following statement to 9to5Mac:
“As digital threats have evolved in scope and complexity over the years, Apple has expanded its antifraud initiatives to address these challenges and protect users. Every day, teams across Apple monitor and investigate fraudulent activity and utilize sophisticated tools to stop bad actors. Unfortunately, the European Commission is undermining our efforts by forcing Apple to allow alternative app distribution and payments, despite warnings that this puts users at greater risk of fraud and scams. While the regulator focuses on issuing misguided and counterproductive threats of investigation and fines, we will continue to advocate for the safety and security of our users.”
Apple says that in the last five years, the App Store has prevented over $9 billion in fraudulent transactions, including over $2 billion in 2024 alone.
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Apple Ginza was the company’s first retail store outside the US, opening way back in 2003. It reopens on Friday in its original location with what Apple describes as an “all-new design.”
New features include a double-skin glass facade with integrated adaptive louvers that help regulate light and temperature throughout the day …
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A combination of new code spotted by Macworld and 9to5Mac suggests that Apple may be set to make two iOS 26 security changes which will make iPhones safer.
Historically, Apple has issued security patches as part of a new iOS build. This has two significant disadvantages which can leave many iPhones unprotected against the latest threats for longer than necessary …
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A new supply chain report suggests that Apple could bring the same advanced display technology to two of its devices in 2027.
Previous reports have indicated that Apple is planning to adopt a new approach to making displays thinner and brighter in the upcoming Vision Air, and a new report today says the company could also use this tech to at least one iPhone in the same year …
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is pursuing separate legal actions against Amazon for mis-selling Prime, and Ticketmaster for colluding with ticket touts …
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While Apple first started supporting eSIMs back in 2018, it’s only this year that it has taken full advantage of the technology.
For the first time, Apple is using the space previously occupied by an insertable SIM card slot for additional battery capacity …
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I spent quite some time in an Apple store over the weekend, most of it hands-on with the iPhone Air – with the iPhone 17 Pro very much a secondary thing.
That experience, including seeing and hearing how other visitors were reacting to the phone, convinced me of two things …
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