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 first lucky customers around the world have received their new M3 MacBook Pro and iMac machines, thanks to the joys of timezones.
Apple works on local time when it comes to shipping new devices, so those in Australia and New Zealand become eligible for deliveries first, and the US having to wait a little while longer …
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Tomorrow will see the announcement of AAPL Q4 2023 earnings, at a time when hardware revenue has been falling, and Apple itself has warned investors to expect big year-on-year drops in iPad and Mac sales.
While Apple suggested that the previous quarter might not beat the previous quarter’s $81.8B revenue, and there have been signs that all is not well with iPhone sales, analysts appear optimistic …
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Apple’s proud boast that the entire Scary Fast event was shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max has lead to a lot of discussion and debate about what that really means, and whether or not it’s a big deal.
There are those suggesting it really does mean the camera is something special, while other are suggesting that it’s at best meaningless, and at worst a cheat …
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A new report based on interviews with insiders says the very first Apple Watch was originally supposed to launch with non-invasive blood sugar monitoring. Indeed, it says, this was intended to be the device’s headline feature.
The piece also reveals battles within the company over how far the company’s health ambitions should go, with some criticising it for targeting the “worried well” rather than those who most need health tech …
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The gradual global rollout of Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone feature continues, with Ukraine the seventh country to benefit.
The small business payment service is initially limited to the state-owned PrivatBank, and customers can get up-and-running in just a few minutes …
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AAPL’s share price dropped by 11% since the company’s last earnings report in August, losing more than $400B in market capitalization. The fall is discussed a couple of days ahead of Apple’s next earnings report, on Thursday.
A new report notes that this is the first time in eight years that the company’s share price has dropped between WWDC and fiscal Q4 earnings report …
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Apple has sent iPhone hack warnings to the leader of India’s main opposition party, alongside other politicians opposing Narendra Modi’s government – placing Apple in a potentially delicate position.
A security researcher was also alerted, and shared a copy of the alert message he was sent, in which Apple advised enabling Lockdown Mode …
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Apple of course used all the words and phrases you’d expect for the new M3 chip line-up: groundbreaking, dramatically increased performance, unleash new capabilities, the biggest leap forward, and so on.
The company also shared some graphs pointing to the improved performance of the 3nm based M3 chips compared to their predecessors …
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There weren’t too many surprises in last night’s Scary Fast event. The event was entirely Mac-focused; all three M3 chips are available simultaneously; the M3-powered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were the stars of the show; and the 24-inch iMac got updated from the M1 chip to the M3 one.
But there were still a couple of somewhat unexpected developments – and it’s also worth noting what Apple didn’t announce …
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A combined Facebook and Instagram subscription is coming to European users in the next few weeks, enabling an ad-free experience in both services for €9.99/month ($10.60).
Alongside this, parent company Meta has announced that it is “pausing” all advertising to under-18s at the same time, meaning they get the same privacy benefits as a paid subscription at no cost …
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The launch of Resident Evil Village on the iPhone would be a pretty big deal on its own – proving that Apple’s claims about the gaming capabilities of the A17 Pro chip have real substance to them – but one piece argues that it could signal a whole new future for gaming on Apple devices.
A future where we not only see a slew of AAA games on Macs, but where the Apple ecosystem as a whole becomes a solid gaming platform …
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Apple’s new iMessage Contact Key Verification at first glance seems to be a rather niche security feature, likely to be of interest only to the most paranoid or highly-targeted individuals. But it could turn out to be a privacy feature which protects us all from government spying.
That’s because it seems almost custom-designed to prevent a plan developed by the UK’s equivalent to the NSA – GCHQ …
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Apple’s new Journal app is now available in the developer beta of iOS 17.2, ahead of a public beta coming soon, and official launch later this year. But an early Apple Journal hands-on says that the mental health feature is unlikely to pose any threat to existing third-party journaling apps – at least, in its current form.
A longtime Day One user found that Apple’s app is extremely basic – so much so that he at first wondered whether he was missing something …
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Update: Google wanted to keep the sum confidential, but a judge just ordered that the total sum paid – across Apple and other platforms – should be disclosed in the ongoing antitrust case. More at the bottom.
A new report says that the growing size of the Google payment to Apple to remain the default search engine on Apple devices concerned senior execs at the search giant – and they wanted to use EU law as a mechanism to reduce it …
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We’ve got a pretty solid idea what some of the Scary Fast announcements are going to be on Monday evening, while others are less certain.
Let’s look both at what we expect, what we might see, and what we don’t expect – and hear from you which are the ones you’re really hoping for …
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With just the weekend to go before Apple’s Scary Fast event, Mark Gurman has provided a final (?) roundup of everything he expects to be announced.
The headline news, of course, is expected to be new MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, as Apple continues to push ahead of competitors still trying to catch up with the capabilities of the M2 line-up …
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The French iPhone 12 ban still applies to some of the country’s overseas territories, as Apple seemingly forgot to issue the update to those …
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Update: In an earnings call, CEO Mike Sievert told investors and analysts that the idea has now been completely abandoned – statement below.
A reported move regarding some older T-Mobile unlimited plans got the carrier into hot water, and the company’s CEO said that it never intended to proceed with this – rather, it was just carrying out a small-scale test. But even the test has now been abandoned …
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There has been speculation of late of Apple considering the launch of a “low cost” MacBook of some kind, and a leaker today suggests that it could take the form of a 12-inch MacBook – as well a 13-inch one specifically geared to the education market.
There have been similar suggestions from other sources, though all have been vague, and all of the sources have rather variable records …
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A vulnerability in A-series and M-series chips could force iPhones, Macs, and iPads to divulge passwords and other sensitive information to an attacker. Security researchers have dubbed the flaw – which affects Safari on the Mac, and any browser on iOS devices – iLeakage.
In a proof of concept attack, researchers were able to obtain access to the contents of a Gmail inbox, YouTube history, and passwords auto-filled by Safari …
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A new market intelligence report suggests that Chinese iPhone sales fell 10% year-on-year, between Q3 2022 and the same quarter this year. This was significantly worse than the overall 3% decline in the Chinese smartphone market.
Several explanations are offered, but a key one is the surprise reemergence of Huawei as a competitor – with US sanctions-busting or industrial espionage suspected …
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A live TikTok global music event will take place on December 10 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. Known as TikTok in The Mix, it will combine headline acts like Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta, and Charlie Puth with upcoming artists who are making a name for themselves on the platform …
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A planned law to require CSAM scanning in chat apps would be illegal, disproportionate, and could increase rather than decrease the risks to children, say experts. It could also see Apple withdraw iMessage from EU countries.
The warning was given by more than 20 speakers at a privacy seminar, as the European Union continues to press for a CSAM measure which would effectively outlaw end-to-end encryption in chat apps like iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal …
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Apple has already found itself impacted by a diplomatic row between the US and China, and now faces the prospect of being caught up in politics between China and Taiwan. A Chinese investigation of Foxconn has been announced by state media.
Update: China has today described the investigation as a routine police matter, but has not directly addressed the widespread belief that it is attempting to apply political pressure – more at the bottom …
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