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.
2023 was the year of podcast cutbacks, argues a new piece today, pointing to a whole slew of layoffs and show cancellations.
It also argues that iOS 17 played a role, by replacing an artificially inflated picture of podcast popularity with a more realistic one …
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) is carrying out at least a preliminary antitrust investigation into Apple blocking Beeper, the unofficial app which gave Android users access to iMessage. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also appears to be “evaluating” Apple’s actions.
Today’s report follows a call for a DOJ investigation by a bipartisan group of senators, and Bleeper’s announcement that it has now given up any hope of keeping the app working …
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The Apple Watch ban which yesterday saw the Series 9 and Ultra models removed from sale may not be the last.
A Stanford law professor warns that we are likely to see more patent clashes between the consumer electronics and health tech worlds, and that the results can be both unpredictable and dramatic …
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There have been recurring rumors that a new Apple Watch band connector is in the works, rendering existing bands incompatible with future Watch models.
There are three reasons to believe that the reports are true, but I’d expect the change to be a whole lot less controversial than some are suggesting …
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We learned back in May that Apple is already using its own AI chatbot internally, which some have dubbed Apple GPT. A new research paper appears to be geared to enabling a ChatGPT-style system to run on iPhones.
A second Apple AI paper looks at ways to generate animated 3D avatars from standard video, with obvious application to Vision Pro …
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Apple Pay is down for some, with Apple’s system status page noting that the same is true for the Apple Card and Apple Cash.
As always, the “some users are affected” message can mean anything from a small number of users to almost everyone …
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One macOS feature I really like is the ability to hide all the apps you’re not currently using with a single keystroke: CMD-Option-H.
I use this a lot when I’m writing and don’t need to reference materials in other windows. But there’s one significant issue with it …
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The Reddit moderator rebellion earlier this year doesn’t seem to have fazed CEO Steve Huffman, who says that AI moderation is part of the solution.
Huffman says that he stands by the company’s decision to charge for API access despite the fact that it was massively unpopular, and led to the demise of the leading Reddit app, Apollo …
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Death Stranding Director’s Cut was one of the games highlighted by Apple during the iPhone 15 launch, noting that it would take advantage of the hardware-accelerated ray tracing of the two Pro models.
That was due to be released before the end of the year, but the developer has now said that it needs “just a little more time” …
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Anyone with a VanMoof ebike is likely concerned after the Dutch company confirmed that it is in financial trouble (and subsequently declared bankrupt).
Update: The new owners have announced details of the rescue plan, set to roll out in the first half of 2024. This will begin with replacement parts being made available to retailers, then new sales, and finally a VanMoof e-scooter. However, reports The Verge, the US situation is more complex. The rescue plan will come to the States, but the timeline is as yet unknown.
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A DoorDash and Uber minimum wage ruling is leading to both companies implementing changes that are badly hurting the income their drivers receive from tips …
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We yesterday revealed the shock news that 2023 Apple Watch models would be withdrawn from sale before the holidays, following an earlier ruling that the devices infringe on patents held by health tech company Masimo.
However, just because Apple has announced this intention, that doesn’t mean it will necessarily happen. There are four potential get-out clauses for the company …
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A first-of-its-kind law restricting social media use by children has been challenged by an industry group representing TikTok, Meta, X, and Snap.
The NetChoice trade group argues that the law introduced by Utah, and which other states plan to emulate, is unconstitutional …
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An Xfinity data breach has been revealed by the company, in which hackers were able to obtain a wide range of customer information.
Data obtained for at least some Xfinity customers “may” include usernames, hashed passwords, real names, contact information, date of birth, last four digits of social security numbers, and security questions and answers …
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Our sister site 9to5Google yesterday reported that Beeper Mini is now broken for most users – no longer allowing Android users to send and receive iMessages – after Apple took further steps to block the app.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is now calling on the Department of Justice to look into whether Apple’s action against the app amounts to “potentially anticompetitive conduct” …
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The social network X is under formal investigation by the European Union, to decide whether the company has broken the law in no fewer than eight ways …
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We’re likely less than six months away from the launch of third-party app stores on the iPhone – at least in Europe – and Apple’s plans for this appear to be advancing.
We’ve already noted that most consumers are unlikely to switch from the official App Store, unless they are given good reason to. But Apple also needs to keep developers loyal to the platform, and a seemingly small piece of news over the weekend likely revealed how the company intends to go about this …
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The 2026 Apple Watch Ultra, expected to be the first model to switch from OLED to micro-LED, looks set to have a significantly larger display – and a higher price-tag.
A new supply-chain report suggests that the display of the higher-tech model could grow to 2.12 inches …
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In what would be a massive privacy breach if it were true, a major marketing company is claiming that it can eavesdrop on your conversations, through microphones in smartphones, TVs, and smart speakers.
Calling the claimed capability Active Listening, Cox Media Group (CMG) has been promoting the service on its website, and pitching it to brands …
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The on-off Apple vs Corellium legal battle has been going on now for four years, but the final case has now been settled out of court, according to a report today.
The dispute had an amusing moment when Apple failed in its claim that Corellium had breached copyright by replicating iOS – and responded by claiming copyright infringement of Apple wallpapers …
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There’s no letup in the race toward ever smaller processes. It’s just a couple of days since we heard that TSMC has shown Apple test results from a 2nm chip, and the company is already discussing the next generation – using a 1.4nm process.
Somewhat confusingly, TSMC is switching from the N prefix it has used in the past to an A prefix – meaning that the 1.4nm chips will be labelled as A14 – the same name Apple gave to the 5nm chip used in the iPhone 12 line-up …
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A Proton Mail Mac app is now available as a beta, but most users are going to have to wait until early next year to try it – unless you want to hand over $40 per month for a Visionary tier subscription.
At the same time, the secure email company is making some new features available to all users, including auto-forwarding rules – which can decrypt messages for non-Proton users …
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We learned yesterday that the European Union looks set to impose an App Store anti-steering ban on Apple. That is, Apple would no longer be allowed to prevent Spotify and other music services from linking to their own company’s website for subscription sign-ups.
The ruling we’re expecting is a narrow one, in response to a complaint filed by Spotify almost four years ago now, and will likely only apply to streaming music services. But the principle is a sound one, and is unlikely to pose any great risk to Apple …
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The FTC is investigating Adobe, after widespread consumer complaints that the company makes it too hard to cancel app subscriptions.
Adobe was one of the earliest software companies to switch from a one-off purchase model to recurring subscriptions, but consumers have long complained that it’s easier to start a subscription than it is to end one …
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