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.
A new WhatsApp third-party chats feature has been spotted in the latest app code, indicating that the app is preparing to comply with European law on messaging interoperability.
Apple is so far pushing back on suggestions that iMessage would be subject to the same antitrust law, making the unlikely-sounding argument that it doesn’t have enough European users to count …
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Spotify is planning to offer free audiobooks to paying subscribers over the next few months, as it continues to seek ways to make money, according to a new report today.
The company is said to be working with some of the largest publishers in the US to offer premium subscribers up to 20 hours of free audiobook listening per month – but don’t expect it to last long …
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iPhone 15 Pro Max sales will account for 40% of all purchases of this year’s models, according to a prediction by market intelligence company TrendForce.
It says that the periscope lens unique to the top-tier model will be enough to drive consumer demand, despite a potential $100 price increase over last year’s Pro Max …
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Leaker yeux1122 says that Apple Store staff have been told to make sure iPhone 15 buyers know about the change from Lightning port to a USB-C one, when they make their purchase.
Staff will advise them that the box includes a USB-C to USB-C cable, but not a charging brick, so they may need to buy one …
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The iPhone 15 ultrawide-band chip will reportedly be a new U2 version – the first time the location-finding chip has been updated since the U1 first seen in the iPhone 11 Pro.
The report says that this further improves on the already impressive location-finding abilities of the first-gen chip …
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A new patent application describes how Crash Detection accuracy could be improved by using multiple Apple devices.
In particular, it suggests that using motion sensors in AirPods could be used to detect incidents that could result in head injury without necessarily registering an impact on an Apple Watch or iPhone …
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A studio that adapted Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens into an augmented reality experience for the Magic Leap 2 believes that combining a physical book with AR content could make a cool Vision Pro experience.
Rather than the purely virtual book brought to life in Magic Leap, the studio sees the potential for using Vision Pro’s high-resolution passthrough feature to create something truly special …
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If you’ve ever relied on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes ratings to judge whether or not to go see a new release, you may want to rethink that …
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Back in 2020, we saw an Apple patent for a matte black MacBook, with the company explaining at the time why it hasn’t (really) made one yet.
Three years later, the company is still working on it, with an approach using carbon nanotubes to address the problem of light reflections …
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The future of iMessage in the UK had seemed in doubt, as the British government was demanding that the company break end-to-end encryption to allow messages to be scanned. Apple had said that it would withdraw iMessage from the UK rather than compromise user privacy.
WhatsApp and Signal had similarly threatened to withdraw their messaging apps from the UK, but the government has now done a U-turn, while issuing a meaningless, face-saving statement …
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A new analysis has shown that iPhone users spend seven times more on apps than Android users, far higher than the 4x rule of thumb suggested by purely anecdotal data.
The more accurate metric was made possible by the far greater data companies must now report, to comply with legal requirements …
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The European Union has now named the six tech giants whose services will be subject to the Digital Markets Act antitrust law, with Apple as one of the so-called “gatekeepers.” It’s been confirmed that the App Store is subject to the law, while the status of iMessage remains under investigation.
In total, some 22 services operated by the the six companies are deemed sufficiently influential to be covered by law …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook specifically name-checked renowned soccer player Lionel Messi when asked about MLS Season Pass subscriptions, and a new report today suggests that the company enjoyed 110,000 new sign-ups on the day of Messi’s first game.
Apple’s Major League Soccer Season Pass is now believed to have well over 2 million subscribers, and to be playing a significant role in driving Apple TV+ subscriptions …
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A newly-granted patent published today for an Apple Glasses Digital Crown design clearly shows a device very much along the lines of what we’re eventually expecting to see, as the company moves its AR wearables ambitions beyond bulky headsets.
The illustration shows how a Digital Crown could be used to cycle through different overlays available on the glasses, ranging from video content to weather data …
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Reddit moderators who participated in protests against the company’s API charges say that they have been replaced by individuals who lack subject matter expertise. They say this is leading to dangerous advice being posted and going unchallenged in subreddits ranging from food canning to 3D printing of firearms …
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A third UK Apple Store has unionized, following earlier examples in Glasgow and London. The Southampton Apple Store is the latest to make the move, and is now seeking recognition by Apple.
Apple’s retail staff has been increasingly seeing unionization as the most likely way to achieve better pay and conditions, with staff in Southampton arguing that some of the changes introduced by Apple harm customers as well as staff …
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A very sketchy report claims that Apple is planning to make an ultra low-cost MacBook series for the education sector, at what is implied to be a substantially lower price point than the entry-level MacBook Air.
It suggests Apple is seeking to compete with Chromebooks, and could launch the new models as soon as the second half of 2024…
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Meta may introduce the option of an ad-free Facebook subscription as it struggles to comply with increasingly stringent European privacy requirements, says a new report.
A similar paid subscription option may also be offered to Instagram users …
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A Korean leaker with a mixed track record is suggesting that the first OLED iPad Pro – expected to launch in the early part of 2024 – will be available with a 4TB storage tier.
It follows the same source suggesting that the iPhone 15 Pro storage may start at 256GB, and max out at 2TB, which would represent a doubling of each of the current tiers …
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Market intelligence company TrendForce has suggested an unlikely-sounding possibility: that Apple could overtake Samsung to become the global smartphone leader, following the upcoming launch of the iPhone 15.
Historically, Samsung’s position as the best-selling smartphone brand has seemed beyond challenging – at least, by Apple …
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Apple has denied reports that developer interest in Vision Pro is currently very limited, following a report last month that the developer workshops for the headset were very poorly attended.
Developers working on Vision Pro apps themselves have mixed views on the likely appeal of the product, from those who feel that it will become a huge market, to those who consider it a riskier investment …
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Apple’s two main display suppliers, Samsung and LG, have suggested the use of a micro lens array in the iPhone 16, in order to either boost screen brightness, or increase battery life.
However, the technology comes with one downside: It reduces the effective viewing angle of the display …
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Update: The MTA flaw has been eliminated, but the Apple Pay question remains. See the end of the piece.
An inexcusable NYC subway security flaw has been revealed, allowing anyone with knowledge of a user’s credit card number and expiry date to track all journeys made within the past seven days.
But what’s far more concerning is that the vulnerability applies to journeys where Apple Pay was used to tap into stations, despite the fact that this should be completely impossible …
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Almost nine months after Apple confirmed that it had abandoned plans to carry out CSAM scanning, the company has finally admitted the flaw which so many of us pointed out at the time.
The company explained the reason it decided against scanning devices for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) in a statement to Wired …
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