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.
Tap to Pay on iPhone has now rolled out to the Netherlands, after first launching in the US, and later expanding into Taiwan, Australia, and the UK.
The service allows small businesses to dispense with separate card readers, and simply use their iPhone as an all-in-one contactless payment terminal …
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9to5Mac sources are corroborating an unlikely-sounding claim: that there will be no official Apple leather cases for this year’s iPhone 15 lineup.
It’s unclear what the reason for this might be, though the most likely explanation would be that the company plans to introduce a new premium case material this year intended to take the place of leather …
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Obfuscated servers are the latest weapon in the battle between internet users wanting to protect their privacy, and governments and private companies seeking to detect and block VPN usage …
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The name of the social network may have changed, but the, uh, entertainment continues in the latest X roundup. This includes the full extent of the Trump disclosures serving as a warning about the perils of unencrypted messaging services …
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Snapchat’s AI chatbot caused a mix of concern and amusement yesterday, when it apparently went rogue. Multiple users reported that it appeared to have created a video of their wall and ceiling, posted a live story, and then stopped responding when asked if it had achieved sentience …
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If you’re planning on an upgrade next month, it may be worth holding out to see what deals can be found from mobile carriers: A Bloomberg report suggests that they will be offering “aggressive” iPhone 15 discounts.
The predicted move is expected as they seek to address disappointing smartphone demand in the US, amid a global smartphone recession expected to be the worst in a decade …
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The US government is proposing to clamp down on data brokers who sell sensitive personal data, such as income, payment history, and health conditions.
Two government agencies have now put forward proposals for regulations to place limits on what is currently the privacy equivalent of the Wild West …
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Disabled people who rely on Apple’s accessibility features say that Voice Control has fallen behind Siri in both accuracy and capabilities, despite being an essential rather than a nice-to-have.
They say it’s frustrating to see the Cupertino company continue to make improvements to Siri, while Voice Control – which is key to many disabled people being able to use Apple tech – has apparently been forgotten …
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We’re just a few weeks away from the launch of this year’s iPhone lineup, and a new report says that iPhone 15 production is underway in India, as well as China.
However, one big question remains: Will Apple succeed in simultaneously shipping launch iPhones from both countries?
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Analysts have been pitching the idea of Apple buying Disney for many years, and to most of us it has seemed a rather ridiculous one. The supposed reasoning for it has always been absurdly weak.
Personally, I remain extremely skeptical. But the idea is now getting new traction, and being taken seriously in some unlikely quarters – and even I have to admit that there is some merit to the latest incarnation of the idea-that-will-not-die …
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Intel’s planned acquisition of Tower Semiconductor has failed, after the US chipmaker was unable to get the necessary regulatory approval.
The abandonment of the $5.4B deal is a setback to Intel’s hopes of competing with Apple chipmaker TSMC …
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If you’ve ever done an Apple Trade In of an old device when buying a new one, you may have briefly wondered what happens to it after you leave the store.
We’ve previously had a look at the post-Trade In experience for a major US carrier, and a new report gives us a similar behind-the-scenes look at what happens to devices traded in through Apple itself …
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A report yesterday revealed that a set of popular streaming TV services can now cost more than traditional cable TV packages.
It pointed out that subscription costs have risen dramatically, which creates an obvious risk of people cutting back on the number of services. But I think there’s a second issue, too, and that’s the competition for attention …
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Apple has been awarded a second patent for a way to implement MacBook Face ID, but we’d still caution against expecting it to happen any time soon.
That’s both because of the company’s past statements about the idea, and a specific technical challenge involved in implementing it in MacBooks …
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Apple has successfully defended itself against claims that it infringed two Bluetooth pairing patents relating to AirPods. The claim was a ridiculous one, but might have succeeded on a technical point of law. Fortunately, sanity prevailed when the appeal judge decided to apply a commonsense test.
One-E-Way held two patents for a system of generating a “unique user code,” which is sent to a headphone to enable it to pair with the other device …
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A new report suggests that the base iPhone 14 overtook the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models during the second quarter of the year. Apple did, though, continue to take the top four slots when it came to driving OLED smartphone revenue, with Samsung only managing fifth place.
In the previous quarter, the iPhone 14 Pro Max had seen the highest number of shipments, despite being the most expensive model sold by Apple …
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Every 5 to 10 years, Apple makes a decision it knows will upset a lot of people, and generates a lot of negative PR – but the company also knows that the fuss generally dies down, and everyone then forgets all about it. It looks like the Apple Watch X is set to be the next example.
Mark Gurman reported over the weekend that while this year’s Apple Watch upgrade will be the usual modest annual bump, we can expect a major redesign in 2024 or 2025 – with the name suggesting as big an update as from the iPhone 7 to iPhone X …
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A new report highlights the success of the Made in India initiative, with a massive 2 billion mobile phones made in the country since the program was introduced.
Apple has been a major contributor to that stat, going from making only the iPhone SE in the country through to making the latest flagship models today – and more to come …
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Streaming TV costs are now higher than cable packages, says a new analysis. It follows warnings that a “crash” was on the way – a day that has now arrived.
The report says that after price rises by Apple TV+, HBO Max, Disney, Hulu, and others, the total cost of a basket of popular streaming TV services has now hit $87 per month …
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macOS has a number of built-in tools to detect Mac malware, with Background Task Manager added to the defenses last year. However, a security researcher says that this can be trivially bypassed, and that Apple failed to act on his recommendations to fix it.
Patrick Wardle presented his findings at the Defcon hacker conference, making the unusual decision to do so without advising Apple ahead of time …
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I’ve been meaning to do a roundup of my favorite iOS 17 features for some time and had been waiting for one major one to actually work before doing so.
Having now given up on that, I decided instead to run through the iOS 17 features which have the greatest appeal for me, including a couple I haven’t yet been able to actually use …
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I know, the first model hasn’t even gone on sale, and we’re already talking about a future Vision Pro headset, but blame Apple, not us!
The company has just filed a patent application for a method of allowing a future model to automatically adjust its fit and display positions to suit different users, which would make it more practical to share between several people …
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A newly-discovered Downfall vulnerability found in Intel chips may affect older Macs powered by these processors …
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A reported delay to the planned introduction of the first micro-LED Apple Watch has been explained by a supply chain report, which reveals the extreme manufacturing challenges involved in bringing the next generation of display tech to Apple products.
While we’re expecting micro-LED to roll out first to the Apple Watch before later making its way to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, today’s report suggests that a Vision Pro successor may also get the new tech at a relatively early stage …
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