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 cost of Apple tech – in the form of an iPhone and Apple Watch – has been accepted as disability-related expenses, as part of a social care assessment of a severely disabled man who relies on Siri for much of his daily routine …
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Just in case you thought Apple’s spatial computer wasn’t sufficiently expensive, a newly granted patent describes the possibility of a wide range of Vision Pro accessories.
These include additional cameras, for an even wider field of view, and a range of different sensors to add capabilities to the headset …
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Apple introduced Spatial Audio for video calls to FaceTime with macOS Monterey back in 2021 – and the same feature is now available on both Macs and PCs in Microsoft Teams. The full rollout follows earlier testing.
Spatial audio creates the illusion that individuals are physically positioned in the space in which they are shown on your screen, their voice appearing to originate from that location. Microsoft says that this is more than just a gimmick …
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Cybersecurity firm Guardz has found Russian hackers offering for sale a Hidden VNC tool specifically designed to give attackers full access to Macs. It follows a similar tool for accessing Windows PCs, and is geared to stealing personal data and logins.
The HVNC (Hidden Virtual Network Computer) is being sold on the dark web, and as a sign of good faith that the tool works as claimed, the hackers have deposited $100K in an escrow account …
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SEGA’s classic rhythm game Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go is one of four new games coming to Apple Arcade this month.
SEGA says that the revival version is exclusive to Apple’s streaming games service, and includes new songs and a brand-new Story Mode …
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As Apple moves into virtual reality with Vision Pro, the company has announced the formation of a new initiative to create cinematic 3D content for that world. The company is partnering with Pixar, Adobe, Autodesk, and NVIDIA to form the Alliance for OpenUSD.
The unsexy name refers to the Open Universal Scene Description developed by Pixar Animation Studios, with the results likely to be rather more exciting than the jargon …
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Meta seems to be planning to get into artificial intelligence in a big way – with AI images on Instagram, and chatbots aiming to gather more personal data from users …
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Using NSO spyware has been illegal in the US since the government banned its import and use back in November 2021. When it was discovered that a US contractor had illegally used the spyware in April of this year, the FBI was asked to find out the identity of the end client.
That client turned out to be… the FBI.
Questions are now being asked about whether the FBI was the only government agency to receive illegally obtained data from the contractor, whose other clients include the Department of Defense and the Drug Enforcement Administration …
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A new supply chain report says that mass production of iPhone 15 displays has started today, after Apple gave approval to Samsung Display.
The same report also indicates that producing the periscope lens for the iPhone 15 Pro Max is proving harder than expected, with yield rates below expectations …
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A MacBook with built-in cellular data capabilities has been something some have wanted for many years. As Apple again teases the possibility in a new patent, is it finally time for the company to offer a 5G MacBook?
The latest Apple patent to refer to a 5G MacBook is one intended to ensure that mobile data connections remain stable when devices are used on high-speed trains …
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iPad owners who had the screen replaced by a third-party service center are reporting that an Apple Pencil problem occurs afterward – and it appears to be a deliberate move on Apple’s part.
To be clear, the issue isn’t limited to aftermarket displays: It happens when a genuine Apple screen is pulled from one iPad and fitted to an identical model …
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Many parents are reporting that Screen Time is broken, with restrictions silently canceling on devices in their Family Sharing group without alerting them.
This is a problem previously reported, but which Apple claimed to have fixed in iOS 16.5. The company now admits that the problem persists even into the latest public beta of iOS 17 …
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Apple has announced that a “Hello Kitty and Friends” life simulation game is available on Apple Arcade from today …
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US iPhone market share increased to 55% in Q2, thanks to a sharp fall in shipments of Android smartphones.
However, the market intelligence report says that Apple’s resilience in a declining market was significantly helped by carrier promotions …
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A form of Reddit verification is currently being tested, in the form of an “official” label for some accounts confirmed as authentic.
For now at least, verification is only available to organizations, and not individuals, and the current test is extremely limited …
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Visually impaired people face plenty of challenges when navigating a busy city like New York, and never more so than using the NYC subway system. That looks set to change with the help of the Commute Booster accessibility app, which has passed the first stage of testing with flying colors.
The trickiest part of a subway commute for anyone who has loss of sight or is visually impaired is the so-called “middle mile,” and it’s here the app can help …
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There have been many cases of US companies covering up serious personal data breaches for months at a time – often only admitting to them when an outside source learns of it.
This isn’t possible in Europe, where the law requires unauthorized access to personal data to be reported to regulators within three days, and now the US is finally adopting a similar requirement – even if it’s not for your benefit …
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A bi-partisan proposal by two US senators has argued for the creation of a federal Big Tech regulator, with wide-ranging enforcement powers. It would issue operating licenses to tech giants, which ultimately could be revoked in the event that a company repeatedly ignored its rulings.
Apple is directly referenced in a piece co-written by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) …
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While it was at one point predicted that Apple would launch the first foldable iPhone in 2023 – something that obviously isn’t going to happen – it’s clearly a question of “when” rather than “if.”
2025 has been suggested as another possible date, and a new market intelligence report echoes this, forecasting that Apple will help boost folding smartphone shipments to 100M by 2027 …
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Widespread reports of a Slack outage this morning were acknowledged by the company, which escalated its investigation from an initial report of “trouble sending messages” to a full-scale “outage” …
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A Bloomberg report earlier this week suggested that iPhone 15 prices could be higher than those of the iPhone 14 lineup – at least, for the two Pro models. Now one analyst claims to have insight into the likely pricing.
The base model iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus are predicted to remain at $799 and $899 respectively, while the two Pro models are said to be getting a significant price hike …
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A United Nations report has argued that we should ban smartphones in schools, noting that one in four countries around the world already does so.
UN education and science agency Unesco says that there three strong reasons to implement the policy …
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DIY iPhone battery replacement is a tricky business, and the company is facing pressure from Europe to make the process an easier one.
We’ve argued before that Apple will strongly resist legal pressure. Ironically, companies which do make battery replacement easier on their own smartphones are inadvertently helping Apple’s case …
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If you’ve ever wanted to pick up a pair of Apple sneakers, and failed to do so at a conference in the 1990s, now’s your chance …
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