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 White House has announced a plan intended to improve the security of smart home tech. The government will test everything from smart speakers to Wi-Fi routers, awarding a US Cyber Trust Mark logo to products which pass the tests.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will set the standards to be met, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will manage the program …
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Apple researcher Aaron spotted backend code showing that Apple Pay Morocco has been activated, and CIH Bank has announced that it is now supporting the service.
Morocco is only the second African country to see Apple Pay rolled out, after South Africa …
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A face recognition system powered by iPads lets international business travellers skip two of the three checkpoints at Eurostar’s London terminus.
Usually, when you board an international train from London to Paris, or any of the four other European cities served by Eurostar, you have to go through three separate checkpoints. But a new iPad-powered system lets people walk straight past two of them …
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The battle of Apple Maps versus Google Maps was once a very one-sided one, thanks to the disastrous launch of the Cupertino company’s own map app. But analysts say that is now changing – even though most US iPhone owners have Google Maps installed.
Ironically, one weakness of Apple Maps is considered a strength by some users …
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I’ve been using the iOS 17 developer beta for a few weeks now, and been meaning to write a roundup of the features I’ve found most useful. I will get around to that, but there’s one which stands out to me – and that’s StandBy.
Apple’s primary intention with this right now is to turn the iPhone into a handy nightstand clock, but this isn’t the only way to use it …
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One of the most interesting feature of iOS 17 is StandBy mode, a widget-based landscape display intended primarily for nightstand use.
This has definite, uh, echoes of Amazon’s Echo Show, and it’s being suggested that this is indeed Apple’s first move toward a HomePod with a display …
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If you’re finding lots of your Reddit chats missing, that is a feature, not a bug, says the site. The company did actually announce the plan, but in a very low-key way …
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The Russian security service, the FSB, has extended its earlier ban on the use of iPhones. The latest ban applies to thousands more government workers, and now includes iPads and Macs.
The FSB has repeated its earlier claims that Apple has provided the NSA with a backdoor into its devices, allowing US security services to spy on Russian officials …
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Today has seen fresh reporting that upcoming EU legislation will either definitely or probably force Apple to change the iPhone battery replacement process.
We’ve noted before that this is far from certain, and anyone expecting DIY battery replacements to get easier is definitely going to be disappointed in the short-term, and very possibly the long-term too…
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Apple chipmaker TSMC has responded to recent concerns over both safety and potential US job losses during the construction and setup phase of its Arizona chip plant.
The company denied that there was a safety problem at the plant, and addressed concerns about plans that might impact US jobs …
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Sure, I’m a gadget guy who likes shiny new toys as much as the next geek, but I do try to refrain from upgrades for their own sake – admittedly with mixed success.
My biggest challenge is with the iPhone. I’ve historically described this as my least-important Apple gadget, and therefore one that I ought to upgrade least frequently. For years now, however, I’ve fallen victim to the annual camera upgrades …
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Apple has announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone has now rolled out to the UK, enabling small businesses to accept Apple Pay and contactless card payments using nothing more than their iPhone. It follows earlier international expansion to Taiwan and Australia.
The feature, which allows iPhone owners to accept payment without a separate card-reader, was first announced in February of last year, with a gradual rollout in the US through a growing range of payment processors …
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Apple has once again been accused of breaking the law in its attempts to fight unionization by retail store employees. Staff at the Maryland store say that Apple union negotiators acted in bad faith by stalling for as long as possible, and broke the law by engaging in what’s known as “surface bargaining” and “regressive bargaining.”
The Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (CORE) says that Apple has once again violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) …
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You know those times when you realise an annoying problem has such a simple solution that you want to slap yourself for not thinking of it earlier?
So blindingly obvious, in fact, that it seemed silly to even mention it to anyone else – until YouTube made me realize that it’s not just me …
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Successful new applicants can now get additional Apple Card Daily Cash rewards, during the first six months.
This boosts the cashback reward for selected digital purchases from the normal 3% to a generous 10% …
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Newly-launched Twitter competitor Threads won’t have ads for now, says the company. Despite hitting 100M registered users in less than a week, parent company Meta has told potential advertisers that it hasn’t yet hit “critical mass” …
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Mac shipments grew by more than 10% in the second quarter of the year, compared to the same period in 2022, according to a new market intelligence reports.
All major PC brands saw their own shipments fall in the same period, most by double digits – though IDC suggests Apple’s own compare was artificial …
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Qualcomm is harassing Apple execs by calling them as witnesses in an unrelated lawsuit, according to lawyers for the Cupertino company.
Apple has asked for subpoenas to be withdrawn, accusing the chipmaker of simply seeking revenge for past disputes between the two companies …
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While Twitter’s new CEO has been trying to convince us that the platform can’t be replaced by Threads, it seems the company is privately rather less confident. A developer noticed that Twitter is blocking Threads links in searches, with others confirming it …
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Minimizing video lag is crucial to mixed-reality headsets which blend virtual content with live video overlays of the real world, and we’re today learning more about how Apple ensures that Vision Pro performance is up to the task.
A supply-chain report says that the new R1 chip, which processes all the cameras and sensor inputs, is being packaged with custom-designed low-latency memory. This setup is said to double the performance over what would otherwise be possible …
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Apple yesterday released an iOS 16.5.1 update to fix a security vulnerability which is being actively exploited by attackers – but then withdrew it again.
The problem, it appears, is that a tiny change in Safari caused a number of websites to break …
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For those who didn’t get unceremoniously and non-consensually bumped onto the new version of TweetDeck, the old version is working again. Users who did get force-switched can also revert to the old version – but don’t expect it to last for long …
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Evernote layoffs are the latest victim of the tech downturn, which has seen significant numbers of jobs lost over the course of the past year.
Other tech companies to have made layoffs include Clubhouse, Meta, Plex, and Sonos, with even 3-trillion-dollar Apple laying off contractors, and CEO Tim Cook not ruling out cuts in permanent workers too …
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“Relax, it’s iPhone” might apply to a bunch of things, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s the best slogan when your car has just rolled over… But that is indeed the tagline for one of two new iPhone 14 ads to land on the company’s YouTube channel.
The other is an amusing one featuring a guy who does have a little more time to relax …
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