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Ben Lovejoy

benlovejoy

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 several books, and creates occasional videos.

He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, an M1 13-inch MacBook Air, an iPad mini, an iPhone 16 Pro Max, and multiple HomePods. He suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.

He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:

He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.

He gets a lot of emails and can’t possibly reply to them all. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.

Connect with Ben Lovejoy

Tim Cook sells $50M worth of AAPL shares, but the timing is coincidental

Tim Cook sells $50M worth of AAPL shares | Illustrative stock image of graphs and calculator app

Apple CEO Tim Cook has sold AAPL shares worth more than $50M at a time when the stock is close to an all-time high – but the timing is coincidental.

The stock value broke $200 per share back in June, hitting a record $236 in July. There’s been a little up-and-down since then, with Cook selling his shares at an average value of $227 …

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Apple continues work on all-glass MacBook with virtual keyboard and trackpad

Apple continues work on all-glass MacBook with virtual keyboard and trackpad | Patent drawing

Apple famously dispensed with a physical keyboard when it revolutionized the smartphone market, and the company’s long-term goal appears to be to do the same for laptops.

A succession of patents have revealed Apple’s work on an all-screen MacBook with a virtual trackpad and keyboard, and a new continuation patent published yesterday shows that this project is still very much alive …

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Deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro cameras finds much to love despite some flaws

Deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro cameras | Desert colored iPhone photographed in an actual desert

If there’s anyone who knows a thing or two about iPhone photography, it’s Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of the developer behind the Halide app. In an incredibly deep dive into the iPhone 16 Pro cameras, he finds much to love – and a few flaws.

While his experience of comparing many iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro images mirrored mine – like for like, it’s hard to spot any differences – he still had a lot of positive things to say …

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Sonos makes seven promises, including boosted warranties; customers seem unimpressed

Sonos makes seven promises, including boosted warranties | CEO Patrick Spence

Sonos has been struggling to regain the trust of its customers after its disastrous launch of a new version of the app.

After initially doubling down on the new app, the company’s CEO later apologized for it, and he has now made seven promises about how Sonos will operate going forward. This includes giving all products currently under warranty an additional year of coverage, but customers don’t seem too impressed …

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T-Mobile data breaches: Company pays fine and promises to do better

T-Mobile data breaches see company fined | NASA photo of the Earth

A succession of T-Mobile data breaches saw millions of customers have their personal data exposed. The company has now been fined $15.75M, and has agreed to spend the same amount again on upgrading its security.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that the combination of fine and promised security enhancements represents a model for future handling of such incidents …

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Apple asks US court to throw out Epic Games ruling, despite being barred from appealing

Apple asks US court to throw out App Store ruling | Illustrative photo of a court building

The Apple versus Epic Games case rumbles on despite the rejection of attempts to appeal by both companies.

Yesterday one of the judges in the case effectively accused Apple of lying, and now the Cupertino company is attempting a new tactic in a bid to have the ruling either thrown out altogether or narrowed so that only Epic Games benefits …

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Om Malik provides an inside view of the iPhone 16 launch event

iPhone 16 launch event – thoughts and photos | 9to5Mac stylized event logo

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to attend an iPhone launch event in the Steve Jobs Theater, Om Malik has shared a series of photos intended to give an inside view of Glowtime, together with his thoughts on what it’s like to be there.

The writer, photographer, and investor says that this event was quite different to previous ones as there was a new type of attendee …

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Here’s how the Apple Watch blood oxygen feature could return after Masimo shakeup

Here's how Apple Watch blood oxygen feature could return | Low-key shot of the Watch

One of the biggest barriers to upgrading to a new Apple Watch this year is that, if you’re in the US and currently own a model with blood oxygen measurement, you wouldn’t get that feature in your new model.

That’s due to the patent dispute between Apple and Masimo, but now that the health tech company’s CEO has resigned, there could be a potential way to resolve the matter …

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Two (or three?) iPhone 16 models make best smartphone battery life rankings

Two iPhone 16 models make best smartphone battery life rankings | Base iPhone 16 shown

Two of the four iPhone 16 models have made it into the best smartphone battery life rankings compiled by Tom’s Guide. The status of a third model is unclear.

Earning a place on the list requires a smartphone to last for more than 14 hours of wireless web browsing on 5G at a brightness of 150 nits, and a total of 15 smartphones qualify …

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Second judge implies Apple lied in Epic lawsuit; denies request

Second judge implies Apple lied in Epic lawsuit | Court gavel on US flag

A second judge in the Apple versus Epic Games lawsuit has implied that the Cupertino company has lied to the court. It comes after the original judge strongly implied that Apple had not told the truth about the reasons for its new App Store policy.

A second judge tasked with overseeing Apple’s disclosure of decision-making documents in the antitrust case said that a court filing made by the company was “simply not believable” …

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After Click to Cancel, California law protects you when buying digital content

California law makes companies come clean on digital content | Buy button in Apple TV app

After Click to Cancel legislation for subscriptions, California has introduced another piece of consumer protection legislation for buying digital content.

It will force companies to tell you when you won’t actually own the content you think you’re buying – something which has occasionally been true for iTunes purchases …

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Apple patent describes using AirPods to detect heart disease, likely next year

Apple patent describes how it could use AirPods to detect heart disease | Airpods x-ray image with heart-shaped sparkler display

9to5Mac recently discovered evidence in iOS 18 that Apple is testing using future AirPods models to measure heartbeat, with our sources indicating that the feature will be implemented in both AirPods Pro 3 and the next generation of Powerbeats Pro.

An Apple patent application describes how the company can use a health sensor not just to measure heart-rate, but also to detect heart disease …

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iFixit iPhone 16 Pro teardown: New battery, Camera Control compromise, much more repairable

iFixit iPhone 16 Pro teardown | New model left, iPhone 15 Pro right

The iFixit iPhone 16 Pro teardown video is now up (below), and the company has highlighted some differences over last year’s model. This follows its earlier teardown of the standard and Plus models.

Top of the list, and exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro, is a new type of battery. Apple has also had to make a compromise in order to create room for the Camera Control button …

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Meta Quest Pro discontinued, adding to price pressure on non-Pro Apple Vision product

Meta Quest Pro discontinued

The Meta Quest Pro headset has been discontinued, with the company officially bidding goodbye to its most expensive headset while selling off remaining units. This follows an earlier decision to abandon work on an even more expensive Vision Pro competitor.

Meta had already slashed the price of the Pro from $1,499 to $999 within months of launch, but has now completely given up on the four-figure market …

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Rabbit R1 has just 5,000 active users, as we wait to see Jony Ive’s attempt at AI hardware

Rabbit R1 (shown) has just 5,000 active users

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive this week confirmed he’s working Sam Altman on an AI hardware product of some kind, despite the failure of existing products like the Humane AI Pin and Rabbit R1.

Humane last month admitted that returns were exceeding sales, and now Rabbit founder Jesse Lyu has confessed that the R1 averages just 5,000 daily active users …

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Meta Orion is a step toward the future, but Apple Glasses are a few years away

Meta Orion AR glasses

My colleague Filipe Espósito yesterday said that the prototype Meta Orion glasses are what he wants for the future of Apple Vision, and I agree that they are an incredible step in the right direction.

I’ve long said that an Apple Glasses product is what I really want to see, but as impressed as I am by what Meta has shown us, I still think it will be a few years before any of us will be wearing a pair of Apple Glasses …

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