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.
Twitter advertising is now safer – or, at least, no longer “high risk” – according to the world’s biggest ad agency, GroupM. In other social media news, a group of TikTok creators has filed a lawsuit, calling Montana’s ban on the app “unconstitutional” …
Expand Expanding Close
Distinguishing genuine product leaks from hoaxes and misunderstandings can be a tricky business at times, with the track record of the leaker a key clue. But even with a solid record, reports of a Reality Pro front display to show the facial expressions and eye movements of the wearer seems a little… out there.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman seems convinced this is real, repeating it in his latest report based on multiple inside sources, but Apple commenter John Gruber believes it is a misunderstanding of a joke …
Expand Expanding Close
While Personal Voice was one of the most exciting of the upcoming accessibility features Apple announced this week, you may have thought it wasn’t relevant to most people. But a new report today suggests that we should all take advantage of it when iOS 17 launches.
That’s because loss of speech ability can occur very suddenly through medical conditions like ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). By the time people realize they need a synthesized voice that sounds like them, it may be too late …
Expand Expanding Close
Apple chipmaker TSMC is one of seven semiconductor companies to announce plans to invest in Japanese operations, ahead of a G7 summit in the country.
One of the key issues to be discussed at the summit is economic resilience and security in the light of growing threats to global trade, which includes fears about the future of Taiwan …
Expand Expanding Close
A new report on the upcoming Apple Reality Pro AR/VR headset says that the device is significantly compromised, compared to the company’s original vision for the device.
It also says that some top Apple execs are skeptical about the potential of the product and are distancing themselves from it. The report – based on multiple sources close to the project – said that Apple will be selling it almost at cost, in contrast to the high margins it expects from other products …
Expand Expanding Close
Yesterday saw the announcement of a flurry of Apple accessibility improvements, including a new “Assistive Access” interface option, Live Speech, and Personal Voice. These have been welcomed by people who rely on accessibility features, though they would like to see greater ambition for one of the features.
The Personal Voice feature was the one to get the most attention, needing just 15 minutes of training in order to allow users to have their iPhone play speech in their own voice …
Expand Expanding Close
iPad production in India looks likely to start soon, after Apple largely succeeded in a bid for greater financial incentives from the government. The Cupertino company rejected a previous offer, stating that it wasn’t enough to cover the costs of setting up iPad assembly there.
While the government incentives are open to any manufacturer, they were designed with Apple as the key target …
Expand Expanding Close
A paid Instagram and Facebook verification subscription launched in the US back in March and has today been expanded to the UK. This follows in the footsteps of Twitter.
Speaking of which, Elon Musk has done a U-turn on advertising – now that he owns an ad-funded business – and has also claimed that working from home is ”morally wrong”…
Expand Expanding Close
Apple’s Tap to Pay service is rolling out to Australia, following last month’s expansion into Taiwan. The service allows small business to accept contactless payments without the need for a payment terminal.
Westpac and Tyro Payments are supporting Tap to Pay from today, while four more payment platforms will offer the facility “in the coming months” …
Expand Expanding Close
We’ve been waiting for 1Password passkey support since last November, when the company first announced plans to include it. We learned a little more in an exclusive interview with the company’s CEO earlier this month, and we now know exactly when it will launch.
The company has revealed that passkeys will go live within 1Password on June 6. Unlocking 1Password itself with a Passkey will possible the following month. Video demos (below) show how the security feature will work …
Expand Expanding Close
As part of a flurry of new accessibility improvements announced by Apple today, the company says that Made for iPhone hearing aids can pair directly with Macs for the first time. Previously, pairing was only available with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
Compatible products already support pairing with more than one Apple device, so this move should make it much easier for people who use both Macs and iOS devices …
Expand Expanding Close
Warren Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway has now sold all its TSMC shares in what has been described as an “abrupt” move.
Buffett said that while he remained a great admirer of the company, tensions between China and Taiwan were too great to make it a safe investment – highlighting concerns about Apple’s total dependence on the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for all of its processors …
Expand Expanding Close
We learned last week that Apple continued to build market share in a declining smartphone market in the US, and a new market intelligence report suggests the iPhone maker has repeated this trick in Southeast Asia.
Apple was the only major brand to grow shipments during the first quarter of the year, across five countries …
Expand Expanding Close
A report on Friday suggested that initial Apple Reality Pro availability is likely to be very limited, as the Cupertino company is “anticipating some production issues” with its upcoming AR/VR headset.
A new Ming-Chi Kuo report provides a likely partial explanation for this: Apple is reportedly dependent on just one supplier for most of the key components …
Expand Expanding Close
The Indian government has today announced that Foxconn has broken ground on $500M worth of new iPhone plants in Telangana, in the south of the country, as Apple continues its efforts to move more production out of China.
At least one of the plants is also expected to manufacture AirPods, after Apple offered Foxconn a new contract for these back in March …
Expand Expanding Close
As widely rumored, the new Twitter CEO has been named as former NBCUniversal advertising exec Linda Yaccarino. Platform owner Elon Musk was making good on a promise he made last year, to abide by the results of a poll telling him to resign as the company’s head …
Expand Expanding Close
A patent application for Apple wearable tags has been revealed, after the company originally took steps to disguise its identity.
Apple describes how tags could be worn on the body, or attached to clothing, to perform a wide range of health and sports functions …
Expand Expanding Close
The number of Apple service outages lately seems to have risen to the point where they’ve become almost routine.
This isn’t great for any tech giant, but when the ecosystem is such a huge part of the appeal of Apple products, it becomes a far bigger deal …
Expand Expanding Close
Back in 2019, Apple introduced a new feature to iPhones, as part of iOS 13: Optimized Battery Charging. This is intended to protect iPhone batteries from unnecessary charge levels, in order to prolong their life.
The same feature subsequently came to AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Mac. But one Apple product doesn’t yet have it, and that’s the Apple Pencil …
Expand Expanding Close
The Apple Gangnam store in Samsung’s home city opened just over a month ago, and a new report says that the Korean company has ambitious plans to fight back.
It is said to be planning to open Samsung Gangnam, a store spanning six floors, as part of an effort “to counter Apple’s expansion strategy in the country” …
Expand Expanding Close
Yesterday saw @analyst941 delete his Twitter account, claiming that he had been forced to do so after Apple carried out a “multi-step sting” operation. Whether this is true, or just a face-saving story for getting things wrong, it is broadly consistent with what we know about how Apple catches leakers.
Apple has so many methods of identifying leakers – some of them incredibly subtle – that we and others have to be extremely careful in order to protect our sources …
Expand Expanding Close
The Disney+ app and the Hulu app are due to merge later this year, says Disney CEO Bob Iger, but you’ll still be able to buy standalone subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
The announcement is leading to speculation about a possible buyout plan …
Expand Expanding Close
Another day, another Apple antitrust probe. Just yesterday we learned that the European Union was ramping up its investigation into Apple Pay, and today Italy’s competition watchdog has announced an investigation into the company’s App Store privacy policies.
This latest investigation may be new, but its topic is not: Italy is the third country to question the legality of Apple setting tougher privacy requirements for third-party apps than it does for its own apps …
Expand Expanding Close