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.
We’ve seen various claims about Apple’s interest in robotics, from a fully-fledged domestic robot to what we might think of as a robot iPad screen that can turn to face you.
I’ve already expressed my skepticism about the domestic robot, and at first glance it’s a little hard to see how the latest report could pass the “say no to a thousand things” test …
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T-Mobile has been fined $60M for failing to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, and for further failing to report the failure.
Unusually, the fine was levied by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), and is the largest fine it has ever issued …
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Third-party iOS app store AltStore PAL is now free of charge, following a grant provided by Epic Games.
This means there will be no annual subscription fee for new users, and existing subscribers to the EU app store will not be charged when their renewal falls due …
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One of the new features announced in yesterday’s Google hardware event was Loss of Pulse Detection, found in the new Pixel Watch 3.
This would seem a great feature to pair with the Apple Watch’s own proactive monitoring and emergency alert feature Fall Detection …
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A new Apple film entitled The Relay features athletes with and without disabilities competing against each other in a range of events.
The film was released ahead of next week’s 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and of course includes Apple tech which helps the athletes train and prepare …
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The English Premier League is ditching its current system of video assist for referees in favor of a new one which uses dozens of iPhones to capture high frame-rate video from lots of different angles.
The system, pioneered by a US company known for its work in NBA baseball, will be used to detect breaches of soccer’s most controversial rule, known as the offside rule …
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Google yesterday held its annual hardware event, announcing new Pixel smartphones, Pixel Watch, and Pixel Buds.
The company took a few jabs at Apple along the way, attacking it on both hardware and AI fronts, including one claim which should win a prize for sheer ridiculousness …
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In a major u-turn, Apple is now allowing Spotify to display pricing in the app – including promotional offers – and to direct users to its website to sign up.
The move comes three months after the iPhone maker rejected a a Spotify app update which did just that, and four months after the EU fined the company $2B for anticompetitive practices in its treatment of its streaming music competitor …
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I’m a huge fan of Apple Wallet, not just for Apple Pay, but also as a single repository for all my tickets, boarding passes, and the like.
I love the proactive way they pop up when close to boarding time, making it a single tap to scan at a barrier, boarding gate, or manual ticket check …
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Another Apple smart ring patent has today been granted, which includes both health monitoring and the ability to control other Apple devices.
It suggests that data could be wirelessly sent from the ring for display on devices with screens, including both Vision Pro and smart glasses …
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A massive data leak of some 2.7 billion records may include sensitive personal data for every person in the US, UK, and Canada. For the US, the data includes social security numbers.
The data is said to have come from a company known as National Public Data, which collects and sells personal data for use in background checks by private investigators and others …
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Apple is coming under fire for its decision to charge a 30% commission on Patreon subscriptions, which will either see creators receive less or supporters charged more.
John Gruber said that Apple was degrading its brand, while Macworld accuses the company of charging for providing negative value …
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Two reports published by India’s competition regulator contained confidential Apple data, according to a complaint by the company.
The antitrust body has now asked recipients to return the reports so that the sensitive data can be redacted in new versions …
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A research paper explains how Apple Intelligence is designed, and the steps the company takes to ensure the safety of the models.
The paper also gives a glimpse into the scale and complexity of the on-device AI capabilities, noting that the core model which runs entirely on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac has around three billion parameters …
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It was reported earlier this year that Apple cancelled plans for a micro-LED Apple Watch, finding them too difficult to produce in the quantities that would be needed.
Display supplier LG was set to make a key component for this display, and is now said to be seeking compensation for the cancellation of the project …
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All reports point to the 2025 iPhone SE being a huge upgrade from the 2022 model, but the more we hear about it, the more it looks set to prove a very viable option for those who want a modern iPhone without paying flagship prices.
A reasonably contemporary form factor, and the ability to use Apple Intelligence features, mean it’s set to deliver a lot of bang for the buck …
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In my first Oura Ring diary piece, I posed the question of whether Apple should make its own smart ring as an alternative health and fitness tool to the Apple Watch.
Three weeks later, I’m ready to answer that question with an unequivocal ‘yes.’ But quite possibly by buying the company …
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A new regime of repeating macOS Sequoia permission prompts have been described as “a subscription you didn’t buy and can’t cancel.”
An Apple ad once made fun of the endless stream of permission requests in Windows Vista, but some are suggesting that Sequoia is now every bit as bad …
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iPhone 16 production is now said to have ramped up to peak production, with Foxconn taking on an extra 50,000 workers in its largest assembly plant.
The company last month increased both base pay and bonuses to help it recruit enough new workers to meet what is expected to be increased demand this year …
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ChatGPT was originally limited to text interactions, but paid subscribers last year gained the ability to use the chatbot to generate images with DALL-E 3.
That feature is now coming to free ChatGPT users too, though you’ll be limited to just two images per day …
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The controversy over Apple’s fees for apps which are sold outside the App Store continues, with both Epic Games and Spotify objecting to the company’s latest attempt to comply with EU antitrust laws.
Spotify has described Apple’s latest fee structure as “confusing and unacceptable,” while Epic Games has called the fees “illegal” …
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The new Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2 looks like the company is aiming to compete with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro within China. The M-Pencil also looks eerily familiar in its white finish,
Certainly on paper, the screen specs appear to match, with a tandem OLED construction running at 120Hz …
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A whitehat hacker has demonstrated the use of an invisible laser beam to detect what a MacBook user is typing, from a distance, through a window, without being able to see the keyboard …
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A prompt injection attack on Apple Intelligence reveals that it is fairly well protected from misuse, but the current beta version does have one security flaw which can be exploited.
However, the issue would be very easy for the company to fix, so this will almost certainly be done before the public launch …
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