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.
Tubi’s UK launch is set to happen later today, the free streaming video service offering Brits access to more than 20,000 movies and TV episodes from major studios like Disney and Sony …
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Apple appears to be expecting iPhone 16 sales to substantially outstrip those for last year’s model. A new supply-chain report says that the company has boosted its A-series chip order from TSMC by 10 million.
However, suggestions from some quarters that Apple has changed its chip strategy this year, giving all four iPhone models the same chip, are misleading …
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One of the big questions around Apple’s AI plans has been whether the company would absorb the costs of these features, or charge a fee, aka an Apple Intelligence+ subscription.
So far, the news is that there will be no additional costs involved – but it appears that may change in the future …
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Update: AT&T customers are being offered a credit – see the end of the piece
A major international roaming outage is causing lost mobile connectivity for Americans around the world. The problem is affecting all three major US carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.
Some are speculating that the problem may have been caused by a mistake made during work to change the way that carriers support legacy data standards …
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See Vision Pro update at the end of the piece.
When asked why Apple Intelligence won’t be available on older iPhones, the company has so far said that the chips simply weren’t sufficiently powerful to provide a good experience. Responses would take too long on older chips.
But many have said that if their phones weren’t up to the task, why not just use Apple Intelligence servers – aka Private Cloud Compute? After all, that’s what already happens with a lot of Siri requests today. We now have an answer to this …
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In-store Vision Pro demos are reportedly set to see two big changes this month, as Apple seeks to increase the wow factor and boost the appeal of the device.
The first is that customers will be given the opportunity to view their own photos on the headset, something Apple hopes will have a bigger emotional impact than viewing stock ones …
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The idea that iPhone 16 Pro display brightness will further improve on last year’s models is gaining ground, with a third report emerging today.
Specifically, it says that leading display supplier Samsung will be providing its most advanced OLED panels yet for three phone models this year …
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The in-app subscription market continues to grow, according to a new report, despite increasing consumer fatigue with the trend to turn everything into a recurring payment. Surprisingly, the most common subscription model is reportedly now a weekly one.
The switch from buying apps outright to paying for them on a subscription basis has been one of the biggest trends over the past 5-10 years – and one of the most controversial …
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a new rule, under which carriers will have to unlock your iPhone or Android smartphone within 60 days of activation.
The proposal is intended to increase competition by making it easier for consumers to switch carriers …
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The decision to withhold Apple Intelligence from EU countries amounts to a “stunning open declaration” of anticompetitive behavior, according to the bloc’s vice-president and competition regulator Margrethe Vestager.
Vestager made her remarks when speaking at a conference convened to discuss new ideas for strengthening the European Union …
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Vision Pro pre-orders open today in five more countries, just as the first customers in China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore take delivery of theirs.
Customers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and the UK will be able to pre-order the spatial computer later today, and take delivery in a fortnight’s time …
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The first customers outside the US have been able to buy Vision Pro this morning, and Apple has shared photos from stores in three countries.
The photos show the demo zones set up for customers to try the spatial computer, as well as some of those taking delivery of the device …
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Apple has helped 50 students pursue their dreams of a career in the music industry, supporting them in recording and promoting a single.
The initiative is part of Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative (REJI), working through two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) …
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If there’s one type of company you definitely don’t want to see left vulnerable to hackers it’s an identity verification service with access to photo ID documents like driver’s licenses – but that’s exactly what appears to have happened with AU10TIX.
The cybersecurity company’s past or present clients include PayPal, Coinbase, X, TikTok, Uber, LinkedIn, Upwork, and Fiverr …
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I bought the original Apple Watch back in 2015, not expecting to keep it, but of course was wrong. Nine years later, I was still wearing one – though I had managed to limit myself to just two upgrades over the years.
Fast-forward another couple of months, however, and that has changed – all thanks to a couple of random events …
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Apple Diagnostics for Self Service Repair is now available in 32 European countries, the company announced today.
It follows the US launch back in December of last year, as the iPhone maker continues its U-turn on DIY repairs …
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A new market intelligence report says that US Mac market share grew by 22.4% in the first quarter of the year, dwarfing the 5% growth for the US PC market as a whole.
It’s likely that the launch of the new MacBook Air models back in March played a key role in this growth …
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Meta has just made a significant enhancement to its Threads fediverse integration – though there are still some key limits to what is possible in the app …
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One of the many differences between Meta Quest headsets and Vision Pro is the far more flexible windowing arrangements possible on Apple’s device.
But Meta is now testing an approach which comes much closer to emulating Vision Pro’s approach, and you can get early access by joining the beta program …
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We won’t be able to experience Apple’s approach to ChatGPT integration until a later iOS 18 beta, but owners of some of the latest Volkswagen cars are being offered what sounds like a very similar experience.
A number of VW cars already have a built-in AI voice assistant, and the company has announced that its capabilities are now being supplemented by ChatGPT …
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Vision Pro comfort is one of the biggest limiting factors for the device right now. Many owners say that the weight makes itself known in even moderate use, and my own experience was that I felt both the weight and heat in session lasting around an hour.
But the company may have a solution for either this or future Apple Vision products, as outlined in a newly-granted patent …
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A deal between the UK and US has seen Wikileaks founder Julian Assange freed from a British jail. A plea deal was agreed with the US Department of Justice which will see him serve no prison time in the US …
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Work still hasn’t started on a major Apple campus some six years after the company announced the plan, and a new report says that work on the project has now been further delayed by “up to four years.”
That could mean a full decade between Apple’s announcement and construction work starting, with the opening date even further out …
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The White House is reportedly concerned that three Chinese companies operating cloud services in the US could pass the personal data of US citizens to Beijing.
A report citing sources familiar with the issue says that the US Department of Commerce is carrying out an investigation …
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