Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy

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

Doctors prescribing app, with walking steps targets for patients

Doctors prescribing app, with walking steps targets | Typing on Mac next to stethoscope

A pilot scheme is effectively seeing doctors prescribe an app – specifically one which measures the number of steps patients walk, with each person being prescribed a personal target.

At the end of the ‘prescription’ period, the results are sent to the patient’s doctor, to be combined with other health data in order to assess the effectiveness …

Expand Expanding Close

Steep iPhone discounts being offered in China to counter weak demand

iPhone discounts in China | iPhone 15 Pro Max shown

A new report today says that there is increasing evidence of steep iPhone discounts being used in China in an attempt to counter weak demand.

It gives the example of the iPhone 15 Pro Max being offered at a $180 discount on the official price, which is significantly larger than has been offered in previous years …

Expand Expanding Close

PSA: Don’t trust Amazon’s Choice video doorbells – some allow anyone to spy on you

Consumer Reports found that some Amazon’s Choice video bells have security so bad that a complete stranger can pair their phone to your doorbell simply by holding the exterior button for eight seconds.

Bad actors can even access still images from thousands of miles away, without needing any credentials for your account, creating a privacy nightmare …

Expand Expanding Close

FineWoven cases are junk, say 53% of owners; only 21% happy [U]

FineWoven cases are junk, say majority | Apple Store display

The news doesn’t get any better for FineWoven cases. After being solidly panned by 9to5Mac readers, editors, and major retail chains, a series of polls on social media sites saw the majority of owners describe them as “junk.”

Update: The combined results of three social media polls show that 53% describe the case as “a piece of junk,” while only 21% considered it has held up well …

Expand Expanding Close

Vision Pro demand higher than expected; returns down to 1% – Kuo

Vision Pro demand | Display model in Apple Store

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that Vision Pro demand is higher than Apple originally expected, with US shipments expected to hit 200-250k units this year.

While there was speculation about how many people only bought Vision Pro to experience it before sending it back it at the end of the 14-day return window, he estimates that the current return rate has dropped to just 1% …

Expand Expanding Close

AAPL investors don’t care that the Apple Car is cancelled

Apple Car is cancelled reaction | Close-up of engine start/stop button

It’s not the first time we’ve heard it reported that the Apple Car is cancelled, but yesterday’s Bloomberg report does seem definitive – with two very senior Apple execs said to have made an official announcement to the Titan team.

But while it may be dramatic news in one sense, after the company spent a huge amount of money over more than a decade, the evidence is that AAPL investors were almost entirely unmoved …

Expand Expanding Close

Apple makes last-minute plea to DOJ not to file US antitrust suit

US antitrust suit decision close | Man and woman making their case in a meeting

Apple lawyers reportedly met with the Department of Justice last week, to make a last-minute plea for the agency not to file a US antitrust suit against the company.

Neither Apple nor the DOJ commented on the meeting, which follows the iPhone maker being accused of “malicious compliance” in its response to both the Supreme Court decision on the App Store, and European antitrust legislation taking effect next month …

Expand Expanding Close

Meta Glasses expected to be revealed in the fall, but not go on sale for years

Meta Glasses expected to be revealed in the fall | Mark Zuckerberg wearing "Deal With It" meme sunglasses.

Apple and Meta won’t just be competing with their VR headsets – they are also likely to be gearing up for a later battle between Apple Glasses and Meta Glasses.

While both devices are believed to be years from launch, a new report today says that we’ll get a sneak peek at Meta Glasses later this year …

Expand Expanding Close

Apple Ring patent granted, as reports circulate – but this one is likely dead

Apple Ring patent granted | Purely illustrative photo of rings

An Apple Ring patent application has been granted, amid conflicting reports about the status of the company’s development of such a device.

However, while recent reports focus more on the applications of a ring as a health sensor as a cheaper alternative to an Apple Watch, this patent is more concerned with using it as an input device …

Expand Expanding Close

Apple faces five shareholder proposals, and doesn’t like any of them

Apple faces five shareholder proposals | Illustrative photo of voting in a public meeting

Tomorrow is the date of Apple’s annual shareholder meeting, and the company this year faces five shareholder proposals – and recommends voting against all of them.

The company went as far as trying to exclude one of them, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that it must be put to a vote …

Expand Expanding Close

I’d love to have a hardware focus/zoom ring for the iPhone

Hardware focus/zoom ring

The iPhone has become an increasingly capable camera over the years for both still photos and video, but there are still a number of big differences between an iPhone and a dedicated camera.

Sensor size is the biggest of these, of course. That has greatest impact on low-light photography, and can be challenging for video in particular. But the difference between hardware and software controls is another …

Expand Expanding Close

Apple Ask: Support staff reportedly testing AI tool to help answer your questions

Apple Ask | Call center staff

A limited number of Apple support staff are reportedly using an internal AI tool to help answer customer questions. The tool is reportedly known as Apple Ask.

The ChatGPT-style tool lets advisors paste in or paraphrase a support question, and the AI then searches Apple’s internal knowledge base to generate answers …

Expand Expanding Close