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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

Zuckerberg’s AI announcement raises privacy and toxicity red flags

Meta AI | apps Instagram Facebook WhatsApp

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s AI announcement has raised major concerns, after he said that the company had more user data than was used to train ChatGPT – and would soon be using it to train its own AI systems.

The company’s plan to use Facebook and Instagram posts and comments to train a competing chatbot raises concerns about both privacy and toxicity …

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Spotify paid users hit 236M, but company returns to losing money, amid Apple battle

Spotify paid users hit 236M | Mac app opening

Spotify reported a mix of good news and bad in its latest quarterly earnings report. The good news was that Spotify paid users hit 236M, up 4% on the previous quarter. Subscribers on the free ad-funded tier grew even more, up 5% to 602M.

The bad news was that the company, which managed a rare quarterly profit in Q3, returned to being a loss-making business in Q4 …

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Micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra might be pushed back even further, to 2027

Micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra | Existing model shown

A micro-LED Apple Watch Ultra has been variously predicted to launch in 2024, 2025, and 2026 – but a new report today suggests that it may slip to 2027, or even later.

The problem is said to be Apple’s hesitation over the high cost of the micro-LED screen, which suppliers have so far been unable to reduce to a more palatable level …

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Vision Pro review-in-progress describes some key wins & losses

Vision Pro review-in-progress | Headset on colorful background

Macworld’s Jason Cross sounds like he’s taking an approach along somewhat similar lines to my Apple product diaries with his Vision Pro review, saying that he’s going to take time before giving a verdict – and in the meantime share some of his early take-outs.

His initial thoughts describe some of the things that most impress him about the device – and some of the biggest problems he’s encountered so far …

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Casey Neistat Vision Pro video experience went from fun to feeling like the future

Casey Neistat Vision Pro | Wearing it in Times Square

A Casey Neistat Vision Pro video posted over the weekend was, he says, simply intended to be a piece of silly fun – wearing the device while catching metro trains and walking through Times Square.

But he said that in the course of making the video, he had a totally unexpected experience, which convinced him that this type of device is the future of computing …

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Vision Pro YouTube app now available from Apollo developer after Google refused

Unofficial Vision Pro YouTube app Juno

There’s no official Vision Pro YouTube app, as Google declined to create one, and also blocked the use of its iPad app, which could otherwise have been used.

But there’s now an unofficial YouTube app for Apple’s spatial computer, thanks to Christian Selig, best known as the creator of the now-dead Reddit client, Apollo …

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Apple foldable could be an iPhone or iPad mini replacement, says confusing report

Apple foldable – iPhone or iPad mini (shown)

A supply chain report says that the first Apple foldable device could launch in 2026 or 2027 – later than some sources have suggested – but that it’s unclear whether it will be a folding iPhone or a replacement for the iPad mini.

Making sense of the report is challenging as there are so few details, and the author admits they don’t actually know what it means …

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Senate hearing on social media: Zuckerberg apologises to families; bizarre racism

Senate hearing on social media

The Senate hearing on social media saw Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologise to families who hold social media responsible for children who harmed themselves, including some who took their own lives.

It also saw some bizarre racism by one senator who apparently can’t tell the difference between Singapore and China …

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Tim Cook talks Vision Pro, and his secret prototype experience many years ago

Tim Cook talks Vision Pro secret prototype | Photo of security guard

In a new piece in Vanity Fair, Tim Cook talks Vision Pro – including his first ever experience of using an early prototype of the device in the company’s secretive design block.

The piece doesn’t say when that was, only that it was before Apple moved to its current campus, and that it was “years ago; maybe six, seven, or even eight” …

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More than seven hours of daily screen time is harmful; costs US $73B a year

Too much screen time is harmful | People using laptops and smartphones on shared table

A new study says that more than seven hours a day of daily screen time is harmful to our health, and the cost of this to the US economy adds up to $73B a year.

Eye-strain, muscle fatigue, neck pain, sleep interference, and even damage to our musculoskeletal system can result from spending too much time in front of a screen, says the report …

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Viture One XR glasses could be my Vision Pro stand-in for now

Viture One XR glasses connected to an iPhone 15 Pro Max

I’ve previously said that much as Vision Pro looks insanely impressive, I’m still not expecting to hand over my cash before a third-gen device. If you’re of the same mind, then the $439 Viture One XR glasses might be worth a look.

To be clear, the company makes no claims to be competing with Vision Pro. Its glasses product are a very different beast, but do tick some of the same boxes – including the ability to view Spatial Video content shot on the iPhone 15 …

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Zuckerberg doubles down on saying app age verification should be Apple’s responsibility

App age verification | 'Sign here' PostIt on an iPhone

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has doubled down on his view that app age verification should be the responsibility of Apple and Google, and not social media companies.

His remarks form part of prepared testimony to Congress, as he and other social media CEOs come under fire for failing to do enough to protect their teenage app users …

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Epic Games goes to court to accuse Apple of failing to comply with App Store ruling

App Store ruling headed back to court

While some may have thought the Epic Games versus Apple battle ended when the US Supreme Court decided the existing App Store ruling would stand, and it would not hear appeals from either side, it quickly became clear that this isn’t the case.

Epic Games has now followed through with its threat to contest Apple’s “bad-faith compliance plan” – which would see the company charge 27% commission on app sales made outside of its own App Store …

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Jony Ive tried to discontinue the MacBook Air – Walt Mossberg

Ive reportedly wanted to discontinue the MacBook Air

A rather sketchy report claims that Jony Ive tried to persuade Apple to cease making the MacBook Air, leaving a redesigned MacBook Pro as the only portable Mac.

The story comes from Walt Mossberg, who admits that it’s based on a single source within Apple, but says that person was at “a very high level” with exceptional product knowledge …

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