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.
Audi and Mercedes–Benz are among the car makers to reject CarPlay Ultra, despite Apple listing them as future partners, and they are not alone.
Aston–Martin was the first to adopt it, and Porsche has said that it will be doing so – but others previously named by Apple have either changed their minds, or are keeping suspiciously quiet …
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When a serious emergency occurs, a picture can be worth a thousand words. It can be incredibly helpful to first responders to see ahead of time what they will be faced with when they arrive.
It is technically possible to send photos and video to 911 operators, but it’s a convoluted process. That’s set to change later this year …
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When Jony Ive and Sam Altman teased their upcoming AI hardware device, we noted how mysterious they were being about its form factor.
While some were suggesting that it was a wearable, I said I felt pretty sure it wasn’t, and that’s now been confirmed by a court filing. A 9to5Mac reader last month made a plausible suggestion, and the latest development seems to me to add weight to the idea …
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Congressional staffers working in the House of Representatives have been told that WhatsApp security risks means they must no longer use the app on government devices.
The ban was imposed by the Office of Cybersecurity, which has previously barred the use of TikTok and a number of AI apps …
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The Lowfree Flow84 is the latest episode in my on-again, off-again love affair with mechanical keyboards. I describe it as the mechanical keyboard Apple would make for a mix of good and bad reasons, but we’ll get to that!
It’s one of a relatively new breed of low-profile mechanical keyboards, something that would have seemed a contradiction in terms just a few years earlier …
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The privacy-focused web browser DuckDuckGo has boosted its anti-scam features. It can now detect and block fake ecommerce stores, crypto sites, virus alerts, and more.
The new security feature is completely free for all users on both Mac and iOS browsers, with no Privacy Pro subscription needed …
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Anker and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have issued a product recall for a popular power bank due to a fire safety risk …
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Security researchers have discovered what they describe as “one of the largest data breaches in history,” comprising a staggering 16 billion logins, which include Apple accounts (formerly known as Apple IDs).
The researchers said that the stolen data gives cybercriminals “unprecedented access to personal credentials that can be used for account takeover, identity theft, and highly targeted phishing” …
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If you’re a fan of retro Sega games – or just think you might be – you’ll want to download nine of them to your iPhone before they are discontinued …
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Satechi’s latest SSD enclosure, the USB4 Slim NVMe SSD Enclosure, lets you add up to 8TB of SSD storage to any Mac – though it is specifically styled to make the perfect addition to an M4 Mac mini. You can currently save $20 to pick one up for $99.
The company says the design is inspired by a now-elderly form of storage: the Apple USB SuperDrive, a now-discontinued external CD and DVD drive …
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One of the likely challenges of the upcoming iPhone 17 Air is battery life. Indeed, Apple’s own tests reportedly show that a lot of us wouldn’t make it through the day with the ultra-slim model.
The company may have a fix for that in the works, in the form of a new power-efficient display upgrade. But Apple isn’t expected to incorporate the new tech before 2027 at the earliest …
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If you ever need to transcribe audio or video to text, most current apps are powered by OpenAI’s Whisper model. You’re probably using this model if you use apps like MacWhisper to transcribe meetings or lectures, or to generate subtitles for YouTube videos.
But iOS 26 and Apple’s other developer betas include the company’s own transcription frameworks – and a test suggests that they match Whisper’s accuracy while running at more than twice the speed …
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Adobe Firefly, the popular AI app for generating both images and video, is now available as an iPhone app. It follows the release of a Vision Pro app back in February.
The app has the same capabilities as the the web tool, but in a form optimized for mobile use. The app doesn’t limit you to using Adobe’s own image-generation models – you can also choose between a selection of third-party ones by Google, OpenAI, and others …
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There are strong indications that Apple Intelligence could be about to launch in China, following its deal with Alibaba to use its Qwen models.
A local report says that Alibaba has updated its ChatGPT competitor Qwen3, which has been optimized for the AI framework used on Apple devices …
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A new report found that around a million two-factor authentication codes sent by text message appear to have been intercepted.
A tech industry whistleblower revealed that the 2FA security codes passed through an obscure foreign company with links to government intelligence agencies and companies engaged in digital surveillance …
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If you’ve had your eye on any tech goodies, the dates for Amazon Prime Day 2025 have been announced by the company. What started as a single day and was later extended to two has again been doubled, running for a full four days this year …
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Update: Business Insider notes that Meta has now added a warning message when users share chat queries.
The Meta AI app has been described as “a privacy disaster,” as users unknowingly make their embarrassing questions public.
One tech writer described it as like discovering your web browser history has been public all along without you knowing it …
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If you’ve ever forgotten to download Spotify playlists to your Apple Watch before a walk, run, or cycle ride, a new feature should make life much easier.
Instead of having to manually download to the Watch, you can use any Apple device to queue up playlist downloads, which will happen the next time you open Spotify on your Watch. The same feature also allows you to queue downloads for any other Apple device, like an iPad …
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It had been widely expected that AirPods Pro 3 would launch sometime in 2025, in part based on reports from reliable leakers, in part simply because an update is due. AirPods Pro 2 will be three years old by this year’s iPhone launch.
But Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said last month that the new model won’t launch until next year, and that view has now reportedly been echoed in a new timeline …
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Apple may have belatedly responded to accusations of showing off Siri vaporware at last year’s WWDC, but the controversy is showing no sign of dying down anytime soon.
John Gruber – author of the original piece taking issue with Apple showing off features it hadn’t demonstrated to anyone outside the company – is now joined by M.G. Siegler and others …
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Scammers are using AI tools to create increasingly convincing ways to trick victims into sending money, and to access the personal information needed to commit identity theft. Deepfakes mean they can impersonate the voice of a friend or family member, and even fake a video call with them!
The result can be criminals taking out thousands of dollars worth of loans or credit card debt in your name. Fortunately there are steps you can take to protect yourself against even the most sophisticated scams. Here are the security and privacy checks to run to ensure you are safe …
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WWDC 2025 ends today, and we’ve seen all the new features on offer from Apple’s shiny glassy new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26.
The first developer betas are available now, and anyone can sign up to try them – but you probably shouldn’t. If you’re not a developer with sacrificial test devices, exactly how long should you wait in the beta cycle before risking them on your daily drivers … ?
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A massive international law enforcement operation coordinated by Interpol has seen one of the biggest ever takedowns of a malware network.
The simultaneous strike across 26 countries resulted in more than 20,000 domains being taken offline, and the arrest of 32 suspects …
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A new Apple framework makes it easy for developers of smart home apps to help cut your electricity bills. While EnergyKit is currently limited to thermostats and EV chargers, it’s the first step toward optimizing energy usage throughout your entire home.
Some smart home devices can already help you reduce power usage and costs, like the Ecobee and Nest thermostats, but EnergyKit takes this much further …
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