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.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has turned up the dial to 11 on his anti-Apple rhetoric, calling the iPhone maker a “gangster-style business” which has concluded that “crime pays.”
He said that both Apple and Google are guilty of the same practices, including using scare tactics to make iPhone and Android users afraid to install the Epic Games Store …
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In a somewhat surreal event, the National Labor Relations Board has frozen two cases against Apple after Trump nominated one of the iPhone maker’s defence lawyers to head up the watchdog.
The NLRB was due to hear cases alleging that Apple illegally fired two organizers of the #AppleToo movement, but both cases have been “postponed indefinitely” just days after Crystal Carey was nominated to head up the body …
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iPhone farms – banks of phones equipped with rotating temporary Apple IDs – are being used to send more 100,000 scam iMessages per day, found security researchers.
By using iMessages rather than texts, scammers can bypass spam and scam filters implemented by mobile carriers. Fraudsters don’t even need any technical skills to carry out their attacks, as there are companies offering phishing-as-a-service (PhAAS) …
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Verizon-owned Visible seems to be offering a much better unlimited mobile data deal than its parent company. The new Visible+ Pro plan includes 5G Ultrawideband, unlimited hotspot usage, 4K video streaming, cellular service for one Apple Watch – and claims to have no throttling.
The cost of the plan is $45 per month, which is $20 cheaper than Verizon’s own Unlimited Welcome …
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A number of people are reporting that previously deleted iPhone apps are reappearing on their devices after upgrading to iOS 18.4.
Some Reddit users are also claiming apps they have never installed have appeared on their iPhones …
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At least five VPN apps in the App Store were found to have links to the Chinese military, according to a new report today. Three of them have racked up more than a million downloads.
A subsidiary of one of the Chinese companies behind the apps is currently hiring for a role in “monitoring and analysing platform data,” with a familiarity with American culture listed as a job requirement …
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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported a couple of days ago on what he described as “Apple’s biggest push into health yet with a new AI doctor.”
While I completely understand why Apple would want to do this, I think the company will need to tread extremely carefully to avoid the risk of doing more harm than good …
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Mark Gurman’s recent Q&A revealed a little snippet of information about iOS 19 – its codename within the Apple teams working on it – and it sounds very much like it tells us what to expect …
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Apple has gotten a lot of flack for talking up Apple Intelligence while delivering very little of it, and now it seems Amazon is about to do the exact same thing.
A new report citing internal company documents suggests that Alexa+, Amazon’s equivalent of the new Siri, will also launch without many of its headline features …
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The number of Made in India iPhones is expected to more than double this year, as Apple seeks to further reduce its dependence on China, says a local report.
Key iPhone assembler Foxconn is said to be conducting trials to ensure that it can ramp up volume while meeting Apple’s tight quality standards at its latest iPhone plant in the country…
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An Apple patent has described extending the Apple Watch Fall Detection system to other wearable devices. This includes Vision Pro, a future Apple Glasses product – and even a smart contact lens.
The patent says that such wearables could be even more effective that the Apple Watch implementation, for two reasons …
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Apple has been fined $162M by France’s competition regulator for the way App Tracking Transparency is implemented, stating that this is an abuse of the company’s powers.
This bizarre ruling follows a complaint by a group of trade associations representing advertisers who are no longer able to access user data to serve personalized ads …
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A new report says that SpaceX is trying to block Apple’s expansion plans for iPhone satellite messaging by pressuring the FCC to intervene.
Elon Musk’s close relationship with both the White House and the FCC chair could give SpaceX a substantial advantage in an ongoing battle between the two companies for radio spectrum …
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I’ve described one of Waterfield’s earlier backpacks as a mini-Tardis, as it carries way more inside than you’d ever expect from the compact form factor, and that’s even more true of the latest Shinjuku Backpack.
It looks like a slim backpack suitable for a MacBook, charger, and a few other bits and pieces, but the beautifully-organized layout means it’s surprisingly capacious …
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Apple and Google will become legally responsible for age verification of app store users in Utah, after the App Store Accountability Act was signed into law. It takes effect on May 7, giving the tech giants a little time to implement it.
Both companies have opposed the legislation, but similar laws look set to follow in at least eight more US states …
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The design of Samsung’s Android VR headset was clearly ‘inspired’ by Vision Pro, but Vivo has taken things to a whole new level with its Vivo Vision. While there are differences, it could certainly pass for the real thing at first glance …
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TSMC’s first US chip plant took significantly longer to build and begin production than was forecast, but the company says that future plants will proceed at a significantly faster pace. This will enable US-made chips for somewhat newer Apple devices.
But former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is dismissive of the initiative, suggesting that it will be of little help in enabling the US to be a global player in the chip business …
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While there may be debate about whether iOS 19 will be a UI revolution or evolution, there does seem to be a consensus view on app icons. Namely, that they are likely to switch from squircles – squares with rounded corners – to circles.
Whether one looks better than the other is of course a matter of subjective judgement. But there is a small problem with circular icons …
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Apple has donated 30 million yuan ($4.1 million) to Zhejiang University to help fund app development training in China.
CEO Tim Cook has also visited Hangzhou, China’s artificial intelligence hub and home to the developers of the controversial chatbot DeepSeek …
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The iPhone 16 ban last year imposed by the Indonesian government will finally be lifted, says a new report, the latest models going back on sale on April 11.
An end to the long-running battle between Indonesia and Apple has reportedly cost the Cupertino company at least $300M, and possibly up to $1B over ten years …
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We noted ahead of the iPhone 16 launch that the device could technically support 8K video recording, but it was possible Apple would hold this back for the iPhone 17.
Apple did indeed withhold it from the iPhone 16 – arguably with good reason – and a leaker with a decent track record backs our expectation that 8K video capability will be offered in the iPhone 17 line-up …
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Yesterday saw the latest episode in a Prosser versus Gurman battle over just how big a change we’ll see in the look and feel of the user interface in iOS 19.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says he’s seen evidence of a change almost as notable as that of iOS 7 back in 2013. Jon Prosser, on the other hand, says we should expect something far less dramatic …
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The European Union is reportedly set to announce that Apple won’t be fined for failing to comply with an antitrust law relating to choice of iPhone web browser. The maximum fine could have been as high as 10% of the company’s global revenue.
Apple initially made one change to iOS to allow users to set a different default browser, but the EU had ruled that this was not enough to make it compliant with the law …
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A group of US senators have written to President Trump to warn him that his handling of the TikTok ban is leaving Apple, Google, and Oracle exposed to “ruinous legal liability.”
The three companies are potentially at risk of being fined up to $850B (yes, billion not million) for continuing to offer the app despite it being banned from the US …
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