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.
In what that sounds like the plot of a thriller, an iPad thrown into London’s River Thames spent more than five years underwater before it was found and provided key evidence to convict three men of attempted murder – all the more so given that the man shot was a key figure in one of the world’s biggest ever armed robberies …
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China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot doesn’t exactly have the best of reputations. It has exposed chat history and other sensitive data; the iOS app has been shown to have multiple security flaws; is under investigation in both the US and Europe; and ARM’s CEO believes it will end up being banned in the US.
But none of this has stopped Apple CEO Tim Cook describing it as “excellent” during a visit to Beijing for the China Development Forum …
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Apple accessories have a certain reputation for being a little on the pricey side. For example, $129 and up for a Magic Keyboard might be considered expensive when third-party models are available from under $20. But the Seneca keyboard from Norbauer makes Apple prices look positively Dollar Store level …
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A report earlier this month suggested that Apple is working on embedding cameras into AirPods, followed yesterday by another suggesting the inclusion of Apple Watch cameras too.
Apple has for many years been exploring the idea of adding a camera to the Apple Watch, but the latest report suggests a very specific usage …
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An upcoming Philips Hue doorbell has been accidentally leaked by the company though an update to the Hue app. The company already offers a range of smart security cameras.
The app content reveals quite a lot about the device, which is not expected to launch until the fall, including a significant limitation …
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When I said I’d bought an M1 MacBook Air in 2025, I must confess I was rather expecting comments along the lines of “what were you thinking?” Instead, the prevailing view appeared to be that there really isn’t any reason to favor the latest and greatest model for my type of use.
Having had the chance to try out the new machine in an Apple Store, I’m not 100% sure I’d favor an upgrade even if it were the same price …
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The embarrassment over the state of Siri continues, with the discovery that the ‘intelligent’ assistant doesn’t even know what month it is.
My colleague Zac Hall suggested that things are now so bad the Siri brand is irredeemably tarnished, and any new version should be given a completely new name – but some think Apple should go further than this, and let us replace Siri with our own choice of AI chatbot …
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A leaker is out with a new set of iPhone 17 dummy models based on CAD drawings, and these latest ones have a detail not previously seen.
The mockups of the two iPhone 17 Pro models appear to indicate which areas of the case back will be metal and which will be glass …
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The Meta AI chatbot is finally rolling out to European countries from this week, and will be accessible in Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger. However, the headline feature of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will not be available.
The generative AI feature first launched in the US back in 2023, but privacy concerns were raised when it came to light that the company had been training it on Facebook and Instagram posts since way back in 2007 ….
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The criminals behind a phishing attack aimed at Windows users are now targeting Mac users instead. The goal is to steal your Apple Account credentials (aka Apple ID).
The security researchers who uncovered the scam say that it’s one of the most sophisticated attacks ever mounted against Mac users …
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I last year described the touchscreen Mac as “the idea that will not die.” No matter how many times Apple says it won’t make one, we see continued suggestions that it will, or should.
To be clear, Apple absolutely has made prototypes of touchscreen Macs. The first of these dates back to at least 2008, and probably earlier …
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Growth in US Mac shipments hit more than 25% in the final quarter of last year, outperforming that of all PC makers. Only Acer came close with 20% growth, while market leaders HP and Dell both saw their shipments decline year-on-year.
A market intelligence company has suggested a key factor may be Microsoft forcing businesses to replace millions of existing PCs …
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The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be the slimmest iPhone Apple has ever made, and a report over the weekend suggested that the company even considered making it the first portless phone. It said the iPhone maker ultimately decided against this, in part because it feared removing the USB-C port would have brought it into conflict with the EU.
However, I’ve had confirmation from the bloc that dropping the USB-C port for a completely portless phone would in fact be completely legal …
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Roku has confirmed user reports that it is testing auto-playing video ads before loading the home screen. Owners of Roku-powered smart TVs are understandably unimpressed …
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Apple has been facing increased antitrust scrutiny in Germany since a new law came into effect, and the company has now lost its latest appeal.
The Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office) had argued that it should have the right to directly order Apple to make changes to the way that it runs the App Store, and a court has now granted it this right …
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Apple yesterday teased a new Spike Jonze short film starring Pedro Pascal, as a creative way to show off the benefits of the Active Noise Cancellation feature on AirPods 4.
The film – just over five-and-a-half minutes long and titled Someday – is now available …
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Tap to Pay on iPhone is the ultimate in convenience for small businesses looking to accept contactless payment from both mobile wallets and physical cards, and from today it’s available in nine more countries.
It allows retailers to accept contactless payment using only their iPhone, with no separate mobile terminal or card reader required …
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Apple handles AI tasks on-device wherever possible, but where more power is needed it can call on Apple Intelligence servers, aka Private Cloud Compute (PCC).
If you want to see exactly what data has been sent to PCC, you can call up privacy reports on iPhone, iPad, and Mac – but so far everyone at 9to5Mac who’s checked has found theirs empty …
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The Audi A6 Avant E-Tron is the first of the company’s cars to support Car Key – and a shared platform means we can also be confident it’s coming soon to some Porsche EVs.
Audi hasn’t yet formally announced Car Key support for its latest station wagon, but it was discovered in the Audi app during a review of the car …
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![How much control are you willing to hand over to Apple Intelligence? [Poll]](https://9to5mac.my/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/02/apple-intelligence-devices.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
The Siri crisis is showing no sign of ending, with a blistering attack by a high-profile commenter, and even senior Apple execs admitting that the delayed features are embarrassing.
At this point, there isn’t anything Apple can do to completely recover from the embarrassment, but a report on an internal Siri team meeting did seem to indicate a potential way to at least mitigate the damage …
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A secret court hearing on iCloud encryption began on Friday, amid calls in both the UK and US to make the proceedings public.
The British government is demanding that Apple create backdoor access, not just for the personal data of British citizens, but for all iCloud users worldwide …
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I thought I had this figured out. I was making a hard-headed decision to buy a refurbed M1 MacBook Air with 16GB RAM for half the price of a new M4 one, for reasons I’ll explain in a moment.
But, ironically, it’s because the M1 version is so good that I think I’m at risk of selling it again and buying the shiny new M4 model …
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The CEO of Roblox has responded to parental concerns about harmful content in the app by telling them they shouldn’t let their kids use it if they are worried …
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A new WhatsApp message threads feature appears to be on the way, after it was discovered in an app beta.
It follows a flurry of new features launched last month, comprising colorful chat themes, linked social media accounts, and ChatGPT support extending to images and voice messages …
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