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.
The oddest omission in the iPhone 16e is the lack of support for MagSafe. Indeed, the scale of the surprise at this led Apple to issue an explanation of sorts.
But the position becomes all the stranger, thanks to the discovery that the phone comes so close to supporting it …
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The colorful arches surrounding what was once the Apple Park Stage have been dismantled, as seen on Google Maps satellite images.
The move comes as a surprise given that they’ve been a fixture in Apple keynote videos, but it’s being suggested that they are being rebuilt, this time as a permanent structure …
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Xiaomi has mostly made a living from copying everything coming out of Cupertino, but it’s lately done a couple of things I wouldn’t mind seeing Apple copy.
First there was the design of its 15 Ultra smartphone, and now it’s shown-off an interesting-looking concept that I think could make the basis of an excellent Apple Camera Lens module for iPhone …
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One of the odder aspects of Apple’s history is that the company has gone in 14 years from one of the leaders in intelligent assistants to one of the biggest laggards.
We’ve gone from the futuristic-feeling Siri way back in 2011 to a painfully inadequate-feeling Apple Intelligence in 2025 ….
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The UK’s privacy watchdog has announced a “major investigation” into the child protection measures of three popular apps: TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that it has previously succeeded in bringing about child protection changes on X, Sendit, BeReal, Daily Motion, and Viber …
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I’m a relatively early adopter of smart home products. While I didn’t dive in during the X.10 days, I’ve been using a variety of smart home devices for well over a decade now, and jumped in on HomeKit as soon as it crossed the Atlantic.
But a recent experience of something as simple as replacing a failed light-bulb really drove home how much further we have to go before we can expect non-techies to climb on board …
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There are two new reports of Mac malware in the wild, with the first of them set to be blocked by an update expected this week.
There’s no word yet on a fix for the second, but you’d have to be a pretty naive Mac user to fall for it …
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Instagram users saw a flood of violent and sexually explicit contents in their Reels before the company responded to complaints …
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I’ve never been a fan of raised camera modules, whether on iPhones or Android phones – but Xiaomi has found a way to make one beautiful …
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Each current iPhone gets its own wallpaper, and it turns out there’s a fun hidden message in the official iPhone 16 wallpapers.
While not obvious when viewing the one of the models in isolation, it becomes much easier to spot when you see three of them side-by-side in the comparison tool on Apple’s website …
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One of the questions raised by the iPhone 16e naming is whether it points to an annual update to the entry-level iPhone, with an iPhone 17e following next year.
A leaker who got early wind of the the iPhone 16e name says there are already signs that this may be the case, with a codename believed to reference next year’s model …
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In a world in which privacy is a hot-button issue, we might have expected Brits to be outraged that their government was responsible for Apple withdrawing Advanced Data Protection from the UK. In reality, it’s gone largely unremarked.
A new Bloomberg piece suggests that’s because people care far less about privacy than they claim. While I do think there’s some truth to that, it’s not the primary reason …
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A new market intelligence report indicates that Mac market share grew at a faster rate that the top three PC brands during the final quarter of last year.
Apple also dominates the AI-capable computer market, with a 45% share against 15% for the nearest Windows PC competitor …
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At least nine US states are considering legislation that would make app store owners like Apple and Google responsible for age verification before giving access to apps with minimum age requirements. Currently the legal responsibility lies with developers.
The issue is most applicable to social media apps, which typically have a minimum age of 13, and is an approach advocated by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg …
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Susan Kare is the artist best known for creating the original Macintosh iconography which played such an important role in making the computer appear friendly to non-tech users. The Happy Macintosh, Dogcow, and error bomb were among her creations.
She already offered a range of prints and other artworks based on those pixelated memories, and has now added to them with some similarly-styled keycaps in silver and gold …
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A months-long iPhone 16 ban in Indonesia finally looks set to be lifted, after Apple reportedly agreed to increase its billion dollar investment in the country. The launch of the iPhone 16e would have further added to pressure on the Cupertino company to agree a deal.
The latest report says that Apple will sign an agreement with the Indonesian government later this week, with an official lifting of the ban set to be announced immediately afterwards …
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Apple famously likes to take its time with most forms of new tech, preferring to be best rather than first, and that’s been true of a folding iPhone.
The company reportedly hasn’t been impressed with the quality of Android models to date, with one issue in particular most bothering the iPhone maker …
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Meta community notes are expected to launch within the next couple of months, after the social network announced it would be ending its own fact-checking program because facts are so 2015. You can now apply to be a contributor to these, signing up on one of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
Meantime, X owner Elon Musk appears to be threatening the impartiality of his platform’s community notes, announcing plans to “fix” the feature …
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While there have been some differences of opinion between leakers in the past, three high-profile ones have all endorsed the same CAD drawing of the complete iPhone 17 line-up.
The drawing shows the three completely different camera layouts expected for the base iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Air, and the two iPhone 17 Pro models …
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A technicality had previously given the impression that Apple approved of a porn app being made available to iPhone users in the EU via a third-party app store.
That lead to some misleading headlines, but Apple has now solved the problem by changing three words in the email sent to developers …
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I guess I’m far from alone in having non-techy friends ask my advice on which Apple device to buy. I always start by asking what’s important to them, and what they want to do with it.
For Macs, my advice changed significantly after the launch of the M1 MacBook Air. Prior to that, my answer to the question “which Mac should I buy for basic tasks like email, web, and writing” was quite often “buy an iPad and keyboard instead” …
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NSO’s Pegasus spyware is one of the most frightening privacy threats an iPhone owner can face. Without you taking any action at all, it’s able to completely take over your phone, accessing almost all of the personal data stored on it, and some versions have been able to activate cameras and microphones.
Pegasus exploits zero-day vulnerabilities – security holes Apple doesn’t yet know about – but the iPhone maker has another way to fight back …
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The iPhone 16e represents a huge change from the third-gen iPhone SE it replaces. A modern design, OLED screen, Face ID, latest(ish) A18 chip, Apple Intelligence, 48MP camera sensor, 26-hour battery, USB-C, C1 modem, and more.
But there’s one other huge difference, and it’s this one which I think makes the latest entry-level iPhone a crucial experiment for the Cupertino company …
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Apple achieved a major milestone yesterday, when it launched an iPhone with its own in-house modem instead of a Qualcomm one: the C1 chip.
This has been a key goal for the company for a great many years for two reasons, so finally ticking the box is a pretty big moment …
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