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.
Back in June, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a new rule, under which carriers will have to unlock your iPhone or Android smartphone within 60 days of activation.
Two of the biggest US carriers, AT&T and T-Mobile, are now arguing against this, claiming that it’s consumers who will suffer if they are forced to comply …
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The new iPad mini is available in Apple stores from today, and the company wants to ensure everyone knows it. The company has just issued a reminder, majoring on the support for Apple Intelligence …
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At a time when you can ask AI to modify an existing photo in almost any way you please, or even ask it to generate a completely artificial image, can we ever trust photos again?
Apple is working to address the issue in two ways, and many of us are hoping it will also join an emerging new standard for content authenticity …
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When the iPhone 16 line-up was launched without most of the headline AI features, there was much criticism about the Apple Intelligence delays. The WSJ’s Joanna Stern has now sat down with Apple software lead Craig Federighi to ask him to explain why the roll-out is so slow.
In addition to the timeline of Apple Intelligence features, Federighi also talks about what we can expect from a smarter Siri …
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TikTok isn’t the first place I’d think of in relation to the concept of the wisdom of crowds, but it seems I may be underestimating the streaming video app …
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The US Commerce Department is carrying out an investigation into whether Apple chipmaker TSMC breached US sanctions against China by supplying smartphone and AI chips to Huawei. The probe was in part driven by Huawei’s surprising ability to resume competing with iPhones.
Update: A new report today says that TSMC reported itself to the US government based on its own suspicions about an order.
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Apple CEO Tim Cook is currently in China, taking time to visit retail store, developers, musicians, universities, and a well-known fashion photographer …
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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported over the weekend that some Apple employees believe that the company is about two years behind the curve on artificial intelligence.
Tim Cook didn’t directly address that during an interview with the WSJ, but did say that the company’s aim is always to be best, not first – and that this includes AI …
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Meta is testing facial recognition as a way of letting you instantly recover your Instagram or Facebook account if you find yourself locked out. The process of submitting a video selfie looks much the same as that used to register for Face ID, requiring you to turn your head in different directions.
The company is also using the technology to detect and block scams using celebrities …
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The iPhone 16 line-up offers an impressive boost to battery life, but there are still occasions when our iPhone needs some help to make it through a long day.
If you can’t rely on being in one place long enough to top-up by cable, a portable battery pack can save the day. I tested out two very different battery-powered wireless chargers …
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Update on October 21: The hackers still have access to support tickets and the email addresses of the users who submitted them, and are currently sending replies.
An Internet Archive data breach has been confirmed by the organisation, which has also been suffering Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. The home of the Wayback Machine was previously attacked back in May …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook has been the main independent board director for sneaker company Nike for the past 19 years, but the brand is currently facing its biggest challenge during that time …
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While the iPhone 16 launch was all about Apple Intelligence, many have accused the company of being very late to the AI party. Indeed, a new piece yesterday suggested that this view is shared by many inside the company.
But Apple CEO Tim Cook argues in a new interview that he doesn’t see it that way, and says that the company has taken its time with AI for the same reason it has with every innovation …
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Apple is supporting a national parks initiative in China, geared to providing training and education within the field of nature conservation.
The work in five of China’s national parks is being done through the China Green Carbon Sink Foundation, and the company likely has both public and private objectives …
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A new survey reveals that almost half of Americans have forgotten to cancel a trial subscription. It also corroborates earlier findings that we’re now spending around $1,000 a year on subscription services.
The survey comes as the FCC announced new rules ensuring that companies can’t use deceptive practices to hook us into taking out subscriptions, nor make it hard to cancel them …
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Whenever an Apple device generates a strong password for you, the structure of those secure passwords isn’t entirely random.
Instead, Apple created rules specifically designed to make them easier to type if you ever have to do that manually, and to make them briefly memorable …
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The FCC has announced new requirements for all smartphones to be compatible with all Bluetooth hearing aids, and one quirky impact is that this will include AirPods Pro 2.
It will also require iPhones to support all Bluetooth hearing aids, not just MFi ones …
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The latest Apple Store opened today in Belfast, Northern Ireland – with local schoolchildren getting access to it ahead of the opening.
The location of the store is carefully described as being “on the island of Ireland” rather than “in Ireland” …
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Including personal details in AI chats is never a good idea, given that many of them are in part trained on the content of those conversations, but there’s now another reason not to do this …
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Apple last year launched its Roadside Assistance via satellite feature in the US, intended to provide help to those stranded by car trouble in areas without mobile coverage. That service has now been quietly extended to the UK.
You’ll need an iPhone 14 or later to use the service, and you’ll need to know ahead of time how to use the feature to summon help …
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Instagram is introducing new measures to protect teens from sextortion, by making it harder for criminals to blackmail them.
Separately, it appears to be working on a new Social Library feature intended to make it easier to find posts you’ve shared, liked, or been sent in chat …
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A regulatory filing reveals that the iPad mini 7 charging speed is limited to 20W, the same as its predecessor.
This means that the device will take around an hour to charge to 70%, and about two hours to go from empty to fully-charged – significantly slower than the speeds offered by some Android tablets …
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We’re expecting Apple to launch the M4 MacBook Pro by the end of the month, and supply-chain reports appear to corroborate this.
Revenue and shipment reports from three Mac suppliers suggest that production is well underway, as Apple stockpiles machines ready for launch …
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