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 two technothriller novels , a romcom novel, and an SF novella series.
He is old enough to have owned the original Macintosh. He currently owns an M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air 11, 12.9-inch iPad Pro (LTE 256GB), iPhone 13 Pro Max (256GB), Dell Ultrawide 49-inch monitor, an Apple Watch (Series 4 WiFi) and multiple HomePods – he suspects it might be cheaper to have a cocaine habit than his addiction to all things anodised aluminum.
He thinks wires are evil and had a custom desk made to hide them, known as the OC Desk for obvious reasons.
He’s known for his op-ed and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review:
He considers 1000 miles a good distance for a cycle ride and Chernobyl a suitable tourist destination. What can we say, he’s that kind of chap.
He speaks fluent English but only broken American, so please forgive any Anglicised spelling in his posts.
If @benlovejoy-ing him on twitter, please follow him first so that he can DM you if appropriate. If you have information you can pass on, you can also email him. If you would like to comment on one of his pieces, please do so in the comments – he does read them all.
LG Innotech is the main supplier of Apple’s camera modules, and a new report says the company is upgrading its production facilities in order to be ready for next year’s iPhone 17 Pro cameras.
We don’t yet know much about the cameras for the iPhone 17 line-up, but the report suggests that one thing won’t change …
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Apple is likely to face antitrust action in the UK over Safari being the default web browser on iPhone. The country’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally concluded that the company abuses its control over iPhone apps.
This is likely to see Apple forced to take the same action it already did in the EU – allowing users to choose their default web browser when first setting up a new iPhone …
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Apple has responded to an iPhone 16 ban in Indonesia by offering a ten-fold boost to its manufacturing investments in the country – from $10M to $100M. Update: The Indonesian government has said that it expects more – see the end of the piece.
The Indonesian government responded aggressively when Cupertino company fell a little way short of its promised spend in the country, and Apple seems extremely keen to resolve the matter …
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An Apple ebooks antitrust investigation being carried out by the European Union has been closed without reaching a conclusion.
The EU says the probe ended is because the complaint against the company has been withdrawn, but that’s likely because it had become irrelevant …
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The Camera Control feature I was most looking forward to was half-press to lock focus and exposure – a key feature of traditional cameras.
While I’m very happy to have this in the latest beta, testing it in real-life use definitely confirms its status as the first attempt at a beta feature …
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Bloomberg yesterday reported that Apple is currently testing an “LLM Siri” within the company, with the intention of announcing it as an iOS 19 feature.
That will likely see it previewed in June at WWDC 2025, but the report says that it won’t actually go live before the spring of 2026 …
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A Satechi M4 Mac mini stand and hub promises to let owners of the new ultra-compact desktop Mac add up to 4TB of fast SSD storage, together with an SD card slot and three USB-A ports.
The upcoming device will be similar to the model already available for the previous generation Mac mini, but don’t expect to take delivery any time soon …
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The impact of social media use by kids is perhaps one of the hottest topics in tech. There’s significant evidence that social media apps like Instagram can be harmful to the mental health of children, while others argue that it can also enable social connection.
Australia is currently debating a proposed law which would ban the use of social media by children under the age of 16 years of age …
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Disney CEO Bob Iger accidentally revealed a key piece of commercially-sensitive data during the company’s most recent earnings call: how many Disney+ subscribers are on ad-supported tier.
He quickly realized his mistake, commenting shortly afterwards that “I don’t know if I was supposed to disclose those AVOD [Ad-based Video On Demand] numbers” …
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The popularity of Apple Pay will now see the Cupertino company regulated by the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a watchdog whose role is normally limited to banks and financial services companies.
The decision means that the bureau will have the power to monitor and regulate Apple’s policies and practices in regard to its mobile wallet services …
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UK mobile carrier O2 has created Daisy, an AI grandmother designed to waste the time of phone scammers by keeping them on the line as long as possible.
Anyone can report a scam call or message by texting their number to 7722, where it will be checked and then added to the list of targets …
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The legal battle over the free music streaming app Musi continues, with Apple defending its decision to remove it from the App Store ahead of a court case set to determine its fate …
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A Mac version of the popular console game Control Ultimate Edition will launch on February 12 next year, says developer Remedy.
We don’t yet know the specs required to run it, but we can be certain that it will be limited to M-Series Macs …
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Lawyers acting for Apple are today expected to ask a federal judge to dismiss the DOJ antitrust case against the company in its entirety.
The Department of Justice has for years been investigating whether Apple broke antitrust law by abusing its dominant position in the US smartphone market, before deciding that it did, and filing charges in March of this year …
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Leaked documents reveal that the Graykey iPhone hacking tool is able to “partially” access iPhone 16 models – but not if they are running any of the iOS 18 betas.
Graykey is a competitor to Cellebrite, and is intended for use by law enforcement agencies. We’ve seen similar leaked documents from Cellebrite before, but this is the first time we’ve discovered which devices Graykey can access …
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It was back in September when Meta first revealed an early prototype of its Orion AR glasses, and while they are a long way from becoming an actual product you can buy, the company does believe it can achieve this.
Indeed, Meta’s wearables chief thinks that Orion can in time become the AirPods of augmented reality devices …
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One of the biggest problems with social media is that our feeds are full of things the algorithms think we want to see, rather than what we actually want to see.
If your Instagram recommendations seem increasingly removed from your interests, Meta is now offering you the chance to start again from scratch …
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Apple has put together no fewer than nine different Top 10 lists, revealing the most popular podcasts of 2024.
The lists kick off with the top shows of the year, but go on to list the most popular in a number of different categories, from new shows to those with the highest subscriber counts …
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The latest iPhone 17 Air report suggests that the expected ultra-slim model could be as thin as 6mm, which would make it the slimmest iPhone ever made.
While that would be a challenging metric to hit, and we’ll believe it when there’s supporting evidence, we do seem to have growing clarity on the market Apple is targeting with the device …
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Apple has been one of the most vocal supporters of the benefits of regularly standing up during the working day.
The company encourages standing once an hour via Apple Watch alerts, and it also made sit-stand desks a standard fitment in its Apple Park campus. CEO Tim Cook even cited the “sitting is the new cancer” phrase which has proven so controversial …
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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has resurrected the idea of an Apple television, albeit couching this in the most uncertain of terms.
[The company] may even revisit the idea of making an Apple-branded TV set, something it’s evaluating.
Long-time readers may recall that rumors about this date back to at least 2011 …
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A new report today suggests that porch pirates – thieves who steal packages left on doorsteps shortly after delivery – have accessed tracking data from AT&T systems to follow iPhone deliveries.
There has been a marked uptick in iPhones being stolen from doorsteps after being ordered from AT&T and delivered by Fedex, apparently with the help of real-time delivery updates …
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Apple last week launched Final Cut Pro 11, and the company clearly consider the new features offered to be a big deal. The last time Apple did a full version number change was the launch of Final Cut Pro X (aka FCP 10) way back in 2011.
Final Cut Pro 11 includes eight new features, and the AI-driven automatic caption feature was one of the headline ones …
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Reuters found discriminatory job ads for iPhone workers in India, with recruitment leaflets stating that women applying for positions with Foxconn must be unmarried and aged 18 to 32.
The offending ads have been withdrawn following the launch of state and federal investigations into Foxconn’s hiring practices by the Indian government, but neither Foxconn nor Apple has yet offered any explanation for the original requirements …
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