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.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will now be going after more scammers after it closed a significant loophole in the law.
The agency says the expanded scope of the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR) will be of particular benefit to seniors, who disproportionately fall victim to fake tech support calls …
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A heartwarming new Apple holiday video entitled Heartstrings showcases the new hearing aid feature offered by AirPods Pro 2.
It shows the experience of a father being transformed from hearing only muffled sounds as his family opens gifts, sings songs and tells him they love him to being able to clearly hear everyone …
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Apple held out for a long time on switching from text messaging to RCS (rich communication services), but finally announced that it would be doing so as part of iOS 18. The move brings many iMessage-like features to text messages between iPhone and Android users.
Mobile carriers also need to support the switch, and UK telco Three has just texted customers to announce that it will be doing so from next month …
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Update: Australia has now voted to ban social media use by children under the age of 16. In a 9to5Mac reader poll on the issue, the vast majority of you thought the US should do the same – see the end of the piece.
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.
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Popular video conferencing platform Zoom agreed to pay $85M in compensation back in 2021 after it was revealed that the company lied to users about the type of encryption it offered. It has now offered to pay an $18M fine to the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in order to settle an investigation into the same security and privacy issue.
Zoom disclosed the offer in a regulatory filing …
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It’s been six years since Apple first introduced Screen Time in iOS 12, allowing us to see just how much time we spend using our phones, while also allowing parents to set limits for their kids. The feature was extended to Macs a year later.
Apple has also introduced additional features intended to make our devices less addictive, but a recent study suggests that our screen usage may be higher than ever …
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TikTok has announced that it is responding to new legislation in the UK and EU by introducing a ban on the use of beauty filters by those aged under 18. The ban will be implemented worldwide …
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last month announced a review of the customer service offered by ISPs (internet service providers), stating that this was often so poor it made it hard for consumers to switch providers.
But ISPs have responded through a lobbying group, claiming that they offer “effective and user-friendly” customer service and therefore new regulations are not needed …
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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has expressed concern over lack of manufacturer commitment to software updates for smart devices, citing the risk that security flaws won’t be fixed, or that products will cease to function altogether.
This echoes concerns we’ve been raising for the past couple of years about us never really owning the smart products we buy …
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A tweet claiming that Microsoft Office uses the content of customer documents to train its AI systems raised a lot of eyebrows, but the tech giant says that it’s a simple misunderstanding.
A Linux account with hundreds of thousands of followers tweeted the claim …
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Apple is noted for taking its time when it comes to entering new product categories, but a 2008 patent shows that the company had been working on Vision Pro for at least 15 years before it finally launched.
Both the patent drawing and the description of the device are remarkably consistent with the product that finally launched in 2024 …
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Apple is again supporting World Aids Day on December 1st, and will be donating $5 for every qualifying purchase between November 29 and December 8.
This will be the 18th year in which Apple has supported The Global Fund, which seeks to fight HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria …
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A recent report suggested we might see an Apple security camera launch in 2026, and more than 80% of you said you’d be likely to buy one.
We argued that we can expect Apple Intelligence features to be included, and a newly-granted patent backs that view …
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We’ve known for some time that the iPhone 17 Air will require compromises to pull off the ultra-thin design, but a new report yesterday suggests buyers may be sacrificing even more than we thought.
That Apple is willing to pare back the device so severely tells us a lot about the company’s thinking – and not just about this specific model …
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Some 11,000 Starbucks stores in North America have been hit by a ransomware attack on one of its largest IT providers. Two UK supermarket chains have also been affected by the security breach, and car-maker Ford says it is trying to determine whether its own operations have been affected …
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Apple’s App Store anti-steering rules have been declared illegal in Brazil, in the latest antitrust ruling against the company. This means Apple can no longer ban developers from linking to their own websites to sell in-app content like books, movies, music, and games.
The Cupertino company has already been required to allow third-party app stores in the EU, and to allow US developers to sell in-app content outside of the App Store …
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A top government official has warned that an Apple Intelligence launch in China would be a “difficult and long process” unless the iPhone maker partners with a local AI company. Working with a Chinese company would instead be “simple and straightforward.”
Apple had reportedly been exploring using its own generative AI models in China, but a top regulator has strongly implied that this wouldn’t be in the Cupertino company’s best interests …
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Apple CEO Tim Cook and more than 20 other chief execs met China’s premier today to discuss potential trade disruption once Trump takes office in January.
However, the report makes it sound like the meeting didn’t achieve much, with some saying it felt scripted and didn’t discuss specific plans …
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Following tests of the Pro Max model back in September, the base model iPhone 16 DXOMARK camera results are out, and the smartphone has been ranked #20.
The organization notes that while the camera hardware is almost identical to the base model iPhone 15, software improvements have seen it score better in several areas …
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A new report suggests that CEOs of other US companies plan to copy Tim Cook’s Trump strategy in order to lobby the incoming administration.
The report suggests that Cook developed the world’s simplest approach to interacting with Trump, noting that the strategy paid off for Apple …
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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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