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Ben Lovejoy

benlovejoy

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 novels.

He thinks wires are evil and had a custom desk made to hide them, known as the OC Desk for obvious reasons.

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.

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Smart home company Eve sold to ABB | Modern home shown

Smart home company Eve bought by multibillion-dollar automation giant ABB

Avatar for 9to5Mac from Jun 12 2023 - 7:14 am PT
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Smart home company Eve Systems – one of the leaders in HomeKit-compatible and now Matter-compatible devices – has been bought by the automation and electrification giant ABB.

Eve will, with immediate effect, become part of the Building and Home Automation Solutions division of ABB. The two parties naturally hope the partnership will be good news, but some will be watching events with some degree of nervousness …

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Waze CarPlay Dashboard

Waze CarPlay Dashboard mode now rolling out after earlier beta

Avatar for 9to5Mac from Dec 8 2020 - 6:58 am PT
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The beta test of Waze CarPlay Dashboard mode was apparently successful, as the feature is now rolling out in a new update to the release version after just a couple of weeks of testing.

Dashboard mode means that you can see Waze directions on your CarPlay home screen, alongside audio controls, meaning less need to switch between screens, which is safer as well as more convenient …

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Four states plan to use Apple-Google coronavirus API

Only four states plan to use Apple/Google coronavirus API; none yet in use

Avatar for 9to5Mac from Jul 23 2020 - 7:11 am PT
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An analyst of the US contact tracing landscape paints a depressing picture. Not a single US state currently offers an app that uses the Apple/Google coronavirus contact tracing API — and only four states plan to do so.

Others have launched GPS-based apps that raise immediate privacy concerns and are unlikely to see significant adoption, while the majority of states who responded plan to offer nothing at all…


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Google is in breach of antitrust agreement that saw it fined $2.7B, say rivals

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Nov 28 2019 - 5:25 am PT
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Google is in breach of antitrust agreement, say rivals

A group of 41 European price-comparison shopping sites say Google is in breach of an antitrust agreement it reached with the European Union back in 2017.

Google was fined a record €2.4B (then $2.7B) after a 7-year investigation which concluded that Google unfairly favored its own Shopping results against those from other price-comparison sites …


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A new way to hide abusive direct messages on Twitter is being tested

Twitter testing compromise way to hide abusive direct messages

Avatar for 9to5Mac from Aug 16 2019 - 5:29 am PT
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Twitter is testing a new way to hide abusive direct messages which should be particularly useful for those whose account is set to accept messages from anyone, not just those you follow.

The social network already offers one way to do this, but it’s a bit of a blunt instrument. There’s a ‘Quality filter’ toggle in Message Settings which completely hides what it believes to be abusive messages from those you don’t follow. The new approach is more refined …


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Google Transparency Report for election ads may not reveal Russian influence

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jul 19 2019 - 4:11 am PT
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election ads report

A Google Transparency Report designed to reveal who is behind election ads for presidential and congressional candidates is said to be ‘fraught with errors and delays.’ The report was first created for the 2018 midterms.

Even official presidential ad campaigns created by the two main political parties are not always tracked, with some suggesting that if Google can’t even get this right, then there is little hope of it tracking ads being run by foreign states like Russia …


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Samsung profits likely fell 56% year-on-year; includes $683M Apple ‘fine’

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jul 5 2019 - 4:10 am PT
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Samsung profits down for third successive quarter

Samsung profits for Q2 likely fell 56% year-on-year, warned the company today. The company has provided guidance of 6.5T Korean won ($5.6B). If accurate, as the company’s guidance usually is, that would make for the third quarter running that year-on-year profits have fallen.

Samsung’s profits have suffered a triple-hit, say analysts …


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Used Nest cams can spy on you due to third-party software [Google now fixed]

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jun 20 2019 - 3:54 am PT
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Used Nest cams allow previous owner to view feed

Update: Google told The Verge that it has now fixed the problem.

We were recently made aware of an issue affecting some Nest cameras connected to third-party partner services via Works with Nest. We’ve since rolled out a fix for this issue that will update automatically, so if you own a Nest camera, there’s no need to take any action.

Used Nest cams allow the original owner to spy on whoever buys them. The problem was discovered by a former owner of the popular Nest Cam Indoor.

Worryingly, the behavior survives the official reset procedure, and right now there appears to be no fix available for it …


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