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.
Facebook has long allowed you to download an archive of all the data the social network has on you, and HackerNoon’s Georges Abi-Heila decided to find out exactly what company knows about its users …
Snapchat developer Snap is reportedly planning a third round of layoffs, set to be its biggest yet, according to sources close to the company …
Netflix has shared a few stats on how people join and watch the service, and it found that there’s a pretty rapid switch in devices …
When the Federal Communications Commission overturned net neutrality rules that ensured ISPs had to treat all websites and web services equally, it also decided that its own wishes should over-ride those of individual states. It included a provision that banned states from restoring consumer protection by passing their own net neutrality laws.
Some states – like New York – found workarounds, but Washington has decided to simply defy the FCC and pass its own law …
The year’s biggest Hollywood awards ceremony – the Oscars – takes place on Sunday, and you can livestream coverage from the red carpet and backstage on your Android devices …
An early reviewer has been putting Samsung’s new Galaxy S9/S9+ flagship through its paces in a series of benchmark tests, and the news isn’t good for the Korean brand …
Longer upgrade cycles and an increasing number of consumers opting to buy used models poses a threat to future sales of flagship smartphones, argue industry commentators.
Back in 2014, the average upgrade cycle was 23 months – likely attributable to most consumers upgrading every two years, while a much smaller number upgraded every year. But that number has already hit 31 months, says BayStreet Research, and is set to climb higher still …
AT&T last week named the first cities to get access to its 5G rollout, and now Sprint has done the same for its network.
Interestingly, of the three cities named by AT&T and the six by Sprint, two of them are set to see 5G service from both carriers …
The European Union wants to be able to force US tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft to hand over electronic evidence across borders when investigating serious crimes. The proposed law would apply to any company that does business within Europe, no matter where its data centers are based.
Tech firms argue that such cross-border arrangements would ‘undermine consumer trust in cloud services’ …
A new initiative between aircraft manufacturers, airlines and mobile networks could see air passengers enjoying on board Wi-Fi connections whose speeds ‘rival the fastest cable access’ …
Snapchat owner Snap saw $1.3B wiped from its market value after reality TV star Kylie Jenner tweeted that she had stopped opening the app.
Jenner has 24.5M followers on Twitter, and was (and may still be) the most viewed person on Snapchat, but the tweet was likely only the indirect cause of the stock market plunge …
Anchor, an app that started out trying to create an audio version of Twitter, has now pivoted to becoming a one-stop app for podcasters. The relaunched app now allows anyone to record, edit, host, publish and distribute podcasts free of charge …
Following the Trump administration’s decision to repeal net neutrality rules, the FCC has today announced that the free-for-all begins on April 23. As of that date, it will be legal for Internet Service Providers to implement a two-speed Internet, with the fastest speeds reserved for companies able to pay for the privilege …
While the #metoo movement has focused attention on the problem of sexual harrassment in the workplace, forcing companies to take the issue more seriously, it can still take courage to file a report …
Signal has announced that WhatsApp c0founder Brian Acton is providing $50M in funding for future development of the secure messaging app …
Dish Network has for the first time separated out its Dish TV and Sling TV subscriber numbers. The company revealed the figures in its year-end financials for 2017 …
AT&T promised it would start rolling out what it claims will be the first true mobile 5G service before the end of the year, and it has just announced the first three cities in line to receive it.
We plan to offer mobile 5G to customers in a dozen cities, including parts of Dallas, Atlanta and Waco, Texas, by the end of this year. We’ll announce additional cities in the coming months.
The company says that the commercial rollout follows multi-city trials …
Uber has announced the US-wide rollout of its first new service in three years: a next-level version of its ride-sharing service UberPool, called Express Pool …
Nuance’s Swype keyboard apps for iOS and Android have been discontinued, as the company focuses its efforts on the business market …
CNET set out to keep Apple’s HomePod, Amazon Echo and Google Home in continuous conversation for at least 48 hours …
A petition calling on Snapchat to rollback its major redesign has now hit a million signatories, up from 600,000 in just a few days. A hoax tweet claiming that the company would abandon the design if retweeted 50,000 times has also attracted more than 1.5M retweets.
The redesign initially got a slow rollout, before being pushed to most users over the weekend, but it seems the company has no plans to respond to the call to reverse the changes …