Eric Slivka
Eric is the Editor-in-Chief of MacRumors and has been writing for the site since 2008.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
An avid swimmer and former biophysicist, Eric has been using Apple products for over 35 years and has been interviewed for pieces by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters, BBC, CNBC, and other publications.
Eric's current primary role involves day-to-day oversight of the editorial operations at MacRumors, but he also contributes occasional news and review articles while handling various other duties related to the site's operation.
Eric Slivka's Articles
Apple Tweaks Taiwanese App Store Terms to Formalize 7-Day Return Policy
Late last month, we noted that Apple had reportedly begun offering a seven-day window for "returns" on App Store purchases in Taiwan, a move made in response to a notice from government officials requiring Apple to comply with consumer protection laws requiring such return policies.
As reported by IDG News, Apple has now formalized that policy, updating its terms and conditions for the...
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Apple Set to Release Q3 2011 Financial Results on July 19th
Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for next Tuesday's release of its financial results for the third fiscal quarter and second calendar quarter of 2011. As usual, the results will be released after the close of Tuesday's trading at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available...
Apple Approving Mac App Store Apps for OS X Lion
Earlier this week, Apple began inviting developers to submit their OS X Lion apps for inclusion in the Mac App Store, preparing to populate the store with apps capable of taking advantage of some of the new features being deployed in the new operating system.
It's only been a few days, but Apple is already beginning to approve those Lion-capable apps, as noted by OS X Daily in the case of Wor...
Updated MacBook Air to Offer Minimum of 128 GB SSD and 4 GB RAM?
Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today reported to AppleInsider that "industry checks" within Apple's supply chain suggest that the company is boosting the specs on its MacBook Air in the expected refresh to a minimum of 128 GB of solid state storage and 4 GB of RAM. That refresh has been widely rumored for some time, with Apple reportedly holding off until OS X Lion is released to the...
Apple Pays $946 in Korean Lawsuit Over Location Data Collection, New Class Action Suit Coming
Reuters reports that Apple's Korean unit has paid out the equivalent of $946 after losing a lawsuit over the company's collection of iPhone location data. The judgment was issued in May, and Apple is said to have made the payment last month.Apple Inc's Korean unit has paid compensation to a user of its popular iPhone after collecting location data without consent, lawyers and court officials...
Photos of Claimed 'iPad 3' Dock Connector in White Surface
Taiwanese site Apple.pro has posted [Google translation] photos of what is claimed to be the dock connector and ribbon cable for the next-generation iPad.
While the part is a proprietary but relatively standard one that provides no specific insight into the device's specs, one interesting observation is that the actual connector portion is white rather than the black color seen on the iPad...
Spotify Makes U.S. Debut With Paid Plans and Invite-Only Free Service
Streaming music firm Spotify today announced the immediate launch of its beta phase offerings in the United States, debuting as an invitation-only free service paired with two different paid tiers: Unlimited at $4.99/month and Premium at $9.99/month.
The Spotify app for iPhone [App Store] is also now live in the U.S. App Store, and a subscription to the Premium service is required for...
Apple Soars to Third Place in U.S. PC Market With 10.7% Share
Research firms Gartner and IDC today released their preliminary quarterly personal computer shipment data, offering up a picture of market performance during the second quarter of 2011. Overall, the PC industry exhibited small growth on a worldwide scale, with unit shipments growing by about 2.5% between the second quarters of 2010 and 2011. But shipments in the U.S. actually declined...
Apple Releases Aperture 3.1.3
Apple today continued its parade of software updates ahead of the OS X Lion launch with the release of Aperture 3.1.3, providing a long list of improvements and undoubtedly quietly making some last-minute tweaks to ensure full compatibility with Lion.This update supports general compatibility issues, and also addresses overall stability and performance. Minor issues addressed include the...
Microsoft Planning 75 New Retail Stores to Take on Apple
While much was made of Microsoft's efforts to reenter the retail store market by going head-to-head with Apple, things have moved rather slowly for the PC software company, which has opened only eleven stores scattered around the United States over the past two years.
But Neowin reports that Microsoft today unveiled an acceleration of those plans at its Worldwide Partner Conference,...
Apple Cutting International Pricing to Rebalance Currency Conversion Rates?
9 to 5 Mac reports that it is receiving word from some international third-party retailers that some of the new machines reportedly being released tomorrow are carrying reduced price tags compared to the current models.
According to the report, the price reductions seem to be adjusting for the fact that the U.S. dollar has fallen in value against many other world currencies over the past...
Apple Takes Possession of iPhone4.com and WhiteiPhone.com Domain Names
According to Fusible, Apple has finally taken possession of the domain names iPhone4.com and WhiteiPhone.com, forwarding those addresses to the company's iPhone pages. Whois listings for the new domains now point to Apple as the owner, with brand protection firm MarkMonitor appearing as the registrar as is customary for Apple's domains.
Apple last month took control of iCloud.com just ahead ...
Analysts Increasing Estimates Ahead of Apple Earnings Release
With Apple set to report earnings for the third fiscal quarter and second calendar quarter of 2011 next Tuesday, July 19th, Wall Street analysts are beginning to line up their final predictions for Apple's performance. As noted by Barron's, a pair of analysts this morning issued new reports that show last-minute bumps in their estimates for the quarter.
Citigroup's Richard Gardner is now...
iOS 5 Beta 3 Adds AirPlay Support for FaceTime
As noted by TiPb, the third beta of iOS 5 released earlier this week has activated new AirPlay streaming support for FaceTime video calling. The feature allows users to display FaceTime video calls directly on a large-screen TV for easy viewing by larger groups of people.If this makes it into the final release — and not everything does — it’ll be fantastic for families and businesses...
Apple Backtracking From Plans to Diversify iPad Manufacturing Partnerships?
Earlier this week, DigiTimes reported that Apple was looking at diversifying its production for the iPad by bringing on a second manufacturer in Pegatron or Quanta to join Apple's longtime iOS device partner Foxconn. According to the report, Apple has been interested in moving to a multiple-partner arrangement in order to minimize risk of disruptions such as those caused by an explosion at a...
Mac App Store Intermittently Down for Some Users
We've received a number of reports over the last hour indicating that users have had difficulty accessing the Mac App Store, with some users also reporting issues with the iTunes Store. There were a handful of reports of the Mac App Store briefly going down a few days ago, but today's outage seems more widespread, even if it is inconsistent and affected users are generally able to regain access...
One-Third of iPhone Users Mistakenly Think They Have 4G
According to a new survey from Retrevo, 34% of iPhone users are under the mistaken impression that they already have "4G" cellular technology on their devices, highlighting the confusion that has resulted from shifting definitions of just what constitutes "4G" speeds.Maybe the "4" in the iPhone 4 name gives iPhone owners (34%) the false impression that they already own a 4G phone but the fact is...
Apple Could Adopt AMD's New Radeon HD 6990M GPU for Next iMac
AMD today announced the launch of its new Radeon HD 6990M mobile graphics processor, calling it the world's fastest single mobile GPU with up to 25% greater performance than NVIDIA's just-announced GeForce 580M.
While Apple typically uses middle-of-the-road GPUs in even its high-end MacBook Pro models in order to meet the requirements of the thin enclosure and thus will not be considering...
iOS 5 to Unlock Bluetooth Capabilities of Apple TV?
Apple's forthcoming iOS 5 contains code that, if activated, would allow users to connect a Bluetooth wireless keyboard to the second-generation Apple TV. The new Apple TV contains a combination Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip, but the Bluetooth functionality is not enabled in its present state.
Broadcom Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip in second-generation Apple TV (Source: iFixit)
As noted by 9 to 5 Mac, the...
AT&T Announces Summer Launch of New LTE Modem and Hotspot Devices
AT&T today announced (via Engadget) the forthcoming launch of two new LTE-enabled wireless access devices: the USBConnect Momentum 4G and the Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G. Both devices are coming "this summer", will support LTE, HSPA+, and earlier technologies, and will offer support for Mac OS X Leopard or later.With plug-and-play installation that takes about 60 seconds to complete on Windows...
