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 Retail Store Employee on Product Launches, Store Culture, and Customers
There are obviously quite a few Apple retail store employees and ex-employees around, many of whom are happy to share details of what it's like to work for the company, but a new "confessions" report published by Popular Mechanics summarizes some of the more interesting points and dispels a few rumors about what employees do and do not know and how their performance is judged. Among the...
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Apple's Grand Central Terminal Retail Store to Be Largest Yet?
Grand Central Terminal's Main Concourse
Last week, a pair of reports surfaced indicating that Apple is hoping to build a new retail store inside Manhattan's busy and historic Grand Central Terminal. Located less than a mile from the company's flagship Fifth Avenue store, the Grand Central Terminal location is reportedly being viewed as a means to ease the massive customer load on the...
Apple Releases Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.6
Apple yesterday released Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 3.6, adding RAW image support for a number of cameras as well as addressing issues with processing for several cameras added in earlier updates. This update adds RAW image compatibility for the following cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '11:
- Canon EOS Rebel T3 / 1100D / Kiss X50
- Canon EOS Rebel T3i / 600D / Kiss X5
- Olympus ...
CDMA iPhone Unlocked to Run on China Telecom Network, Deal Coming?
The Wall Street Journal reports that employees of Chinese carrier China Telecom have successfully jailbroken and unlocked the CDMA iPhone 4, getting the device to run on the company's network. Employees of the Guangdong branch of China Telecom teased users this week with a post on its microblog saying they were working on a way to crack Verizon Wireless' CDMA iPhone, suggesting users might be...
Apple Tech Watch: OLED Displays, MagSafe Power-Data Connector, Live Device Configuration
A number of reports today are highlighting possible technical improvements for future Apple products, and while much of the information is based on patent applications that may or may not ever see the light of day, it does provide an interesting glimpse into some of Apple's areas of research.
First, 9 to 5 Mac reports on a recent job posting from Apple looking for a host of new engineers...
Sony Rolls Out 'Music Unlimited' in New Countries, Executive Denies Plans to Abandon iTunes
As reported by Bloomberg, Sony today announced that it has launched its "Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity" streaming service in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, building on debuts in a series of European countries over the past few months. The new service takes aim at Apple's iTunes Store with two tiers of service: a basic tier priced at $3.99 per month that offers music...
Apple to Focus on Streaming, Social and Geolocation Services With MobileMe Overhaul?
Cult of Mac reports that it has received information from a source regarding Apple's efforts to revamp its MobileMe service, suggesting that the company is going well beyond simple cloud-based media streaming to include social and location-based services. Among the many services Apple is working on are:
- A live video-streaming service like Ustream
- A location-based check-in system like...
Intel Ad Sparks Speculation of Next-Generation MacBook Pro Leak
A new ad for Intel's latest second-generation Core processors has been sparking rampant speculation across the Internet that the notebook pictured is Apple's next-generation MacBook Pro. Demonstrating the thin profile of and minor resemblance to the MacBook Air, the machine's desktop and application windows also have a Mac OS X-like feel.
The machine depicted in the ad is, however, pretty...
Apple Lobbying for International Tax Amnesty to Bring Home Profits
Over the past few years, much has been made of Apple's reserves of cash and securities, which are now up to approximately $60 billion and growing rapidly. Some observers have suggested the company initiate a stock buyback or issue dividends to reward investors with some of the profits, while others have preferred that the cash remain in Apple's hands to enable the company to reinvest it into...
Warner Brothers Debuts App-Based Movie Purchases
Warner Brothers today announced the launch of "App Editions" of its feature films, providing the titles as App Store apps that offer downloadable and streaming versions of the films along with an array of expanded content. The program, which launches today with the release of Inception [App Store] and The Dark Knight [App Store], offers the apps as free downloads with full access to the films...
Verizon iPhone Sales Barely Topping AT&T iPhone Sales at Apple Stores?
BGR reports that sales of the Verizon iPhone have not quite lived up to Apple's and Verizon's expectations, offering exact unit sales data aggregated from five Apple retail store locations showing that Verizon iPhone only barely outsold the AT&T version over the Verizon device's first five days of availability. Below are unit sales totals from five Apple stores combined (including two very, very ...
Apple's App Store Subscription Policies Raise Antitrust Issues as Content Providers Fume
With Apple's announcement yesterday of new App Store subscription offerings and policies requiring all content providers to offer at least the option of in-app subscriptions at the same prices as external options, questions have been raised about how providers will respond to the likelihood that significant numbers of customers will likely choose options that require them to hand over 30% of...
Apple Releases iWeb 3.0.3
Apple today released iWeb 3.0.3, bringing a few minor bug fixes to the company's website creation tool included with iLife. This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
- Addresses an issue when using the iSight Movie widget on certain Macs
- Addresses an issue publishing iWeb sites using FTP
- Improves compatibility with Mac OS XThe update weighs in at 177.12 MB ...
Apple Updates iOS App Store Review Guidelines to Clarify 'Cheating', Address In-App Subscriptions
Alongside today's announcement of its new in-app subscription program and policies, Apple also updated its iOS App Store Guidelines to reflect the requirements laid out in the press release.
But Apple also made several other additions to the guidelines, with the most notable one being new language aimed to help Apple crack down on developers who "cheat the system". The new language appears as ...
Best Buy Mexico Planning iWork '11 Event for February 19th?
AppleBitch reports that Best Buy's Mexican arm is advertising a special in-store event for this Saturday, February 19th, where users can visit stores to learn about how to use the "new iWork '11". iWork '11 of course has not yet been released, although reports from late last year had suggested that work on it was wrapping up and that it could debut early this year, possibly as a Mac App Store...
iBooks 1.2.1 Detects Some Jailbreaks, Disables iBookstore Purchases in Response
Social Apples details a change employed in an update to Apple's iBooks application released last week that detects whether a device has been jailbroken using one of several tools, and if the device has been found to be jailbroken, refuses to open content purchased from Apple's iBookstore. Since using the greenpois0n jailbreak, I have been unable to open some of my iBooks that I rightfully...
AT&T Airs New Ad Pushing $49 iPhone 3GS
In yet another attempt to differentiate its own iPhone offerings from those of Verizon, AT&T has begun airing a new television commercial promoting the 8 GB iPhone 3GS and its recently-lowered $49 price tag. The iPhone 3GS from AT&T. The phone that changed everything. But think about it - how can you make one of the most amazing phones the world has ever seen more amazing? Make it $49. Yep,...
Apple Customer Survey Suggests Interest in 3G-Enabled MacBook Air
AppleInsider reports that a customer survey from Apple gauging user satisfaction with the company's new MacBook Air contains several questions related to 3G connectivity, suggesting that Apple may be considering adding the feature as a built-in option on future models. Perhaps most telling are a number of questions in the survey related to 3G data use and connectivity. The MacBook Air comes with ...
AT&T Increases Tethering Data Plan Limit to 4 GB
Following through on its announcement from earlier this month that it would bump monthly data limits for customers on its DataPro + Tethering plan from 2 GB to 4 GB, AT&T has now sent out text messages to customers confirming that the change has been made.
AT&T's DataPro plan offers customers 2 GB of mobile data for $25 per month. The carrier had offered the ability for customers to tether...
Deutsche Telekom Expecting NFC-Enabled iPhone This Year
With rumors suggesting that Apple may add near field communication (NFC) capabilities to the fifth-generation iPhone to enable mobile payments, observers have been looking for additional signs of the such an addition.
According to Phone Scoop, Deutsche Telekom today gave a presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona outlining its adoption of NFC technology for mobile payments, and...
