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
Sony Announces PlayStation App for iPhone and iPod Touch
Sony today announced that it is preparing to launch an official PlayStation application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app will be free and will only be available in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and The Netherlands in its first iteration.
The app will offer the following features:
- Check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keep up to date with your friends' games and...
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Nokia Expands Patent Claims Against Apple With New European Lawsuits
Nokia today announced that it has filed four new suits against Apple in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands, alleging infringement of an additional 13 Nokia-held patents beyond the 24 cited in existing complaints filed in the United States. "These actions add 13 further Nokia patents to the 24 already asserted against Apple in the US International Trade Commission and the Delaware and ...
Joint Venture Involving Apple and Microsoft Acquires Novell Patents For $450 Million
Foss Patents reports that a joint venture company involving Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and EMC has acquired 882 patents from Novell for a sum of $450 million. Novell is undergoing a transition as it has been acquired by software company Attachmate, and the patent sale is part of the acquisition deal. Breaking news: Twitter user @VM_gville just pointed me to the website of the German federal...
Apple Addresses Cinema Display Audio Issues With Firmware Update
Apple yesterday released LED Cinema Display Firmware Update 1.0, addressing audio problems with the company's latest standalone display. This Firmware Update addresses intermittent audio issues some users have experienced while using the 27-inch LED Cinema Display.
The updater application will be installed in the /Applications/Utilities folder and will be launched automatically. Please follow ...
Mac App Store to Open January 6th
Apple today announced that the Mac App Store will open on Thursday, January 6th, launching in 90 countries and offering free and paid applications. "The App Store revolutionized mobile apps," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We hope to do the same for PC apps with the Mac App Store by making finding and buying PC apps easy and fun. We can't wait to get started on January 6."As with the iOS App...
iPad Still Dominating Corporate Tablet Usage as Competitors Arrive
ChangeWave Research reports on the results of a new survey conducted last month regarding corporate usage of tablet devices such as Apple's iPad. With new tablet offerings such as the HP Slate 500 and the Dell Streak now becoming available, the survey finds that businesses are still overwhelming supporting the iPad as tablet adoption increases at a rapid rate. In terms of current usage, 7% of...
Apple Releases iTunes 10.1.1 to Address Music Video and Crashing Bugs
Apple today released iTunes 10.1.1, addressing a number of performance issues. This release provides a number of important bug fixes, including:
- Addresses an issue where some music videos may not play on Macs equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics.
- Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing.
- Fixes a...
Apple Updates 'iBooks' With Illustrated Books, Collections, and AirPrint
Apple today updated its iBooks application [App Store], adding a number of new features including enhanced support for illustrated books, a new "Collections" feature for organizing books into categories, and AirPrint compatibility for printing PDFs and notes. - Experience fully illustrated books, from children's picture books to beautifully designed art books, available for download in the...
Adobe's Flash Player 10.2 to Offer Up to Ten-Fold Improvement in CPU Efficiency
Adobe's John Nack notes on his blog that the company's Flash Player 10.2, currently in beta testing, can offer up to a ten-fold improvement in CPU usage under certain circumstances by taking advantage of new "Stage Video" functionality to more fully utilize hardware acceleration, particularly for SWF files in which other elements have been overlaid on top of video.
Adobe MAX demo of Stage ...
'NFL Sunday Ticket' Coming to New Apple TV?
Market research surveys can certainly be hit-or-miss when it comes to revealing companies' future product plans, but a new one from satellite TV provider DirecTV dug up by Engadget hints at the intriguing possibility of the company's "NFL Sunday Ticket" sports package being made available through the new Apple TV as well as a number of other devices. According to a tipster, some of the questions ...
Apple Releases Minor iOS 4.2.1 Software Update for New Apple TV [Updated]
Apple today released a minor software for the new Apple TV, moving the device's operating system from iOS 4.2 Build 8C150 to iOS 4.2.1 Build 8C154. The update is live on Apple's servers and several users have reported seeing the update become available for their Apple TVs, although not all Apple TVs are yet seeing the new iOS version as available for download.
It is unknown at this time...
AirPlay Reverse Engineered to Send Video From iOS Devices to Macs
While Apple's AirPlay feature introduced in iOS 4.2 allows users to stream certain video content from their iOS devices to the new Apple TV, users have been wondering if the service will ever be extended to allow content to be streamed to their Macs in a similar fashion. In addressing the question of whether such an implementation would be difficult, TUAW's Erica Sadun has put together an...
MobileMe Maintenance Scheduled for Later Today
Users of Apple's MobileMe service should be aware that the service will be undergoing maintenance later today, with MobileMe account maintenance scheduled to take place from 10:00-11:00 PM Pacific time tonight, while maintenance on MobileMe syncing services is set for 10:00 PM until midnight. Due to scheduled maintenance, some MobileMe members may be unable to sync between their computers,...
'Tron Legacy' to Premiere as First iAd for iPad
Ad Age reports that the first iAd for the iPad will debut today in the form of an advertisement for the Disney film "Tron Legacy" premiering in theaters this weekend. According to the report, it is the only iPad-specific iAd scheduled for release before the end of the year. The format, designed to maximize the ad potential of Apple's tablet computer, will be launched widely in early 2011 when...
Apple Announces Free '12 Days of Christmas' Content for European iTunes Customers
Apple has announced its annual Europe-only iTunes Store holiday promotion, giving away free content each day from December 26th through January 6th. The company has also released a 12 Days of Christmas iOS application [App Store], available in countries participating in the promotion. The simple application, which is universal for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad compatibility, offers push...
'Google Voice' App Adds iPad and iPod Touch Support
Google today announced that it has updated its Google Voice App Store application to support the iPad and iPod touch. The application, which Google and Apple famously faced off over last year before Apple finally approved the app last month, offers an interface for interacting with Google's telephone service. Starting today, you can download a new version of Google Voice that lets you use all...
'Infinity Blade' Rakes in Over $1.6 Million
Epic's Infinity Blade debuted on the App Store less than a week ago, but it has already become one of the most successful app launches of all time, reportedly grossing over $1.6 million in its first four days on the market.
The estimate comes from Appmodo, who noticed over 271,000 Game Center users registered with the game, and with the game selling for $5.99, the total works out to over...
Verizon Loses Ground to AT&T's iPhone as RIM and Palm Fade
Asymco's Horace Dediu offers an interesting analysis of new data on Verizon's smartphone device sales over the past year, concluding that, despite a growing Android platform, Verizon finds itself in a position in which it may have had little choice but to accept Apple's terms to bring the iPhone to the carrier.
Dediu's analysis is based on that fact that sales of Android and Windows Mobile...
Apple Pulls Jailbreak Detection API From iOS
Late last week, Network World reported that Apple has quietly removed from iOS an application programming interface (API) that could detect jailbroken devices. The API had been used by several mobile device management applications to help corporate system administrators determine whether jailbroken devices that could pose a risk due to malware installation were running on their networks. The...
Microsoft Releases Office for Mac 2011 14.0.2
Microsoft today released Office for Mac 2011 14.0.2 Update, bringing several stability improvements to the latest version of the company's flagship productivity suite. According to a support document, the update includes the following improvements: Improvements for all Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 applications
- Reliability is improved when you open Office for Mac documents by using...
