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 Patent Application Reveals Moldable Charging Dock for Media Devices
In addition to yesterday's published patent applications from Apple describing tamper-resistant labels and accelerometer-based menu navigation, Patently Apple noticed a third interesting patent, this one covering a universal charging station with a moldable elastic surface surrounding the actual connector, capable of conforming to and supporting devices with varying form factors.
The patent...
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Apple Files Countersuit Against Nokia [Updated]
In a brief press release, Apple today announced that it has filed a countersuit against Nokia for infringement of 13 Apple-held patents. While the specific patents have not been identified, they presumably relate to wireless communications. "Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours," said Bruce Sewell, Apple's General Counsel and senior...
Apple Makes New Language Localization Options Available to App Store Developers
Apple today announced that it has rolled out support for six new languages and their corresponding localized App Stores for developers using iTunes Connect to submit their iPhone applications. With over 50 million users of iPhone and iPod touch in 81 countries around the world, it's more important than ever to make your app available in a user's language of choice. You can, and should, create...
Apple Patent Applications: Tamper-Resistant Labels for Hardware, Accelerometer-Based Menu Navigation
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published over 20 newly-released patent applications from Apple, and AppleInsider highlights two of the more interesting ones covering tamper-resistant labels for detecting unauthorized opening of devices and accelerometer-based navigation of menus on Apple's handheld devices.
The first patent application, entitled "Tamper resistant label for...
IMDb Comes to the iPhone
TUAW noted yesterday that the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), a popular source for information on movies and TV, has released a dedicated iPhone application [App Store, Free]. The application allows access to IMDb's full offerings, boasting information on over 1.5 million movies and TV shows and over 3.2 million celebrities. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is the largest collection of...
'Google Mobile App' Updated With Redesigned Results, Integrated Browser Functionality
Google yesterday announced an update to its Google Mobile App [App Store, Free], which has proven popular due to its voice-enabled search capabilities.
Among the changes in the new update are a redesigned search results display and the inclusion of an integrated browser to allow direct loading of Web pages from the search results. In this version, we have a redesigned search results display...
Fallout From LCD Price Fixing Scandal Continues as Chi Mei Agrees to $220 Million Fine
The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) that Taiwanese LCD manufacturer Chi Mei Optoelectronics has agreed to pay a $220 million fine to address criminal charges stemming from extensive price fixing in the LCD industry from 2001 through 2006 that affected a number of companies, including Apple. Chi Mei becomes the sixth company to plead guilty in the conspiracy over the past year. ...
Foxconn Reportedly Receives Contract to Manufacture Next-Generation iPhone
Engadget reports on a Twitter post from Eldar Murtazin, editor-in-chief of Russian mobile phone blog Mobile-Review, claiming that Apple's long-time partner Foxconn has received the manufacturing contract for the next-generation iPhone. Foxconn received order for next generation iphoneMobile-Review reportedly has a very strong track record in the mobile phone rumor community, but has rarely turned...
Chrome for Mac Beta Nearly Matches Safari in JavaScript Benchmarking
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmarks of Mac Browsers
(Shorter bars represent faster performance)
One of the touted features of Google's Chrome browser, which finally saw the release of an official beta version for Mac yesterday, has been its speed in loading and rendering pages. In investigating that aspect of its performance, Computerworld has found that, while Chrome performs extremely well in...
Analyst Predictions for 2010 iPhone: 70% Chance of Verizon, Battery Improvements, RFID
Silicon Alley Insider reports on a research note from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who cites fellow analyst Chris Larsen as giving Apple a 70% chance of launching an iPhone on Verizon sometime next year. According to Silicon Alley Insider, there are a number of good reasons to expect Apple to make the move to Verizon: - Because Verizon is the biggest U.S. carrier, and could help Apple sell ...
Apple Looking to Revive 'Think Different' Advertising Campaign?
Patently Apple points to a new trademark application from Apple filed on November 30th regarding the "Think Different" advertising slogan used by the company from 1997 until 2002. While the application follows close on the heels of a renewal of an earlier trademark issued for the slogan and could conceivably simply be related to Apple looking to preserve its long-standing trademark, the report...
Apple Rolls Out Customizable Digital iTunes Gift Cards Via Facebook
TechCrunch reports that Apple has rolled out a new feature through its iTunes Facebook page allowing users to create customizable digital gift cards. The feature, which is currently limited to U.S. iTunes Store customers, allows gift givers to choose from six digital gift card designs and iTunes credits ranging from $5 to $50. Gift givers can then enter a gift message and specify a delivery...
AT&T Addressing Network Performance in Manhattan and San Francisco, High-Bandwidth Users
The Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega noted at an investor conference today that the company is continuing to work to address network issues in Manhattan and San Francisco, areas with high densities of iPhone and other smartphone users who have been experiencing subpar performance. Those two cities see especially high smart-phone penetration, which has put...
Ustream Offers Live Video Streaming for the iPhone
TechCrunch notes that Apple has approved Ustream Live Broadcaster [App Store, Free], offering users the ability to stream live video directly from their iPhones via Wi-Fi and 3G. While one of the key features of the iPhone 3GS was video recording capabilities, that was limited to recordings that were captured on your device and could be uploaded to the web after they were done recording. With...
Analyst: Apple Prepping February Tablet Production Ramp Ahead of March or April Release
MarketWatch reports on a new research note from Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Yair Reiner predicting, based on industry checks, that Apple will begin mass production of its much-rumored tablet computer in February ahead of a launch in late March or April.
The report claims that the device will include a 10.1" multi-touch LCD screen, specifically countering a recent rumor that the device's launch...
Apple Reportedly Preparing to Seed Builds of Mac OS X 10.6.3 to Developers
AppleInsider reports that Apple is preparing to begin seeding builds of Mac OS X 10.6.3, the next maintenance release for Snow Leopard, to developers as soon as this week. People familiar with the matter say the forthcoming builds are likely to be released to some developers in the next 48 hours, and carry the expected prefix of 10Dxx. It is not yet known what issues Apple hopes to address with...
Apple Releases AirPort Software Update, Firmware Updates Addressing SuperDrive Noise
Apple today released four software updates, one AirPort client update targeting Snow Leopard users and three firmware updates addressing optical disk drive noise on a number of the company's computers.
- AirPort Client Update 2009-002 (12.95 MB) addresses several issues experienced by users of Mac OS X Snow Leopard related to wireless networking. This update is recommended for all Macintosh...
'Dragon Dictation' Brings Voice Transcription to the iPhone [Updated]
Nuance Communications today announced the release of Dragon Dictation [App Store, Free for a limited time], a new voice transcription application for the iPhone. The application, which relies on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition engine to transcribe voice input to text, allows users to easily send transcribed text to new e-mail or text messages or save it to the clipboard for...
Bento for iPhone and iPod Touch Tops 100,000 Sales
Apple subsidiary Filemaker today announced that sales of its Bento iPhone and iPod touch application have topped 100,000 in the six months since the application's release. Bento is a personal database application that serves as a standalone application, but is also capable of synchronizing with the company's desktop software. "Whether they want to take client information with them on the road,...
News Publishers Launch Joint Venture Targeting Digital Content Distribution
Five major magazine publishers today announced the creation of a joint venture to develop standards for a digital content storefront and viewing on portable devices. Cond Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corporation and Time Inc. today jointly announced that they have entered into an independent venture to develop open standards for a new digital storefront and related technology that will allow...
