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
AT&T Extends iPhone 3G S Upgrade Pricing to Many Customers
While today's big news has been the release of iPhone OS 3.0, AT&T today also announced that it is expanding the eligibility window for determining which customers are eligible for upgrade pricing on the iPhone 3G S. Customers who previously would not have become upgrade eligible until July, August or September of this year will instead qualify for AT&T's lowest upgrade pricing as of tomorrow,...
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Apple Releases iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch
Apple today released the long-awaited iPhone OS 3.0 (Build 7A341) for both iPhone and iPod touch via iTunes. Users should sync their devices with iTunes and check for updates in order to access the new version. iPod Touch owners will need to purchase the new firmware for $9.95 while iPhone owners will get the firmware downloaded...
'TweetDeck' Comes to the iPhone
An iPhone version of TweetDeck [App Store, Free], the popular Twitter browser for Mac, Windows, and Linux, has appeared in the App Store. The application brings a number of features to enhance users' mobile Twitter experience: - Tweet directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch.
- Manage multiple Twitter accounts.
- Stay up to date - view all new tweets in real-time.
- View notifications for new...
Apple Issues Advisory Regarding Third-Party Devices Syncing With iTunes
Daring Fireball highlights a new support document from Apple addressing the issue of "unsupported third-party digital media players" syncing with iTunes. The brief document warns users that Apple does not test its software with such devices and thus their ability to sync with iTunes may be broken by future software updates. Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media...
iPhone 3.0 Update for iPod Touch Page Appears in iTunes, Not Yet Functional [Updated]
One MacRumors reader has discovered an iTunes page that appears to offer the iPhone OS 3.0 software update for iPod touch for download for $9.95. While iTunes permits the transaction to go through and prompts the user to connect their iPod touch to check for updates, iTunes subsequently reports that iPhone OS 2.2.1 is still the current version and does not download iPhone OS 3.0.
...
Apple Details Snow Leopard 'Up-to-Date' Program
Apple today announced the details of its Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date Program, which allows U.S. customers who purchased or will purchase a qualifying Mac after June 8th, 2009 with OS X Leopard installed to upgrade to OS X Snow Leopard upon its September release for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 plus tax. Similar programs are available in a number of other countries. While Apple...
Apple Releases Java Updates Addressing Critical Vulnerabilities
Apple today released updated versions of its Java for OS X for both OS X 10.5 Leopard and OS X 10.4 Tiger. The updates address several vulnerabilities that could allow maliciously crafted Java applets to gain elevated privileges leading to arbitrary code execution.
The updates come less than a month after former Apple engineer Landon Fuller released a proof-of-concept exploit demonstrating...
'Documents to Go' Appears in App Store
The iPhone version of Documents to Go, the popular document editing application suite for mobile platforms from DataViz, has finally appeared in the App Store. Documents to Go for the iPhone offers the ability to edit, create and view Microsoft Word documents, as well as the ability to view and sync Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, iWork, and other files. Unfortunately, as detailed in a February preview,...
iPhone 3G S Orders Now Shipping
A number of MacRumors readers have reported that Apple and AT&T have begun updating order statuses and providing UPS tracking numbers for their iPhone 3G S orders. In the case of orders placed with Apple, shipments are being dispatched from Shenzhen, China and are due for delivery on Friday, the official launch date for the iPhone 3G S. Orders made through AT&T are appearing as "in progress" on ...
GeForce GTX 285 Appears in Apple Online Store
Earlier this week, the EVGA GeForce GTX 285 graphics card appeared in Apple's online stores in the U.S. and Canada. Compatible with the "Early 2008" and "Early 2009" Mac Pro models and currently listed as shipping in 1-2 weeks, the GTX 285 is priced at $449.95 in the U.S. Plans for a June launch of the card were revealed in late April, and the appearance of the card in Apple's store...
New Snow Leopard Features Continue to Emerge
In the days since Apple previewed the forthcoming Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard at its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote and distributed a new build to conference attendees, users have been scouring the new operating system and its associated documentation and promotional materials looking for new features. Mac|Life reports on ten features that have received relatively little publicity....
Safari 4 Tops 11 Million Downloads in First Three Days
Apple today announced that the final version of its Safari 4 browser, officially launched Monday after the company's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address, has been downloaded over 11 million times in the first three days of release. Notably, Safari for Windows has accounted for over half of the total downloads. Apple today announced that more than 11 million copies of Safari 4 have...
New Snow Leopard 10A380 Screenshots Emerge
Attendees of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this week received copies of a "near final" version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard following Monday's keynote. As we had heard just prior to the start of the conference, Apple is distributing Build 10A380 to the conference attendees. While a number of sets of screenshots and even videos have surfaced from Snow Leopard developer builds over the ...
Apple Researching Methods for Facilitating Emergency Phone Calls
A patent application entitled Method and system for prolonging emergency calls, filed in December 2007 and disclosed today, reveals that Apple has been researching methods for facilitating emergency phone calls from the iPhone. The scope of Apple's work extends to recognition of when a given call is an emergency call, activation of power-saving measures, use of confirmation buttons and tasks to...
Apple Now Testing High-Volume iPhone Push Notifications With AIM
Apple today invited a number of its iPhone OS 3.0 beta users to participate in a second high-volume test of Apple's Push Notifications system. This round of testing will use a developer preview of AOL's AIM instant messaging application and is scheduled to last for one week, leading up to the public launch of iPhone OS 3.0. As a developer actively working with iPhone OS, we would like your help...
More WWDC Tidbits: iPhone 3G S Oleophobic Screen, "Find My iPhone" Live
A couple of other minor items we've found worthy of mentioning have popped up in the excitement of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.
- iPhone 3G S Oleophobic Screen Coating: A number of readers have pointed out that Apple's tech specs page for the new iPhone 3G S mentions that the device's screen includes a "fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating". Fingerprint smudges on the iPhone's ...
TomTom and Navigon Bringing Turn-by-Turn GPS Car Navigation to iPhone
One of the featured demos at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on Monday was TomTom for iPhone, a forthcoming turn-by-turn GPS navigation solution. Turn-by-turn car navigation has been a highly anticipated function for the iPhone whose deployment has been delayed in part by numerous hurdles imposed by Apple's SDK terms and restrictions from map providers on the use of their data....
Microsoft Releases Updates for Office 2008 and 2004
Microsoft today released three updates targeted at users of Office for Mac primarily addressing a security issue that could be exploited using a maliciously crafted Word file.
- Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.9 (268 MB) The Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.9 Update improves security. It includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer's...
Contract and Subsidy Issues for iPhone Users Looking to Upgrade to iPhone 3G S
With the announcement of the iPhone 3G S yesterday, many current iPhone users have been looking to upgrade to the new model. Unfortunately, many users have been surprised and disappointed to find that their carriers are requiring that existing iPhone customers under contract are unable to immediately upgrade at the $199/$299 price point offered to "qualifying" customers.
It appears that many...
WWDC Tidbits: iDisk iPhone App, No ZFS Support in Snow Leopard Server?
In the wake of yesterday's big announcements from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, several smaller items of interest have managed to fly under the radar.
- iDisk iPhone Application: Apple's "More Features" pages for the iPhone 3G and 3GS contain a section entitled "iPhone and MobileMe", which highlights several iPhone-related features for customers of Apple's MobileMe service. In...
