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
Greenpeace Under Fire Again After Regrading of Apple's Data Center Energy Plans
Earlier this year, environmental activist group Greenpeace made waves with a report taking Apple and other companies to task for not doing enough to eliminate the use of dirty coal-sourced power at their data centers. Apple quickly responded at the time to note that Greenpeace had greatly overestimated the power needs of the company's flagship data center in Maiden, North Carolina, thereby...
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Hacker Releases Tools for Bypassing Apple's In App Purchase Mechanism [Updated]
As noted by 9to5Mac, a Russian hacker has developed a relatively simple method to allow users to bypass Apple's In App Purchase mechanism on many iOS apps, allowing users to obtain the content for free.
Alternate In App Purchase confirmation button seen on hacked devices
The method, which does not require jailbreaking, involves installing a pair of certificates on the user's device and then ...
Retina MacBook Pro Shipping Estimates Improving for the First Time
For the first time since its launch just over one month ago, Apple's Retina MacBook Pro has begun to see improvements in shipping estimates for new orders placed through the company's online store. The improvement has appeared first in Apple's Asia-Pacific markets, which have seen estimates move from 3-4 weeks to 2-3 weeks.
Shipping estimates in Apple's other main distribution regions of...
Apple Patent Application Reveals Integrated Charging Contacts in iPod Nano Clip
A newly-published Apple patent application (via AppleInsider) reveals Apple's interest in exploring the use of the iPod nano's clip as a charging and docking mechanism, a move that would eliminate the need for a dedicated docking port on the bottom edge of the device as found in the current design.
By incorporating electrical contacts into the clip and using a dock adapter to provide...
Apple's Online Refurb Store Outage Reaches Third Day [Updated]
Over the past three days, numerous MacRumors readers have noted that Apple's online store for refurbished products has been completely empty, with the store pages simply noting "Sorry there are no products available, please check back later."
The outage affects all Mac, iPad, and iPod models, as well as clearance products, and appears to extend to Apple's online stores for every country in...
'iPad Mini' Cases Accompanied by Sketchy Drawings
ThinkiOS reports (via 9to5Mac) that it has received a pair of drawings claimed to be of the "iPad mini" from a source in China.
The drawings are rather simplistic in nature, and several other inconsistencies make it difficult to believe that they are genuine drawings based on the actual design of the rumored product. The most glaring inconsistency is the aspect ratio of the display on the...
Behind the Deal for Apple's North Carolina Data Center
GigaOM takes a look at how Apple's data center in Maiden, North Carolina came to be, interviewing Catawba County Economic Development Corporation president Scott Millar for the story behind the deal. According to Millar, Apple was initially interested in building its data center within an abandoned textile mill in the area, but almost pulled out of the deal entirely when it decided that the...
News Corp. Considering Canceling 'The Daily'?
Back in February 2011, Apple executive Eddy Cue was on hand for the launch of The Daily, a new tablet-focused news publication from News Corp. that premiered on the iPad.
Availability of The Daily has since expanded to both Android tablets and the iPhone, but questions about the publication's viability have remained as revenues remain well below the tens of millions of dollars being pumped...
Chinese Vendors Already Taking Orders for 'iPhone 5' as New Physical Mockup Photos Surface
Reuters reports on the growing number of Chinese vendors that have already begun taking orders for the "iPhone 5", despite the fact that Apple has made no announcement about the next-generation iPhone's specs or availability.Sellers on Taobao, a unit of Alibaba Group, are accepting orders for the iPhone 5, in some cases asking for a deposit of 1,000 yuan ($160) for the new phone. One seller,...
Apple's Share of U.S. PC Shipments Rises to 12% in 2Q 2012
Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary personal computer shipment data for the second quarter of 2012, offering up a picture of market performance during the quarter. While Apple experienced only small year-over-year unit growth of 4.3% in the United States, the company was the only one of the top five vendors to see year-over-year growth and the company once again outperformed the...
Tim Cook at Sun Valley Conference, 'Looking Forward' to Meetings with Media Executives
The New York Times reports on Apple CEO Tim Cook's presence at the annual Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, noting that he is easily earning the title of "Mr. Popular" due to Apple's rare presence at the event.The conference, full of media bigwigs, has also been buzzing about any blueprints Mr. Cook may be hiding in Apple’s magic hat. He has lined up several one-on-one meetings ...
Facebook Launches SDK 3.0 Beta for iOS, New Dev Center
Facebook today announced the launch of a significant update to its software development kit (SDK) for iOS developers, making it easier to include Facebook integration within apps. The release also sets the stage for direct Facebook integration in iOS 6.After iOS 6 launches to users, the SDK will automatically use the native Facebook Login in iOS 6 when available. Just enable Login with Facebook...
Tweetbot for Mac Launches as Public Alpha
Roughly three weeks after Tapbots' Mark Jardine teased the existence of a Mac version of the popular iOS Twitter client Tweetbot, the application has now launched to the public. But rather than coming as a final release, Tapbots notes in a blog post that it is initially arriving as a public alpha.We’ve decided to release it as a public alpha to a) motivate us to finish faster, and b) get...
Amazon Launches Game Center Competitor for Kindle Fire, Testing 4-5 Inch Smartphone Displays
Amazon today announced the launch of its new "GameCircle" feature for the Kindle Fire tablet, a set of tools similar to Apple's Game Center that will allow users to chart achievements, compete with others via leaderboards, and sync game progress across devices via the cloud.GameCircle will make achievements, leaderboards and sync APIs accessible, simple and quick for you to integrate, and will...
OS X Mountain Lion Officially Drops Support for Some Older 64-Bit Macs
With Apple having seeded the golden master build of OS X Mountain Lion to developers earlier this week, the company has locked in which Macs will support the forthcoming version of the operating system. While the machine requirements have been known for some time, the seeding of the final public release is a good time to remind users which machines will support Mountain Lion.Your Mac must be one ...
Apple Issues Statement on EPEAT Registry Withdrawal
Late last week, we noted that Apple had pulled all of its qualifying Mac products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) registry for environmental ratings.
The move, which is said to have been related to Apple's design decisions that will disqualify its new and upcoming products from the registry, has the potential to impact Apple's presence in governmental and...
Purported Physical Model of 'iPad Mini' Surfaces
Just after posting photos of a purported metal engineering sample of the next-generation iPhone's massing, Gotta Be Mobile has now posted photos of a similar physical model of the "iPad mini".
The model appears to be a case maker's mold that shows the basic shape of the device, so it is unknown whether it accurately reflects the device's form factor. While case designs have proven accurate...
New Photos of Next-Generation iPhone 'Engineering Sample' Massing
Gotta Be Mobile posts a pair of photos of what it calls an "engineering sample" of the next-generation iPhone. While it isn't entirely clear just what the sample represents, it seems to be solid chunk of aluminum machined into the form factor of the rumored device.
Assuming that the sample is genuine and related to the iPhone development and production process, it supports previous photos...
Why Apple's 7.85-Inch 'iPad Mini' Isn't a 7-Inch Tablet
With rumors of an "iPad mini" launch in the coming months ramping up, there has been much discussion about just how usable such a device would be running at the 1024x768 resolution of pre-Retina iPad models. In particular, some commenters have pointed to Steve Jobs' October 2010 discussion of the 7-inch tablets from competitors that were just then hitting the market, where he outlined Apple's...
13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Shows Up in Benchmarks
Amid continued rumors that Apple intends to release a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro in the coming months, a Geekbench 2 benchmark submitted late last month as a "MacBookPro10,2" appears to represent the machine in question.
In comparison, the new non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro carries the model identifier "MacBookPro9,2", while the 15-inch non-Retina model is "MacBookPro9,1" and the corresponding ...
