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
Extended iCloud Mail Outage Generating User Complaints
MacRumors has received a number of reports today from users who have been unable to access their iCloud mail accounts, and a growing thread in Apple's discussion forums is documenting the growing complaints.
According to user reports, iCloud mail went down around 9:30 AM Eastern Time this morning, and it remains out some seven hours later. Apple updated its iCloud System Status page at 10:08...
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Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3
Just over a month after the arrival of the previous build, Apple today seeded registered members of the Mac Developer Program with the third developer preview version of OS X Mountain Lion.
The new version arrives as Build 12A178q, up from the earlier 12A154q version. Changes included in the new version have yet to be discovered, but those with access to the build will undoubtedly be...
Tim Cook and Walter Isaacson Named to TIME's List of 100 Most Influential People
TIME magazine today released its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and two of the selections have close ties to Apple: CEO Tim Cook and Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson.
Each selection is accompanied by an essay by another prominent personality or close associate outlining why the person qualifies for inclusion in the list. The essay on Cook is written by...
Liquidmetal-Based iPhone 5 to Launch at WWDC in June?
Korean site ETNews.com claims that Apple is planning to use new "liquid metal" alloys in the iPhone 5 to yield a thinner and lighter device that is resistant to impact damage. Apple acquired the rights to Liquidmetal Technologies' "amorphous metal alloys" in August 2010 and soon after was spotted hiring engineers to work on the materials, but little concrete news on Liquidmetal's contributions...
Greenpeace Activists Protest at Apple's Irish Offices over Data Center Energy Use
As documented by Corkipedia, four Greenpeace activists climbed to the roof of Apple's offices in Cork, Ireland today, posting signage and distributing leaflets in an attempt to push Apple to adopt cleaner energy sources for its data centers. The protest, which lasted approximately an hour, came a day after Greenpeace blasted Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft for relying heavily on dirty coal power...
Flashback Malware Still Affecting over 100,000 Macs
While Apple has pushed out several software updates to detect the Flashback malware and remove it from infected systems, Symantec noted late yesterday that over 100,000 machines remain afflicted by the issue as detected by their sinkhole operation to redirect server traffic.
Symantec pegged the number at approximately 142,000 as of Monday, listing a rough estimate of "over 99,000" as...
Autodesk Releases Preview of Inventor Fusion for Mac
Back in January at Macworld, we noted that Autodesk was planning to bring its Inventor Fusion mechanical design software to the Mac. At the time, the company promised the a free technology preview of Inventor Fusion for Mac would be available in the coming weeks, with an official release to follow later.
Autodesk today announced that the free software preview is now available for download...
Apple and Samsung CEOs to Meet for Court-Moderated Settlement Talks over Patent Issues
FOSS Patents reports that the chief executives of Apple and Samsung, along with their respective general counsels, will meet within the next 90 days at a San Francisco courthouse for a court-moderated discussion aimed at settling the long-standing patent dispute between the two companies. As outlined in a joint statement before the court:As directed by the Court, Apple and Samsung are both...
Verizon's LTE Network to Reach Two-Thirds of U.S. Population This Week
Marking yet another milestone in its rollout of 4G LTE connectivity, Verizon today announced that with another major expansion coming later this week, the carrier's LTE network will now cover two-thirds of the United States population. This week's expansion, officially going live on Thursday, will see coverage in 27 new markets and expansion of coverage in 44 existing markets.Verizon Wireless,...
Greenpeace Takes on Apple and Other Tech Companies over Coal-Powered Data Centers
Activist group Greenpeace today issued a new report entitled How Clean is Your Cloud?, targeting major Internet companies including Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft over their heavy use of coal-derived power for their massive data centers.Given the energy-intensive nature of maintaining the cloud, access to significant amounts of electricity is a key factor in decisions about where to build these...
Apple's Second Retail Store in Rome Opening April 21
The first half of each year is a slow time for Apple retail store openings, but the company does continue to schedule sporadic additions to its network of stores as new locations come online. For its latest addition, Apple will be holding a grand opening for its second store in Rome, Italy this Saturday, April 21 at 10:00 AM. The new Porta di Roma store is located in the shopping center of the...
Apple Discontinues Free Trials of Aperture and iWork
As noted by MacStories, Apple has discontinued its free trials of Aperture and iWork, directing users to the Mac App Store where the apps are available for purchase.
The discontinuation of the Aperture trial is not particularly recent, as discussion forum reports indicate that it has been missing for at least a month, but the removal has gone mostly unnoticed. It is not entirely clear when...
New Dedicated Apple Product Displays Showing Up at Walmart
ifoAppleStore shares some photos of a newly-revamped Apple product display section in an Arkansas Walmart store near the retail chain's headquarters. Coming with dedicated wood display surfaces and lighted signage, the new displays mark a distinct improvement over the previous Apple product displays that had simply been integrated into existing display shelving.
The displays feature tall,...
Apple Partners with Chinese Environmental Group for Supplier Audit
While Apple has received much publicity for its partnership with the Fair Labor Association to audit working conditions at several of its manufacturing partners' facilities in China, Financial Times reports that the company has now also partnered with the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) for an environmental audit of a supplier's facilities.Apple has agreed to a jointly...
Apple Reportedly Looking to Launch ‘iPad Mini’ Priced at $249-$299 in Q3
Kotaku reports on claims [Google translation] from Chinese web portal NetEase regarding Apple's plans for the launch of a smaller "iPad mini" in the third quarter of this year. According to the report, Apple is planning to launch with six million units of the device at a price of either $249 or $299 in order to combat forthcoming Windows 8 products, although smaller Android tablets such as...
New iPad Launches in 21 More Countries by End of April
Apple today officially announced two more rounds of launches for the new iPad, with the first round coming on Friday, April 20 and including twelve markets led by South Korea. The second round comes on Friday, April 27 and includes nine more countries.Apple today announced the new iPad, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, will arrive in South Korea and 11 additional...
Apple Releases Flashback Removal Tool for Macs Running OS X Lion without Java
Following yesterday's release of fresh Java updates to remove the Flashback malware system from Macs running OS X Lion and Snow Leopard, Apple today released a standalone Flashback malware removal tool to clean infections from OS X Lion systems without Java installed.About Flashback malware removal tool
This Flashback malware removal tool that will remove the most common variants of the...
Apple Treats Employees to Performances of Cirque du Soleil's 'Totem'
MacRumors has learned that Apple has bought out two performances of Cirque du Soleil's traveling show Totem, currently playing in San Jose, California. According to our source, Apple purchased the entire block of 2,500 tickets for each of two shows yesterday and today for employees and their guests, with Apple also picking up the tab for food and drink.
Scanning Twitter and other social...
Philippe Starck's Project With Apple is Steve Jobs' Yacht
In the wake of a claim from French designer Philippe Starck that he has been working with Apple on a "revolutionary" new project, Apple has issued a statement to AllThingsD specifically denying the assertion.Reached for comment, an Apple spokeswoman said the company is not working on a new product with Starck. And while she declined to speculate about what the designer might have been referring...
Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits Headquarters of Video Game Firm Valve
AppleInsider reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook paid a visit today to the the headquarters of Valve, the video game firm behind the Steam digital distribution platform and a number of popular PC and Mac games. While the purpose of Cook's visit is unknown, his presence at the company's headquarters in Bellevue, Washington suggests that it may have been of some importance potentially relating to...
