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 Discloses Process for Creating Scratch-Resistant Stainless Steel
An Apple patent application published yesterday has been gaining some attention for its discussion of a system for creating a nitride layer on the surface of stainless steel components to assist in providing durability and scratch resistance while allowing the natural color and texture of the stainless steel to remain visible.
Cross section of nitrided stainless steel
Apple notes that the...
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Adobe Shows Off Flash-to-HTML5 Converter
Adobe's John Nack points to a demo of a new tool from the company that would allow developers to easily convert their Flash projects to a combination of HTML5 and related non-Flash technologies. The tool, demoed at Adobe's MAX 2010 conference earlier this week, is not yet promised for a public release, but it is clear that the company is looking at ways to help developers offer their content in...
Apple Turns to Ingram Micro for Corporate iPad Distribution
Reuters reports that technology distributor Ingram Micro is seeing strong sales of the iPad as Apple loosens the reins to allow business-to-business distribution specialists to offer the device. Greg Spierkel, chief executive of Ingram Micro, said Apple has preferred to sell the iPad to retailers but that the company is increasingly letting his firm sell it to businesses.
"What it's telling us...
iPhone Snags 60% of Japanese Smartphone Market
MobileCrunch reports on a new report from Japanese research firm MMRI claiming that Apple held a 60% share of the Japanese smartphone market for the period of April through September, easily outdistancing second-place Sony Ericsson's 20.6% share. According to MMRI, a total of 2.23 million smartphones (Android/Windows Mobile/Blackberry/iOS/Palm) were sold in Japan between April and September this ...
'Fortune' Adds Its Voice to Verizon iPhone Confirmations
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times made headlines as the first flagship news publications to confirm that a Verizon iPhone is set to launch early next year.
In a lengthy profile of Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg published today, Fortune adds its voice to the chorus of confirmations and takes a look at the relationship between Apple and Verizon. The next step, the...
OmniVision to Provide Front and Rear Cameras for Second-Generation iPad?
Barron's reports on a new research note from research firm Detweiler Fenton claiming that OmniVision Technologies has won the contract to supply image sensors for both a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera and front-facing VGA camera for the second-generation iPad. The report claims that the revamped iPad will debut in the first quarter of 2011, likely relatively late in the quarter. The research...
Apple Becomes Fourth-Largest Mobile Phone Vendor
Research firm IDC yesterday released results for global mobile phone unit sales in the third quarter of 2010, highlighting Apple's leap into the top five vendors to grab the fourth spot behind Nokia, Samsung, and LG, and ahead of Research in Motion. Apple leapt ahead of several vendors in 3Q10 including RIM, which it surpassed by 1.7-million units, and Sony Ericsson by 3.7-million units. The...
Apple Addresses Hyper-Threading Issue With Logic 9.1.3
Apple today released Logic Pro 9.1.3 and Logic Express 9.1.3 to address an issue with Hyper-Threading. This update delivers improved general stability and compatibility.
Issues addressed with 9.1.3 include:
- Resolves problems related to the support of Hyper-ThreadingUnder Logic 9.1.3's audio preferences, users can specify the number of audio rendering threads the software will open at any ...
Apple Releases Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5
Apple today released Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.5, bringing fixes for several issues on the latest version of Apple's professional workstation. This update is recommended for all Mac Pro (Mid 2010) models and addresses the following issues:
- Resolves an issue that prevented the firmware password prompt from being displayed
- Resolves an issue that prevented the Boot Picker from being...
Apple Tops Microsoft in Third Quarter Revenue
Back in late May, Apple passed Microsoft to become the second-largest U.S. company as measured by market capitalization. Just a few months later, Apple has reached another milestone lined to its longtime rival: For the first time in nearly 15 years, Apple has brought in more quarterly revenue than Microsoft, as Apple's $20.34 billion quarter announced last week topped that of Microsoft, which...
iPhone 4 Sells Out in Apple's Chinese Online Store in Only 10 Hours, Scalpers Blamed
iPhone 4 in Apple's Chinese online store: "No Supply"
Earlier this week, Apple debuted its Chinese online store, offering consumers in that country the ability to order the full range of Apple products directly from the company. M.I.C gadget reports, however, that the store's supplies of the iPhone 4 completely sold out within 10 hours of the store going live, with Apple refusing to even...
Roseville Galleria Apple Store Reopens After Mall Fire
Apple's retail store at the Roseville Galleria outside of Sacramento, California has reopened as part of the first wave of stores just one week after an arsonist barricaded himself inside a mall store and set fire. Due to concerns over whether the arsonist carried an explosive device in his backpack, firefighters were unable to directly combat the fire for some time, resulting in over $50...
Walt Mossberg Reviews the New MacBook Air
Walt Mossberg, the influential tech columnist for The Wall Street Journal, has published his review of the new MacBook Air, which comes after testing both the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models over the past week. Overall, Mossberg finds the new MacBook Air to be a true hybrid between Apple's traditional Mac portables and the iPad in many ways. I've been testing both versions, but especially the...
iPad Now Available in AT&T and Verizon Retail Stores
Following the announcement earlier this month that AT&T and Verizon would begin offering the iPad in their retail stores, both wireless carriers have followed through and launched the device on schedule today.
AT&T is offering only the three Wi-Fi + 3G models, priced at Apple's standard $629/$729/$829. The company also continues to offer its two no-contract monthly data plans at 250 MB...
Apple Removes Mention of White iPhone 4 From Online Store
Following another delay until spring 2011 for the white iPhone 4 and rumors that the device has been canceled altogether, Apple has now removed mention of the model from its primary ordering page for the iPhone 4 in all localizations of its online store.
Apple's online store had previously depicted both the white and black iPhone 4, with text under the image of the white model noting that it ...
Apple Targeting Production of 25 Million CDMA iPhones in 2011?
Following on a report from earlier today claiming that Foxconn/Hon Hai will assist in the production of CDMA-based iPhones to the tune of 15 million units in 2011, DigiTimes now reports that Pegatron will be contributing ten million of its own units next year, yielding a total of 25 million CDMA-based iPhones for 2011. Pegatron Technology internally expects its Apple CDMA iPhone shipments to...
Valve Releases 'Left 4 Dead' for Mac OS X
Valve Software today announced the release of an update to Left 4 Dead that brings Mac support to the popular game, which now joins Left 4 Dead 2 on the Mac following the sequel's release earlier this month.
Valve had noted when it announced the Left 4 Dead 2 launch date that the original game was seeing a few delays but that they hoped it would be available before Halloween, a target the...
Apple's 2010 Annual Report: Hiring Spree, Ad Budget Increase, Lower Gross Margins Ahead
Apple today filed its 2010 annual report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the document reveals a few interesting tidbits of information:
- Apple noted that it had approximately 46,600 full-time equivalent employees as of September 25th, an increase of over 35% since last year's annual report. The company has an additional 2,800 full-time equivalent temporary employees and ...
MacBook Air 'Ultimate' Configurations Benchmarked
In a follow-up to its benchmarks for the new 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models yesterday, Macworld has now gotten its hands on the "ultimate" configurations of the two sizes, allowing for testing on the higher-powered models offering faster processors and more RAM. Our Speedmark 6.5 results show the BTO 11-inch MacBook Air topping its standard configuration version by 12 percent, overall....
Spotify Making Progress on Deals With U.S. Music Labels
CNET reports that Swedish music streaming service Spotify appears to be getting closer to locking in deals with the major U.S. record labels that would allow the company to launch its free and paid services in the United States. Just yesterday, a rumor surfaced claiming that Apple was in early-stage negotiations with Spotify about an acquisition, but the claim was quickly denied by Spotify...
