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
Ping Updates: 'Ping Sidebar' Coming Soon? Record Labels Miffed at Secrecy
Aside from the occasional discussion of the Apple-Facebook negotiations prior to the launch of Apple's social networking service for music earlier this month, things have been fairly quiet when it comes to Ping. A change to Apple's iTunes Store terms and conditions today hints, however, that some changes may be afoot.
The new terms and conditions, which customers must agree to before...
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More TV Executives Weigh In on 99-Cent TV Show Rentals: Viacom Out, CBS on the Fence
The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) on additional comments about Apple's 99-cent TV show rental program made by executives at this week's Goldman Sachs conference. Over the past week, executives from Time Warner and NBC have weighed in with their opinions that the pricing model is not right for them, and executives from Viacom and CBS have now offered public statements...
Safari AutoFill Security Issue Rears Its Head Once Again
Back in July, security researcher Jeremiah Grossman revealed a security issue that could allow malicious parties to take advantage of Safari's AutoFill feature to extract personal information from users' Address Book entries. At the time, Grossman reported that his report to Apple had gone essentially unacknowledged for nearly a month, but just six days later Apple released Safari 5.0.1 and 4.1.1...
Apple Refunds Expedited Shipping Charges for New Apple TV Orders, Cites Inability to Meet 'Delivery Commitment'
AppleInsider reports that Apple has sent emails to some customers who ordered the new Apple TV with expedited shipping, informing them that it is refunding the extra shipping charges due to a "delay" in meeting their delivery commitments. "Our records indicate that when you placed your order you paid for upgraded shipping," Apple wrote in the emails. "Due to a delay, we may have not been able to ...
A Graphical Look at Apple's Share of Mobile Phone Industry Profits
Earlier this week, we noted that Apple's share of mobile phone industry profits had risen to 39%, topping that of the top three handset manufacturers (Nokia, Samsung, and LG) combined. Asymco expands on that topic of discussion to offer an interesting graphical look at how Apple's share of profits has grown over time, primarily at the expense of the previously-dominant Nokia. Note that profit...
Target Officially Confirms iPad Launch for October 3rd [Updated]
Screenshot from Target's inventory system
The Associated Press reports that Target has officially confirmed that it will begin offering availability of the iPad on October 3rd. The nation's second-largest discount chain says it will start selling touchscreen tablet computer Oct. 3. The iPad will be covered under the retailer's 5 percent discount for store credit-card holders, which rolls out...
7-Inch iPad Resembling iPhone 4 Now a 'Finished Product'?
Previous mockup of 7-inch iPad based on current design
Chinese rumor site Shanzai.com claims (via 9 to 5 Mac) that Apple's rumored 7-inch iPad is a "finished product" and that its design much more closely resembles that of the iPhone 4 than the current iPad. The report also claims that Apple has been floating around at least five different designs in order to throw off those attempting to...
11.6-Inch 'MacBook' Headed to Manufacturing?
In a brief tidbit posted today, DigiTimes claims that Apple manufacturing partner Quanta is scheduled to ship 400,000-500,000 "MacBooks" carrying an 11.6-inch screen size before the end of this year, suggesting that a release may be near. Meanwhile, Quanta has reportedly landed orders for 11.6-inch MacBooks from Apple. Shipments of 11.6-inch MacBooks are expected to top 400,000-500,000 units in...
'White Space' Airwaves Opened for Future Cellular and Wi-Fi Enhancements
Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has voted to open up unused portions of the television broadcast frequency spectrum, known as white spaces, for unlicensed uses, paving the way for the development of technologies such as cellular communications and broad-range Wi-Fi networks to take advantage of the frequencies. The radio waves travel in the spectrum between...
Apple Proposes Using Pogo Pins to Shrink Headphone Jacks
A newly-published patent application from Apple is generating some interest today for its description of a means to reduce the size of headphone jacks by using pogo pins instead of the traditional cantilevered metal strips for mediating electrical contacts with headphone plugs.
The invention disclosure comes as Apple continues to shrink the general overall size of its portable devices, with...
iPhone Tops J.D. Power Smartphone Rankings Once Again
Influential customer satisfaction research firm J.D. Power today announced that Apple's iPhone has topped the list of smartphones for the fourth straight year in its new 2010 U.S. Wireless Smartphone Customer Satisfaction Study - Volume 2. For a fourth consecutive time, Apple ranks highest in customer satisfaction among manufacturers of smartphones with a score of 800 on a 1,000-point scale, and ...
Apple Bringing Former SurfaceInk Collaborators In-House
Late last month, we noted that Apple had apparently parted ways with longtime engineering design partner SurfaceInk over the consulting firm's recent efforts to create and design entire products for third parties. The final straw appears to have been a prototype tablet being shopped around by SurfaceInk, a move Apple viewed as a possible competitive threat.
Apple doesn't appear to be going...
Verizon CEO Plays Down Expectations for Imminent iPhone Launch [Updated]
While claims continue to build regarding a release for a Verizon iPhone early next year, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg is continuing to play things close to the vest by once again refusing to acknowledge that any deal might be imminent. In fact, Seidenberg is going as far as to say that he hopes the carrier's 4G network that it is preparing to launch in the next few months will be the impetus to...
Steve Jobs Ranked as 42nd Richest American With Net Worth of $6.1 Billion
Forbes has released its annual list of the 400 richest Americans, and Apple CEO Steve Jobs checks in in 42nd place with a net worth of approximately $6.1 billion. Jobs gained $1 billion in net worth over last year's calculations, but moved up only one position in the rankings. In January he unveiled Apple's iPad tablet amid a media frenzy; the device has so far beaten the hype with more than 3...
27-Inch LED Cinema Displays Shipping For Delivery Tomorrow, Apple TV Orders Being Charged
As we noted earlier today, software updates released by Apple today indicated that the release of the company's new 27-inch LED Cinema Display appeared imminent. We can now push things one step further, as customers have begun receiving shipping notices for their orders, some with delivery set for as early as tomorrow.
Apple's shipping department is also gearing up to start pushing out the...
Apple Releases Software Updates to Support New 27-Inch LED Cinema Display
Availability of Apple's new 27" LED Cinema Display appears imminent, as the company has just released several software updates to support the new display. The new display went on sale last Friday with estimated shipping times of 1-2 weeks, a timeframe that still holds for new orders as of today.
LED Cinema Display Software Update 1.0 weighs in at 75.79 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.4....
75% of 'iAd for Developers' Participants Renew or Increase Spending
Last month, we shared the story of one developer who participated in a trial of Apple's iAd for Developers program only to find that the experiment was not cost-effective for his 99-cent application given Apple's pricing structure for iAds.
The Los Angeles Times follows up with a more expansive look at the iAd for Developers program, finding that while many developers feel that the pricing...
NBC Universal Unlikely to Join Apple's 99-Cent TV Show Rental Program
Reuters reports on comments from NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker suggesting that the studio is not interested in joining Apple's new 99-cent TV show rental program, citing concerns over pricing. Offering NBC's shows for that price on the Apple TV service would undermine the value of their shows, he said.
"We do not think 99 cents is the right price point for our content. ... We thought it would...
'Filemaker Go' Updated With PDF Creation, Sharing and Photo Features
Apple subsidiary Filemaker today announced substantial updates to its Filemaker Go and Filemaker Go for iPad applications in the App Store, adding a number of new features that had been highly requested by users.
Several of the primary enhancements are related to new tools for enhanced sharing possibilities. Users can now create PDFs of their databases directly within Filemaker Go and store ...
Adobe CEO Reports 'Muted' Effect of Apple's Relaxing of App Store Rules on Product Sales
The Wall Street Journal reports on comments from Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen made during the company's earnings conference call indicating that Apple's recent decision to relax restrictions on third-party development tools for iOS app creation has had only a "muted" effect on Adobe product sales. Narayen said in June the public squabble with Apple had not hurt sales of the company's software...
