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
T-Mobile to Begin Offering iPhone 3GS in U.S.?
Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson yesterday tweeted that he had been told by a "T-Mobile manager" that the carrier will begin offering the iPhone 3GS "later this year", but that the iPhone 4 will not be offered. A T-Mobile manager casually mentioned to me that they're going to get the iPhone 3GS (but not 4, oddly) later this year. Common knowledge?The tweet is bizarre on a number of levels,...
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Unboxing Photos of Apple's New iPod Nano and iPod Touch
Following up on its extensive gallery of unboxing and comparison photos for the new iPod shuffle yesterday, iLounge has now done the same for the new iPod nano and iPod touch. The gallery, which will continue to be updated with additional photos today, shows off the packaging, organization, and included accessories available with the new models.
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App Store's Meteoric Growth Compared to iTunes Song Downloads
Asymco offers an interesting graph showing the relative growth of iTunes song and App Store downloads over their respective histories, demonstrating the App Store's meteoric growth that is setting it up to pass the music portion of Apple's media store in total downloads in the relatively near future. As can be seen, the App store has reached the same total downloads in 2.2 years as the iTMS...
Extended iTunes Store Song Samples Held Up Over Licensing Issues
Just two days before Apple's media event last week, CNET reported that Apple was set to extend the length of song samples in the iTunes Store from 30 seconds to as much as 90 seconds, offering consumers greater opportunity to determine whether they were interested in purchasing the content. Despite the fact that the information seemed fairly solid, the change did not come to pass at the event.
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Apple Releases iWeb 3.0.2
Apple today released iWeb 3.0.2, a minor update primarily offering fixes for several issues related to blog and podcast publishing. This update refines comment and search support for blogs and podcasts published to MobileMe. It also resolves some issues related to publishing sites to MobileMe.The update weighs in at 177.14 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 or...
Fourth-Generation iPod Shuffle Teardown Unsurprisingly Reveals Tiny Components
Earlier today, we posted some photos of the new fourth-generation iPod shuffle, showing off the unboxing and some comparisons to other iPod models.
Unsurprisingly, iFixit is close behind with a detailed teardown of the diminutive music player. It took a half hour of prying and heat application to open the device's case, but they were finally able to gain access to its internals. Among the...
QuickBooks 2011 for Mac to Bring Multi-User Options, Time-Saving Features, Enhanced Customization
Intuit today announced the forthcoming release of QuickBooks 2011 for Mac, the company's financial management software for small businesses. The new version, set to ship on September 27th, brings a number of enhancements to the software package. The software meets the needs of expanding small businesses with new multi-user options and the ability to set user permissions - the most-requested...
Apple Confirms Game Center Compatibility: Yes on 2nd-Generation iPod Touch, No on iPhone 3G
Apple has confirmed on its Game Center overview page that the social gaming network will be available for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and second-, third-, and fourth-generation iPod touch models when the feature debuts in iOS 4.1 later this week. The iPhone 3G, original iPhone, and original iPod touch are not supported, although of those only the iPhone 3G supports iOS 4 in any form.
Apple...
'Macworld Mobile' Coming to Mobile World Congress 2011
The GSM Association today announced that it has partnered with IDG World Expo, organizers of Macworld Expo, to offer a new "Macworld Mobile" event as part of the Mobile World Congress 2011 to be held in Barcelona next February. The event will bring dedicated support for iPhone and iPad development to the more broadly-focused mobile industry event. At Mobile World Congress 2011, the GSMA is...
'Nike+ GPS' App Comes to the App Store
As noted on our sister site AppShopper yesterday, Nike has released a new Nike+ GPS application into the App Store, offering iPhone users new tools for tracking their running performance.
While the Nike+ system built into the iPhone and other devices has required that users purchase a separate sensor to be attached to the user's shoe for tracking, the new application takes advantage of the...
Fourth-Generation iPod Shuffle Unboxing and Comparison Photos
iLounge has received a new fourth-generation iPod shuffle and posted a photo gallery documenting the unboxing as well as showing a comparison to the similar second-generation iPod shuffle and other iPod models.
After moving navigation buttons to the headphone cord in the third-generation model, Apple has gone back to its earlier button design, although it has still been able to...
Apple Replaces Batteries of 5,500 First-Generation iPod Nanos in Japan
CrunchGear notes that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry has issued a report revealing that Apple last month replaced a total of 5,527 batteries for first-generation iPod nano devices in response to increased publicity generated by the government agency's pressure on Apple to expand its battery replacement efforts. The ministry also says in the 3 weeks in August after Apple issued...
Apple Spent Nearly $1 Million on Google Search Advertising in June
Ad Age reports that it has obtained an internal Google document detailing expenditures made by other companies during the month of June for advertising in its search results. According to the data, Apple spent nearly $1 million in June on advertising through Google.
While the amount appears to be a significant sum at first glance, a number of companies committed more resources to Google...
Fourth-Generation iPod Touch Orders Begin Shipping
As noted by TiPb and several posters in our forums, Apple has begun issuing shipping notices for fourth-generation iPod touch orders.
Apple announced new iPod touch, nano, and shuffle models at last Wednesday's media event, noting that all models would launch sometime this week. Some users receiving shipping notifications are seeing delivery dates of this Friday, September 10th, while...
Total iPod Touch Sales Estimated at Over 45 Million
According to market research firm Asymco, Apple's iPod touch has been estimated to have sold more than 45 million units over its lifetime, or nearly 38% of the 120 million iOS devices cited by Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company's media event last week as having been sold. We know that there were 59.6 million iPhones sold through June (from SEC filings)
We also know that 3.2 million iPads...
Informal Testing Suggests Minor Performance Increase for iPhone 3G on iOS 4.1
Late last week, Lifehacker posted a video comparison of the performance of iOS 4.0 and iOS 4.1 on an iPhone 3G. The video demonstrates the results, but here they are in all their glory:
- Messages: iOS 4.1 Wins (By a Little)
- Maps: iOS 4.1 Wins (By a Lot)
- Photos: iOS 4.1 Wins (Just Barely)
- Safari: iOS 4.1 Wins (Just Barely)
While the speed advantages ranged from marginal to...
iLife '11 Pages Appear on Amazon's Site
A report from TUAW has been gaining some attention today for its revelation of an entry on Amazon's site for an iLife '11 Family Pack priced at $99. The entry was apparently originally noticed late last month by a poster on Macworld's forum who also spotted the single-user version priced at $79. Both entries are listed as shipping in 2-4 weeks and claim that they were first posted on July...
Apple Announces One Million Ping Users in First Two Days
Apple today announced that over one million users have joined Ping, the company's new social networking feature focused on music and built into iTunes 10. According to Apple, one-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 in its first 48 hours of availability have joined Ping. "One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president...
Steve Jobs Defends New iTunes 10 Icon Against Criticism
With the release of iTunes 10 on Wednesday, Apple has revamped the application's icon for the first time in many years, doing away with the traditional design of music notes on top of a CD. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the change at Wednesday's media event, noting that with iTunes likely to surpass physical CD sales sometime next year, it was time to remove the CD from the icon. The icon...
Apple Adds Showtimes to Movie Trailer Site
Macworld reports that Apple has added listings of showtimes to its movie trailer site, offering a slick HTML5 interface that utilizes geo-location to find theaters in your area. When you visit the page, your Web browser will ask to use your current location, after which it will display a small Google Map highlighting nearby theaters (you can also enter your own ZIP code or city and state)....
