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 Responds Regarding App Store Sales Ranking Fraud
Engadget reports that Apple has issued a statement on strange App Store rankings over the weekend that saw one Vietnamese developer grab nearly all of the top 50 positions in the App Store's Books category. While initial reports wondered if the App Store itself may have been hacked, in actuality it appears that a relatively small number of iTunes Store accounts compromised through other means...
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iPhone 4 Users on AT&T Experiencing Widespread Drops in Upload Speed
In a rapidly-growing thread started in our forums over the weekend, iPhone 4 users from a number of locations around the United States have been reporting significant drops in data upload speeds on AT&T's 3G network. As noted by Gizmodo, many of these users are seeing upload speeds maxing out at only 100 kbps, far below the 1500 kbps these same users were seeing before the weekend on their...
Apple's iAd Takes on Google With Targeted Mobile Advertising
Bloomberg takes a look at Apple's new iAd platform and how the company is using its vast database of customer information to target advertising campaigns and get a leg up on Google in the mobile advertising space. Relying on the music, videos and apps that customers are downloading from its iTunes, App Store and iBooks helps Apple sketch a behavioral profile that can be paired with appropriate...
Apple Ramps July iPad Production to Over 2 Million Units
According to a new report from DigiTimes, Apple has pushed orders with its suppliers for iPad production well beyond two million units for the month of July, marking a continued increase in supplies as the company seeks to keep up with demand in existing markets as well as expand into new countries. Apple is estimated to have outsourced 2.3-2.35 million iPads to Taiwan players in July with 58-60%...
Users Continue to Experience Problems With iPhone 4 Proximity Sensors
While Apple's iPhone 4 signal loss issues have been receiving significant attention since the device's launch late last month, a number of other problems have been seeing sporadic reports, and one of the most prevalent of late has been problems with the device's proximity sensors designed to sense when the phone is held up to the user's face and deactivate the device's screen, thus preventing...
Lenovo CEO on Steve Jobs and Apple's Efforts in China
July 10th grand opening of Shanghai Apple store
The Financial Times offers an interesting piece highlighting the views of Lenovo CEO Liu Chuanzhi on Steve Jobs and Apple's efforts to penetrate the rapidly-growing Chinese market where Lenovo leads in PC sales with 30% of the market. In particular, Liu notes that Lenovo is lucky that Apple "doesn't care about China" or else it could see itself...
Music Labels Not Yet On Board With Apple's Cloud-Based iTunes Strategy
Addressing yesterday's report of cloud-based iTunes streaming coming "soon", CNET's well-connected Greg Sandoval reports that things still may not be as far along as many observers would like, as music labels have reportedly yet to sign on to the deal. While it's hard to say what Boy Genius' source meant by "soon" it's worth noting that Apple has yet to obtain necessary licenses from the top...
New York Times: Apple Gearing Up to Take Apple TV to the Next Level
The New York Times reports that Apple is preparing to launch a significant revamp of its television-related offerings, targeting at least a software overhaul for the company's Apple TV while an entirely new hardware product remains a possibility. According to the report's sources, Apple has recently hired a number of new user interface designers with backgrounds in television broadcast design...
Apple on iPhone 4 Reception: Signal Strength Display Issue Only, Software Update Coming
Apple today released a public statement regarding user complaints of reception issues on iPhone 4, noting that the issue is simply a software one relating to how the number of bars of signal strength displayed is calculated. The apparent significant drop in signal while touching the lower left corner is actually a result of the phone reporting too many bars while not being held. We have...
iOS Game Developer Tapulous Acquired by Disney
TechCrunch reports that Palo Alto-based iOS development firm Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. Tapulous, the company beyond the popular Tap Tap Revenge series of rhythm tapping applications, was reported last December to have a staff of 20 employees and be bringing in nearly a million dollars per month in sales. Tapulous has been acquired by Disney. The iPhone gaming startup with several hits ...
Apple's iAds Slowly Begin to Appear, Led by Nissan Leaf
Last week, we noted that developers had begin incorporating support for Apple's iAd mobile advertisements into updates for their applications, with a few applications starting to show placeholder banners and test ads ahead of the program's official launch on July 1st. Right on time, iAd advertisements have begun to go live, although their presence appears to be very spotty on iAd-compatible...
Cloud-Based iTunes and Wireless Device Syncing Coming 'Soon'?
Boy Genius Report claims to have received information from an Apple source noting that the company is finally gearing up to launch its cloud-based iTunes initiative, a program that will also included wireless syncing for devices. We have been told iTunes will be getting a huge cloud capability that many people have been asking for (and logically thought would happen sooner or later). These new...
Steve Jobs Again Speaks Out on iPhone 4 Antenna Issue via Email [Fake]
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been busy in recent days responding to customers emails, many of which have been addressing signal issues on the company's new iPhone 4. Boy Genius Report shares a new conversation between Jobs and a customer on the issue containing several interesting aspects.
First, it appears that contact was initiated by an Apple engineer who reached out to the customer after...
'Firefox Home' Submitted to Apple for App Store Review
Mozilla today announced that it has submitted its Firefox Home browser syncing app to Apple for App Store review. Rather than developing its own iOS browser as Opera has done, Mozilla has chosen to make it easier for iOS users to move between Firefox on their desktop computers and Safari on their mobile devices. Firefox Home is a free application that provides access to your Firefox desktop...
Jobs Says Over-The-Air HD Video Uploads Coming 'In The Future'
One of the key features of iPhone 4 is its ability to record high-definition video in 720p. Users have found, however, that getting the HD video off of the device requires connecting it to a computer for download. While Apple offers users simple options for sharing videos directly from the iPhone via email or MMS, or by uploading the videos to MobileMe or YouTube, those mechanisms result in...
AdMob: iOS Platform Continues to Lead in Mobile Data Usage, But Android Surging
As it has done on a monthly basis for the past several years, AdMob today released a new Mobile Metrics Report for May 2010. The report highlights worldwide trends in mobile requests to its ad network from over 23,000 mobile websites and applications.
This month's report shows continued strength for the iPhone and other iOS devices during the lead-up to the iPhone 4 launch just last week....
'MobileMe Gallery' Updated for iPhone 4's Retina Display
Apple's MobileMe Gallery application has received a minor update today, fixing a few bugs while delivering new support for iPhone 4. With the update, the application can now download higher-resolution versions of images hosted on MobileMe when used on an iPhone 4 and connecting over Wi-Fi. The change allows users to take advantage of iPhone 4's 960 x 640 "Retina" display to view images in...
Apple Beefing Up iPhone and iPad Antenna Engineering Staff
As noted by Engadget, Apple has been busy posting job listings for engineers to work on design and testing of antennas for the company's iPhone and iPad. While Apple typically posts a number of new job listings each day, the fact that the company has posted a total of eight antenna-related positions over the past two weeks naturally leads to speculation that it is beefing up its staff to...
iTunes Store Features Limited $9.99 HD Movie Sales
Macworld notes that Apple has launched a new bargain bin of sorts for HD movie sales in its U.S. iTunes Store, featuring 30 titles in a dedicated "HD Movies $9.99" section [iTunes Store] of the store, although a handful of the films are priced even lower. No, Apple has not (yet) managed to finish dragging the studios into the 21st century en masse. But it has introduced a $10 HD movies section...
Short Film Shot and Edited Entirely on iPhone 4
(iOS users click through for non-Flash video)
A short film shot and edited entirely on an iPhone 4 has been making the rounds over the past day or two, demonstrating the camera and video capabilities of Apple's newest device. While the video itself is less than 90 seconds long, it shows off iPhone 4's HD video recording feature and camera quality while also proving that simple, high-quality...
