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
Steam for Mac Details: Native Performance, Chipset Limitations, Closed Beta Underway
Last month, Valve Software announced that its Steam game distribution platform and its own library of games would be coming to Mac OS X in April. In recent weeks, Valve has kicked off a closed beta for Steam, and an extensive thread in the Steam user forums has led to a nice summarization of where things stand.
Reports confirm previous claims that Steam and the Source gaming engine will run ...
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Tracking Site Estimates iPad Sales Have Surpassed 1 Million
According to the Chitika Labs iPad tracker, over one million iPad devices are now estimated to be in use on the Internet, suggesting that Apple may have surpassed a major milestone less than a month after the device's launch and before 3G-capable models even go on sale later this week.
Chitika's iPad tracker gained some fame in the days after the iPad launch as it tried to estimate sales...
Developer Demonstrates Wireless Syncing of iPhone and iPod Touch to iTunes
Engadget points to a YouTube video posted by a developer apparently showing an iPhone application called Wi-Fi Sync that will enable users to wirelessly sync their iPhones and iPod touches with their computers via a local Wi-Fi network. As the name implies, the app promises a complete sync of your iPhone or iPod touch with iTunes without having to tether and looks pretty straightforward (and...
Apple Hires Nintendo Specialist From IGN to Manage App Store Gaming Content
Longtime IGN columnist Matt Casamassina last week noted on his blog that he is leaving behind his role as noted Nintendo reviewer to take a position as "global editorial games manager" at Apple. Beginning early May, I will join Apple as global editorial games manager, App Store. In a nutshell, I will be leading the charge for games on the App Store, so whether you browse through iTunes, iPhone,...
Rhapsody Brings Downloadable Playlists to iPhone
Streaming music service Rhapsody yesterday announced that it has added downloadable playlists to its iPhone application, allowing users to cache songs for playing while not connected to wireless or cellular networks. Here's how it works: say you've built the perfect road-trip playlist (mine includes all of Sheryl Crow's Tuesday Night Music Club, a bunch of Joe Strummer and Clash songs, plus a...
Law Enforcement Reportedly Looking Into Circumstances of Lost Next-Generation iPhone
CNET reports that law enforcement officials are investigating the circumstances surrounding an Apple employee's lost next-generation iPhone that ended up in the hands of Gizmodo, which published details of the device earlier this week. Apple has spoken to local police about the incident and the investigation is believed to be headed by a computer crime task force led by the Santa Clara County...
More Screenshots and a Hands-On of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011
Last month, Boy Genius Report released some screenshots of Microsoft's upcoming Office for Mac 2011, due for launch later this year. Among the featured items in the handful of screenshots was Outlook, which will replace Entourage as the email and calendaring component of Office for Mac.
Boy Genius Report now offers a hands-on review of the beta version of Office 2011, along with a "massive" ...
Shortages of Intel's Arrandale Chips Continue, But Apple Maintains Short Shipping Windows on Standard MacBook Pros
IDG News Service reports that Intel continues to struggle with shortages of its new Arrandale processors, causing price spikes for companies not under contract with Intel looking to buy the chips on the open market. The shortfall is in Intel's new laptop microprocessors codenamed Arrandale, including some Core i3 and Core i5 chips. The shortage has caused chip buyers to bid the price of the...
Apple Releases Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.2
Apple yesterday released Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 3.2, adding RAW image support for a number of digital cameras, as well as addressing issues with existing support for several other models. This update extends RAW image format compatibility to Aperture 3 and iPhoto '09 for the following cameras:
- Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D / Kiss X4
- Leica S2
- Olympus E-450
- Olympus E-600
...
Questions Arise Over Google's Plans to Bring Free Turn-By-Turn GPS Navigation to iPhone
Last October, Google announced free turn-by-turn GPS navigation capabilities for its Android 2.0 operating system in the United States, launching the feature on the Motorola Droid handset the following month. At the time, Google vice president Vic Gundotra revealed that his company was working with Apple to bring the feature to the iPhone, noting that the implementation required more work than ...
Apple Passes Microsoft for Second Place in S&P 500 Weighting
MarketWatch reports that Apple today passed Microsoft for second place in weighting on the S&P 500 index of large U.S.-traded stocks. Apple's float-adjusted market cap reached $241.5 billion, surpassing Microsoft Corp.'s index market value of $239.5 billion, said Standard & Poor's. Exxon still remains in the top spot on the S&P 500 with a market cap of more than $300 billion, said S&P.The...
Apple Preparing to Issue Developer Seeds of Mac OS X 10.6.4?
iPhone in Canada reports that Apple is set to begin seeding builds of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to developers in the near future, moving development forward on the next maintenance release for Snow Leopard. This week, in less than a month later since the last OS X release, Apple seems to be pushing forward with plans to update Snow Leopard. We have received reports that Apple is preparing to begin testing...
Apple Opens Door to Hardware-Accelerated Decoding of H.264 Video in Flash and Other Platforms
Michael Tsai reports (via Daring Fireball) that Apple has posted a new technical note describing how third-party developers can tap into hardware-accelerated decoding of H.264 video on compatible graphics cards. The Video Decode Acceleration framework is a C programming interface providing low-level access to the H.264 decoding capabilities of compatible GPUs such as the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M,...
David Letterman's 'Top Ten Excuses of the Guy Who Lost the iPhone Prototype'
Late Show host David Letterman last night used his "Top Ten" segment to highlight the case of an Apple engineer who last month left his next-generation iPhone in a Redwood City, California bar, only to have it leaked by Gizmodo earlier this week.
Letterman's "Top Ten Excuses of the Guy Who Lost the iPhone Prototype" pokes fun at a number of targets, including Apple's 'i' naming scheming for...
Steve Jobs Responds to Customer Question About iPhone Leak and WWDC [Update: Hoax?]
9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has once again taken the time to respond to customer email, this time offering up a short response to a question about the leaked next-generation iPhone's effect on its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) presumably scheduled for this summer in San Francisco.
In response to the customer's hope that WWDC will still be exciting even though the essen...
ARM CEO Argues Against Need for Apple to Purchase Company
Yesterday, rumors began to circulate that Apple is preparing a bid to acquire ARM, the chip design company at the root of processors used in the iPhone, iPad and many other mobile devices. Reaction to the rumors has been mixed, with many observers noting that there is little reason for Apple to purchase the company, given its existing expertise in chip design and its licensing arrangements...
Lost Next-Generation iPhone Believed to Be Late-Stage or Final Design
Since the leak of a next-generation iPhone earlier this week, questions have been raised about how closely the device in question matches what ends up being the final shipping product, expected to be launched later this year. Apple undoubtedly creates a number of prototypes of its products as it seeks to settle on designs that will achieve its technical and aesthetic goals, and while one might ...
Hulu Reportedly Prepping Subscription Service for May 24th Launch, iPad App Coming Soon?
The Los Angeles Times reports that television streaming site Hulu is preparing to launch a "Hulu Plus" paid subscription service as soon as May 24th, pricing the service at $9.95 per month. Under the proposal, Hulu would continue to provide for free the five most recent episodes of shows like Fox's "Glee," "ABC's "Lost" or NBC's "Saturday Night Live." But viewers who want to see additional...
List of Apple Employees Authorized to Carry Pre-Release iPhones Personally Monitored by Steve Jobs
In the wake of this week's leak of the next-generation iPhone after an employee left the device in Redwood City, California bar, much has been made of Apple's tight security standards regarding its unreleased products. One tidbit of note shared by Bloomberg today is that the list of Apple personnel authorized to carry pre-release products like the iPhone in question is personally overseen by...
Legality of Gizmodo's Next-Generation iPhone Acquisition Examined
A DailyFinance article discussing the legality of Gizmodo's acquisition of a next-generation iPhone left in a bar last month has been receiving a bit of attention today. The report outlines the series of events that led to Gizmodo receiving the device and examines whether its possession of the iPhone constituted a violation worthy of either criminal charges of possession of stolen property or...
