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
More Quad-Core iMac Benchmarks Show Substantial Performance Gains
Following up on early benchmarking tests that showed Apple's new quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 iMacs boasting significant performance improvements compared to their Core 2 Duo-based counterparts, Macworld has utilized its own Speedmark suite of real-world tests and found similar results. Speedmark is Macworld Lab's standard test tool for benchmarking new and upgraded systems running Mac OS X. It...
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Game Developers Scaling Back Android Efforts as iPhone Continues to Dominate
Reuters reports that prominent iPhone game developer Gameloft is scaling back its efforts to produce content for the Android platform in the face of weaknesses of its application store. Gameloft also notes that it is not the only one making the move, with other game developers reportedly experiencing similar frustrations. "We have significantly cut our investment in Android platform, just like...
iPhone Coming to Virgin Mobile Canada
Virgin Mobile Canada issued a brief announcement yesterday revealing that it will begin offering the iPhone there in the near future. Virgin Mobile Canada will launch iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in Virgin Mobile Retail Stores and online in Canada in the coming months. For more information on iPhone, please visit www.apple.com/iphone.Rogers Wireless had been the exclusive iPhone carrier in Canada...
TomTom to Launch Car Kit for iPod Touch
Earlier this week, an updated version of TomTom's GPS navigation application appeared in the App Store, and among the major changes included with the update was compatibility with the original iPhone and all generations of the iPod touch. The iPod touch, however, does not offer built-in GPS and must thus be paired with an external GPS receiver in order to function.
TomTom offers such a car kit...
iFixit Launches Nearly 250 Repair Manuals for iMac and Mac Mini
Popular do-it-yourself repair site iFixit yesterday announced that it has released nearly 250 new repair guides covering in great detail a wide assortment of repairs for every Mac mini model and every 17" and 20" iMac model produced by Apple since 2004. The repair manuals include in-depth disassembly guides, model identification tips, troubleshooting techniques, and upgrade information. The 241...
Workaround Restores Mac OS X 10.6.2 Compatibility With Intel Atom Processors
InsanelyMac reports that a member of its forums has created a workaround allowing users who have modified their Intel Atom-based netbooks into "Hackintoshes" in order to run Mac OS X to upgrade to OS X 10.6.2. The 10.6.2 update had specifically disabled native compatibility with those processors. The changes Apple made to the latest mach_kernel removes support for this processor, leaving updated...
Apple Releases Server Admin Tools 10.6.2 and Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2
Apple today released a pair of software updates targeting users involved in remote administration of Snow Leopard Server and users of Apple's Boot Camp solution for Windows.
- Server Admin Tools 10.6.2 provides updates to several applications used for remote administration of Snow Leopard Server. The Server Admin Tools update is recommended for remote administration of Snow Leopard Server. This ...
Google Rolls Out Mobile-Formatted Google News for iPhone
Google today announced that it has rolled out mobile-formatted Google News pages for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre users. The feature complements similar existing pages for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and S60 platforms. This new version provides the same richness and personalization on your phone as Google News provides on desktop. Our new homepage displays more stories, sources, and images...
Google Previews Chrome OS, Scheduled for Release in Late 2010
Google today held a preview event for Chrome OS, the company's forthcoming browser-based operating system scheduled to launch initially on netbooks in late 2010. Among the major announcements was that, like Google's Chrome browser, Chrome OS has been open-sourced as "Chromium OS" to allow any interested developers to contribute to developing the best possible operating system. Today we are...
Apple Researching Methods for 'Pushing' User Interfaces to Accessories from Media Devices
In a patent application filed in May 2008 and published today, Apple discloses that it has been researching methods to allow media devices such as the iPod to "push" their graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to accessory devices for the purposes of controlling the media devices remotely. In pursuing this technology, Apple notes that while remote control accessories for media devices are common, ...
AT&T Faces Initial Setback in Verizon Ad Spat, Rolls Out Response Ad
The Associated Press reports that a judge has refused to grant AT&T's request for a temporary restraining order forcing Verizon to halt its commercials comparing the two companies' wireless network coverage. AT&T filed the lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta earlier this month and asked for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. It contends they are misleading...
Apple Software Updates: LED Cinema Display iSight, QuickTime 7 for Windows
Apple yesterday released a pair of software updates targeting users of the company's 24" LED Cinema Display and Windows users of QuickTime 7.
LED Cinema Display iSight Firmware Update 1.0 addresses and issue with the iSight webcam included on the company's 24" LED Cinema Display. This firmware update corrects an issue with the built-in iSight camera on the LED Cinema Display where the camera...
TomTom Version 1.2 Released, Adds Compatibility With Original iPhone and iPod Touch
Version 1.2 of TomTom U.S. & Canada [App Store, $99.99], submitted last week, has gone live in the App Store, bringing text-to-speech, lane guidance and a number of other new features to the popular GPS navigation application. Similar updates for a number of other international versions of the application have also begun appearing.
One other important feature of note is the addition of...
China Mobile Still Working to Land iPhone
AFP reports that China Mobile, the largest mobile phone provider in China, is continuing to work with Apple on bringing the iPhone to the carrier's network. "We really are still in talks with Apple...In our negotiations in the past, we insisted on sticking to our conditions," company chairman Wang Jianzhou told reporters on the sidelines of a regional mobile phone conference in Hong Kong.
"We...
Qualcomm Looking to Supply Chips for iPhone?
Bloomberg reports that Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs has acknowledged that the company is in talks to bring its chips to the iPhone. "We continue to discuss it, but haven't made it yet," Jacobs said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Hong Kong today. "Hopefully, in the future, we will have the opportunity."The vaguely worded statement makes it unclear whether Qualcomm is making a specific push for...
Google-Branded Phone Coming Early Next Year? [Updated]
TechCrunch reports that Google is preparing to launch its own Android-based phone in the very near future, likely bringing yet another device designed to compete head-to-head with Apple's iPhone. Most of our sources have unconfirmed information, which we describe below. But there are a few things we have absolutely confirmed: Google is building their own branded phone that they'll sell directly...
iPhone Gains Final Regulatory Approval in South Korea
Reuters reports that the iPhone has gained final regulatory approval in South Korea, paving the way for a release there in the very near future. Korea Communications Commission said in a statement on Wednesday it would grant Apple's South Korean unit a licence that allows collecting information on locations and provide services such as map, phone locating and related marketing.Exactly when the...
Apple Already Working on Mac OS X 10.7 Development
Less than three months after the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, evidence has surfaced that Apple is already working on the next version of OS X, presumably to be designated Mac OS X 10.7. The information comes from an entry posted earlier today in a database of changes to the open source "launchd" framework, which oversees booting of Mac OS X and administers processes running on the...
Chinese App Store Growing Amid Challenges
The Wall Street Journal reports on progress for Apple's App Store in China, noting the challenges faced by the company due to a lack of Wi-Fi on official iPhones, a large installed base of unlocked and jailbroken iPhones, and high levels of piracy. But despite reportedly slow launch sales of the officially-sanctioned iPhone, the Chinese App Store is still managing to quickly expand its small...
Adobe Launches Flash Player 10.1 Prerelease Build
Adobe today launched a prerelease version of Flash Player 10.1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, an early step in the company's effort to bring an integrated media experience to a wide variety of devices and platforms from desktops to smartphones.
Among the improvements available in the prerelease version are support for multi-touch and gestures, as well as local microphone access. Unfortunately,...
