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
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Build 10A335 Seeded to Developers
AppleInsider reports that Apple has seeded a new version of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard to developers. The documentation for the new version, termed Build 10A335, reportedly does not carry notice of any significant changes since the last developer seed (Build 10A314) at the beginning of the month, although several known bugs are mentioned. The Cupertino-based company reportedly made no mention of any...
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Apple Briefly Approved 'Baby Shaker' App, Issues Apology
A 99-cent application by the name of 'Baby Shaker' appeared briefly in the App Store yesterday, but was quickly removed by Apple after an uproar from users who found it to be inappropriate and offensive. The simple application displayed a crying baby on the screen with the instruction being that users should listen to the crying for as long as possible before shaking the iPhone to make the baby ...
Apple Researching Methods to Offer Customized Control of Browser-Based Audio Content
In a patent application filed in November 2007 and released today, Apple reveals that it is researching methods for providing customized audio control for Internet browser content. The research is targeting the inability for a single system volume setting to address multiple simultaneous audio-generating applications, a common inconvenience for computer users. For example, a user may have audio...
App Store Reaches Milestone: One Billion Apps Downloaded
Apple's front page is now announcing that the App Store has reached one billion downloads. For the past two weeks, Apple has been running a 1 Billion App Countdown promotion, offering a package of Apple prizes valued at over $13,000 for the "entry (either through an app download or through the non-purchase online entry) sent immediately following the download of the 999,999,999th app." The...
Apple Seeds OS X 10.5.7 Build 9J56 to Developers
Apple has yet again seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.5.7, this one termed Build 9J56, to developers for testing. World of Apple publishes the seed notes, which detail five changes since the previous build issued last week. Despite many expecting that the previous build of Mac OS X 10.5.7 would be the one to see a public release Apple today has released a new build labelled 9J56.
The latest...
Apple Reports $1.21 Billion Profit for Q2 2009
Apple today announced financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, compared to 32.9 percent in the year-ago...
15" OLED Panel from LG Headed for Apple Notebook This Summer?
SmartHouse reports that LG is preparing to release a 15" display panel based on OLED technology, with the first appearance of the panel to be in a "brand new Apple notebook" in June. A senior executive at LG Display who has been closely involved in the development of display technology for Apple said "The early models will be double, if not triple, the price of an LCD panel however, over time they ...
AT&T Activates 1.6 Million iPhone 3Gs in First Quarter of 2009
AT&T today announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2009, and among the highlights was the announcement that AT&T had activated 1.6 million iPhone 3Gs during the quarter. Continuing a trend seen in previous quarters, customers new to AT&T accounted for 40% of iPhone 3G activations. In the first quarter, AT&T's iPhone 3G activations totaled more than 1.6 million, more than 40...
More Details of iPhone OS 3.0 'Voice Control' Emerge
Several weeks ago, we mentioned in passing that configuration files for a feature called "Voice Control" had been unearthed in the iPhone OS 3.0 beta. Ars Technica now provides a few additional details about the feature, although the specifics remain unknown. Chiefly, the feature is apparently code-named "Jibbler" and will enable both voice synthesis and voice recognition on the iPhone OS 3.0. No...
Microsoft to End Support for Office 2004 in October
Macworld reports that Microsoft will end its support of Office 2004 as of October 13, 2009. "In line with Microsoft's standard Support Lifecycle policy, Office 2004 for Mac Mainstream Support will be retired October 13, 2009," the company said in a statement given to Macworld. "The MacBU is continuing to work on updates for Office 2008 for Mac and is hard at work on the next version of Office for...
AT&T Migrating 3G Network to 7.2 Mbps, Planning for 21 Mbps Later This Year?
Telephony Online reports that AT&T is in the process of upgrading its 3G wireless network from the current 3.6 Mbps download standard to 7.2 Mbps. Several recent rumors have suggested that the next-generation iPhone due this summer will be able to take advantage of the higher speeds. AT&T is increasing the downlink capacity on its high-speed packet access (HSPA) from 3.6 megabits per second to...
Apple Enters Fortune 100 for First Time Since 1994
As mentioned in a Fortune report, Apple has reentered the top 100 of the Fortune 500 rankings for the first time since 1994, jumping 32 spots from last year's rankings to land at #71 in the 2009 rankings. Reflecting a strong 2008 in which its earnings -- if not its stock price -- jumped sharply, Apple (AAPL) this week made its first appearance in the top 100 of the Fortune 500 since Steve Jobs'...
AT&T Offering Refurbished 16 GB iPhone 3Gs for $149
AT&T is currently offering refurbished 16 GB iPhone 3G models in both black and white for $149, a $50 discount over previous offerings. The 8 GB model remains at the same $99 price point seen over the past few months. As usual, a two-year contract is required and purchases are limited to one device per household.
AT&T briefly offered refurbished iPhone 3Gs at $99 and $199 in late December,...
Apple to Release Q2 2009 Financial Results on April 22nd
Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for the April 22nd release of its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2009. The results will cover sales from December 28th, 2008 through March 27th, 2009, and will be released at the close of trading (4:00 PM Eastern / 1:00 PM Pacific) on Wednesday. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM...
'Airfoil Speakers Touch' Now Available in App Store
Rogue Amoeba is well-known in the Mac community for Airfoil, the $25 Mac and PC application that allows any audio to be streamed from a host computer to an AirPort Express or Apple TV. The original concept was expanded by the addition of free Airfoil Speakers applications for Mac, Windows, and Linux, allowing other computers to be recipients of audio streamed from the primary computer.
Rogue...
Hulu iPhone App in the Works?
Silicon Alley Insider reports that according to a "plugged-in industry executive", Hulu is in the process of developing an iPhone application due for release within a matter of months. Hulu is in the process of developing an app for Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and iPod touch, we have learned from a plugged-in industry executive. The app is coming soon (within a few months) and is "badass" -- as...
iPhone 3.0 Beta Galleries Illustrate New Features
Over the past couple of days, users have been digging through the latest iPhone OS 3.0 beta for signs of new features, and World of Apple and AppleInsider have put together some nice screenshot galleries illustrating a number of the findings.
World of Apple's gallery shows a number of features primarily related to music and podcast functionality, including several notable ones:
- Variable...
Orbicule's 'Undercover' Comes to iPhone
Many Mac users are familiar with Orbicule's comprehensive theft recovery software Undercover 3, which utilizes Wi-Fi positioning and automatically uploaded screenshots and iSight photos to help users recover stolen notebooks. Building on the success of the Mac application, Orbicule has now expanded their product line with the release of Undercover for the iPhone and iPod touch [App Store,...
Wall Street Journal Application Comes to iPhone
CNET briefly reviews WSJ - The Wall Street Journal [App Store, Free], which provides free access to The Wall Street Journal from the iPhone and iPod touch. While standalone applications created by newspapers are becoming increasingly common, the release of a free app for The Wall Street Journal is notable for the fact that the newspaper's subscribers typically pay substantial fees for access to...
Apple Launches Movie Downloads in German iTunes Store
Apple today announced that it is now offering downloadable movie rentals and purchases through the iTunes Store in Germany. Apple today announced that movies from major film studios including Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM), The Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures Television and independents including Universum and Shorts International are now...
