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
AMBER Alert for iPhone Now Available
Several weeks ago, we reported on AMBER Alert, an iPhone application notifying users of law enforcement bulletins issued in response to certain child abductions.
After approximately a month of waiting for Apple to approve the application, the application's developer, Jonathan Zdziarski, published an open letter to Apple and Steve Jobs two days ago in which he expressed his frustration with the ...
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Official 'American Idol' App Hits App Store
American Idol Season 8 Exclusive [App Store, $1.99], the first official iPhone application for the popular American Idol television show, has arrived in the App Store.
Those who have not yet grown weary of the show can use the application to learn more about the show and contestants, as well as view weekly exclusive video clips. Each week, you'll learn more about your favorite Idols with a new...
Inquisitor for iPhone Now Available
Inquisitor, the popular Safari search plug-in, is now available as a standalone application for the iPhone [App Store, Free]. According to developer David Watanabe, Inquisitor's background as a sleek and simple application providing easy access to uncluttered search results translates well to the iPhone. Inquisitor has always been about speed and simple design. Instant search suggestions attempt...
March 24th Event to Focus on Software?
Sevenmac.de reports [Google translation] that they have received an anonymous tip that the rumored March 24th Apple special event will focus on software. Sevenmac has now received from an anonymous information source a report that the March 24th event should revolve exclusively around software. More precisely, Apple's video Pro Apps should receive updates or see new versions.According to Sevenmac,...
Apple Seeds Another New OS X 10.5.7 Build
Just a little more than a week after seeding OS X 10.5.7 Build 9J22 to developers, Apple has distributed a new version, Build 9J27, for testing. World of Apple reports on the release and republishes the seed notes, which reveal ten changes since the last release and ask developers to focus their testing efforts on over twenty wide-ranging focus areas.
Changes since the last developer seed...
WWDC Scheduled for Second Week of June?
David Zeiler of The Baltimore Sun points out that the event schedule for the Moscone Center in San Francisco is listing a "Corporate Meeting" running from June 6th through June 12th in Moscone West and speculates that this event is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2009.
While Apple has historically varied the dates of WWDC from as early as May to as late as August, WWDC has been...
Snow Leopard Build 10A286 Seeded to Developers
Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, termed Build 10A286, to developers. World of Apple republishes the seed notes, which highlight three significant changes in the new build: a new QuickTime user interface, Cocoa-based Finder features, and Safari 4 beta as the default browser. QuickTime Player
The new QuickTime Player has a new minimal UI and is focused on playback.
Fi...
Apple Releases AirPort and Time Capsule Firmware Update: Adds Remote File Access to Older Models
Apple today released Time Capsule and AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.4.1, bringing bug fixes and security enhancements to the just-released models, as well as older 802.11n-capable AirPort Extreme Base Station, AirPort Express, and Time Capsule models.
Notably, the update also enables remote access to attached drives for both previous AirPort Extreme Base Station 802.11n models as...
Paid Version of AIM for iPhone Now Available for $2.99
Last week, we reported on an update to AOL's AIM for iPhone, which brings several new features to the instant messaging application. At press time, only an ad-supported, free version [App Store] was available, although an ad-free, paid version was promised to be working its way through Apple's App Store approval process.
AOL has informed us that the paid version [App Store] is now available...
Apple Releases iLife Support 9.0.1 and iPhoto 8.0.1 Updates
In addition to the numerous hardware and software updates already detailed today, Apple has released an additional pair of updates related to its iLife suite of applications:
iLife Support 9.0.1 weighs in at 50.56 MB and requires OS X 10.5.6. This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. It is recommended for all users of Aperture, iLife '09, and iWork '09....
Apple Issues AirPort Admin Utility and Client Software Updates
Apple today released several software updates related to its AirPort networking products. The updates are presumably related to this morning's release of new AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule products bringing several new features.
AirPort Client Update 2009-001 is targeted at for all Intel-based computers running OS X 10.5.6 and is said to address "issues with roaming and network selection in ...
ATI Radeon HD 4870 Coming Soon For Older Mac Pros, Requires Unreleased OS X 10.5.7 [Updated]
In place of the standard NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics card used on the new Mac Pro released this morning, Apple is offering a $200 option to upgrade to the ATI Radeon HD 4870. In addition, Apple is apparently planning to make the ATI card available as a standalone product compatible with both the new Mac Pro and the previous generation of Mac Pro released in January 2008. The standalone...
AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule Update Details: Dual-Band, Guest Networks, Remote File Access
As we noted earlier today, Apple has updated their AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule offerings. A few of the new features are worth highlighting:
Simultaneous dual-band support - Operates simultaneously on both 5 GHz (802.11n) and 2.4 GHz (802.11b/g) frequencies to allow all wireless products to connect on the best available band. On previous models, users wishing to permit...
Apple Releases Digital Camera RAW and MacBook Battery Updates
Apple yesterday released a pair of updates, currently available through the Apple Downloads page:
Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.5 This update extends RAW file compatibility for Aperture 2, iPhoto '08, and iPhoto '09 for the following cameras:
Nikon D3X
Epson R-D1x
It also addresses issues related to specific cameras and overall stability.The update requires OS X 10.4.11 or...
Evangelion Anime Applications Begin Appearing in App Store
Several weeks ago, we reported on forthcoming applications from Appliya based on the Evangelion anime franchise, and within the past few days the first three applications in the series have been released in the App Store. As we previously noted, these apps have basic functionalities that draw upon the styling of Evangelion.
- Evangelion vol.1 Cut Out [App Store, $1.99] provides "cut out"...
AirPhones Allows iPhone to Serve as Wireless Headphones
Wired reports on AirPhones [App Store], a new utility that allows the iPhone/iPod touch to serve as wireless headphones, accepting streaming audio content from a computer on the same local Wi-Fi network. The utility requires that a free partner server application, currently available only for Intel Macs but coming soon for PPC Macs and Windows, be installed on the computer broadcasting the audio. ...
CBS Brings TV.com Content to iPhone
CBS has released TV.com [App Store], a new free iPhone application providing access to streaming content from the CBS family of networks.
While full episode content is currently limited to older series such as "Beverly Hills 90210", "MacGuyver", and "Star Trek: The Original Series", more limited clips are available from a variety of CBS-owned 'channels', including CBS Entertainment, The CW,...
AIM for iPhone Updated, Moves to Ad-Supported and Paid Versions
AOL's AIM [App Store] has been updated to version 2.0.1, bringing several new features, as well as a change to an ad-supported model for the free edition. AOL also promises that an ad-free paid version is currently working its way through Apple's approval process and should be available soon.
Among the new features available in AIM are tools to access contacts directly from within the...
iPhone UK Sales Reach 1 Million Mark
As part of an earnings release covering the fourth quarter of 2008, Telefnica Europe announced that their O2 subsidiary in the UK has now sold over one million iPhones since the launch of the original iPhone in November 2007.
O2 pointed to the iPhone as one of the key components driving its performance, which was significantly better than the overall UK wireless market in all main financial...
Apple Prepping OS X 10.5.7 Update
Apple yesterday seeded Mac OS X 10.5.7, the next maintenance release for Leopard, to developers. Apple is requesting that developers focus their testing on over twenty areas of the new seed, which is termed Build 9J22.
Developers familiar with the new build report that Apple has made nearly 70 changes in the update, with many of them focused on syncing and networking improvements. A number...
