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 Retail Stores to Receive Facelift Highlighting Software?
ifoAppleStore reports that Apple will soon be revamping their retail stores to focus on software and the user experience rather than hardware. According to plans still being rolled out, hardware will become a secondary focus of the stores' marketing efforts, making way for a spotlight on applications and the digital features of Apple products.According to ifoAppleStore, visitors to the redesigned...
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WhatTheFont Comes to iPhone
WhatTheFont is a popular Web-based tool to aid in identifying unknown fonts. Users can upload screenshots of text in an unknown font, and the automated tool, with a bit of input from the user to help verify that its interpretations of the characters are correct, provides a list of fonts that most closely match that shown in the image.
MyFonts has now released a free iPhone version of WhatTheFo...
'iTunes Replay' On-Demand Video Coming?
AppleInsider reports that Apple is developing an on-demand video service that would allow users to stream their purchased iTunes movies and TV shows from Apple's servers for playback on personal devices. The service, to be called "iTunes Replay", would eliminate the need for users to provide significant storage space for their libraries of purchased digital video.
In particular, devices with...
EmotiFun! Released: Apple Relaxing Policies on Emoji Enablers? [Update: Removed]
EmotiFun! [App Store], a free application whose sole purpose is to enable the use of Emoji for non-Japanese iPhone users, has appeared in the App Store. Emoji, emoticons and pictorial characters popular in the Japanese instant messaging culture, were introduced to Japanese customers as part of the iPhone 2.2 Firmware update, but have required workarounds to be enabled for non-Japanese users....
Apple Releases MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 For Windows
Apple today released MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 (for Windows). The MobileMe Control Panel 1.3 update delivers faster syncing of contacts and calendars between MobileMe and Microsoft Outlook.
With this update, contacts and calendars automatically sync whenever a change is made in Outlook, and likewise when a change is made on the web or from another device. A new tray icon also indicates...
Apple Issues Update Signaling iPhone Compatibility With AT&T's MicroCell
Late last week, Apple issued a "carrier settings" update for iPhone users in the United States. While Apple provides few details on the contents of such updates, MobileCrunch discovered several image files in the new update package that appear to signal the iPhone's compatibility with AT&T's upcoming 3G MicroCell technology. The 3G MicroCell device connects to a user's existing broadband...
Google Sync Beta Now Available for iPhone
Google today announced the release of a beta version of Google Sync for iPhone. Google Sync serves to automatically synchronize Gmail contacts and calendar entries between a user's Google account and their mobile device. Originally released last year for the Blackberry, today's beta release extends the functionality to the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, as well as providing contacts-only...
Details of iPhone Negotiations Between Apple and China Mobile Emerge
Interfax reports on details of the lengthy negotiations between Apple and China Mobile over bringing the iPhone to China. According to their source, China Mobile president Wang Jianzhou revealed in a recent visit to the China Mobile Research Institute that talks between the two companies have broken down three times over the past year and a half.
The negotiations, which have reportedly...
17" Unibody MacBook Pro Begins Shipping
Apple has quietly updated their pages for the new 17" unibody MacBook Pro to reflect a change from accepting pre-orders to offering shipment in 7-10 business days for new orders. In addition, several international Apple online stores have added a "Now Shipping" badge to the 17" MacBook Pro ad on their front pages.
MacBook Pro ad banner from Apple's Canadian online store
The new 17" MacBook...
iTunes Plus Upgrades Now Available on a Per-Track Basis
Macworld notes that Apple has instituted a new feature that allows iTunes Store users to upgrade their music libraries to iTunes Plus tracks on either a per-track or per-album basis.
At Macworld San Francisco, Apple announced a number of changes to the iTunes Store, including the immediate removal of digital rights management (DRM) from approximately 80% of available songs and the option for...
iPhone 3G Sales Spur AT&T Wireless Growth in Q4 2008
AT&T today reported financial results from the fourth quarter of 2008 and announced that they had activated 1.9 million new iPhones during the quarter. That number was down from 2.4 million activations in the third quarter, its first full quarter of availability, but was still sufficient to play a significant role in AT&T subscriber growth, which saw an overall net gain of 2.1 million...
Cooliris 1.3 for iPhone Released
Cooliris has released version 1.3 [App Store] of their free iPhone application for browsing images and video on the Web. Details on the update are available on Cooliris' blog. Version 1.3's biggest new feature is the addition of the "My Photos" tab, where you can search any public account in Flickr and Picasa, add as many accounts as you would like, then view the albums in Cooliris. There are a ...
Yet Another New iPhone Ad: 'Check'
For the third time in three days, Apple has posted a new iPhone commercial to their ad gallery. The new ad again focuses on three iPhone applications, this time related by their ability to "check" up on things by accessing various types of information.
- SnowReports [App Store]: checking up on ski and snowboard conditions at over 2,000 resorts worldwide
- Lose It! [App Store]: checking...
Apple Releases QuickTime Broadcaster 1.5.3
Apple today released QuickTime Broadcaster 1.5.3, an update to Apple's software that allows users to easily produce live video broadcasts. Whats New in this Version
- Improves audio/video synchronization when recording broadcasts to disk.Full details on QuickTime Broadcaster can be found on Apple's site....
Mark Papermaster to Begin Work at Apple on April 24th
Apple has announced that Mark Papermaster will begin work at Apple as Senior Vice President of Devices Hardware Engineering on April 24th, 2009. Apple today announced that Mark Papermaster will be coming to Apple as senior vice president of Devices Hardware Engineering, reporting to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, on April 24. Papermaster, who comes to Apple from IBM, will lead Apple's iPod and iPhone...
HD Downloads Starting to Appear in UK iTunes Store
Macworld reports that the first high-definition video downloads have appeared on the UK iTunes Store. The first two episodes of the fifth season of the hit TV show Lost are now available at a cost of 2.49 per episode, with a season pass available for 41.99. Macworld also notes that a free "Lost Starter Kit" is available in high-definition as well.
High-definition TV show downloads were...
iMovie HD 6 No Longer Available For Download
iMovie HD 6, previously available as a free download for iLife '08 users, has been removed from Apple's site.
The application, which had been part of the iLife '06 suite, was made available amidst public outcry after a complete rewrite of the application as iMovie '08 resulted in the loss of a number of features that users had come to rely on. iMovie HD 6 was available through Apple's site to ...
Another New iPhone Ad: 'Fix'
Apple has posted another new iPhone commercial, entitled 'Fix', to their ad gallery. Similar to 'Read', which was released yesterday, 'Fix' highlights three different applications linked by a common theme. As the title suggests, each application featured in 'Fix' aids in solving a problem of some sort.
- Rocket Taxi [App Store]: locating taxi companies in over 10,000 cities using locations ...
Apple Releases iDVD 7.0.3 and iLife Media Browser Update
In addition to today's release of NVIDIA Graphics Update 2009, Apple released two other minor updates:
iDVD 7.0.3, which weighs in at 27.42 MB and requires OS X 10.4.11 or 10.5.6 or later, addresses several unnamed minor issues and also improves overall stability.
iLife Media Browser Update, recommended for all users of Aperture, iLife '08, iWork '08 and OS X 10.5.6 or later, similarly...
