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
iPhone 5s and iOS 7 Rank Highly in Top Google Searches of 2013
Google has released its annual Google Zeitgeist feature highlighting popular and trending searches for 2013 in various categories. As usual, several Apple-related terms rank highly among most popular searches for the year, led by "iPhone 5s" at #3 and "iOS 7" at #11.
Rounding out the list of Apple products included in the main list was "iPad Air", which took the 68th spot among most popular...
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Now TV's 'Sky Sports' Channel Comes to Apple TV in UK
Apple TV users in the United Kingdom gained a new channel today with the addition of Now TV's "Sky Sports", notes Pocket-lint. The channel allows users to purchase £9.99 day passes providing access to six different Sky Sports channels.
If there is a particular sporting event you want to watch, you can purchase a Sky Sports Now TV Day Pass through the app which will unlock all six Sky Sports...
Mac Pro Build-to-Order Upgrade Pricing Revealed
Late last week, we noted that Apple's business sales staff have been offering customers price quotes for build-to-order configurations of the new Mac Pro, providing the first glimpse at what these machines will cost beyond the $2999/$3999 base configurations shown on Apple's site.
Since our initial report, we've heard from a few other business customers who received price quotes, and that...
Photo: New Mac Pro Arriving at Apple Retail Stores [Fake]
With Apple's new Mac Pro scheduled to launch this month but no exact availability date having been disclosed by Apple, many customers have been anxiously awaiting word on when the machines will be available for ordering. It now appears, however, that units are starting to make their way to Apple's retail stores, suggesting that a launch may be imminent.
One Twitter user has posted a photo of ...
Apple's '12 Days of Gifts' App Delivers Early Bonus Song and Video from Lorde
Last week, Apple released its 12 Days of Gifts app, expanding the annual content giveaway to include the United States for the first time. While the giveaway runs from December 26 through January 6, Apple today is offering an additional bonus giveaway of "No Better" [iTunes Store], the new single from Lorde. The iTunes single includes both the song itself and a video for her hit song "Royals".
...
New 12-Core Mac Pro Once Again Shows Up in Benchmarks
Back in June, just days after Apple teased the new Mac Pro at its Worldwide Developers Conference, a Geekbench result appeared for a version of the machine using Intel's 12-core Xeon E5-2697 v2 Ivy Bridge-E processor running at 2.7 GHz. Entries for 8-core and 6-core models followed in September and November respectively, but with those benchmarks coming under Geekbench 3 and the original 12-core...
Mac Pro Launch Nears as Apple Business Staff Begin Offering Price Quotes
With potential customers of the new Mac Pro eagerly awaiting any sign of a more concrete launch date than the "December" timeframe announced by Apple at its October media event, increased activity from Apple's business team members suggests that a launch may indeed be very near.
While Apple has publicly remained silent on pricing for various Mac Pro configurations beyond the $2999/$3999 stock ...
China Mobile Stores Going All Out for iPhone and iPad Promotion
Following the start of pre-orders for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on China Mobile earlier this week, new photos from PRC and ME show just how much the world's largest carrier is emphasizing its launch of Apple's products.
The carrier's relatively small store at the Link City shopping mall in Shenzhen is covered in Apple promotional signage, including wall-mounted banners and a large...
BearExtender Turbo Adds 802.11ac Wi-Fi to Older Macs
BearExtender today announced the launch of BearExtender Turbo, a new USB-based solution for adding faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity to older Macs. Regularly priced at $80 but available through Amazon for $70, BearExtender Turbo can boost Wi-Fi speeds by up to 2-3x for Macs supporting USB 3.0 but not 802.11ac natively.
Using AJA System Test on Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, a 2GB file was...
Fleksy's Predictive Touch Keyboard Comes to iOS Apps with New Developer Tools
Fleksy today announced that its predictive touch keyboard is now available for iOS developers to incorporate into their apps through an SDK, allowing developers to replace the default iOS keyboard with Fleksy's popular alternative keyboard.
Fleksy's keyboard includes a number of features including sophisticated prediction and autocorrection, as well as swipe-based functions such as space and...
Apple TV Roundup: Apple's Plans for Television
Following last week's addition of an iPhone 6 roundup, MacRumors today is publishing a new Apple TV roundup covering not only Apple's current set-top box and rumors for future enhancements, but also long-running rumors of a dedicated Apple television set.
While Apple has been busy increasing the amount of content available through the current Apple TV, there is still uncertainty about timing...
Apple Adds ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle, and KORTV Channels to Apple TV
Apple today added yet another set of channels to its Apple TV set-top box, including a "Watch ABC" channel to allow subscribers to certain cable services to watch content from their local ABC affiliate through Apple TV. Other additions include financial channel Bloomberg, streaming movie and TV show channel Crackle, and Korean channel KORTV.
Today's launches are just a few of the many...
Apple's Work on Video Goggles Highlighted in Newly Granted Patent
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published a newly granted Apple patent describing a goggle-like video headset designed to allow users to view media while on the go but with a much larger view than on their mobile device's built-in display (via Patently Apple).
Apple's patent is a relatively straightforward one with a single independent claim outlining a headset that contains...
Siri's Accuracy Continues to Improve as Apple Works to Reduce Reliance on Google
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who has regularly assessed Siri's accuracy in terms of correctly interpreting and answering queries, has issued the latest version of his Siri report card, noting that Siri has continued to improve under iOS 7, particularly in terms of being able to properly interpret questions being asked.The primary improvement between Siri in iOS 6 and iOS 7 came from its...
Apple's '12 Days of Gifts' App for 2013 Now Live, Includes U.S. Customers
Apple today released its annual "12 Days of Gifts" app for iOS devices, setting the stage for the actual giveaway of free content from the company's various digital stores from December 26 through January 6. Apple has offered the giveaway for ">several years in Europe, Canada, and several other countries, and in 2013 U.S. customers will have access for the first time.From 26 December – 6...
Straight Talk and Net10 to Launch iPhone 5s/5c at Walmart on December 13
Tracfone today announced that the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be launching on its Straight Talk and Net10 carrier brands on Friday, December 13. Devices for the two carrier brands, which offer contract-free phones at unsubsidized prices, will be available exclusively through Walmart. Available plans include:Straight Talk Wireless No-Contract Plan Details and Pricing
- $45 – No-Contract...
Apple Supports 'Hour of Code' Campaign for Students with Free Workshops in U.S. Retail Stores
Apple today announced that it will be participating in the "Hour of Code" initiative this Wednesday by offering free workshops in its U.S. stores introducing students to computer programming. Apple is setting aside the 5:00-6:00 PM hour at all of its retail stores for its workshops, and reservations are required.
The broader initiative is sponsored by the non-profit Code.org with the backing...
iPhone 5s Nears 100% Availability in Apple's U.S. Retail Stores
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today issued a new research report claiming that supplies of the iPhone 5s in Apple's U.S. retail stores have reached "100% availability", showing that his survey of 60 locations revealed full availability of all color/capacity/carrier combinations.
Based on our own check of 120 stores, supplies are just slightly short of 100%, as we were able to find...
MacRumors Roundup: What We Expect for iPhone 6
The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have only been out for a few months, but attention is already turning to Apple's plans for the next generation of iPhone, likely to appear in late 2014. Rumors have indicated that a larger, perhaps curved, display may be one of the key features of the next iPhone, which is generally being referred to as the "iPhone 6" by the rumor community.
Rumors about the iPhone...
Early Experiences with Apple Retail Store iBeacon Technology Prove Mixed
Earlier today, Apple launched its "iBeacon" initiative in its U.S. retail stores, allowing users of the company's iPhone app to opt in to receiving location-specific notifications and access to other information while browsing in the stores.
Following the announcement of the new system, ISI analyst Brian Marshall headed over to Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan for a first-hand look, and ...
