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
'Layar' Augmented Reality Platform to Gain 3D Capabilities
MobileCrunch reports that Layar, one of the earliest and highest-profile augmented reality platforms for mobile devices, is in the process of adding 3D capabilities to its Android tools, opening the door for developers to offer new levels of immersive experiences. With 3D, third-party developers can now tag real-life objects with three-dimensional text, place 3D objects on top of real-world space...
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Apple Releases Three New iPhone Ads: 'Dine', ' Nature', and 'Pass'
Apple today released three new iPhone commercials, airing them on U.S. prime time television and posting them to the company's iPhone ad gallery. The ads mark a departure from the company's recent theme of highlighting three App Store applications per commercial and instead feature six applications per ad. All three commercials also mention that there are now 75,000 applications available in...
Microsoft Attempting to Lure Away Apple Retail Store Staff?
The Loop reports that Microsoft, which is preparing to open the first of its retail stores, has been contacting Apple retail store managers and attempting to lure them away with increased salaries to run its own stores. People that have spoken to The Loop on condition of anonymity confirm that Microsoft has contacted a number of Apple's retail store managers to work in their stores. In addition to ...
No Netflix Streaming to iPhone in Near Future?
In a Q&A with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Reuters reveals that the company does not have any "short term" plans to bring video viewing and/or streaming to the iPhone and iPod touch. Netflix is instead continuing to focus its efforts on its core TV-based business and consumer electronics such as Blu-ray players and video game systems associated with that medium. Reuters: Any plans to work in...
Apple 'iPhone Activation Zones' Rolled Out in Retail Stores
Last week, we reported that Apple was about to roll out dedicated "iPhone Activation Zones" in its retail stores in order to provide dedicated points of contact for new customers looking to purchase, activate and receive initial set-up assistance with iPhone purchases.
Apple has in fact now reconfigured a number of its stores to set aside these dedicated spaces and has begun mentioning their...
Apple Releases HP Printer Drivers for Snow Leopard Version 2.2
Apple today released Version 2.2 of HP Printer Drivers for Mac OS X v10.6, updating drivers for a small handful of previously-supported models and adding support for several new models. The complete package of drivers, which weighs in at 383 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.1, comes ten days after the last update for HP drivers.
A quick glance at Apple's support document listing supported...
Apple Approved Nearly 1400 iPhone Apps Last Friday
AppShopper notes that Apple approved nearly 1400 iPhone and iPod touch applications last Friday, by far the largest number approved in a single day in the past few months. Over 300 of the approved applications were games, creating a host of new selections for consumers to choose from and continuing to feed Apple's emphasis on gaming for its mobile devices. At the end of last week we saw a...
Apple Moves Up to #20 on 'Best Global Brands' List
Macsimum News notes that Apple has moved up to #20 on market research firm Interbrand's annual 'Best Global Brands' list. Interbrand pegged Apple's "brand" at a value of $US15.4 billion, up 12% from 2008 and enough to boost Apple to #20 from #24 in the rankings. The recession won't take a bite out of this Apple. Declining Mac sales and fears for the company's future without brand visionary Steve...
AT&T 3G MicroCell Site Goes Live, Monthly Fees to Be Up to $19.99? [Updatedx2]
Engadget Mobile reports that AT&T's 3G MicroCell site has gone live as the company is apparently preparing to launch its service that will allow wireless subscribers to utilize their home Internet connection for enhanced voice and data coverage. The news comes on the heels of an anonymous report that service for the new device will cost up to $19.99 per month for unlimited minutes, although...
Apple Investigating Reports of Poor Battery Life for iPhone OS 3.1 Users
The iPhone Blog reports that Apple is taking steps to investigate numerous reports of reduced battery life from iPhone OS 3.1 users. The company's AppleCare division has reportedly begun contacting users complaining about the problem in its support forums, asking users a series of 11 questions about their battery life issues. An undisclosed number of users who have posted on Apple's discussion...
Apple Introduces App Store Resource Center for iPhone Developers
In an e-mail sent today to registered iPhone developers, Apple announced the introduction of the App Store Resource Center (iPhone developer membership required), a new site within the iPhone Dev Center dedicated to assisting developers with the App Store application process. We are pleased to introduce the App Store Resource Center, a single destination designed to make it easier for you to find...
Google Claims That Apple Did Reject Google Voice iPhone Application [Updated]
Google today announced today that it has released an unredacted copy (PDF) of its response to an investigation by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission into Apple's apparent rejection of the company's Google Voice iPhone application. Most significantly, Google's filing claims that Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller personally informed Google that the Google Voice iPhone application...
Star Trek Creator's Macintosh Plus to Be Auctioned
TUAW reports that auction house Profiles in History will be auctioning off as part of a sale scheduled for next month a Macintosh Plus given by Apple to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. The auction description states: This is the very first Macintosh Plus 1Mb personal computer to come off the assembly line at Apple Computer in Fresno, California. It was presented to Gene Roddenberry as a...
Microsoft Matches Snow Leopard Price With Windows 7, But Only for Students
Microsoft yesterday launched a Windows 7 campaign website announcing a discount program aimed at college and university students, bringing the cost of Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for eligible customers down to $29.99 to effectively match Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard pricing. The offer, which expires January 3rd, 2010 is valid for the download version of Windows 7, and users wishing...
Wall Street Journal to Begin Charging for Mobile Access to Content
The Wall Street Journal today announced that it will begin charging for mobile access to its news content as of October 24th. While mobile applications such as the WSJ's iPhone application [App Store] will remain free of charge and will offer free access to selected content, full access will require a weekly subscription fee. Beginning Oct. 24, the WSJ Mobile Reader application, currently...
Music Publishers and Writers Lobbying Congress for Additional Compensation for Digital Distribution
CNET reports that a coalition of music groups including publishers, songwriters, and composers is looking to increase the compensation they receive from digital distribution of their work. Having been unsuccessful at negotiating increased fees with distributors such as Apple, the groups, which include the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc....
Early Snow Leopard Sales More Than Double Those of Leopard
According to market research firm NPD, Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard has seen very strong sales thus far, having sold more than twice as many copies during its first two weeks on the market as Mac OS X Leopard did in late 2007. Early sales of Snow Leopard also exceed those of 2005's Mac OS X Tiger by nearly four times. "Even though some considered Snow Leopard to be less feature-focused than the...
Navigon to Add Live Traffic Data as In-App Purchase for MobileNavigator
CNET reports that GPS firm Navigon will be releasing a new feature for its MobileNavigator North America [App Store, $89.99] iPhone application that will add live traffic data to assist users in plotting routes. The add-on will be available beginning next month as a one-time $24.99 in-app purchase, although it will be discounted to $19.99 for the first four weeks of availability. According to...
Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL Bring Significant Performance Improvements for Optimized Applications
Hardmac reports on a performance comparison between Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Snow Leopard from Christophe Ducommun, developer of MovieGate, a video encoding and DVD creation software package. Ducommun, who is optimizing his application to take advantage of the Grand Central Dispatch and Open CL features of Snow Leopard, has found remarkable performance improvements for his software on the...
ARM Announces Dual-Core Cortex-A9 Processor Designs
Chip design firm ARM today announced the development of two dual-core chip designs based on the company's Cortex-A9 platform. Implementations of the new chip designs, which will deliver performance in excess of 2 GHz while drawing less than 0.25 W of power per CPU, will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. The Cortex-A9 speed-optimized hard macro implementation will provide system...
