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 Officially Ends MobileMe Transition and Shuts Down iWork.com
Yesterday, we noted that Apple was preparing to close the door completely on its MobileMe service, bringing to an end the grace period that had allowed users to retrieve their Gallery photos and iDisk files and to transition their accounts to iCloud following the June 30 shutdown of the service. As of today, visitors to MobileMe.com are no longer given the option to convert their accounts to...
Read Full Article • 85 comments
Key Apple Chip Designer Jim Keller Returns to AMD
AMD today announced the return of Jim Keller, who has spent the past four years as a director in the platform architecture group at Apple after joining the company as part of the 2008 acquisition of P.A. Semi. Keller, who previously was a key contributor to AMD's Athlon 64 and Opteron 64 projects before moving on to positions at other companies, will be returning to the company as corporate...
Apple's Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter Rolling Out in Online Store
Alongside the introduction of the Retina MacBook Pro last month, Apple also announced two adapters to allow users to add Ethernet and FireWire 800 capabilities to the machine through its Thunderbolt ports. But while the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter was available immediately, Apple's tech specs page for the Retina MacBook Pro has listed the FireWire adapter as launching in July....
Apple's New Dock Connector with 8 Pins? Cross-Device Integration via Bluetooth 4.0?
iLounge shares a new report highlighting a couple of tidbits of information it has received about Apple's upcoming iOS device plans. According to the report, the new dock connector set to to debut on the next-generation iPhone will contain just 8 pins, compared to the 30 pins used on the current connector and the 19 pins that have been rumored by several sources for the upcoming connector.Accor...
Apple Expands Build-to-Order Configuration Options on Retina MacBook Pro [Updated]
Apple today quietly expanded the available configuration options for the Retina MacBook Pro, now offering a full slate of individual upgrade options on the base model that starts at $2199. Previously, customers who opted for the base model were locked into a 2.3 GHz Core i7 processor and 256 GB of flash storage, with the only configurable onboard option being a $200 RAM upgrade from 8 GB to 16...
Apple Ready to Finish Shutting Down MobileMe Over Next Few Days
As of June 30, Apple officially discontinued MobileMe, the company's previous suite of online services that has been replaced by iCloud. But while the MobileMe services went offline as of that date, the company has continued to allow MobileMe users to migrate their accounts to iCloud and to download Gallery photos and iDisk files "for a limited time". It now appears that the "limited time"...
Amazon Cloud Player Upgraded with Scan and Match, 256 Kbps Audio
Amazon today announced a significant upgrade to its Cloud Player music service, bringing iTunes Match-like "scan and match" technology to assist users in making their entire music libraries available in the cloud. The upgraded service also mirrors iTunes Match in delivering all matched tracks at 256 Kbps, even if the user's original material is at a lower quality. New Cloud Player features...
Apple's Opening Court Statement Focuses on Samsung's Radical Shift in Phone Design
While court documents filed in relation to the high-profile U.S. legal battle between Apple and Samsung have yielded a treasure trove of images of prototypes and concepts for iPhone and iPad designs, the court case is just now getting underway. Reuters reports on some of the early developments today, including opening statements from Apple's lead lawyer outlining how the company will argue that...
Jonathan Ive on How Apple 'Nearly Shelved' the iPhone
Yesterday, we reported on an appearance by Apple design chief Jonathan Ive at the UK Trade & Investment department's Global Business Summit on Creative Services in which he talked a bit about Apple's design philosophy and its focus on making great products rather than simply trying to maximize profits by cutting corners. The Telegraph has another report on Ive's appearance, highlighting his...
Apple Media Event All But Confirmed for September 12th, iPhone Launch Likely [Updated]
Following a report from iMore earlier today claiming that Apple will hold a media event to introduce the next-generation iPhone and the "iPad mini" on September 12 ahead of September 21 availability for the new iPhone, AllThingsD reports that it has confirmed an Apple media event will be taking place that week. While the report's sources have apparently not confirmed the topic of the event or...
Jonathan Ive on Design and Apple's Focus on Great Products Instead of Profits
Wired UK reports that Apple design chief Jonathan Ive participated in a keynote session today at the UK Trade & Investment department's Global Business Summit on Creative Services in which he offered up some of his thoughts on the creative process at Apple and other anecdotes about his two decades at the company. While he had previously shared some of his thoughts on design, his comments today...
Audit Claims Apple Received Favorable Treatment in Grand Central Terminal Lease Talks
Last December, Apple opened a massive new retail store in Manhattan's historic Grand Central Terminal, adding a high-profile presence to the busy commuting, tourist, and shopping hub. Apple's lease agreement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was quickly questioned by government officials, who were concerned that Apple had received favorable treatment during the negotiations...
More Early iPhone and iPad Prototype Designs Surface in Samsung Trial Documents
Last week, we noted that documents filed as part of the ongoing lawsuit between Apple and Samsung had revealed a few images of early iPhone prototype designs, including some that revealed similar design to what ultimately appeared years later as the iPhone 4/4S. AllThingsD has now put together a gallery of dozens of images from the court documents showing even more of Apple's ideas for the...
Hands-On Video of Next-Generation 'iPhone 5' Enclosure
Following the publication of high-resolution photos of what has been claimed to be the enclosure and a number of internal components for the next-generation iPhone, Mac Otakara posts a hands-on video of the same parts. The video gives a good idea of how the device would look in the user's hand. The report also mentions an observation of an unknown connection on a cable carrying the...
More Rumors of Late September iPhone Launch with Details on iPad Mini, 4th-Gen iPad
iLounge offers a summary of various tidbits of information it has learned about Apple's upcoming iOS devices. In line with fresh claims from iMore about a September 12 media event to introduce the next-generaton iPhone and iPod nano as well as the "iPad mini" ahead of a September 21 launch for the iPhone, iLounge says that Apple will be ready to ship the new iPhone by mid-September and could...
Apple's Share of Worldwide Smartphone Market Slides as Samsung Continues to Surge
Research firm IDC yesterday released its estimates of global mobile phone and smartphone shipments for the second quarter of 2012, revealing that Apple's slower year-over-year iPhone growth and booming sales from Samsung have caused the company's share of the market to slip compared to previous periods. In the smartphone market, Apple's shipments of 26 million iPhones were up 27.5%...
OS X Mountain Lion Already Accounting for 3% of Mac Traffic
AllThingsD reports that just over 48 hours after launch, OS X Mountain Lion is already accounting for over 3% of web traffic coming from the Mac platform. The data, which comes from analytics firm Chitika, shows that Mountain Lion's share has risen quickly from roughly 0.25% prior to the public launch.“Moreover, based on Apple’s June 2012 announcement that there are currently 66 million Mac...
Another Likely Physical Mockup of Next iPhone Offers a Realistic Look
Gizmodo points to a newly-discovered product page from case manufacturer Shenzhen Coolzone Technology displaying what appears to be a high-quality physical mockup matching up with rumors and leaked parts for the next-generation "iPhone 5". Case manufacturers have become increasingly sophisticated with their physical mockups created for design and testing of new cases, giving their mockups...
Apple's London Stores to Distribute iPhone and iPad Olympic Pins
With the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics set for tomorrow in London, Apple is preparing to offer an extra bonus to some customers visiting its stores in the area during the roughly two-week event. The company has produced a series of four lapel pins commemorating the London Olympics, displaying the flag of the United Kingdom in place of the screen of both black and white iPhones...
Photos of Apple's New Passeig de Gràcia Retail Store in Barcelona
Last week, we highlighted the unique construction barrier art in place at Apple's forthcoming Passeig de Gràcia retail store in Barcelona, Spain. The art, which consisted of tile mosaics using images of Apple iOS app icons and honoring the style of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, surrounded the store during the final phases of construction leading up to grand opening scheduled for this Saturday, ...
