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.

Eric Slivka's Articles

snow leopard box

Snow Leopard Security Update Kills PowerPC Apps Using Rosetta

Friday February 3, 2012 6:49 am PST by
While the odd "CUI Error" experienced by some users after upgrading to OS X 10.7.3 earlier this week has garnered a fair amount of attention, it appears that a security update released for Mac OS X Snow Leopard at the same time is also causing major issues for users who rely on older PowerPC applications that run under Apple's Rosetta framework. Security Update 2012-001 was released alongside...
iphone 4 3gs unavailable germany

Apple Pulls All 3G Devices Except iPhone 4S from German Online Store Following Motorola Patent Win [Updated]

Friday February 3, 2012 5:11 am PST by
Bloomberg reports that Apple has removed all non-iPhone 4S devices with 3G technology from its German online store following a win by Motorola in the ongoing patent dispute between the two companies. The devices, which include the 3G iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS, remain available from Apple's physical stores and other resellers in the country. iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS removed from ...
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Safari 5.1.4 with JavaScript and PDF Handling Improvements Seeded to Developers

Thursday February 2, 2012 9:47 am PST by
As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple today began seeding Safari 5.1.4 to developers for testing, signaling the next round of improvements for Apple's browser software. Safari 5.1.4 is available in versions for OS X Lion, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, and Windows, and the release notes ask developers to focus their testing on JavaScript performance, interactions between plug-ins and zooming, and PDF printing.Jav...
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No Apple Event Scheduled for February

Thursday February 2, 2012 9:17 am PST by
Earlier today, Japanese blog Mac Otakara claimed that Apple will be holding an "unusual" event in February, backtracking somewhat on its earlier claim of an early February iPad 3 event. The Loop's well-connected Jim Dalrymple now reports that Apple will not hold an event in February, indicating that observers waiting for the iPad 3 or other major announcement from Apple will need to hold out...
tim cook headshot

Apple's Town Hall Meeting Emphasized Corporate Philanthropy

Thursday February 2, 2012 9:06 am PST by
Last week, following Apple's blockbuster earnings report, the company held an internal town hall meeting with employees to discuss "exciting new things". While one piece of information about new employee hardware discounts did surface, little else from that meeting has made its way off of Apple's campus. The Verge now reports that it has been hearing that discussion of the company's...
robin burrowes

Apple Grabs Another Gaming PR Executive for App Store

Thursday February 2, 2012 7:38 am PST by
MCV reports (via The Next Web) that Apple has nabbed yet another gaming PR executive, this time hiring Microsoft's European chief of Xbox Live marketing Robin Burrowes to oversee App Store marketing in Europe.Burrowes worked at Xbox for seven years, and was in charge of Xbox Live. He was one of the execs promoting the latest Xbox dashboard update, even attending London Games Conference and...
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Apple Poised to Benefit from U.S. Government's Five-Year Push for Digital Textbooks

Thursday February 2, 2012 6:55 am PST by
The Associated Press reports on a new initiative from the U.S. government to help push schools and textbook companies make the transition to digital textbooks over the next five years. With Apple pushing itself to the forefront of the digital textbook discussion with its iBooks Textbooks launch just two weeks ago, the company stands to significantly benefit if its iPad hardware becomes a primary ...
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OS X 10.7.3 Update 'CUI Error' Fixable in Many Cases with Combo Version

Thursday February 2, 2012 6:15 am PST by
Following yesterday's release of OS X 10.7.3, a number of users in our forums and at Apple's discussion forums began reporting issues with the update. The most serious of these issues seems to be widespread crashing of apps generally accompanied by an artwork error in the crash notice window in which the window's buttons are replaced with graphics showing "CUI" and question marks. In...
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Avid Takes on Apple's iMovie with Avid Studio for iPad

Thursday February 2, 2012 5:46 am PST by
While companies such as Avid and Adobe have attempted to capitalize on Apple's Final Cut Pro X missteps by wooing users in need of professional video editing and production software, AllThingsD notes that Avid is pushing forward on the mobile "prosumer" front with its just-launched Avid Studio [App Store] app for iPad. The iPad obviously imposes some limitations on what can be done with the...
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Apple Passes LG to Become World's Third Largest Mobile Phone Manufacturer

Wednesday February 1, 2012 6:34 pm PST by
Research firm IDC today released its estimates of global mobile phone sales for the fourth quarter of and full-year 2011, finding Apple moving past LG to claim third place in the rankings for the first time. Apple was rapidly closing on LG by mid-2010, but fell back into fifth place behind ZTE during the third quarter as customers held off in anticipation of new iPhone hardware. The strong...
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Apple Releases OS X 10.7.3 with New Language Support and Bug Fixes

Wednesday February 1, 2012 12:18 pm PST by
Apple today released OS X 10.7.3, the third maintenance update to OS X Lion. The update is available via Software Update and Apple's download pages.The 10.7.3 update is recommended for all OS X Lion users and includes general operating system fixes that improve the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac including fixes that: - Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian,...
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Apple's 1.3 MP Camera-Equipped iPod Nano Due for Launch in March/April? [Updated]

Wednesday February 1, 2012 9:59 am PST by
Earlier today, we reported on new photos of an iPod nano casing that appears to support a rear-facing camera. With similar photos having shown up in the past, it was unclear whether Apple was still pursuing the design for a future iPod nano. M.I.C gadget now weighs in with claims that the pictured device is in fact a two-month old prototype but that Apple has been having difficulties with...
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Apple Reportedly Investigating Television Set Components as Anticipation Builds

Wednesday February 1, 2012 8:31 am PST by
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, whose long-standing claims of an Apple television set have been gaining steam in recent months as new rumors have surfaced in support of the idea, issued a research note late yesterday (via AppleInsider) discussing some new developments with Apple's work. Specifically, Munster notes that he had recent discussion with a "major TV component supplier" which...
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Photos of Debug Software Show Alleged Details of iPad 3 with Quad-Core A6 and LTE

Wednesday February 1, 2012 7:27 am PST by
BGR reports that it has received from a source photos of what are claimed to be screenshots from Apple's iBoot development and debugging software for the bootrom showing details on an iPad 3. The screenshots, which show references to the known "J1" and "iPad3,1" code names, reveal that the device will indeed be using a new application processor carrying an S5L8945X identifier, presumably as...
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Apple Hardware Chief Bob Mansfield Cashes in Nearly $12.5 Million in Stock Options

Wednesday February 1, 2012 6:37 am PST by
As revealed in a regulatory filing yesterday, Apple senior vice president for hardware engineering Bob Mansfield on Monday exercised a set of stock options he has held for a number of years, immediately selling off the stock for a gain of nearly $12.5 million. Under the stock option program, Mansfield was eligible to purchase 30,000 of Apple stock at a price of $36.54 per share and immediately...
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New Photos of Camera-Equipped iPod Nano Casing Surface

Wednesday February 1, 2012 6:17 am PST by
Last April, Taiwanese site Apple.pro posted a photo of what appeared to be an iPod nano with a hole in the rear casing that was said to be for a camera. A second photo showing the casing from the other side surfaced a month later, appearing to show a clipless design for the device and claiming that it would carry a 1.3-megapixel camera. Apple ultimately made no changes to the design of the...
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Tim Cook on New Retail Chief John Browett: 'The Best by Far'

Wednesday February 1, 2012 4:57 am PST by
MacRumors reader Tony Hart notes on his blog that after emailing Apple CEO Tim Cook with his thoughts on the company's selection of Dixons CEO John Browett as the next head of retail, he received a personal response in which Cook noted that Browett was "the best by far" among the candidates he talked with about the position.Tony, I talked to many people and John was the best by far. I think...
apple jan12 stock performance

Apple's Stock Off to Fast Start in 2012 with 50-Point Gain in January

Tuesday January 31, 2012 12:48 pm PST by
With stock trading for January coming to a close today, Apple's performance for the first month of 2012 has been notable, with the company's stock riding strong earnings to a monthly gain of over 50 points that has increased its price by nearly 13%. Much of that gain came alongside Apple's stellar earnings release one week ago, but Apple has continued to drift upward since that time and closed...
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ZFS Comes to OS X Courtesy of Apple's Former Chief ZFS Architect

Tuesday January 31, 2012 12:23 pm PST by
Apple's flirtation with ZFS, the file system backed by Sun, has been well-documented with rumors and speculation dating back to 2006. The interest was fueled in mid-2007 by a claim by Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz that ZFS would supplant HFS+ as the file system for Mac OS X Leopard. While ZFS did not materialize in Leopard, Apple clearly continued to work on the project, with claims of some support...
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iPad Drives Apple to Perch Atop List of Top-Selling PC Manufacturers

Tuesday January 31, 2012 10:16 am PST by
Late last year, research firm Canalys predicted that Apple might become the world's largest PC manufacturer during the fourth quarter of 2011 if tablets were counted alongside more traditional computers. With the major firms now having reported their sales numbers for the quarter, Canalys has pieced together the numbers to confirm that Apple has indeed taken the lead on the strength of the iPad.C...