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

lion internet recovery

Apple Brings Lion Internet Recovery to More 2010 Macs

Tuesday February 7, 2012 5:44 pm PST by
Apple today released a series of three EFI firmware updates bringing Lion Internet Recovery to the company's Late 2010 MacBook Air, Mid-2010 iMac, and Early 2010 MacBook Pro. Available firmware updates include: - MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3 (2.98 MB):This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Air (Late 2010) models and addresses an issue where the system...
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Apple Now Requiring iPhone Developers to Submit Retina Screenshots

Tuesday February 7, 2012 11:40 am PST by
Apple today notified members of its iOS Developer Program of a new requirement that all screenshots being submitted for iPhone and iPod touch apps in the App Store must meet Retina resolution requirements, which come in at 960x640 on those devices. Any updates to existing apps must also include Retina screenshots, if they are not already present, before the updates will be approved by Apple.Requir...
david tupman

iPhone and iPod Engineering VP David Tupman Leaves Apple

Tuesday February 7, 2012 9:55 am PST by
Apple's vice president for iPhone and iPod engineering David Tupman has left the company, according to 9to5Mac. While not a member of the senior executive team, Tupman spent a decade at Apple and has been considered to be one of the key iOS hardware executives reporting to senior vice president Bob Mansfield.Weeks before the introduction of the first iPod, Apple hired Tupman, and he soon became...
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iPad's Momentum in Restaurants Grows with Buffalo Wild Wings Trial

Tuesday February 7, 2012 9:28 am PST by
Ever since the iPad was introduced two years ago, its potential to revolutionize the restaurant industry has been widely touted, with some restaurants already moving to replace their traditional point-of-sale devices with iPads and companies such as Square seeking to fill that need. And while iPads in restaurants have been catching on here and there, the concept could be ripe for major...
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Apple Seeking to Bring Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Sam's Club?

Tuesday February 7, 2012 6:16 am PST by
9to5Mac reports that Apple is in "early discussions" with Sam's Club to bring the Apple store-within-a-store concept to the popular warehouse club chain that operates as a division of Walmart.Sam’s Club and Apple are not only in early discussions for the Apple store-in-store program, but a backup plan is also being discussed. This plan consists of Sam’s Club simply selling Apple’s Macs, but ...
ipad 2 china

Apple Faces Potential $38 Million Fine in China as $1.6 Billion Lawsuit Over 'iPad' Trademark Proceeds

Tuesday February 7, 2012 5:57 am PST by
iSmashPhone summarizes a pair of reports from China claiming that Apple is facing a potential 240 million yuan ($38 million) fine from governmental authorities over alleged trademark infringement involving the "iPad" name. The fine pales, however, in comparison to the $1.6 billion Proview Technology, which claims to own the name, is seeking to win in a series of lawsuits filed against Apple....
macroscalar trademark application

Apple's 'Macroscalar' Trademark Application Sparks Speculation on Processor Architecture Advances

Monday February 6, 2012 12:15 pm PST by
Patently Apple reports that Apple last week filed a curious new trademark application for the term "macroscalar". The company has typically quietly registered trademarks in countries such as Trinidad & Tobago, only to later apply for the marks in the United States and other major markets once the new products and features have been announced. While an application for "macroscalar" was indeed...
a5chip

Audience's 'earSmart' Technology Explains Siri's iPhone 4S Exclusivity

Monday February 6, 2012 9:45 am PST by
CNET reports on a new research note from analyst Linley Gwennap, who believes that custom circuitry in Apple's A5 system-on-a-chip including "earSmart" noise cancellation technology from Audience is the reason why Siri is currently an iPhone 4S-only feature. Gwennap cites Audience's S-1 filing made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month in advance of the company's initial...
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Best Buy Dreams Up a $1499 42-Inch 'Apple HDTV' for Customer Feedback

Monday February 6, 2012 6:01 am PST by
The Verge reports that Best Buy has been surveying some of its customers on proposed products and services, with the company including a description of a 42-inch "Apple HDTV" priced at $1499. The listing is undoubtedly simply a concept dreamed up by Best Buy to help gauge interest in such an offering, but provides an interesting perspective on what the major electronics retailer might be hoping...
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Genius Recommendations for Movies and TV Shows Appearing on Apple TV

Friday February 3, 2012 1:00 pm PST by
Several Apple TV users have reported a new addition to the menus of their devices, with the new option bringing Genius recommendations for movies and TV shows in their libraries. Curiously, early reports noted that rather than carrying a correct menu title, the movie option carried the name "ATV.Menu.MOVIE.GeniusItem", suggesting that the new feature may have appeared prematurely. Apple seems...
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Apple Clarifies iBooks Author Licensing Situation in New Software Update

Friday February 3, 2012 11:01 am PST by
Following Apple's release of iBooks Author last month to support creation of iBooks Textbooks, significant controversy arose regarding the software's licensing, which specified that the output from the software could only be sold via the iBookstore and not any other marketplace. Some confusion had resulted from Apple's language, with some believing that Apple was claiming rights to all content ...
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Apple's Share of Profits Among Top Mobile Phone Vendors Hits 75%

Friday February 3, 2012 10:02 am PST by
asymco's Horace Dediu has released his latest calculations of revenue and profits in the global mobile phone industry, finding that Apple has increased its share of the top vendors' profits to 75%. Samsung followed in second place with 16% of industry profits while no other vendor accounted for more than 4% of profits.Apple reached 75% of profit share, nearly 40% of revenue share and 9% of...
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Apple Releases iBooks 2.0.1 to Address Issue with Textbooks Not Opening

Friday February 3, 2012 8:32 am PST by
Apple today updated iBooks [App Store] to version 2.0.1, bringing a fix for an issue that resulted in some iBooks Textbooks not opening in the application. Apple is not terribly specific about the issue, but it may be related to a complaint shared by USA Today almost immediately after the iBooks 2.0 launch and for which Apple had promised a fix.We're aware of a small number of iBooks 2 users...
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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...
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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 ...