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
Photos of Likely 802.11ac 'Gigabit Wi-Fi' Card From Next-Generation iMac Surface
Tonymacx86 points (via 9to5Mac) to recently discovered photos of a Broadcom BCM94360CD Wi-Fi/Bluetooth card that supports the 802.11ac "Gigabit Wi-Fi" standard rumored to be coming to Apple's Mac lineup later this year. While the photos were posted to Chinese site VR-Zone in early March, they are only just now being noticed by those following Apple rumors.
While the reports suggest that the...
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U.S. Mac Sales Flat in April as iPod Sales Continue to Slide
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster today released a brief report highlighting April data from market research firm NPD looking at Apple's U.S. Mac and iPod sales. The data shows Apple's Mac sales coming in flat year-over-year, and while Munster acknowledges that it has become increasingly difficult to extrapolate NPD's numbers to Apple's global sales performance, he views the latest data as...
Apple Raising Notebook Orders Ahead of Likely Launch at WWDC
Digitimes briefly reports that Apple will be releasing updated notebooks "in the near future", with supply chain sources indicating that Apple's orders will rise 20% in the second quarter compared to first-quarter production.The new MacBooks are only expected to receive specification upgrades to Intel's latest Haswell platform and are estimated to be unveiled at the Apple Worldwide Developers...
Apple to Begin Ramping Up Production of 25-33% Lighter iPad in July?
Digitimes reports that Apple will soon begin trial production on its fifth-generation iPad, with full production said to be planned to begin in July. Based on that schedule, Apple could hit monthly production of 2-3 million units by September as it prepares to launch the updated version of its full-size tablet.
Mockup of iPad 5 next to iPad mini and iPhone 5
As with a number of previous...
Apple Reportedly Testing 1.5-Inch OLED Displays for Smart Watch
Japanese blog Mac Otakara points to a pair of reports in today's edition of Taiwanese newspaper Economic Times addressing rumors surrounding Apple's smart watch effort. According to the first report [Google translation], Apple has begun sampling 1.5-inch OLED displays from RITEK subsidiary RiTdisplay.
The report also claims that RITEK's joint venture RitFast will be supplying the touch sensor...
Turkish Prime Minister Visits Apple Ahead of Major Tablet Purchase
Anatolia News Agency reports that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Apple yesterday as part of a tour of Silicon Valley companies ahead of the country's move to purchase 10.6 million tablets for its schoolchildren. Erdoğan also visited Microsoft's Bay Area outpost and Google during his trip.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (left) visits Apple
The meeting at Apple ...
Difficult Negotiations May Prevent 'iRadio' Launch at WWDC
Last week, we noted that Apple was still struggling to convince the major music labels to sign on to its planned streaming service, informally dubbed "iRadio", with Sony and Warner reportedly holding out even after market leader Universal had agreed to Apple's revised terms.
In a new article highlighting how Google was able to announce its own music service ahead of Apple, The Verge notes that ...
U.S. Department of Defense Approves iOS 6 Devices for Military Networks
Following a report from earlier this month indicating that the U.S. Department of Defense was preparing to approve Apple devices running iOS 6 for use on military networks, Bloomberg now reports that the department has officially issued the authorization, opening the door for greater use of Apple's products.The Defense Department said in a statement today that it has approved the use of...
Corning Announces 'Lotus XT' Substrate Glass for Brighter, Cheaper Mobile Displays
Corning yesterday announced (via Engadget) the launch of its latest glass substrate for LCD and OLED displays, Lotus XT Glass. While Corning is famous for its Gorilla Glass used by Apple and other device manufacturers to provide durable covers for their displays, substrate glass like Lotus Glass is used within the displays themselves to support the transistors and other components necessary for...
Apple Releases MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0
Apple today released MacBook Air Flash Storage Firmware Update 1.0, an update for Mid-2012 MacBook Air models to address an issue with recovering from crashes.This update is recommended for MacBook Air (mid 2012) models. This update addresses a storage firmware issue that, in rare cases, may cause a system to fail to recover from a crash. Flash storage module from mid-2012 MacBook Air (Source: iFix ...
New High-Resolution Photos of iPhone 5S Parts Reveal Little
BGR shares several new relatively high-resolution photos of parts claimed to be from the iPhone 5S. These parts have been leaking to repair firms over the past several months, and a number of photos have already been seen, but the new photos do represent the highest-quality look at these parts so far.
Vibrator/audio control flex cable for iPhone 5S
Unfortunately, the photos reveal little...
Android and iOS Continue to Dominate Smartphone Market as Windows Phone Shows Signs of Life
Following up on its April report breaking down mobile phone shipments by manufacturer for the first quarter of 2013, research firm IDC today issued a new report looking at shipments from an operating system perspective. The report unsurprisingly shows that Android and iOS continue to dominate the smartphone market with over 92% of shipments during the quarter, with Android's broad availability...
Apple to Relocate Flagship San Francisco Retail Store to Union Square
Apple's San Francisco flagship retail store has been a particularly high-profile location for the company since it opened nine years ago, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Apple has submitted plans to move the store to a new location three blocks away. The new location at Stockton and Post streets will be directly adjacent to Union Square, the focal point of San Francisco's high-end...
Apple's App Store Reaches 50 Billion Downloads, Now on Pace for 20 Billion Apps Per Year
Apple's App Store today reached 50 billion downloads since its inception in 2008, and along with the milestone comes the end of the company's "50 Billion App Countdown" promotion launched thirteen days ago. The winner of the promotion, who is yet to be announced, will be awarded a $10,000 gift card valid for App Store, Mac App Store, or any other iTunes Store content. Fifty additional winners...
Airline Industry Remains Divided Over Personal Electronics Usage During Takeoff and Landing
Earlier this year, we noted that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was continuing to look at the use of personal electronic devices during the taxi, takeoff, and landing phases of commercial flights, hoping to take action by the end of the year to loosen restrictions currently requiring that all devices be powered down during these times.
Bloomberg now provides another update on...
Philips 'Hue' Receives Major Update With Geofencing, Visual Alerts, and More
Late last year, Philips launched its "Hue" lighting system, offering sets of wireless-enabled LED lightbulbs that allow users to remotely control their lighting, including adjusting to a rainbow of colors, from an iOS app. Hue has been exclusively sold through Apple's online and retail stores, and Philips has been working hard to both bring more features to the system and to open it up to...
Sketchy Rumor Claims Sapphire-Covered Capacitive Home Button for iPhone 5S
Cult of Mac points to a report [Google translation] from Taiwanese site TechNews claiming that Apple will be including a sapphire-covered capacitive home button on the iPhone 5S in order to accommodate the fingerprint sensor rumored to be coming as a differentiating feature for the device.Apple is expected to do away with the traditional physical home button, which has long been one of the most...
Apple Seeks to Add Samsung Galaxy S4 to U.S. Patent Lawsuit
Just weeks after the launch of Samsung's latest Galaxy S4 flagship smartphone, FOSS Patents reports that Apple is seeking to add the device to a patent lawsuit already underway against Samsung in the United States.
Judge Lucy Koh has already ordered Apple and Samsung to narrow their case, which is expected to go to trial in March 2014. Each side will ultimately be required to limit their cases ...
An Emotional Bill Gates Talks About Steve Jobs on '60 Minutes'
Microsoft founder Bill Gates was interviewed by Charlie Rose on this week's edition of the long-running television news program 60 Minutes, and part of the interview focused on Gates' relationship with Steve Jobs, including a few details of their final conversation before Jobs passed away in 2011.
Gates grew emotional as he recalled visiting Jobs just before his death. The billionaire welled...
PayPal Executive Looks for Apple to Adopt Fingerprint Sensors, Lead Charge Away From Passwords
CIO reports on an Interop keynote presentation yesterday by PayPal chief information security officer Michael Barrett in which he discussed the future of account security and suggested that passwords and PINs will soon be a thing of the past. Barrett currently serves as president of the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Alliance that is seeking alternatives to these traditional security methods.The...
