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
Tim Cook's Approval Rating Slips, Loses Top Spot in CEO Rankings
Career site Glassdoor today released the results of its annual CEO approval rating survey, showing a four percentage-point drop for Apple CEO Tim Cook that resulted in a decline from the top spot in last year's survey to 18th in this year's version. Glassdoor's results are based on over 500,000 company surveys submitted by employees over the past year that ask whether they approve of how their...
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Apple Releases OS X 10.8.3 With Mac App Store Gift Card Camera Redemption and Boot Camp Enhancements
Following Tuesday's seed of the latest beta, Apple today released OS X 10.8.3 to the public. The update brings several enhancements including support for camera redemption of gift cards in the Mac App Store to mirror functionality introduced for the iTunes Store in iTunes 11 last November. OS X 10.8.3 also adds several enhancements to Apple's Boot Camp solution for booting Windows on Macs,...
Apple Releases Retina MacBook Pro SMC Update to Address Gaming Frame Rates and Fan Issues
Apple today released MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update 1.1, addressing an issue with frame rates while playing graphics-heavy games and fixing several other bugs.About MacBook Pro Retina SMC Update v1.1 This update resolves a rare issue where users may experience slow frame rates when playing graphics-intensive games on the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. It also includes bug fixes for...
Apple and TSMC Reportedly Completing Designs for 20-nm A7 Chip With Early 2014 Availability
Digitimes reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will "tape out" the design for an A7 system-on-a-chip built on a 20-nanometer process this month. Taping out refers to the initial design of the chip having been completed for creation of the masks that will be used to print the actual chips, although further tweaks are likely as test production is carried out.Taiwan...
Apple Now Offering iMacs Equipped With VESA Mount Adapters as $40 Upgrade
As noticed by Macworld UK, Apple today introduced a new configuration option for its 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs, allowing customers to choose a VESA mount adapter instead of the standard foot. The $40 option allows users to mount their iMacs to walls or other vertical surfaces, but must be configured at the time of purchase.The iMac with Built-in VESA Mount Adapter is ready to pair with your...
Smaller A5 Chip From Tweaked Apple TV Contains Only One CPU Core, Revamped Analog Circuitry
For the past few days, we've been following the story of the smaller A5 chip found inside of the recently tweaked Apple TV, seeking to understand what changes Apple has made in order to shrink the chip to roughly half the size of the previous A5 chip. Yesterday, experts at Chipworks determined that the new A5 was still being manufactured by Samsung using the same 32-nanometer process used for...
Andy Rubin Steps Down as Head of Android, Takes on New Role at Google
Google CEO Larry Page today announced that Andy Rubin is stepping down as head of the company's Android division, turning over the reins to Sundar Pichai, who has led Google's Chrome and Apps efforts.Sergey and I first heard about Android back in 2004, when Andy Rubin came to visit us at Google. He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation...
Staples Associates Training to Support iPhone, iPad, and Mac Notebook Sales by Late March
Back in January, we noted that office supply chain Staples appeared to gearing up to begin selling Apple products in its U.S. stores for the first time. Staples employees confirmed the announcement several weeks later and late last month the company began selling Apple accessories in its U.S. online store. Apple accessories have already been making their way to some brick-and-mortar Staples...
Regional U.S. Carriers Back Efforts to Ease Mobile Phone Unlocking in Bid to Draw iPhone Users
Bloomberg reports that regional and rural carriers in the United States are banding together to back legislative efforts to ease the unlocking of mobile phones. Unsurprisingly, the smaller carriers see unlocking as a key way to attract new customers and gain access to the most popular handsets such as the iPhone.“Smaller carriers have a very difficult time getting access to smartphones and...
Apple Reportedly Preparing to Announce Larger Dividend or Stock Buyback
Quartz reports that Apple is moving closer to announcing a plan to return additional value to shareholders, likely acting "this spring" to either increase its dividend or repurchase additional stock from investors. The move comes amid increased public scrutiny of Apple's plans for its cash as vocal hedge fund manager David Einhorn has been pressing the company to return more money to investors.Ap...
OS X 10.8.3 Build 12D78 Seeded to Developers
One week after the previous seed, Apple today released a new build of OS X 10.8.3 to developers. The latest version, which arrives as build 12D78, represents the 13th developer seed since Apple began developer testing last November. As with previous builds, Apple is asking developers to focus their testing on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari. We had previously...
A5 Chip in Tweaked Apple TV Still Manufactured by Samsung at 32nm
Earlier this week, we opened up the newly tweaked Apple TV to find a remarkably small A5 chip inside rather than an A5X as had been suspected from the device's software posted by Apple over a month ago. Since that time, we've been talking with chip experts at Chipworks and Silicon-IP about the possibilities and have confirmed that, unlike in the previous Apple TV, this even smaller A5 does not ...
iPhone 5S to Include Both Fingerprint Sensor and NFC?
China Times reports [Google translation, via Mac Otakara] that Taiwanese chip firm Chipbond has been selected to provide a number of components for the iPhone 5S, including the touch display driver as well as chips to support fingerprint sensor and near field communications (NFC) capabilities. The report suggests that Apple will use the fingerprint sensor functionality to enhance the security of ...
Tweaked Apple TV Contains Die-Shrunk A5 Chip, Not A5X
Back in late January, an update to the Apple TV software revealed a new "AppleTV3,2", with FCC documents for the device showing up the following day. By digging into the software files for this new device, it was discovered that the device appeared to be using an A5X chip rather than the single-core A5 chip found in the third-generation Apple TV. This conclusion was based on the chip carrying...
15-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Users Experiencing Fan Issues Related to SanDisk SSDs?
Earlier this week, Geek.com highlighted a growing a number of complaints from owners of Apple's 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro regarding overactive fans. The issue has been noted in our forums and is the subject of a lengthy thread in Apple's discussion forums. From one report:My first instance of runaway fans was under the lightest of conditions, having only one browser open only a few tabs and a...
Apple Reportedly Offering Half of Pandora's Royalty Rate for Streaming Music Service
The New York Post reports that Apple has been seeking to undercut its potential competitors with regard to royalty rates for its rumored streaming music service, currently offering a rate that is just half that paid by Pandora despite rumors that Apple is looking for more flexibility than allowed under the license used by Pandora.The tech titan, the most valuable company in the world, made an...
Latest OS X 10.8.3 Beta Adds NVIDIA Quadro K5000 Graphics Card Drivers
As noted in our forums, Apple's latest OS X 10.8.3 beta seeded to developers as build 12D76 yesterday contains new drivers for NVIDIA's high-end Quadro K5000 graphics card. NVIDIA announced the Quadro K5000 for the Mac Pro last September, but has yet to actually release the product. The first developer build of OS X 10.8.3 seeded last November added AMD Radeon 7000-series drivers, so it...
Apple's Suppliers Set New High in January With 99% Compliance Rate for Working Hour Limits
Early last year, Apple launched a new initiative to more openly share information on worker rights and safety throughout its supply chain with working hours and mandatory overtime being a major focus of the effort. Apple's code of conduct specifies that workers may generally work no more than 60 hours per week, although the company does permit limited exceptions during periods of high demand. ...
Apple Launches $1099 21.5-Inch iMac With 3.3 GHz Dual-Core i3 Processor for Educational Institutions
Apple appears to have quietly introduced an updated version of its low-end 21.5-inch iMac for educational institutions, taking advantage of a cheaper dual-core Intel Core i3 processor and integrated graphics to offer pricing of $1099, $200 cheaper than the entry-level pricing for consumer models. The education-only iMac, which carries a model number of ME699LL/A, also includes just 4GB of RAM...
iMac Shipping Estimates Improve to 'Within 24 Hours' in Apple's North American Online Stores
Just days after experiencing a dramatic improvement in shipping times for new orders through Apple's online stores in North America, the iMac has seen its availability improve once again with stock configurations now shipping "within 24 hours". The rapid improvement in availability indicates that Apple is quickly reaching supply-demand balance for the new iMac some three months after its debut. ...
