MacRumors

Apple has hired Roy J.E.M Raymann, from Philips Research, for its iWatch team, according to a report from 9to5Mac. The hire is the latest in a long series of recent reports that suggest Apple is hiring a wide variety of health and medical sensor experts for its upcoming iWatch product.

According to Raymann's LinkedIn biography, his main research is in "how to optimize rest and activity", "non-pharmacological approaches to promote sleep", and "interpretation of ambulatory physiological and biomechanical data". He did other research on sleep and coffee, power napping, and he founded the Philips Sleep Experience Laboratory, a non-clinical sleep research facility.

Philips Research has been involved in many major technological advancements, including the development of the compact disc, LED lightbulbs, the MRI, and more.

Philips Research is a global organization that helps Philips introduce meaningful innovations that improve people’s lives. We provide technology options for innovations in the area of health and well-being, targeted at both developed and emerging markets. Positioned at the front-end of the innovation process, we work on everything from spotting trends and ideation to proof of concept and – where needed – first-of-a-kind product development.

The hire suggests Apple could be looking to help iWatch buyers with tracking and improving sleep, while also possibly tracking other health data like pulse and activity, and blood data like glucose levels. Several current fitness tracking devices are designed to track both sleep length and sleep quality. For example, bands like the Jawbone UP and the Fitbit Force are both able to slip into a night time monitoring mode that keeps track of sleep.

Philips confirmed to 9to5Mac that Raymann no longer works at the company, but would not say where he was currently employed.

Earlier today, Apple released the fifth beta of iOS 7.1 to developers, which included both bug fixes and a minor updates to the operating system. While previous iOS 7.1 betas introduced several visual changes, iOS 7.1 beta 5 included just a few additional tweaks to further streamline the look of iOS 7 ahead of a prospective public release.

Keyboard: In iOS 7.1 beta 3, Apple introduced a new design for the shift key, which was unpopular with many beta testers as it made it unclear when shift and caps lock were activated. With iOS 7.1 beta 5, Apple has tweaked the keys once again to make it clearer when shift and caps lock are enabled.

Wallpaper: Apple has been tweaking the way wallpaper is handled throughout the iOS 7.1 beta testing period. Beta 3 introduced a "Motion" option to turn off parallax for wallpapers and renamed the function to "Perspective Zoom" in beta 5.

iTunes Radio: iTunes Radio has gained a new "Buy Album" button which accompanies the option to buy an individual song that is playing.

Siri: Siri has gained new natural sounding voices for English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin - China).

Calendar: iOS 7.1 beta 2 introduced a new event list view within the Calendar app. In beta 5, the toggle for the list view has been made bolder and easier to see.

AirDrop: According to several reports on our forums, AirDrop appears to be experiencing some issues in iOS 7.1 beta 5.

iOS 7 Jailbreak: Apple patched an evasi0n iOS 7 jailbreak exploit in beta 4 and it appears to have issued another patch for additional exploits in beta 5.

Previous iOS 7.1 betas have also included a number of significant features like a "Button Shapes" option in Accessibility, more prominence for Touch ID and Passcode options, a new look for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen, a new animation for "Slide to Unlock" and a slightly revamped color for the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages app icons.

Details on features in past beta releases can be found in our previous beta posts: Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, Beta 4.

Though a December report from BGR indicated that iOS 7.1 would not be released to the public until March, today’s build number, which is not much different than the build number of beta 4 indicates the software could be nearing a public launch.

A new report from BGR issued today also retracts the initial March release estimate and suggests the software will be released to the public in the "coming weeks" following the debut of a golden master build of iOS 7.1 for developers.

Apple today released the fifth beta of iOS 7.1 to registered developers for testing purposes, following the release of the fourth iOS 7.1 beta on January 20. The update has a build number of 11D5145e and is available via an over-the-air update and through Apple's developer center website.

According to the release notes, iOS 7.1 beta 5 includes new natural-sounding Siri voices for English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), Japanese, and Chinese (Mandarin - China). It also notes that a compact version of Siri is bundled with the release for the new languages, but can be expanded to the more natural voice after install.

The iOS device initially uses a compact voice for Siri. After you have configured a Wi-Fi network and have the device connected to a power source, iOS will automatically download and install a higher quality version.

Earlier betas of iOS 7.1 have introduced a number of features, including "Button Shapes" in Accessibility, more prominence for Touch ID and Passcode options, a new look for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen, a new animation for "Slide to Unlock" and a slightly revamped color for the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages app icons.

Details on features in past beta releases can be found in our previous beta posts: Beta 1, Beta 2, Beta 3, Beta 4.

Today's update also includes Xcode 5.1 Developer Preview 5 and a new version of the Apple TV beta software.

Update: iOS 7.1 beta 5 includes redesigned shift and caps lock keys on the keyboard.

Wallpaper options have also been tweaked slightly and the button to disable parallax is now called "Perspective Zoom" instead of "Motion."

ComScore today released the results of its monthly rolling survey of U.S. mobile phone users for the October-December 2013 period, showing that Apple's U.S. smartphone market share has increased 1.2 percentage points since September, for a total share of 41.8 percent. Though Apple's share continues to grow, it still lags behind Android's total share of 51.5 percent, down 0.3 percent since September.

Looking at handset manufacturers, Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the category, growing their control of the market by 1.2 percent each over the three month period. Motorola, LG and HTC round out the top five, with all of them seeing flat or negative growth.

In Apple's earnings call last month, CEO Tim Cook warned that U.S. iPhone sales were weaker than expected because of U.S. carriers changing their upgrade policies. As a result, seeing share growth despite the headwinds is a positive sign for the company.

156 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (65.2 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in December, up 3.2 percent since September. Apple ranked as the top OEM with 41.8 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers (up 1.2 percentage points from September). Samsung ranked second with 26.1 percent market share (up 1.2 percentage points), followed by Motorola with 6.7 percent, LG with 6.6 percent and HTC with 5.7 percent.

Apple grew its smartphone market share by 0.6 percent from November, largely at the expense of Android and BlackBerry. Despite a significant marketing effort, Micrsoft's Windows Mobile has failed to gain any traction over the past three months, dropping 0.2 percent from 3.3% to 3.1% of total platform share.

ComScore's data tracks installed user base rather than new handset sales, which means it is more reflective of real-world usage but slower to respond to shifting market trends than some other studies.

U.S. President Barack Obama today is announcing $750 million in corporate commitments for his ConnectED initiative to provide students with greater access to high-speed Internet connections. Apple is a key member of the group and has pledged $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools, according to an Associated Press report.

Apple is pledging $100 million in iPads, computers and other tools. AT&T and Sprint are contributing free Internet service through their wireless networks. Verizon is pitching in up to $100 million in cash and in-kind contributions. And Microsoft is making Windows available at discounted prices and offering 12 million free copies of Microsoft Office software.

Obama was to announce the commitments Tuesday at a middle school in the Maryland suburbs near Washington. Also in the pipeline: an addition $2 billion that the Federal Communications Commission is setting aside from service fees over two years to connect another 20 million students to high-speed Internet.

During the recent State of the Union address, President Obama mentioned that Apple and other tech companies would be providing the hardware and software needed to connect over 15,000 schools and 20 million students to the Internet in the next two years. Apple confirmed its role in the project in a statement provided to The Loop, but did not offer any specific details on its role at that time.

These corporate contributions will help fulfill ConnectED's goal of connecting 99 percent of U.S. students to the Internet within five years. When President Obama announced this goal last June, only one in five students had access to a broadband Internet connection.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Microsoft announced today that it has appointed company veteran Satya Nadella as Chief Executive Officer to replace retiring Steve Ballmer. Nadella, who previously served as executive vice president of the company's Cloud and Enterprise group, will take over as CEO and join the Board of Directors effective immediately.

As part of this leadership change, Bill Gates is stepping down as Chairman of the Board of Directors and will take a position as "Founder and Technology Advisor". John Thompson, former CEO of Symantec, will assume the role of Board Chairman. This will mark a significant shift for Gates, who has been asked by Nadella to take a more active role in product development within the company.

Microsoft also announced that Bill Gates, previously Chairman of the Board of Directors, will assume a new role on the Board as Founder and Technology Advisor, and will devote more time to the company, supporting Nadella in shaping technology and product direction.

Gates will work three days each week at Microsoft and will remain actively involved in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reports Re/code.

Sources from Taiwan's industrial chain claim the iPhone 6 will have at least a 10-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/1.8, reports Chinese website IT168 [Google Translate, via GforGames]. This would be an improvement over the current iPhone 5s, which has an 8-megapixel camera with a narrower f/2.2 aperture.

The report also claims Apple will change the filter used on the iPhone 6 camera, replacing the hybrid IR filter used on the iPhone 5s with a resin lens filter manufactured by Japanese company JSR. JSR is known for its ARTON Resins, which are used in digital and video cameras with CMOS image sensors. JSR claims its ARTON filters are lighter and thinner than comparable IR filters and take clearer images due to the resin's ability to minimize the color shifts of CMOS image sensors.

The IT168 story contradicts an earlier report from the The China Post that claims Apple will continue to use a 8-megapixel sensor in its next iPhone. According to analysts from Nomura Securities, the camera module in the iPhone 6 instead will see improvements in other areas such as optical image stabilization.

(Thanks, Vlad!)

Apple has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider) detailing a flat smart dock that would be able to determine the orientation a device is placed in and perform actions such as induction charging, data syncing, diagnostics testing, and more.

The patent, which was originally filed in 2012, details a dock that includes components such as a processor, memory, internal power supply, and multiple sensors among other components. The dock is described as being a central point in the transfer of data between a user's device and a host device such as a computer. Data itself would transfer between two devices through a wire such as a Lightning cable or through wireless networking.

In terms of identifying different orientations, the patent states that the flat dock would be able to recognize factors including the rotational position and the proximity of a device. For example, if a user leaves a device face down, the dock would perform charging, whereas leaving a device face up would allow for data syncing and charging at the same time. A device on the smart dock would provide on-screen information about the current action being performed as well.

In some embodiments, a physical orientation of a user device placed on a surface of a docking device may be determined. The physical orientation may include a translational position (e.g., Cartesian coordinates, polar coordinates), rotational position (e.g., an angle value about a suitable axis), a facing direction (e.g., face-up, face-down), any other suitable physical orientation relative to any suitable reference, or any combination thereof. For example, a physical orientation may be a position of a user device on a surface of a docking device.

Support for multiple devices on the dock is described in the patent, as the dock would be able to perform actions such as data transfers and charging on devices in close proximity to each other. Transfers between a host device and a primary device placed on the charging surface are also described as a capability of the smart dock.

It is unknown whether Apple plans to create such product or not, but the company has shown strong interest in some of the technologies described in the patent. It was reported earlier this week by The New York Times that Apple was testing induction charging among other methods for its upcoming "iWatch" project. This, coupled with past rumors stating that the iWatch will serve as an accessory to iOS devices would make it a prime candidate to benefit from the functionalities of the smart dock described in the patent.

Apple also filed a patent for a separate smart dock last December, which emphasized voice recognition and single-device use through a regular multi-pin connector. The existence of either device would be of a new effort for the company, as Apple currently sells docks with limited functionality for the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Other accessories such as the iHome family of clock-radios and speaker systems offer a bit more functionality, but very little in the context of deep interaction with a device.

Following this morning's debut of the "1.24.14" Mac 30th anniversary video filmed exclusively on iPhones and edited on Macs, Apple has also released a new behind-the-scenes video that details how the original ad was made.

"Capturing the essence of the moment and it being truthful as seen through the prism of this device is really rather lovely."

The video depicts the camera equipment used to film the ad, which included several different iPhones attached to special mounts able to rotate in any direction. A narrator explains that individual filming crews were sent to locations around the world to obtain simultaneous footage, with each crew using an iPhone to capture video that was then sent to a receiver in a backpack.

Receivers used by the crew members allowed footage to be sent instantly back to director Jake Scott, son of Ridley Scott, in the U.S., and FaceTime on iPads allowed for seamless communication while filming.

Apple's 1.24.14 video was filmed for the 30th anniversary of the Mac. It was distilled from more than 70 hours of footage captured by camera crews on five continents in 15 different locations, including Seattle, Aspen, Maryland, Brookhaven, Puerto Rico, Botswana, London, Lyon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Pompeii, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Melbourne.

Along with the original video and the behind-the-scenes look at how it was filmed, Apple has also posted a detailed web page that gives an even more in-depth look at the work that went into the spot.

Ever since OS X Mavericks was released, some customers using the built-in Mail.app application have repeatedly had issues retrieving new mail messages, deleting or moving messages, and more. Some of the problems were fixed in an update released back in November, and then in OS X 10.9.1, but for some, the issues retrieving new messages persist.

Some users found that quitting and restarting Mail forced the application to download new messages, but Apple has now published an awkward workaround that allows the app to stay open while still forcing a download of new messages.

OS X: New email messages not received until Mail is quit and reopened

Quitting and reopening Mail forces it to re-establish a connection to the email server. You can use these steps to receive new mail messages without quitting Mail:

1. Choose Mailbox > Take All Accounts Offline.
2. Choose Mailbox > Get All New Mail.

As a shortcut, you can also add the Take All Accounts Offline and Get Mail buttons to your Mail toolbar.

1. Choose View > Customize Toolbar.
2. Drag the Take All Accounts Offline button to the Toolbar if it is not there already.
3. Drag the Get Mail button to the Toolbar if it is not there already.
4. Click Done

To receive new mail messages, click the Take Offline button, then click the Check Mail button.

There is no indication of when the bugs with Mail.app will be fixed, though beta releases of OS X 10.9.2 ask developers to test Mail.app for issues.

A World Wrestling Entertainment representative has seemingly confirmed on Facebook that the new 24/7 WWE Network will be available as a dedicated channel on the Apple TV on February 24.

In a conversation with a fan who asked specifically about an Apple TV app, a WWE Network Facebook representative said the WWE Network app can be launched directly from the Apple TV.

In order to experience WWE Network on an Apple TV, you must have a second generation or later (black) Apple TV and be a WWE Network subscriber. Once WWE Network is available, you will be able to launch the WWE Netowrk app directly from your Apple TV. Let us know if you have further questions! Thank you.

First announced in January, the World Wrestling Entertainment Network is a 24/7 streaming network that includes original programming, reality shows, documentaries, classic matches, and more. Available for $9.99 per month, it also includes 12 WWE live pay-per-view events.

When introduced, WWE executives noted that the service would be available via the WWE website and through numerous consoles, smartphones, and tablets. While the Roku was listed as an available device, as was the iPad, no specific mention was made of the Apple TV.

WWE Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer Michelle Wilson did, however, say that the service would also be available on "a connected device I am not allowed to mention at this press conference," presumably alluding to the Apple TV. Attendees at the service's introductory event were also given Apple TVs to take home.

Apple historically exercises control over announcements related to its products, so it is no surprise that news of a potential WWE app for the Apple TV has been suppressed. Over the course of the last several months, Apple has introduced several new channels to the Apple TV, each with no advanced notice.

Most recently, Apple added the Red Bull TV action sports channel to the Apple TV, and before that, the company introduced channels for Watch ABC, Bloomberg, Crackle, and KORTV. Apple is also said to be working on a major overhaul to both the Apple TV software and hardware, which could debut later this year.

The WWE network will be available for $9.99 per month at 9 AM Eastern Time on February 24, 2014 and will reportedly launch on the Apple TV at the same time. Fans will be given a free one week trial to the service.

(Thanks, Josh!)

Update: The WWE Facebook page has since been updated to delete the comment about the Apple TV, but the original text can be seen in the image below.