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Apple today seeded the fifth betas of new iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates to developers and public beta testers for testing purposes, two weeks after seeding the fourth iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates.

iOS and iPadOS 14.7 can be downloaded through the Apple Developer Center or over the air after the proper profile has been installed on an iPhone or iPad. Public beta testers can download it after installing the profile from Apple's beta website.

The new iOS and iPadOS 14.7 updates may be focused on under-the-hood bug performance improvements and bug fixes for issues that weren't able to be addressed in iOS 14.6, but a few minor features have been found.

Apple in iOS 14.7 will expand the Air Quality Index feature to additional countries that include the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and Canada.

When paired with the accompanying HomePod 14.7 software, iOS 14.7 will allow the Home app to set multiple timers on a ‌HomePod‌ or a HomePod mini.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming macOS Big Sur 11.5 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the release of the fourth macOS Big Sur 11.5 beta.

Developers can download the ‌‌‌‌macOS Big Sur‌‌‌‌ 11.5 beta using the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences after installing the proper profile from the Apple Developer Center.

macOS Big Sur 11.5 appears to be a minor update focusing on under-the-hood performance improvements and bug fixes for issues that weren't able to be addressed in the macOS Big Sur 11.4 update. No notable new features were found in the first four betas.

Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming watchOS 7.6 update to developers for testing purposes, with the new beta coming two weeks after the release of the fourth beta.

To install the ‌watchOS 7.6 beta, developers need to download the proper configuration profile from the Apple Developer Center. Once the profile is in place, the watchOS beta can be downloaded through the dedicated ‌Apple Watch‌ app on the iPhone by going to General > Software Update.

To update to the new software, the ‌Apple Watch‌ needs to have 50 percent battery life, it must be placed on the charger, and it must be in range of the ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌iPhone‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.

We don't yet know what's included in the watchOS 7.6 update, and no new features were discovered in the first four betas, so it's likely the software focuses on bug fixes and other under-the-hood performance improvements.

Apple in June unveiled new Beats Studio Buds, which are $149 noise cancelling earbuds that are stemless and smaller than the AirPods and AirPods Pro. There are some key differences between the ‌AirPods Pro‌ and the Beats Studio Buds that make them unique for different use cases, so we thought we'd compare them in our latest YouTube video.

Like the ‌AirPods Pro‌, the Beats Studio Buds have Active Noise Cancellation with a Transparency mode. Fit always varies from person to person, but we found the ‌AirPods Pro‌ to be more comfortable with a more snug fit and a better seal. That said, the noise cancellation was about the same on the Beats Studio Buds and the ‌AirPods Pro‌. There's also very little difference in sound quality.

Both come with a charging case that functions in the same way, but the Beats Studio Buds case is more oval and slightly larger. As with the ‌AirPods Pro‌ case, the Studio Buds case offers additional battery life and you can get between 15 and 24 hours depending on how often you use ANC.

There is one major difference that separates the Beats Studio Buds and the ‌AirPods Pro‌ and accounts for the price difference - there's no H1 chip. The ‌AirPods Pro‌ have an H1 chip that allows for useful features like cross-device switching.

The H1 chip is responsible for a lot of the "magic" that makes the AirPods and ‌AirPods Pro‌ just work with Apple's devices and it's also been included in prior Beats headphones, but with the Beats Studio Buds, Apple wanted a more platform agnostic experience.

Apple designed the Beats Studio Buds to appeal to both iPhone and Android users, rather than catering solely to ‌iPhone‌ users as with the ‌AirPods Pro‌. Apple has still built in quick pairing and Hey Siri activation, so Beats Studio Buds users aren't missing too many features. It's worth noting, though, that the Beats Studio Buds are also missing Spatial Audio support and ear detection.

Apple has been successful with its multi-platform approach. The Beats Studio Buds work well for ‌iPhone‌ users, and for Android users, the earbuds are the closest you're going to get to an AirPods-like experience on an Android device. At $149, they're cheaper than ‌AirPods Pro‌, and with their feature set, the Beats Studio Buds are well worth the cost.

In iOS 15, Apple made further advancements in on-device machine learning and integrated them into the Photos app to make your iPhone more intelligent at recognizing the contents of pictures.

In other words, the ‌Photos‌ app can now identify various objects, landmarks, animals, books, plants, works of art, and more in your image library, and then offer information about them that it draws from the web.

This new intelligent feature is called Visual Lookup, and the following steps show you how you can use it to get more clued up on the things you've taken pictures of with your ‌iPhone‌ through the years.

1. Open the Photos app on your ‌iPhone‌ and select a picture with a clearly defined subject, such as a flower or animal.
2. Check the info ("i") icon at the bottom of the screen. If it has a little star over it, tap it – this indicates there's a Visual Lookup you can examine.
3. Tap the little icon in the center of the photo to bring up the Lookup search results.

In Visual Lookup, search results consist of Siri Knowledge, similar images found on the web, and other online sources of information. For all the details on the other new ‌Photos‌ features in iOS 15, be sure to check our dedicated roundup.

The stream of the Euro 2020 soccer semi-final, one of the UK's most-watched TV moments in recent times, was yesterday hindered by frustrating technical issues for Apple TV users.

The technical problems, first reported on by iMore, affected viewers using the ITV Hub app for the ‌Apple TV‌. According to ITV, the match was watched by as many as 27.6 million people, making it one of the most-watched moments in the UK since the London 2012 Olympics.

Portions of the tense second half of the match between England and Denmark were unwatchable on the ‌Apple TV‌ due to a problem that repeatedly kicked viewers out of the stream. Upon attempting to reconnect, the app played a number of ads before resuming and being kicked out again.

ITV was the only way for UK viewers to watch the game, which likely resulted in unusually large numbers of people trying to join the stream via ITV Hub. Nevertheless, streaming from ITV Hub on other devices appeared to be unaffected. ITV has since apologized to viewers over the experience.

The historic Euro 2020 final between England and Italy will be streamed via both BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub in the UK on Sunday, which should reduce the load on the stream, and at least provide viewers with an alternative if one of them suffers from issues. England fans will nevertheless have had reason to celebrate yesterday in spite of the problems with ITV Hub.

Apple's senior VP of software and services Eddy Cue has joined the Board of Trustees at Duke University in North Carolina, institution officials have announced.

Cue earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and economics at Duke University. He is also an avid Duke basketball fan, and both of his sons Adam and Spencer also studied Computer Science at Duke University.

Cue joins six other new trustees joining the board on a six-year term. All are previous students of the institution who have gone on to establish successful business careers. Like the other trustees, Cue will be responsible for the school's educational mission and fiscal policies.

According to the university's press release, Cue has returned to Duke many times to assist students in technology fields, and in 2017 he spoke to the Duke Technology Scholars, which aims to inspire more Duke women undergraduates to choose careers in computer science and electrical and computer engineering.

Cue has been at Apple since 1989 and as a member of the company's executive team he oversees Apple TV+, the iTunes Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, Maps, and iCloud. Eddy helped create the original Apple online store in 1998, the iTunes Store in 2003 and the App Store in 2008. He also played a key role in developing Apple's iLife suite of productivity apps.

(Via AppleInsider.)

Apple plans to open its first Apple Developer Academy headquarters for the Middle East and North African region (MENA) in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, reports Saudi Gazette.

The Apple Developer Academy is Apple's strategic program to ensure that students interested in technology receive proper training for programming across all of its platforms. Students are taught how to write and manage iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS apps, and are all taught under a curriculum created by Apple.

In Saudi Arabia, Apple will partner with the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones alongside the Tuwaiq Academy and the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahaman Unversity. Saudi Arabia's Minister of Education, Dr. Hamad Al-Sheikh, called Apple's expansion of the academy into the country a "key center for producing programmers and technology developers."

One of the academy's key aims will be women's empowerment in the technology space and part of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" plan, which aims to diversify the economy beyond reliance on oil. The chairman of the SAFCSP (Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming, and Drones), Faisal Al-Khamisi, says it is his hope that the new partnership will create more opportunities for the Saudi workforce, and the local community.

In our partnership with Apple, we will work together and strive to create an economic ecosystem for business to instill skills that enhance innovation and technology, and ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for our local community and the societies of the world that will undoubtedly benefit from the technical cadres that will receive education and training at the Apple Academy.

The first Apple Developer Academy launched in Brazil in 2013 and has since expanded to more countries, with Saudi Arabia being the latest as part of Apple's global outreach to students passionate about app development.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News 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.

Since this article was published, Nanoleaf reached out to MacRumors to explain that the information was incorrectly shared early in Europe, and that Thread Border Router support will be in fact be rolled out next month.

Nanoleaf, the company that makes wall-mounted modular light panels in various shapes, today rolled out Thread border router support for its Shapes and Elements light panels, which can be arranged in multiple positions.

As a quick explainer, Thread is a low latency and low power mesh-like network for smart devices. Unlike Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Thread standard doesn't depend on a router or hub. Instead, the smart device itself extends the network by talking to other Thread-enabled devices, thereby boosting the signal between them.

Apple's HomePod mini and the latest Apple TV 4K act as Thread border routers, and by adding Thread-supported devices around the home, users can typically expect improved connectivity compared to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, a wider control range, and more remote scheduling options.

The new Nanoleaf Thread border router support also means Android users will be able to control the Essentials devices, too. Other devices that work with Thread include smart home products from Eve, the Nest Hub Max, and Nest Wi-Fi by Google.

(Via Trusted Reviews.)

Attorneys general representing 36 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. today levied an antitrust lawsuit [PDF] against Google to challenge Google Play Store fees, reports Politico.

The lawsuit was filed in California federal court and is led by Utah, North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska. The states are fighting against Google's plan to require all app developers who use the Google Play Store to pay a 30 percent commission on the sales of digital goods or services, which Google plans to enforce in September.

Google last year said that in 2021, it would begin enforcing Play Store rules that require app developers to use Google's in-house billing method instead of independent payment systems. Google has long had this rule, but the company was not strictly enforcing it so developers could avoid using the Play Store billing system and Google's fees.

The change that Google is enacting would put the Google Play Store on level footing with Apple's App Store, as Apple has always required developers to use in-app purchases instead of alternative payment methods. Apple collects a 15 to 30 percent fee from app purchases and in-app purchases, and Apple's situation differs from Google's because the ‌App Store‌ is the only way to install apps. Even if Google implements its Play Store requirements, companies can still offer apps through alternative app stores.

It is not clear if Apple will be hit with a similar lawsuit, but the company has also been facing scrutiny over its ‌App Store‌ fees and policies. Alongside Google, Apple is embroiled in a legal battle with Epic Games over ‌App Store‌ fees and policies. There was a trial in May, and we're still awaiting the judge's ruling in the Apple v. Epic case.

Google is dealing with several other antitrust lawsuits that are part of a wider crackdown on tech companies. The United States Justice Department and 14 states sued Google in October over its dominance of the mobile search market, and an additional 38 states sued Google in December over the same issue.

Apple Maps received several notable improvements in iOS 15, including new details in cities, an interactive globe, and enhanced driving directions. It also gained a feature that has long been available in rival map apps – the ability to set leaving and arrival times for driving directions.

This is a feature that's long been available for Google Maps, and one that's really useful if you have a journey planned in the near future and you want to know how long it's going to take to get there or when you need to leave in order to arrive at a particular time.

Until now, there was no way to get estimated travel times in advance of a trip using the ‌‌Apple Maps‌‌ app. In previous versions of iOS, leaving and arrival time input was limited to directions for public transportation, but Apple has thankfully now expanded the option to driving, putting it on a more level playing field with Google Maps in the battle for users.

The following steps explain how to make use of the new leaving and arrival times on iPhones and iPads running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 or later.

1. In ‌Apple Maps‌' search field, enter your destination and tap Search.
2. Tap the Driving directions button.
3. Tap Leaving Now.
   
   

4. Using the Leave at and Arrive by tabs, select a time and date.
5. Tap Done.
   

‌Apple Maps‌ will show you several directions and how long it will take you to get to your destination based on predicted traffic for the time and date you selected.

Nomad today debuted its latest product, a Leather Cover that's designed to work with Apple's MagSafe Charger. The Leather Cover is meant to slide over a ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, providing a more attractive design for those who use Apple's charging solution.

The Leather Cover for ‌MagSafe‌ is available in rustic brown and black Horween leather, and each cover has a soft microfiber exterior that does not do any damage to the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger.

Nomad designed the Leather Cover to fit snugly to the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger, but it does add a little bit of extra size, which Nomad says makes the ‌MagSafe‌ Charger easier to grip and remove from an iPhone.

Like all of Nomad's leather products, the Leather Cover for ‌MagSafe‌ will develop a rich, unique patina over time with use. These Leather Covers also match well with Nomad's Leather ‌iPhone‌ cases because it's the same material.

Nomad's Leather Cover for ‌MagSafe‌ is priced at $24.95 and can be purchased from the Nomad website.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Nomad. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.