Life

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All the New Apple Music Features Coming to iOS 18

There’s been a lot of talk about all the new iOS 18 features in Messages, Notes, and the Phone app, but not enough has been said about Apple Music. The service is getting some really cool new features, and from my time using some of them in the developer beta, I’m quite excited about them. Now that the public beta is out, you can easily try these features too, but before you do so, make sure that you have a full backup and that you’re installing the beta on a secondary iPhone if you can.

Here are the best new iOS 18 features coming to Apple Music.

You can read full song names

Long song names, very common with Western Classical music, were nearly impossible to read in the Music app up until iOS 17. On the upcoming iOS 18 version of Apple Music, the iPhone app displays full song names and makes it much easier to tell which song you’re looking at. Making playlists is so much easier now, because I actually know which song I’m selecting. You can see the change whenever you open any music album in Apple Music on iOS 18.

Queueing is much better

Apple Music is making it much easier to queue songs. Previously, you could select multiple songs using two fingers and drop them in your queue, but otherwise you just had the “Play Next,” and “Play Last” options. In iOS 18, Apple Music shows an “Add to Queue” button when you tap the three-dots button next to any song. You’ll also find an “Add Songs to Queue” button on the Now Playing screen. This makes it much easier to queue up a few songs. The best thing is that once you hit “Add Songs to Queue,” you’ll see a popover that lets you search your entire library. Here, you can play songs to preview them before you add them to your queue. This reduces the chances of accidentally messing up your queue.

Better controls for playback

Apple Music has never placed much attention on shuffle, repeat, and the recently added “infinity” button, which lets the algorithm pick songs for you. After a few UI changes, iOS 18’s Apple Music may have found a good solution. These buttons are still on the Now Playing screen, but they’re larger and much easier to tap.

Music Haptics for the hard of hearing

I love it when companies add accessibility features to their products. Apple has a great track record with accessibility features, and Music Haptics is another good example of that. It syncs your iPhone’s Taptic Engine, responsible for haptic feedback, with Apple Music songs so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can enjoy the music, too.

SharePlay for everyone

When you’re listening on Apple Music, iOS 18’s SharePlay will allow multiple users to control playback and add songs to the queue. This could be a lot of fun when you have friends over and want to listen together. This feature doesn’t require collaborators to have an Apple Music subscription, which widens its appeal.

Use This App to Change What Happens When You Close Your MacBook

When there’s no external display connected to your MacBook, closing it puts the entire laptop to sleep. That’s straightforward enough. When there is an external display, mouse, and keyboard connected, closing your MacBook allows you use it in “Clamshell” mode—that is, you can use the computer using the external display and controls.

This default behavior should cover most use cases, which is probably why Apple doesn’t allow much configuration. But maybe you want the MacBook to go to sleep when you close it, even if there’s a display connected. Or maybe you want the computer to shut down entirely? If that’s you, check out Clamshell, a free app that lets you choose.

The application lives in the menu bar and gives you five options. There’s the default behavior, which we outlined above, and then four more. Sleep will put your MacBook to sleep as soon as you close the lid, even if there’s another display connected. This is great if you use an external display but never use your MacBook in clamshell mode. Beautiful.

Shut Down goes a step further by shutting your computer down entirely (this requires installing a system-wide background helper). Shutting down your computer is great if you want to preserve battery life, but is in other ways extreme—you might lose any unsaved work, and you’ll need to start the laptop up again. Still, if you’re using your MacBook in a public place, this is the most secure option—it’s really hard to access a Mac without the password if it’s completely shut down.

Those two features are easy enough to understand, but there are two more that are a touch more tricky. The first of these, Keep External Displays On & Prevent Idle Sleep, will keep the display on and also keep your displays from going to sleep. It’s great if there’s something on your display that you want to ensure stays visible, even if you’re not actively using the laptop.

The next option, Turn Off Displays & Prevent Idle Sleep, will turn off your displays but not your device. This is great if you want your MacBook to keep playing music or downloading files while the screen is turned off. Note that this won’t happen if you’re not connected to power, meaning you don’t have to worry about this option draining your battery.

All of these are great options to have around, which is why I’m surprised Apple doesn’t offer some way to configure them in settings. The good news is that Clamshell is free and does the job well.

Voice Changers Are Coming to Console Gaming

There are plenty of reasons to use a voice changer when gaming, whether you just want anonymity, or the jokes and memes that come with using a soundboard. Historically, voice changers have been easier to use on PC than on consoles, because PCs let you run your voice changing program alongside your game, and console manufacturers aren’t keen to let you do the same thing on their machines. That’s where the Voicemod Key comes in.

A custom piece of hardware, Voicemod Key gets around console restrictions by changing your voice before it even gets to your console. It’s a USB dongle that you plug into your phone, with an input for the voice signal from your headphones, and an output that sends a modified version of that signal to your device. Essentially, you run your voice through the Voicemod app, which passes it on to your game. 

While in the app, you’ll be able to access user-generated sound clips, real-time voice customization, and over 100 pre-made voice changers. The downside is that you’ll need to deal with at least two extra cables and to keep your phone nearby and tethered to you while you play, and you’ll need to be using a wired headset with a 3.5mm cable. The upside is that you can make yourself sound like Snoop Dogg on Xbox, so, priorities.

Voicemod Key is a clever idea, and certainly far more robust than the dozens of voice changer boxes currently for sale from no-name companies on Amazon that are limited to a handful of fixed settings. It avoids the lag that comes with using Remote Play, which is Voicemod’s current solution for consoles.

Voicemod Key will first launch to 500 beta testers, with the company aiming for testers to get their devices in Q3 2024. The company says the device will support both USB-C and Lightning connectors, and you can sign up for the beta on its website. No official pricing has been announced yet, although The Verge reports the key will be bundled with a Voicemod Pro subscription.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $90 Million in Innovative Projects that Help Conserve Natural Resources and Address Climate Change as Part of Investing in America Agenda

READING, PA, July 18, 2024 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $90 million in 53 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) projects, which support the development of new tools, approaches, practices and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands.