Tag: WordPress

One Button Only Apple When It Comes To Unwanted Spam Calls

Make it simple. Simple works.

I know from the many complaints I’ve seen around social media that far too many of us are receiving unwanted phone calls from supposed loan officers wanting to hook us up. I bet I’ve gotten hundreds of these since this wave of spam and fraud began earlier this spring. I’ve written in the past about the changes Apple made to its Phone app, (here and here,) designed to help with the avalanche of unwanted calls such as these. I’m not sure the new system is an improvement, though. As Cupertino gets ready for WWDC 26, I’m hoping Apple will actually take a much stronger step. Actually it should be the step to end it all.

One button. Just give us one button, Apple, to block, report, and delete any unwanted call and associated emails. Make it fun. Maybe license the “One ping only” line from The Hunt for Red October and put that on the button. Make purging spam fun, not tedious. One ping only, please.

At the moment in order to ban any trace of an unwanted call that leaves an AI generated voicemail you have to take three steps. There’s no third time is the charm here.

To get rid of that voicemail, you have to open the transcript and choose Report Spam And Delete to nuke it.

New Shareshot.

You then need to go to the Unknown Callers screen and Block and Report spam by swiping left to reveal a little orange hand that is the Block button, and then choose to Block or Block and Report Spam.

New Screenshot.

And then you need to delete the call itself from the Unknown Callers screen. Or you can Delete And Report Spam.

New Screenshot.

I don’t think a system needs to be artificially intelligent to know that if I choose to block a number in one place, I’m not that keen on seeing it anywhere else.

Bottom line, there should only be one button. No need to slide to find it. Put it right there in the Unknown Callers screen that will Block, Report, and Delete any trace of the offending call. Give us the options, sure, but in one place, from one button.

FWIW, the same could be said about Messages. One button, only. That’s all we need.

Make it simple, Apple. Simple works.

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above. This site does not use affilate links. 

Sunday Morning Reading

Halloween is around the corner and the election is nearing. Sunday Morning Reading is full of scary politics and a tech ghost story.

There’s one month to go prior to the election that will decide the fate of the U.S. and possibly the world. After today that’s four more Sundays for Sunday Morning Reading. Fair warning those four Sundays will have more than a normal dose of politics in the mix. That said, enjoy this week’s edition of Sunday Morning Reading. 

Politics has infected everything and in my opinion in the worst ways imaginable. Nothing points this up like the storm around the storm recovery from Hurricane Helene. Juliette Kayyem in The Atlantic tells us The Fog of Disaster Is Getting Worse, and she’s correct. Perhaps a better way for journalism to cover this beyond just complaining would be to do what Chantal Allam and Joe Marusak did in the Charlotte Observer and tackle each bit of disinformation, (which I prefer to call lies) head on in Helene Fact Check: Here Are The Rumors and the Reality in Western North Carolina. 

The mythical swing voter has become larger than myth. Parker Malloy in Dame tells us The Real Swing Voters Aren’t Who You Think. 

Phillip Bump usually nails it. He does so again in Trump and His Allies Are Not Planning To Concede Another Election Loss. Nothing is over on November 5th.

LZ Granderson in The Los Angeles Times also nails it in Trump Blames Immigrants As If That Were A Policy Position. It’s Just Racist. I’m losing hope we’ll ever recognize that we’ve recognized this and don’t seem to care. 

Trump and his delusional followers couldn’t be this close to turning the clock back unless they had help from our transparently corrupt Supreme Court. Bill Blum takes a look at the awful immunity decision in John Roberts and the Second Coming of Dred Scott.

Speaking of the Supreme Court, Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz take a look at why We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court’s Supermajority. 

Joyce Vance is worried that even if Trump loses he won’t face any consequences in Trump Must Be Tried. She’s right to worry.

And the final link on the politics beat is and is not about politics, but it is about endings. Sunita Puri looks at how promises at the end of life, like Jimmy Carter’s to stay alive to vote one last time, can affect our last days in Death Has Two Timelines.

The WordPress saga continues and it seems to get muddier with each clarifying new chapter. Dave Winer says WordPress Has a Greater Destiny. I agree with his premise. I think those screwing things up do as well. In a competition between destinies unfortunately everyone loses. 

I’m preparing some thoughts on the new iPhones and Apple releases for later this week. I won’t have to write much about the new Camera Control after reading José Adorno’s piece Apple’s Biggest Hardware Change On the iPhone 16 Is A Huge Disappointment. I feel much the same.

As if the political moment wasn’t harrowing enough, Halloween is also around the corner. Angela Watercutter tells an intriguing tale that weaves tech (TikToK), a haunted house, the cops and a rolled up rug in her backyard in She Asked TikTok If Her House Was Haunted. Then The Cops Came.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.  You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. You can also find me on social networks under my own name.