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By KELVIN CHAN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — iPhone users have a new tool to combat the scourge of nuisance phone calls: a virtual gatekeeper that can screen incoming calls from unknown numbers.

It’s among the bevy of new features that Apple rolled out with last month’s release of iOS 26. The screening feature has been getting attention because of the ever-increasing amount of robocalls and spam calls that leave many phone users feeling harassed.

Here’s a run-through of the new function:

How to activate call screening

First, you’ll need to update your iPhone’s operating system to iOS 26, which is available to the iPhone 11 and newer models.

To switch call screening on, go into Settings–Apps—Phone. Scroll down and you’ll find a new option: Screen Unknown Callers.

You’ll be presented with three choices. The Never option lets any unknown call ring through, while Silence sends all unidentified numbers directly to voicemail. What you want to tap is the middle option: Ask Reason for Calling.

If the option isn’t there, try restarting your phone. read more

By Miriam Fauzia, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Ever wonder what your dog is trying to say? Well, a University of Texas at Arlington researcher is aiming to turn barks, howls and whimpers of man’s best friend into intelligible speech — a kind of Rosetta Stone of woof.

Computer scientist Kenny Zhu has built what he says is the world’s largest video and audio catalog of canine vocalizations. In papers published this year, Zhu and his colleagues at the university report potential phonemes — the smallest units of sound — and word-like patterns that could one day be turned into full sentences understandable to humans.

“The ultimate goal is to make a translator where you can talk freely with your pet,” said Zhu, a professor of computer science and engineering at UT Arlington. “We can already do instantaneous communication between human languages. Perhaps in the future we can do the same with animals.”

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Gatorland gets spookier: Halloween with ‘Swamp Ghost’ haunt, creepy capybara read more

By Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF Health News

Stacey Knoll thought the court summons she received was a scam. She didn’t remember getting any medical bills from Montrose Regional Health, a nonprofit hospital, after a 2020 emergency room visit.

So she was shocked when, three years after the trip to the hospital, her employer received court orders requiring it to start funneling a chunk of her paychecks to a debt collector for an unpaid $881 medical bill — which had grown to $1,155.26 from interest and court fees.

The timing was terrible. After leaving a bad marriage and staying in a shelter, she had just gotten full custody of her three children, steady housing in Montrose, Colorado, and a job at a gas station.

“And that’s when I got that garnishment from the court,” she said. “It was really scary. I’d never been on my own or raised kids on my own.”

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One Tech Tip: Annoyed by junk calls to your iPhone? Try the new iOS 26 call screen feature

From barks to words: Researchers aim to translate dog sounds with AI read more

Warning that the time to build is quickly running out, the Central Florida Expressway Authority board unanimously agreed on Thursday to move forward with constructing a toll road — first proposed decades ago — between State Road 417 and the Orlando Sanford International Airport.

At a cost of more than $200 million, the two-lane thoroughfare would help alleviate traffic congestion in one of the fastest-growing areas of Seminole County and ease access to an expanding airfield, its supporters say.

“This is really critical, and the time is now or never,” said Christopher Maier, chair of the toll road agency’s 10-member board. “Because we keep growing and more rooftops are popping up. So let’s seize this opportunity right now.”

Construction of the roughly two-mile long roadway is still years away, as CFX must first figure out how to pay for the project. That includes spending an estimated $18.3 million acquiring existing houses and properties along the route.

Toll revenues are estimated to generate $48.1 million over 40 years for the project. But that’s less than a quarter of the total cost of $200.4 million. CFX’s master plan recommends toll revenues cover at least half the cost of a construction project, said Glenn Pressimone, the agency’s chief of infrastructure. read more

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago, when it helped sink then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Yet you wouldn’t know it from listening to President Donald Trump or even some of the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve.

Trump told the United Nations General Assembly late last month: “Grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated.”

And at a high-profile speech in August, just before the Fed cut its key interest rate for the first time this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said: “Inflation, though still somewhat elevated, has come down a great deal from its post-pandemic highs. Upside risks to inflation have diminished.”

Yet dismissing or even downplaying inflation while it is still above the Fed’s target of 2% poses big risks for the White House and the Federal Reserve. For the Trump administration, it could find itself on the wrong side of a potent issue: Surveys show that many Americans still see high prices as a major burden on their finances. read more