While the majority of Americans would like to see more clean energy from solar and wind farms — support for new renewable energy projects has started to wane, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. It also found a drop in interest in electric vehicles following Biden administration policies to slash greenhouse gas emissions and Republican backlash.

The share of people who favor more solar power has dropped from 90 to 78 percent since 2020, the survey found. Support for wind power among survey participants similarly dropped more than 10 percentage points to 72 percent over the past four years. And just 29 percent of adults said they’d consider an EV as their next car purchase, compared to 38 percent last year.

A widening partisan divide on clean energy technologies seems to be driving those changes. The biggest drop in support has been among Republicans in recent years, even though there are differences between how older and younger generations of the GOP view climate change and renewable energy.

The Pew Research Center surveyed 8,638 adults in the US in May of this year. It tries to include participants representative of the US population when it comes to race, ethnicity, gender, education, political affiliation, and more.

Back in 2020, 84 percent of Republican survey participants said they’d like to see more solar farms, and 75 percent said they’d favor more wind farms in the US. That support has fallen to 64 and 56 percent, respectively, for solar and wind farms this year. More than 80 percent of Republicans surveyed, compared to 35 percent of Democrats, oppose the Environmental Protection Agency’s new standards for greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes expected to make more than half of car sales EVs by 2032.

Those shifts in opinion coincide with the Biden administration’s push to incentivize new renewable energy projects since he was elected in 2020. President Biden signed the nation’s biggest investment in climate action and clean energy into law in 2022, the $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, have tried to slow EV adoption by attempting to roll back tax credits for EVs and block the tailpipe pollution rule.

While many Republican lawmakers have lambasted the IRA investments in EVs and renewables, a lot of the funding it created for clean tech manufacturing is actually flowing into their districts. Of $206 billion in investments so far, $161 billion is slated for projects in Republican districts, according to a recent Bloomberg analysis. Most of that money supports EV and battery manufacturing. A separate analysis by CNN similarly found that nearly 78 percent of IRA investments go to congressional Republican districts.

We’ll have to wait and see if that infusion of cash happens to shift Republicans’ views on renewables. But the tides could also turn again with younger Republicans, who are far more optimistic about solar and wind energy than their older counterparts. Only 22 percent of Republicans aged 65 or older in the survey said that expanding renewable energy production should be a priority. In contrast, 67 percent of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 29 said renewable energy ought to be the priority over coal, oil, and gas production. In general, young adults are more likely to think climate change will cause more harm in the US in their lifetime, according to another Pew survey published in October.

Spam calls are on the rise, and the scammers behind those calls are getting more and more sophisticated. Because of this, it can be harder to determine whether or not a call is actually a scam, especially if the scammer has phone spoofed a legitimate number that you may recognize.

Often, people can quickly identify a scam call, especially when their caller ID shows “Unknown Caller.” But what happens when this anonymous caller persistently calls again and again? This can become irritating very quickly. The usual solution is to block the number, but this is easier said than done when the actual phone number is hidden on the Caller ID.

Fortunately, there are several effective methods and tools available to help block and even trace anonymous calls, ensuring these nuisance calls stop for good.

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3 ways to block anonymous calls

Spam callers can find all sorts of ways to trick you into answering the phone and giving up your sensitive data. When you don’t answer or don’t give them what they want, they may keep calling and calling.

Some scammers even rely on robots to initiate what’s known as robocalls to make it easier to call their victims over and over again at a faster rate without requiring a human to do it. Whatever the case may be, here are ways you can get ahead of them and stop them from bothering you:

1) Use your phone’s built-in features

To start, your phone already has built-in features that can help you block anonymous calls or at least prevent them from trying to call you in the first place:

On iPhone:

On iPhone, the best way to block anonymous callers is to silence them.

• Go to Settings > Phone
• Scroll down and select Silence Unknown Callers
• Toggle it on. Calls from unknown numbers will be silenced and sent to voicemail

On Android:

On Android, the way to do it is to block anonymous calls. Here’s an example of how to do this on a Samsung Galaxy, though keep in mind the steps may be slightly different depending on which type of Android phone you have.

Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.

• Open the Phone app
• Tap the More icon (three vertical dots) > Settings > Call blocking
• Turn on Block anonymous calls

If you have a different Android device and can’t find the “Block anonymous calls” feature, you can download an app instead that helps with this:

• Download and install the ShouldIAnswer? app from the Google Play Store.
• Open the app and configure it to block unknown and hidden numbers. This handy feature can help you maintain your privacy and avoid unwanted calls.

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2) Download third-party apps

Speaking of the ShouldIAnswer app, if you don’t have that option and/or prefer not to use your phone’s built-in settings and want an extra layer of security, these other third-party apps can help block out anonymous callers:

TrapCall: TrapCall is available for both iOS and Android. It reveals the phone number of anonymous callers and provides options to block them. Just install from the App Store or Google Play then follow the steps to set up the app.

Truecaller: Truecaller is another option that’s similar to TrapCall in that it identifies phone numbers that appear “unknown” or “private” on your Caller ID, and it has features to then block them. Download the app from the App Store or Google Play and then configure the app.

A person accepting an incoming call (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

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3) Reach out to your phone carrier

Reaching out to your phone carrier is an effective step to combat spam calls. Many carriers offer services specifically designed to help customers manage and reduce unwanted calls. Whether you ring them up, contact them online or stop at your local phone store, they can help you.

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How to trace anonymous calls

Sometimes, you want to know who is calling you so much. By unveiling who is behind the anonymous caller, you can find out if it’s actually a scammer or someone you know who is calling you over and over again to harass you. There are several reasons you may want to trace these calls. We won’t cover all those reasons here, but if you need help finding out who is actually calling you, try these methods below:

Dial *57: If you receive harassing calls, you can dial *57 after the call. This traces the call and logs it with your phone company, which can take action if needed.

Dial *69: This service redials the last number that called you, even if it was anonymous, allowing you to identify and block the number.

A man picking up an incoming call (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Invest in personal data removal services

In an era where our personal information is increasingly digitized, the risk of it being misused by scammers is ever-present. Investing in personal data removal services is one of the most proactive steps to protect yourself from spam calls and potential identity theft. These services work diligently to remove your personal information from public databases and websites often scraped by scammers to find their next target. 

Why personal data removal services are worth considering

By removing your details from public view, you reduce the chances of being selected by a scammer in the first place. Also, knowing your information isn’t easily accessible gives you greater peace of mind. In addition, these services often allow you to control which information you want to be public and which you prefer to keep private.

How personal data removal services work

While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of continuously removing your information from hundreds of sites over a longer period. Remove your personal data from the internet with my top picks here.

By combining the use of personal data removal services with the methods outlined in this article to block and trace anonymous calls, you can significantly bolster your defenses against the ever-growing nuisance of spam calls.

Kurt’s key takeaways

Dealing with spam calls can be frustrating, but there are effective strategies to combat them. By utilizing your phone’s built-in features, downloading third-party apps and reaching out to your phone carrier, you can significantly reduce the number of unwanted calls. Also, investing in personal data removal services can further protect your privacy and minimize the risk of being targeted by scammers. Stay vigilant and proactive to keep those pesky spam calls at bay.

What role should government and telecommunications companies play in addressing the spam call epidemic? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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If you’re disappointed that the only AI model that will integrate with Apple devices so far will be ChatGPT, it sounds like you won’t have to wait long for that to change. Apple will announce “at least” one other deal — to add Google Gemini, too — this fall, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter today.

Beyond chatbot integration lies Apple Intelligence, which is only supposed to emerge, initially, in beta form this fall. Apple reportedly wants to make AI an avenue for direct profits, not just as a set of features aimed at moving hardware products. As part of that, Gurman suggests that the company “could eventually” roll out subscription-only Apple Intelligence features.

But it seems like that won’t happen for a while, and although Apple Intelligence is only available for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max for now, who knows if the version of it that comes first will be enough to drive a big iPhone upgrade cycle. We don’t even know if the features will be good, after all. In the meantime, he points out that Apple will still get at least some AI money when it gets its in-app purchases cut of sign-ups to its AI partners’ chatbot subscriptions.

Third-party AI services might serve as a nice stopgap for the Cupertino company while it slowly rolls out its own generative AI system. For the rest of us, that will mean more choice, even if having the choice, in a lot of ways, just means variations on the theme of algorithmic reconstruction of compressed data (or at least the possibility of entertainingly wrong cooking suggestions).