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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney raised the prospect of reviving the contentious Keystone XL pipeline project with U.S. President Donald Trump during his White House visit this week, a government official familiar with the matter said Wednesday. A Canadian company pulled the plug on it four years ago after the Canadian government failed to persuade then-President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office. It was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska. Trump previously revived the long-delayed project during his first term after it had stalled under the Obama administration. It would have moved up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Canadian government official said Trump was receptive to the idea when it was talked about during their White House meeting Wednesday. The official said Carney linked energy cooperation to Canadas steel and aluminum sectors, which are subject to 50% U.S. tariffs. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Carney mentioned building major projects and unleashing Canadian energy” in a live video call with business leaders in Toronto on Wednesday. Biden canceled Keystone XL’s border crossing permit in 2021 over longstanding concerns that burning oil sands crude could make climate change worse and harder to reverse. A spokesperson for South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline operator that owns the existing Keystone pipeline system, said they are not privy to the ongoing discussions between the Canadian and U.S. governments. South Bow is supportive of efforts to find solutions that increase the transportation of Canadian crude oil. We will continue to explore opportunities that leverage our existing corridor with our customers and others in the industry, the spokesperson said in an email. Carney is under pressure from the oil-rich province of Alberta to get a pipeline built. Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said building a new pipeline to increase oil shipments to the U.S. Gulf Coast would be the cheapest, fastest, and least complicated route for a major oil pipeline. Strategically, this would increase, not decrease our dependance on the US export market. But it would be a brilliant judo move to find common ground with the Trump Administration, and help him to realize that the US benefits from and needs its privileged relationship to Canada, and access to our resources, Kenney posted on social media. Played smartly, Canadas cooperation could be strong leverage to push for reductions in Trump tariffs, he added. Carney mentioned Wednesday in the call that tariffs on Canada’s aluminum exports are not wise, noting the country provides 60% of the aluminum the U.S. needs. For the U.S. to produce that much aluminum, it would need the equivalent of the energy of 10 Hoover Dams, Carney said. Is making aluminum really the first best use of that power at a time when youve got the AI revolution, and youre reassuring manufacturing that you want to keep peoples electricity costs down at home. Carney also reiterated that Canadas relationship with the U.S., which led to increasing integration over many years, has changed. Our relationship will never again be what it was,” Carney said. We understand America first. Rob Gillies, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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 SettingsAppsPhone. 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.I still couldn’t find it after updating to iOS 26, but, after some online sleuthing, I checked my region and language settings because I saw some online commenters reporting they had to match. It turns out my region was still set to Hong Kong, where I lived years ago. I switched it to the United Kingdom, which seemed to do the trick and gave me the updated menu. How it works Call screening introduces a layer between you and new callers.When someone who’s not in your contacts list dials your number, a Siri-style voice will ask them to give their name and the purpose of their call.At the same time, you’ll get a notification that the call is being screened. When the caller responds, the answers will be transcribed and the conversation will pop up in speech bubbles. You can then answer the call. Don’t want to answer? Send a reply by tapping one of the pre-written messages, such as “I’ll call you later” or “Send more information,” which the AI voice will read out to the caller.Or you can type out your own message for the computer-generated voice to read out.If you don’t respond right away, the phone will continue to ring while you decide what to do. Teething troubles In theory, call screening is a handy third way between the nuclear option of silencing all unknown callers including legitimate ones or letting them all through.But it doesn’t always work perfectly, according to Associated Press colleagues and anecdotal reports from social media users.One AP colleague said she was impressed with how seamlessly it worked. Another said it’s handy for screening out cold callers who found his number from marketing databases.“However, it’s not great when delivery drivers try to call me and then just hang up,” he added.Some internet users have similar complaints, complaining that important calls that they were expecting from their auto mechanic or plumber didn’t make it through. Perhaps the callers assumed it was an answering machine and didn’t seem to realize they had to stay on the line and interact with it.I encountered a different issue the first time it kicked in for me, when an unknown caller whether mistakenly or not threw me off by giving my name instead of theirs. So I answered because I assumed it was someone I knew, forgetting that I could tap out a reply asking them again for their name.The caller turned out to be someone who had obtained my name and number and was trying to get me to do a survey. I had to make my excuses and hang up.If you don’t like call screening, you can turn it off at any time. As for Android Apple is catching up with Google, which introduced a similar automatic call screening feature years ago for Pixel users in the United States.Last month, the company announced the feature is rolling out to users in three more countries: Australia, Canada and Ireland.If it’s not already on, go to your Phone app’s Settings and look for Call Screen.Google’s version is even more automated. When someone you don’t know calls, the phone will ask who it is and why they’re calling. It will hang up if it determines that it’s a junk call, but let calls it deems to be legit ring through.Google warns that not all spam calls and robocalls can be detected, nor will it always fully understand and transcribe what a caller says.Samsung, too, lets users of its Galaxy Android phones screen calls by using its AI assistant Bixby’s text call function, which works in a similar way. Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip. Kelvin Chan, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
Americas advertising market has transformed so dramatically over the last decade that almost two-thirds of it is now in the hands of just five tech companies. This week, MoffettNathanson released a report called “U.S. Advertising: Are We Near the AI Tipping Point?” which highlights, among other things, how generative AI is disrupting TV advertising as interest in traditional media continues to shift away. The report suggests that the effects of AI have been prominent among some of the largest Big Tech companies, which have taken up incremental market share through improved targeting, engagement, and performant creative. For instance, the findings point to how five major online companiesMeta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, and ByteDance-owned TikTokhave grown their share of the total U.S. ad market over the past 10 years. According to the research, the five companies cumulatively made up 22% of the market nearly a decade ago. However, MoffettNathanson predicts that those companies will make up 65% of the market this yearup 400 basis pointsor $260 billion dollars. The rest of the market is projected to decline by $7 billion to $143 billion. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); MoffettNathanson expects the total U.S. ad growth forecast for 2025 to be slightly above previous estimates at 6.3%, with growth continuing to be fueled by digital channels instead of traditional media. The data also predicts that cable TV advertising will decline by 8%, while broadcast advertising revenue will decline by 9%, and total TV advertising revenue will drop by 9%. Because of this, linear TV is expected to lose $4 billion of ad spending this year, with advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) taking back about $2 billion. Meanwhile, spendingwhich includes retailwill continue to flourish, adding nearly $32 billion to the U.S. ad market. Kill your television, keep your phone? Overall, the report and its findings speak to a growing trend that many in the industry have suspected for years now: linear TV is slowly dying, while avenues such as online video platforms like YouTube, and more affordable options like ad-supported streaming, are continuing to grow and expand especially among young consumers. During the 2025-26 TV upfront season, the time when TV networks and streaming services preview their content and programming to advertisers to secure revenue, there was a major push for popular influencers and creators like MrBeast to lure advertising dollars away from traditional TV. Other social- and mobile-friendly programming, like microdramas, have been gaining traction. Spanish-language giant TelevisaUnivisions streaming platform ViX debuted microdramas during its TV upfront presentation, which resulted in successful streaming commitments for the company, and the format has also been gaining traction with competitors. Telemundo launched its own microdramas earlier this month.
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