Browsing the Web on your smartphone these days can feel like a gauntlet: accept this cookie consent, close this newsletter promo, avoid this app install banner. This morass of attention-seeking actions makes it hard to focus on content. Enter Apple's Distraction Control feature.

There's more than 7 billion active smartphones on the planet. This is the Web they are getting.

I won't get into how the Web became a minefield of pop-ups, banners, overlays, modals, and other forms of annoyance. For that you can take a look at my Mind the Gap presentation which goes into depth on why and what designers can do about it. But it's pretty clear the average mobile Web experience sucks.

And when things suck, people usually decide to do something about it. In this case, with iOS 18, Apple is giving average folks a chance to fight back with Distraction Control. When turned on, this new feature allows anyone to remove distracting elements on Web pages complete with a satisfying animation.

Newsletter pop-up? Boom, gone. Mobile app banner? Boom. Interstitial ad? Boom. Is it perfect? No. Elements might come back after you remove them if the page is reloaded. Accessing the control takes a few taps. But it's a way for people to fight back against Web clutter and we need more.

Director Srikanth Odela’s Telugu film ‘Dasara’, starring Nani and Keerthy Suresh, is set in the vicinity of coal mines in rural Telangana

Upendra’s gangster drama is similar to ‘KGF’ in more than just the looks, flavour, and genre; it’s a rip-off loaded with empty shells of everything that made Prashanth Neel’s films enjoyable

Boyapati Sreenu and Ram Pothineni’s Telugu action entertainer titled ‘Skanda - the attacker’

Every time a transaction is initiated, the backend runs a check whether the customer is using the bank’s mobile app

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2023]

Produced by Wired Brand Lab with IBM | Automated robust data collection across diverse data types is key to advancing ESG performance. See how IBM Envizi ESG Suite on Amazon Web Services makes it possible to tackle tough business challenges.

Addressing the nation on the occasion of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary, Modi emphasised the need to “identify urban Naxals” who purportedly spread separatism and division

Even small amounts of ₹1 are transacted on the ‘Made-In-India’ UPI platform

Here is what the charts say about the shares of Natco Pharma, The Ramco Cements and Tata Power

Here is what the charts say about IGL, JSW Energy and Max Financial Services

Telugu comedy actor Vennela Kishore to play the hero in director T.G. Keerthi Kumar’s spy action comedy ‘Chaari 111’

The teaser of director Sujeeth and Pawan Kalyan’s ‘They call him OG’ reveals an action entertainer set in Mumbai

They include wetlands such as Sultanpur in Haryana, places of mythological significance such as Kurukshetra in Haryana, and cultural heritage sites such as Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh

Traders submit a memorandum to the Lieutenant Governor, Chief Minister and Director General of Police seeking stern action against Ramu, a resident of Thilaspet

Chichester, West Sussex, UK ; Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell, 2015