Blue Bubble = Real Trust (for now)

Howdy!

In this issue: the end of texting as we know it, a book about groceries and a rising Georgia tourism star.

Texting is changing

In today’s overly computed world, trust is coming at a massive premium for communication platforms. Quick history lesson on a tech by tech basis:

• Phone calls: remember when you used to get excited about a phone call? Possibilities were endless! A friend in a new place or someone who got your number in the Yellow Pages wanting to be a customer. Now, a 98% chance an unknown number = spam.

• Email: letters on the internet, wow. Easily contact anyone in the world or fall in love with someone around the corner (shoutout You’ve Got Mail). Today, an opt in to a marketing list or newsletter from a guy rambling in Charlotte, NC (me).

• Telegram: a revolution of it’s time, but then the first ever “reply all” was sent in 1864 by a dentist in London who just wanted to tell people they’d be open form 10-5 through October.

The list goes on. Fax, snail mail, blogs, heck I did some research, and there was spam using morse code in the 1800s.

The connecting point across them all is that once the medium removes a per message cost or barrier, spam enters the conversation.

Well unfortunately, this is coming for our beloved iMessage blue bubble.

This year, I’ve been rolling conversations off email to calls or text because it quickly turns a formal interaction into a casual one with inherent trust where everyone’s a little more relaxed. This is an extension of a thought from last July.

But we’ll need to enjoy it while we can.

In June 2026, Apple quietly gave access to an app called Poke to be the first standalone AI agent allowed to operate on iMessage. This month, Poke was acquired by Cognition, an AI behemoth and now, the flood gates are opened.

There will be a rush of builders applying for this same access. It will likely happen again where a company can get acquired just for having this approved access.

To start, I think the apps will be kind of cool in a weird bot type of way. The feeling of texting a real person, who knows all kinds of things about you and the wider world. In fact, it will know essentially everything, or at least want the user to think that.

And then the marketers will jump in. Soon if not already, you’re going to get hit the same way you do for SMS texts. These will come mostly from the tools you already have and trust. You’ll be giving access to an agent to make your life better and then it will start spinning back junk to you.

I’ve been using a tool called Boardy designed to help connect with like-minded people. It’s actually pretty slick and if you are trying to ramp up your networking, I would recommend giving it a try. It’s free and interacting with it truly feels like the future.

But it has slowly become a little annoying. Not because of spam, just the amount of connections and follow up requests it can generate. It knows too much. And for now, is still a green bubble.

So look out folks. Try some new tech, but don’t forget to guard your workspaces and mindsets along the way as we shift again to a new communication medium we can trust.

What Else

💰 Check out Money Stuff by Matt Levine

As I continue to look for reputable sources of both truth AND opinion, I’ve started reading Matt Levine’s daily finance newsletter, Money Stuff. Solid context around the daily happenings of finance. It’s free and he has a podcast too reiterating his points.

📕 Recommended Read: The Secret Life of a Groceries by Benjamin Lorr

Benjamin spent years of immersive research in the food system including spending a week with a yappy truck driver, tracking how a small business gets in a grocery aisle and actually working in the fish section of a grocery store. I first heard about it from the Acquired podcast highlighting Trader Joe’s, which is also excellent.

🦬 Listen to Buffalo Traffic Jam’s new album, Pictures of You

Last October, I shouted out the EP for my cousin’s band Buffalo Traffic Jam. Since then, they’ve had a buffalo-sized rise including over 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and just released their first full album Pictures of You.

🌲 Ocmulgee Mounds in Macon Likely to Become Georgia’s First National Park

In Macon, GA sits mounds that were home to large contingencies of Native American tribes. We visited and were impressed at the extensive preservation keeping the lodges, spiral mound and walking trails in tact. Now, a bill sits with Congress that would approve turning this land into the country’s second smallest national park. Full details.

Grandma’s Corner