Image Up Advertising & Design

16 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JUNE 2018 By Steve Benoff I keep emphasizing that there's an app for almost any purpose. But it's that qualifier "almost any" that sometimes annoys me. The fact is, there are areas where there isn't an app for that. Remember those days of heavy wired phones when you could slam the phone into its cradle and the person on the other end would hear the crashing sound just before being disconnected? These days I get far more junk calls than real calls, and I get them on my smartphone. All I can do is press "end" to terminate an unwanted call. I wish there were an app that would place an icon on my phone's screen which, when pressed, would produce the sound of a phone being slammed down and then end the call. Speaking of junk calls suggests another app I wish I had on my phone. I want an app that allows only calls from numbers in my contacts to ring; all others would go directly to voice mail. When I mentioned this to a friend, she suggested a workaround – have a different ring for contacts callers. To do that required some work. First I had to change the default ring to something different from my preferred ring tone. Then I had to assign my preferred ring to each of my preferred contacts. After looking through my contacts, I found many from my "old life." That is, people and businesses from the business I had before retiring. So out of a couple of hundred contacts, there were 80 phone numbers I assigned to my preferred ring tone. While I'd like to have an app which switched some calls directly to voice mail, at least I know when such calls come in; for those, I can let them ring through while not bothering to look at who's calling or press my phone's on/off button twice to send the calls to voice mail. Walmart has an app that will show me the aisle in which I'll find a particular product. But wouldn't it be nice to have an app that worked in any grocery store? You enter your shopping list; better yet, speak your list into your phone. The app then gives you a new list organized by aisle. While I can't classify Nowait as an app that doesn't exist, I can say it's a great idea with a severe limitation at the moment. I like BJ's Brewhouse restaurants, and they have a great app which among other things allows me to enter my name and party size on their waiting list well before arriving at the restaurant. Nowait (No Wait) does the same thing and more for its affiliated restaurants. I discovered this app when I went to Wilma & Frieda's, a great breakfast and lunch restaurant in Palm Desert. When I asked to be put on the waitlist, I was asked for my phone number and told I'd be sent a text when my table was ready. That gave Martha and me time to walk around without having to sit in the waiting area. The confirmation text alerted me to the Nowait app. With the app, I could keep track of our progress to the top of the list. Even better, I can use the app to waitlist on any affiliated restaurant. Alas, that's the problem. While there are several individual restaurants and several chains that use Nowait, most places don't. Chili's, Buffalo Wild Wings, Claim Jumper, and IHOP are on the list, but not all locations. For example, neither the Claim Jumper in San Bernardino nor the IHOP in Banning is listed. So this is an app I have; I just wish it included more dining options. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. Apps I Wish I Had THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! not

• Cover