A bright and shiny Sunday to you, friend! I just read a new study that confirms what most of us already know: 7 in 10 millennials and Gen Zers prefer to text over making or taking phone calls. Now you know what to do if someone doesn’t answer — text them! Read to the end for my take on leaving a voicemail.

Hear ye, hear ye! Give yourself the gift of better hearing with the biggest breakthrough in hearing aid tech in over a decade. Take a free hearing assessment right now to see if you qualify for a no-risk trial of top-notch hearing aids. — Kim

Today's cars are basically computers on wheels. The average modern car contains between 1,000 and 1,500 semiconductor chips. For electric vehicles, it’s as many as 3,000 chips. Just like your computer, your vehicle’s features could become outdated and unsupported. How long does your connected car have? Well, it depends.

Off the 'Wagen

In 2022, Jake Brown bought a 2017 Volkswagen Passat. He knew some Volkswagens had been having trouble with their connected features, but Volkswagen said a fix was coming. He was in for a rude awakening; his Passat runs on 3G, a service AT&T discontinued for VW that same year.

Without connectivity, VW models built between 2014 and 2019 can no longer access smart features, including remote start, antitheft alerts and emergency assistance.

Volkswagen admits they still haven’t found a fix — and buyers aren’t happy. Some Hyundai and Nissan owners lost their smart features in the great 3G death, too.

It’s all about headroom

“Headroom,” of course, means how long your car has before its hardware can’t accept updates. Volkswagen says 4G sunsets won’t happen until 2035. If you have a car with 4G, that gives you 10 more years.

EV manufacturer Rivian says their hardware and software will last roughly seven years, but the right support could extend that estimate beyond the seven-year mark.

What happens after that?

The average age of cars still on the road is 12.6 years. When vehicles lose their ability to update, it's like a hot potato. Whoever's left holding the car when the time runs out gets burned, especially when it comes to resale value.

Steer clear

If you’re buying used, pay attention to any vehicles with connected features, especially those manufactured between 2012 and 2019. Here’s a list of all the 3G-equipped cars affected. Nearly every carmaker is listed, but these are the manufacturers without a fix:

• Ford
• Hyundai
• Jaguar/Land Rover
• Nissan/Infiniti
• Toyota/Lexus
• Volkswagen

Close, but no cigar: Subaru and Honda both offered updates for 3G-connected cars in 2022, but if you or the previous owner missed the deadline to install it, you’re now out of luck.

For new cars, keep that 2035 deadline in mind. It’ll be here sooner than you think. Losing connected features isn’t a dealbreaker for some, but you should know what you are (or aren’t) getting.

😂 Since I went to church this morning … How do we know the Apostles drove a Honda? When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one Accord.

Summer is hard on skin, hair, nails — you name it. It’s Kim to the rescue, with inexpensive pick-me-ups! Guys, yes, you can use all these, too.

• Defrizz your pool or beach hair with a collagen mask that’s under $8.
• Rosemary oil supports hair growth, just sayin’. Great price and reviews on this brand.
• Corns and calluses aren’t cute. Fix your feet. Be careful looking at the photos in the reviews. Just know — they work.
• These wipes, made especially for sweaty folks, will help keep you dry before a big day.
• Treat your skin right after too much sun. Love this stuff from Burt’s Bees (11% off).

😲 Stick to legitimate banks: Thousands of folks who put money into the Juno savings app are screwed. The company that provided Juno's digital transaction ledgers collapsed, and no one can access their funds. One guy lost $38,000. Keep your savings in an FDIC-backed bank and those account balances under $250,000.

Don’t click on Google ads: Malware wormed its way into search ads for Google Authenticator. They were very hard to spot, with the display URL "https://www.google.com" and the advertiser "verified by Google." Need to download something? Scroll past the ads and sponsored content, or type in the official address yourself.

Your own worst enemy: A 21-year-old Harvard dropout made an AI necklace called Friend. For $99, it listens to everything and throws out comments or suggestions, like, “That conversation seemed awkward for you.” He blew nearly $2.5 million in investors’ money to buy the Friend.com domain. That was dumb … like the invention.

The U.S. Justice Department is suing TikTok: Why? For violating children's online privacy laws. They say the app with ties to Communist China collected data from millions under the age of 13, let them interact with adults and gave them access to 18+ content. Oh, and when parents asked for these accounts to be deleted, TikTok refused.

Actual mind control: Scientists did it using an external magnetic field. They can manipulate nanoparticle-activated "switches" in the brain to do things like boost a mouse's appetite by 100%. Someday, it could treat human neurological disorders ... or, you know, anything else.

📚 Spilling the tea: An upcoming book claims billionaire Bill Gates was like a “kid in a candy store” with interns — so much so that Microsoft banned them from being alone with him. Another hot rumor: Bill was allowed one weekend a year at his ex-girlfriend's place while still married to his now ex-wife, Melinda. Gates’ reps say it’s all bologna from anonymous sources. You know what they say: “You can throw your computer out the window, but you can't throw Windows out of your computer.”

Folks of all ages send me notes about hearing loss, and too many only know about those clunky and obvious hearing aids. There’s a new, better way to combat hearing loss!

The innovative devices from Hear.com are practically invisible and fit comfortably in or behind your ear. Their breakthrough European technology offers crystal-clear speech understanding and Bluetooth, and they’re even rechargeable!

Hear.com offers both telehealth and in-person care with insurance and flexible financing options. Getting set up with a pair of these award-winning hearing aids has never been easier. You can even try them risk-free for 45 days.

Help me reach that magical 100,000: Tap or click this link now to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Thank you!

🛤️ Stay safe: Fitness app Strava's Heatmap feature shows popular workout routes … but it also broadcasts your location. This is fine in a busy city but risky on secluded paths. Keep your routes private: Go to Settings > Privacy Controls > Map Visibility and uncheck Contribute your activity data to de-identified, aggregate data sets.

Use YouTube Premium? Buy through an iPhone or iPad, and it’s $18.99 per month. On the YouTube website, it’s $13.99 monthly. Yeah, cancel through your phone and buy it again.

Need to brush up? Microsoft offers free online training for its Office programs, including video tutorials, interactive guides and practice exercises.

Hackers have no morals: This week, they took down a blood bank that serves 250 U.S. hospitals. Don’t take chances — protect your computer and smartphone with the award-winning antivirus software I trust: TotalAV.* The first year is just $19 for up to five devices.

• Ben Chin in Ohio is the world’s best Candy Crush player. He beat over 15 million people in the Candy Crush All-Stars tournament and won more than $500,000.
• Ray in Everett, Washington, is heartbroken. He claims an Amazon delivery driver took his family's beloved cat, Feefee, and says the company isn’t helping.
• Glenn in San Jose thinks he's being stalked and scammed. He's noticed weird things happening with his phone and other parts of his digital life.

Plus, Nye-Na worries about the CrowdStrike outage, Steve needs to boost his hotel Wi‑Fi, John wants to stop political texts, Tron looks to set up a website for a veteran nonprofit and so much more.

Take: Photos of your bags and their contents before you fly. It’ll help prove they’re yours if they get lost and get you compensated for missing or damaged goods.

Cook: With summer fruit. Peach burrata crostini with hot honey sounds like the ideal summer dinner to me.

Test: Your movie knowledge. Movie Grid is a daily fun game like Wordle, but for film buffs.

Keep: Your plants alive. Cute self-watering globes in a bunch of shapes do the hard part for you.

Smile: When you see how horses are transported for the Olympics. The plane’s called Air Horse One!

My son had his AirPods Max stolen in Los Angeles a few months ago. Look where they are now! I bet they Congo on for hours.

OK, let’s talk voicemail. I don’t leave them. It’s a waste of time. No one listens! (If you leave me voicemails … sorry.) Just send a text or call again.

Why do phones have voicemail? Because voice‑fe‑mail would take days to listen to. (Haha, so true!). Thanks for being here with me. I sure hope you like being tech-smarter because of it. — Kim