Tuesday is upon us with a high-speed journey through the latest in the techverse! Let’s kick things off with our trivia. This Thanksgiving, one product on Amazon is selling like never before. Is it a … A.) Smart herb garden kit, B.) Bluetooth meat thermometer, C.) Voice-controlled recipe assistant or D.) Food processor with AI? You’ll find the answer at the end.

✅ Hey-hey! A sponsor a day keeps this free newsletter coming your way. You’ve heard me talk about how to get TotalAV for only $19 for the first year. Why? They’re the best. If you’re using free antivirus software, stop now. It’s just not good enough. — Kim

Pine needles, broken Christmas lights, expensive shipping and the crowds at Costco all rank high on my holiday no-thank-you list. Now, add scams.

Knowledge is power, and I don’t want you to fall for this junk. That starts with knowing what’s happening most in the current world of cybercrime.

📲 1. ‘Hi, I’m calling from Amazon’

Criminals are calling, emailing and texting, claiming to be Amazon employees. Oh, no! Your account is on hold! Or there’s been suspicious activity you need to deal with now. They’ll ask for your payment info. That’s a glaring red flag.

Stay safe: Only ever input payment details for Amazon directly into the website or app. If you get one of those calls, hang up and Google the number. I bet you’ll see reports from others who got the same call.

💻 2. An offer you can’t refuse

There’s an email in your inbox from Macy’s, and whoa! Everything is 50% to 70% off. Click the link, head to the site and all looks normal. Once you check out, though, you’re in big trouble.

Scammers use real brand assets (like logos, fonts and photos) to make you think Macy’s or some other big retailer is having a major holiday sale. Then they direct you to a site that looks like the real thing … but it’s not.

Stay safe: Always — always — triple-check the URL. If you’re unsure about a retailer’s site, do a web search but don’t click any sponsored results. Type in the website address. And if you still aren’t sure, you can always ask me and our IT geniuses to double-check things for you. Just leave a detailed note on our Message Board.

💳 3. I’ll take that, please

Here’s one happening when you shop in person. Folks will scan gift cards at self-checkout lanes, then wander away. You start scanning your stuff after they’re gone and don’t realize there’s already a $20 gift card on your order. After you’ve finished paying for your items, that sneak comes back, grabs the card they scanned, and yep — you’re stuck paying for it.

Stay safe: Always make sure the register’s self-check total is cleared before you start ringing things up. If not, let a staff member know.

🤑 4. The fake seasonal job

Lots of retailers and shipping companies hire in droves this time of year. Make sure any job postings you apply to or send to loved ones are legit.

Stay safe: UPS, Amazon, FedEx, Target and the rest are probably hiring, but they won’t make initial contact with you directly. Go to their websites and find the “Careers” section to apply.

🤗 What do you call two monkeys that share one Amazon account? Prime‑mates!

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Credit cards come out for Black Friday sales, and scammers are ready to pounce. Before you start shopping, make sure your devices are ready for whatever comes your way. A quality antivirus program is a must for your laptop, tablet and smartphone — and my pick is the award-winning TotalAV.

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🚨 When a girl is really a scammer: The girl DMs a boy on Snapchat, TikTok or Instagram, shares an explicit pic, and asks for one in return. Once the boy sends it, the girl demands money — or else she’ll share his pic all over social media. Some boys have committed suicide because of this scam. Tell your kids this is happening, and if they find themselves in a bad situation, you can fix it without judgment. You might save his life.

Honda recall: Honda is recalling around 250,000 vehicles (model years 2015 to 2020), including Acura TLX and MDX models. A dangerous engine crankshaft error could lead to engine damage or fire. Reach out to your local dealer about a free fix.

AI power shift: OpenAI’s board of directors fired CEO Sam Altman, and now he’s leading Microsoft’s advanced AI research. Things aren’t looking so hot at OpenAI; over 500 employees are threatening to jump ship to Microsoft's AI chatbot. Talk about loyalty.

Temu is not for you: I’ve warned you about this Chinese app so many times. Need another reason not to use it? It doesn’t even have a basic security step — two-factor authentication (2FA). Yep, only a username and password protect the account tied to your credit card. Oh, hackers love easy targets.

TikTok serving p*rn: The China-owned video app is filled with a shocking amount of sexually explicit content being served to kids. The algorithm that catches this junk is far from perfect. Have kids using TikTok? Let me rephrase this: Would your parents have left you in a room with a bunch of p*rno tapes?

🚀 Major laser: Forget old-school radio waves. NASA's Psyche spacecraft is getting a high-tech makeover with Deep Space Optical Communications. The first-ever laser communication demo is set to tackle bandwidth challenges for the Deep Space Network. If all goes well, we might soon be streaming cat videos from Mars — because, well, priorities.

A Sherlock Ohms mystery solved: I thought this was interesting. When Teslas break down irreparably in the U.S., they’re finding new life in Europe. One repair shop in eastern Ukraine fixes about 100 Teslas a month, employing up to 10 people to do the work.

🕊️ 1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4 Given: With over 820,000 followers and no conscience, the “Daily Believer” TikTok account is awful. The videos have an AI-built Jesus giving guilt-inducing messages like, "Deny me, and I'll deny you before the Father unless you share this video with a friend." I am confident this is not what Jesus would do.

Whether it’s a collectible baseball card or a used car, there’s an excellent tool to determine its worth: eBay. Don’t waste time scrolling through all the active listings, though. Most of those sellers are just hoping for the best.

Now, you’ll only see listings for items that actually sold to customers. This gives you a better idea of accurate prices.

And a little trivia fact to share with friends: The very first thing sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer in 1995.

😂 I came home and found my husband was on eBay the entire day. If he’s still on there tomorrow, I'll have to lower the price.

Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!"

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Try it free: AI is storming every industry, and billions of dollars are being invested. The problem is that AI needs a lot of speed and processing power. So how do you compete without costs spiraling out of control? Easy — follow the leaders. Uber, Databricks and MosaicML, and other top companies use Oracle.* Take a free test drive now. This is the future, folks, no doubt.

😍 Your eyes will thank you: Eye docs recommend the 20‑20‑20 rule to keep your peepers happy when you spend a lot of time on the computer. Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds. Or keep it simple — look away from your screen regularly and let your eyes focus on something farther away.

Shorts reaching the top: Do you or someone you know have a YouTube channel? Shorts (videos under 60 seconds) are hot right now. I found this video that tells you how to get more viewers to your Shorts by gaming Google’s algorithms.

🔎 Tricky, tricky: You can zoom in or out while you work without missing a step by holding down Ctrl on a PC and spinning your scroll wheel up to zoom in and down to zoom out. Some websites and apps, such as Google Maps, let you zoom in and out by scrolling up and down. Nice.

No shaking allowed.

The answer: B.) Bluetooth meat thermometer. (Sweet! My pick is 20% off now!) These let you monitor the turkey’s temperature from your smartphone without being chained to the kitchen.

🍗 Here’s one you can share this week. Why does a turkey like using an Android phone instead of an iPhone? This way, he can say, “Google-Google!” (Was that a groan I heard?)

Thank you for letting me in your inbox. Be sure to check out today’s sponsor, TotalAV, to get that $19 deal for a year of antivirus software. And would you be a pal and tell one person about my free newsletter? That would be amazing, just like you! See you tomorrow! — Kim