Hello there, Wednesday, and hello, friends! Can you believe it’s November? Me, neither! Let’s get in the tech vibe with our daily trivia. What inspired Leah Busque and her husband to create TaskRabbit? Was it that they … A.) Had three rabbits, B.) Needed dog food, C.) Owned a dump truck or D.) Quit their IBM jobs? You’ll find the answer at the end.

🎟️ One — just one. The best way for me to grow this free newsletter is by you getting one person to sign up. Forward The Current to someone now, or click here to get your unique referral link and share it. Thank you for your help! — Kim

When Airbnb and Vrbo first hit the scene, they were terrific. It was so much cheaper than staying at a hotel. Now? Hotels are coming back. But why?

For one, there are all the Airbnb horror stories — from hidden cameras to a creepy host secretly living in a rental's attic. And did you hear about the group of women who rented an old Victorian to celebrate their 50th high school reunion? Instead of a fun time, they got … bats. A lot of them. Some of the women were even bitten. Horrifying!

I love to travel but hate to waste money, and I know you do, too. That's why this report about hotels really got my attention.

The suite research

Which?, a U.K.-based consumer research group, compared the average price of thousands of hotels with 300,000 Airbnb and Vrbo listings. They also looked at 50 locations over a year. That's a lot of data to sort through, right?

Their findings? On average, hotels were less expensive 75% of the time. Wow!

Now, a hotel might not be the best choice every time — like when you need a big kitchen or want the whole gang in one place. But at the very least, it's worth checking. Yep, I've added hotels back to my radar.

Oh, the places you'll go!

So, why the rise in Airbnb and Vrbo prices? Several major U.S. cities are placing more restrictions on Airbnb rentals, making it more difficult for property owners to turn a profit. Jacking up rates helps these owners stay afloat.

And it's not just in the U.S. The most significant price difference is in Greece. On the island of Santorini, a one-bedroom rental through a site like Airbnb is roughly $104 more expensive than a hotel room. Dang!

The same is true for rentals in other major cities around the globe compared to hotel rooms:

• Amsterdam – $83 higher
• Singapore and London – $75 higher
• Dubai – $70 higher
• San Francisco – $44 higher

In France, it's less expensive to book a vacation rental than a hotel in Nice, La Rochelle, Antibes, Avignon and Biarritz. But booking a hotel is still cheaper in Paris and Bordeaux. Oui, oui.

Calling all cheapskates

Yes, that's me, too. Paying full price makes me sad, so I'm always looking for ways to save when I travel. Here are some money-saving tips:

• Go last-minute: If you can, wait until the day you need the hotel room to book it. After 4 p.m., hotels know the odds of selling a room are slim. On average, the same-day rate is at least 10% cheaper.
• Just ask: I always ask if there’s a free room upgrade or breakfast. If we’re staying for more than a few days, I might slip the check-in person $20 for a better room, too. I heard Russian billionaires in Moscow do the same thing to always get a room on the first floor.
• Direct is best: Scan a few travel sites to find the cheapest rate, then call the hotel and ask if they can give you the same price. I do this all the time. I also ask, “What’s the room that gets requested the most by returning guests?” No noisy rooms or wall views for me.

🏨 I could go on. Oh, I did! There’s not enough room for all my tips here, so hit my site if you’re traveling soon.

🧬 Your DNA for sale: I hate to say I told you so, but ... I told you not to do these DNA tests. 23andMe licensed its massive database to drugmaker GSK for “research purposes.” A tidy $20 million profit — to sell your DNA. They say the data is anonymized. Sure, it can help drug development, but who knows where GSK will sell it all next? While it’s too late now, here’s how to remove your data from 23andMe.

The countdown is on: New term for you — artificial general intelligence (AGI for short). Think of it as AI that’s so smart, it can accomplish tasks just as well as you and I — not just write our emails. One of Google’s AI founders, Shane Legg, says we might be there within five years. I wonder what chatbots would talk about together.

Profiting from conflict: You can buy anything on Amazon, including T-shirts with controversial pro-Palestinian slogans across the top. Several Jewish groups say the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free” is anti-Semitic. Always making a buck, Amazon told Newsweek, “These products do not contravene our policies.”

🔋 From NYC to Singapore on a single charge: As I predicted last week, Apple announced a new iMac and MacBook Pro with next-gen M3 chips with a serious need for speed. But they’re killing off the Touch Bar. Dang, I use that all the time. Bright side: The new MacBook batteries last 22 hours.

Bird is the word: Unsure whether your newest relationship will last? Just like with everything else, Gen Z thinks they have the answer. Try the #BirdTest by telling the other person about something innocuous, like the cute hummingbird outside your window. If they’re genuinely interested, they’re a keeper. If they say, “Cool,” while staring at their phone, tell ‘em to flock off.

Musk's magic: X, formerly Twitter, told employees this week the company is now valued at $19 billion. The only problem? It was worth $44 billion when Elon Musk bought it last November. Bad news for Elon, his employees, the banks that backed him … and pretty much everyone else, except for his online haters. They’re happy.

💰 Try Mom’s maiden name: Programmer Stefan Thomas has a $200 million problem. He has over 7,000 Bitcoin on a protected IronKey hard drive — and only two log-in attempts left before the contents are encrypted and his crypto’s lost forever. Could you imagine? Hackers who have cracked the IronKey code offered help, but Thomas said nope. He gave a cybersecurity company dibs on solving the problem.

My spidey sense isn’t tingling: Ever heard that we each swallow about eight spiders per year while sleeping? Turns out it's a bogus claim. Arachnologists say spiders want to avoid humans (and our mouths), and the original claim has been debunked. Insect puns really bug me.

Your phone’s address book has all the juicy details on the people you care about — birthdays, pics, names, email addresses. Newsflash: That’s not your info to share.

Seems harmless, right? What does it matter if you let X or Meta dive into your contacts? Get this: From your address book, companies build “shadow profiles” for people who aren’t on their sites, just based on info they get from their friends who don’t realize how much they’re sharing.

So, what can you do? One thing:

• Don't give apps access to your phone's contacts. Review which apps have access and turn it off. You’ll find this in your phone’s settings under App permissions.

🛑 Pay attention, folks. Stop sharing info without a real benefit to you. It’ll make a world of difference for your privacy.

In my no-nonsense, straight-talking podcast, I serve up everything tech in digestible, fun-sized pieces. New to the tech scene? Or maybe you're a pro? Doesn't matter. I’ve got you covered.

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Roger that, Copilot: Update Windows 11 to try out Windows Copilot, the new AI assistant that will hopefully make you forget Cortana. Copilot can write emails, answer questions, open apps and even teach you to take a screenshot. Wonder how mad Clippy is it didn’t get the job.

Alexa, fix my internet: If you have an eero mesh router and some Amazon Echo devices, this is sweet. A new software update turns 4th- and 5th-gen Echos into Wi‑Fi extenders. (Amazon owns eero, fyi.) Steps here!

🎮 No knockoffs: Starting Nov. 12, you (or the kids or spouse) will get an error message trying to use unofficial accessories with Xbox. Microsoft says only licensed products measure up in terms of “performance, security and safety.” Ahem, and they want to sell more.

Watch this: Have a fancy Apple Watch 9 or Apple Watch Ultra 2? Update via your iPhone to the latest OS to enable Double Tap. You can set an action (like playing or pausing music) when you quickly tap your thumb and pointer finger together. How the heck …? The watch sensors detect how your wrist moves during that motion to trigger the action. Wild.

👍 Two thumbs-up: Typing with thumbs at the bottom of a screen is so much easier, Amazon redid its shopping app to move the search bar there. Chrome for iPhone is doing the same. Hold down a URL, and you’ll see Move Address Bar to Bottom/Top. Cool, right? Sorry, Android, no love for you yet.

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Sometimes, he’s just so brilliant that I’m glad I married him.

The answer: Dog food. Leah Busque and her husband got the idea for TaskRabbit from a conversation one night about how they needed to buy food for their yellow lab, Kobe.

Here’s a fun thing to do. Set your Wi‑Fi password to 2444666668888888. This way, when people come over and ask for the Wi‑Fi password, you can say, “It’s 12345678.” 😂

😇 Hope you learned a few things today. You must know one person who would love my free newsletter. Would you please get them to try it out? They can sign up at GetKim.com or send them your referral link below so you get the credit. Thank you, and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim