It’s Memorial Day. Join us as we honor and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. If you have a vet in your life, I added a link below to get copies of their military records. 🎖️

⏰ Our trivia question today is a simple true or false. If you look at any iPhone ad, the phone’s time is set to 9:41 a.m. Yea, or nay? Answer’s at the end, friends! — Kim

A family in California had their Nest security camera hacked. A voice said three missiles from North Korea were headed to the U.S. and warned them to take shelter.

An Arkansas mom didn’t know why her baby wasn’t sleeping through the night. Turns out the baby monitor got hacked by someone who talked to him every night at 10:30 p.m.

A Wisconsin couple woke up sweating because a hacker turned their smart thermostat to 90 degrees.

Isolated instances? Hardly. If you have a bunch of smart home devices in your house, you could be getting up to 12,000 hacking attempts per week. And you probably won’t even know it’s happening.

Smart home privacy doesn’t have to feel like “Mission Impossible.” Run through these quick safety checks and you’ll be good to go.

1. You knew I was going to say it: Update!

Hackers won’t be able to mess with smart devices if you keep them encrypted and password-protected on your app and router. If it’s been a while, check your smart home apps for the latest versions and install any available updates — these can include important security improvements.

Pro tip: Look for features like Matter or Thread standards when you buy smart home tech. These give you spy-worthy security.

2. Enable auto-delete for voice assistants

Voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant have a bad habit of keeping track of what you say for later analysis. Hackers can use that against you. Head into their app and look for voice privacy settings. You can automatically and regularly delete your commands from the cloud.

3. Memorize your mic and cam switches

Smart speakers and displays manage your favorite playlists, instructional videos and even voice chats with friends. But if you’re worried about accidental (or intentional) eavesdropping, find and use the mic mute and camera shutter buttons on your devices.

All newer models should have these buttons, and they’ll provide guaranteed, talk-to-the-hand privacy for as long as you want.

✅ Yes, there are more I couldn’t fit here! Get the final steps on Komando.com.

Get your loved one’s military honors: My dad served during the Korean War. It was wonderful for me to get a copy of his service records and medals. The National Archives website lets you request a family member’s service records and medals. Here’s how.

🏞️ Drop your credit card in your backpack: Our National Park System is saying no more cash for entry fees. Starting soon, these parks will be card only: Hawaii Volcanoes, Mount Rainier, Death Valley and the Rocky Mountains. Yosemite was made a national park so people wouldn’t take it for granite.

You got served: Investors in the failed crypto platform FTX finally served Shaquille O’Neal. One of the celebrity spokespeople for FTX, O’Neal, has been dodging legal summons for months. Shaq says he was “just a paid spokesperson for a commercial.” Remember that the next time you see him pitching any products.

😋 Latte and a snack: Startup Good-Edi hopes to eliminate disposable paper coffee cups. Its edible coffee cups are made of rye flour, wheat bran, oat bran, sugar, salt, coconut oil and water. Yummy, fiber.

Steer with a stare: No joke, you can drive with your eyes in BMW's new $50,000 5 Series sedan. The car will suggest a lane change. If you want to move over, simply glance at your mirror and, just like that, you're in the next lane. But what if you were just looking at the hottie in the car over?

‘Stealth wealth’: The term for subtle cues someone is loaded. Here’s a new one: Wealthy folks don’t use an iPhone case. Watch “The White Lotus,” “Succession” or “Billions.” The same goes for Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — both can afford a new phone.

Bonus dashcam: Google’s latest code update says you could soon use your Android smartphone as a bona fide dashcam. It’ll start recording as soon as it connects to your car and stop once you turn it off. Neat.

🛰️ Buzz Lightyear vibes: The U.S. Space Force plays a lead role in our military. Spotting incoming missiles? That's their Monday ... and Tuesday ... and, well, every day. I really liked this video explaining our “Guardians” of the galaxy, and you will, too!

Every morning, brush your teeth to my Daily Tech Update. You get fresh breath and fresh tech know-how in a minute.

Listen to my podcast, Daily Tech Update, here.

Don’t expect your iPhone to work seamlessly with a GM vehicle. The carmaker plans to swap Apple CarPlay in its future electric vehicles (EVs) for a custom system developed using the Android Auto backend.

Apple: Fine. Forget you, GM

If it’s important for you to have CarPlay in your next vehicle, check Apple’s website to view the more than 800 models that still support it. The list includes models from Volkswagen, Nissan, Ford, Honda and Audi, among others.

Next-gen CarPlay coming this fall

It lets Apple control everything from the interior climate to the gauge clusters. For now, you’ll see it in models from these carmakers:

“Kim, I want to know about Android Auto.” Hit this site to see the cars compatible with it.

🚘 Coming in 2026: Apple’s self-driving car. They’re having trouble installing windows.

When you can’t figure out what you’ve been humming all day, grab your phone. These tricks also work when a song comes on and its name is stuck on the tip of your tongue.

🎤 Need a fun game after everyone’s had a margarita? At-home karaoke is better because you won’t wonder how many people saw you sing the next day.

It’s a holiday weekend, and you should be spending it with your loved ones … not trying to fix your broken printer or troubleshooting bad Wi-Fi.

Help is just a phone call away. The experts at GetKimsHelp.com are there for you 24/7. Their team can remote into your device and do it for you, so no trying to figure out complicated steps when something goes wrong.

I vetted them myself, and it’s very safe to use. They get one-time access, then they can’t get on your machine again unless you know about it.

The best part? If they don’t fix your problem, you don’t pay!

Does he want to buy my house or check on my car’s extended warranty?

📱 The answer: True. Every advertisement for an Apple iPhone shows the time as 9:41 a.m. This is the time that Steve Jobs announced the very first iPhone in 2007.

🙏 One more thing. I’ve always said when someone in the military gets deployed, so does their family. That’s why I was astounded by how an Apple Watch is helping vets deal with PTSD. It’s covered by insurance, too. Listen to my show here (it’s about 14 minutes in or so) for the details.

Phew, that was a packed newsletter. Hope you smiled and learned something new. See ya tomorrow! — Kim