It’s a tech-tacular Saturday, friend! On this day 24 years ago, Microsoft launched the mighty Windows 2000. And 30 years ago, Apple showed off the 0.3-megapixel, $750 QuickTake 100 camera at a tech conference in Toyko. Don’t remember that one? Yeah, it only lasted a year. Hey, they can’t all be winners.

🎙️ Tune in: It’s the weekend and that means The Kim Komando Show is on the air from coast to coast on over 420 radio stations and in 177 countries and territories on the American Forces Network radio. Find your local station here, or listen when and where you want.

You can get my show commercial-free on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Sweet! Let’s jump into another issue loaded with tech news, tips and mediocre-to-great jokes. — Kim

I have three different work email addresses. I also have a Gmail address I set up when it launched in 2004.

I don’t want to give up my Gmail address. I like the handle that I could never get today. It’s become my disposable email address for coupon codes, free signups and newsletters — the nonessential things in digital life.

For my personal email, I don’t want Big Tech tracking me. That’s why I wanted to tell you about an email solution to take back privacy that you'll love, love, love.

If it’s free, you’re the product

Have you thought about what you’re giving up when you use that “free” email address from your internet service provider, Google, Yahoo, AOL or some other Big Tech company?

Take a look at this list of what these companies track and sell to the highest bidder:

• Phrases and particular words that appear most in your email. Think for a moment about some topics in your email now. These companies make more money off you when they have more data.
• Your location and where your recipients are. Again, more data points to sell!
• Every single person you correspond with — business contacts, friends, family, doctors, you name it. Also, how often you exchange emails and what you talk about. Nothing is sacred when it comes to making money.
• The specific time you’re most likely to open spam or legitimate emails. That’s why the time you get a particular email may change.
• Your website habits get pulled in, too. That’s your shopping, research, dating and even your porn-watching habits. Yup, it’s all for sale and tied to your name and IP address.

You must understand all the data in your email is gathered, tracked, recorded and sold. But hey, it’s free! Don’t like it? Stop complaining about Big Tech and do something about it.

My pick for privacy-first email

Back in the day, none of us blinked at handing out our email address to any form, site, company, salesperson or app that asked. Now that we know better, we can take that knowledge into a fresh inbox.

Don’t just make another Big Tech email account. That’s no solution.

My pick is StartMail. Plans include 20GB of storage (that’s a lot!) and unlimited aliases. You can encrypt your emails, and there aren’t any ads or tracking to deal with. Love that.

If you want to say goodbye to your old inbox altogether, StartMail has an easy-to-use migration tool that brings over your mail and contacts. Score. Or, if you prefer, consider it a new inbox for your VIPs only.

My rule of thumb: Only give your fresh email address to someone you truly want to hear from. For me, this means real people and my very favorite newsletters. (Ahem, I hope that’s this one for you!)

Keep your personal email to yourself

✅ StartMail is fantastic for privacy, and I knew you’d want to use it like I do. I negotiated a special deal just for you, and you won’t find a lower price anywhere else. I made sure of that! Right now, use my link to get 50% off a year. By the way, if you buy, I don’t get any kickbacks or residuals.

• The problem with furry friends is … the fur. This bestselling pet hair remover and lint roller is 22% off.
• Grab a comfy new sheet set to replace the old ones for 17% off.
• You deserve two cloud-like bed pillows, too. Nearly 70% off!
• Keep sheets, blankets and pillows organized and dust-free with storage bins. 57% off!
• Gals, the Shark hair dryer and styler is 12% off. Way cheaper than the Dyson version!

💸 Crypto confusion: No, Sen. Elizabeth Warren isn't saying bitcoin is the way to go. A tweet from Bitcoin Magazine falsely claimed she honored bitcoin's creator with a Capitol flag. Reality check: It's part of a standard flag-flying service. Over 100,000 flags are flown yearly.

Pandora's box: Meet Sora, OpenAI's new tool that turns text into HD videos. It can animate stills and patch videos up to a minute long. I can’t help but wonder: Innovation or future deepfake enabler? See it in action here on my video podcast.

🔮 Bill Gates is losing sleep over AI: On his "Unconfuse Me" podcast, he says he’d love to travel to the year 2100 to see if AI helps the world or dooms us. It’s frightening if even he doesn’t know what’s going to happen.

Electric dream: By 2030, Walmart plans to turn thousands of parking lots into EV charging havens — starting with 650 stores in 47 states. Sounds like an eco-friendly leap, but with 90% of Americans living near a Walmart … smart way to keep us shopping.

🤫 Fed up with chatty coworkers or family? Welcome to the world of fake Zoom meetings! You read that right. From GitLab sessions to city council debates, folks are using Zoom meeting recordings they find online as a "Do Not Disturb" sign. Pro tip: Remember to "talk back" occasionally to keep others’ suspicions at bay.

🔥 Great balls of fire: Check your house for products recalled due to dangerous battery issues.

Cha-ching: Amazon Prime has all kinds of perks — but it might be more expensive than you realize.

I never learned Photoshop. Ditto? This AI photo-editing tool* does it all for you.

🌀 ‘Round and ‘round it goes: I’m talking about your data. See which companies are sharing with Facebook.

Hey, smarty-pants. Is your smart home locked down? Make sure.

🚘 Safety must-do: Visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall lookup page to see if your car has been recalled. Enter your VIN in the search field to see any safety recalls for your vehicle. If none appear, you’re good to go.

Wonder if an app is safe? 98% of kids’ education apps share data with third-party advertisers. AppMicroscope.org sifted through almost 1,800 of these apps to let you know which ones are good or bad for privacy.

🖥️ Your computer is lagging: A reboot will shut down most processes and speed ya back up. The burning question: How often do you need to restart? The answer: At least once a week. (Wait till you’re done reading this email.)

Listen up: You can watch podcasts on TikTok now. If you’re a creator, load episodes straight to TikTok through an RSS feed and tack it on to your vids. Cool: Listeners won’t have to leave the app to hear the whole podcast. Yikes: It’s TikTok.

Say no to Big Tech: Use a pedometer to count your steps instead of a high-tech fitness tracker. Here's a great option for under $20.

Or call divorce attorneys Ditcher, Quick & Hyde.

Quick tip for the road: Our copy editor, Mark, got a late-night text that said there was a fraudulent charge on his card. He ignored it. The next morning, an email. Hmm. Instead of replying to either, he did the smart thing and called his bank directly. Surprise, it was actual fraud!

The lesson here: Always call your bank directly if you get these notices.

Before you go: Kick tracking and ads out of your inbox with StartMail. This is for you if you’re sick of algorithms choosing what you see and don’t see. Use my link to get 50% off. I don’t get a cut if you use it.

😂 I asked my Magic 8 Ball which email client to use. It told me, “Outlook not so good.” Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here again tomorrow with the best tech newsletter in the USA. — Kim