A bright and shiny tech-tastic Tuesday to you, friend! As always, let’s get going with trivia. Which essential smartphone function started its journey in the hospital operating room? Was it the … A.) Camera, B.) Touchscreen, C.) Voice assistant or D.) Vibrating alerts? Answer’s at the end!

Ah, we’ve entered the time between Christmas and New Year’s, where it’s hard to remember what day of the week it is and how many cookies you’ve eaten today. Onward to the tech know‑how! — Kim

Raise your hand if you unwrapped a shiny, new device or scooped up exactly the tech you wanted during the holidays. Fear not! I’ll walk you through giving your tech a new home.

1. Lock down your device

First things first, let's secure it. You want a good password — letters, numbers and symbols — plus, it needs to be tricky enough a sneaky neighbor or snoop can't guess it.

Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA). On a phone, scoot over to your Google or Apple account settings. Look for the 2FA option and switch it on. On laptops, it’s the same drill. Find your account settings (usually under “Security”) and enable 2FA.

2. Update to elevate

It might need an update or two depending on how long your new device sat on a shelf or in a warehouse. Sniff around the “About” or “System Update” areas to find and install updates. Give preloaded apps a quick makeover with updates from your app store. Sometimes, there are a couple in a row.

3. Personalize to optimize

Make your device truly yours. Tap and hold an app or widget on a phone or tablet to move it. Control which apps send notifications and how they appear: Settings > Notifications. And change the wallpaper: Settings > Display > Wallpaper or Themes. Choose from default options or use your own photos. Go to your device’s sound settings, too, and choose different ringtones for calls, alarms and notifications.

Got a new laptop or desktop? For Windows, right-click an app and select “Pin to Start.” On Mac, drag apps to the dock. I always like to adjust my trackpad sensitivity, scrolling direction and keyboard shortcuts. Go to System Preferences (Mac) or Settings (Windows) and find the trackpad and keyboard settings. I make the mouse pointer larger, too. (That’s in the “Accessibility” settings.)

New smartwatch? Change the watch face to match your style or mood. Press and hold the watch face and swipe left or right to choose a new one. Some watches allow further customization, like colors. Then select which notifications appear on your watch. Open the watch’s companion app on your paired phone and adjust the notification settings.

4. Now, let’s have some fun!

Use your smartphone's camera to film short clips. Combine them using a video-editing app like iMovie (free!) or Adobe Premiere Rush. Add music, transitions and effects to create your mini‑movie.

Using an app like Amazon Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit, create a “good morning” routine that turns on lights, plays your favorite morning playlist and starts your coffee maker, all with a single command.

Delve into the world of AR for an interactive experience. Download AR apps like Pokémon GO or IKEA Place. For a more educational experience, try SkyView to explore stars and constellations, Google Arts & Culture, or Civilizations AR for historical artifacts.

Choose a theme (like nature, urban landscapes or portraits). Each day, take a photo matching the theme using different camera modes and settings. Share your results on social media or with friends.

Need a hand with your new tech? You can use the Komando Community Question-and-Answer Forum staffed by our IT geniuses and even me! Try it free for 30 days on me!

👉 Who was the first person in the Bible to use tech? Moses. He had a tablet that connected to the cloud. (Good one, right?)

I’m America’s Digital Goddess — yet I still love pen and paper for some things.

• This simple, plain notebook looks nice for writing down my daily tasks — and this one comes in great colors
• Before the new year, treat yourself to some new pens
• Transparent sticky notes are so nice for jotting down things in cookbooks, your Bible or a planner
• Super-duper daily planning sheets that include a place to write what you’re grateful for
• Speaking of, I know so many people who love this 5‑minute daily gratitude journal
• So pretty — highlighters that aren’t neon colors!

🏡 Heads up, homeowners! Real Estate Wealth Network leaked a whopping 1.5 billion records, exposing property histories, foreclosures and even celeb homes. Your details might be out there, ripe for scammers. Protect yourself: Claim your property on sites like Zillow and watch out for fishy mortgage or refi offers in your email or postal mail.

Cows gone wild: In Tennessee, a rancher's five bovines were found 130 miles from home, captured and sold on Craigslist. Thanks to the sharp Agriculture Crime Unit, the cows are back home. The three sneaky cow-nappers are facing felony theft charges.

iPhone heist: Aaron Johnson swiped iPhones worth $300,000 by sweet-talking drunks. His trick? Pose as a rapper (lol), snag their phones, then change their passwords and disable tracking. Yikes. Good thing iOS 17.3 is on the way with “Stolen Device Protection,” delaying password and biometric changes in new locations.

Look, no hands! Mercedes-Benz is lighting up California and Nevada with turquoise taillights on its electric EQS and S‑Class sedans. They switch on when the EV Drive Pilot system takes over at 40 mph.

💰 $59 million in crypto stolen from 63,000 folks: Ads on Twitter and Google promoted sites hiding wallet-draining malware. If you still have crypto floating around, get it into a physical (or “cold”) wallet. It’s the most secure way to go. Here’s our pick.

Save your dollars: The Vision Pro mixed-reality headset hits stores in February 2024. Apple's take on VR starts at $3,499! The "budget" version should run from $1,500 to $2,500. For that price, it’d better be good. And if it is, this is going to be huge.

Swap binge-watching for binge-shopping: TV company Displace will unveil its wireless Flex and Mini TV in 2024. Cool. They let you shop straight from your screen. But yes, that means they come with webcams and NFC readers for instant buying. No way I'd let that in my house.

🐦 Birdwatchers, beware: Remember that wild theory about government birds being spies? Well, it's not so far-fetched now. Engineers like Mostafa Hassanalian are getting crafty, using taxidermied birds to make bird-like drones. Handy for wildlife research, but it kinda gives off a “Big Brother is watching” vibe. Maybe those conspiracy theorists were onto something.

You unwrapped a new device and you’re already having trouble. Before searching for help, know it’s dangerous to Google tech company phone numbers.

Scammers work the system to get spoofed websites and numbers as the top search results via ads. Instead of waiting for a response to an online form, try calling. (I included links in case you’d rather use a contact form or chat service.)

• Amazon: 888‑280‑4331; Amazon website
• Microsoft: 800‑642‑7676; Microsoft support
• Apple: 800‑275‑2273; Apple support
• Google: 650‑253‑0000; Google support
• Meta: 650‑543‑4800 (Heads up: It’s hard to get someone to answer); Facebook support, Instagram support
• Roku: 816‑272‑8106; Roku support
• Samsung: 800‑726‑7864; Samsung support
• PayPal: 888‑221‑1161; PayPal support

An old CEO near retirement called IT for support. He asked, "How can I print this document?" IT said, “All you need to do is Ctrl + P." To which the CEO replied, "I haven’t been able to do that for years!" (I heard you laugh!)

Property crime and car thefts are up: If you live alone, you don’t need to live in fear. I sleep soundly, knowing my security system is watching 24/7. SimpliSafe is easy to set up and easy to use. Find the right system for you at SimpliSafeKim.com.*

🍲 Sick of leftovers? Turn them into something fresh and new. Tastebuds is a neat AI site to inspire you. I put in “mashed potatoes” and “turkey.” Voila, crispy turkey croquettes!

Identity crisis: You can prime ChatGPT or any other chatbot to answer how you want with one simple phrase: “You are a …” and then fill in that blank with anything — “marketing expert,” “lawyer,” “landlord attorney,” “master gardener,” “personal trainer.” Go ahead, try “Digital Goddess.”

🖌️ Formatting tip: A neat shortcut in Microsoft Word, Google Docs and pretty much every major word-processing and other office software is the paintbrush icon. Find a place in your document that has the formatting you want — think font, sizing, spacing and color — then click the paintbrush. Highlight that area, then click and drag it over the part of your doc you want to change to match the source. I blew my son’s mind with this!

Quick privacy fix: Limit loyalty cards. The fewer you sign up for, the better your privacy. I find most people are willing to let me use theirs in the checkout lanes. You can also do what I do and give your office phone number instead.

“Kim, you’re so dramatic.” OK, maybe I am — but this is big! We have some major changes coming down the pike in January.

I don’t want to spoil it, but I’ll tell you that Andrew Babinski, my radio buddy for years, and Content Queen Allie are on board. You’ll be seeing a lot of our faces. All you need to do is follow our YouTube channel.

Ya know, in all these years, I’ve never bugged you to follow me there, so you know this is something special. Can’t wait for you to see the fun we get up to!

The longest walkable road stretches from Cape Town, South Africa, to Magadan, Russia. At 13,911 miles in length, it’d take you 187 days nonstop (or 561 days walking 8 hours a day) to complete. The route passes through 17 countries and six time zones!

The answer: D.) Vibrating alerts. Back in the swingin’ ’60s, doctors needed to monitor patients' heartbeats and blood pressure without loud beeps and tangled wires. The fix? Tiny motors attached to medical gear vibrated gently to signal changes in vitals. Imagine that — a subtle buzz instead of a noisy alarm!

✅ You don’t want to miss out on my big announcement coming soon! Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can be the first to see it in action. Click this link to do this right now.

🤗 I’m honored that you let me in your inbox every day. If you want to see something specific here, leave me a comment when you rate this newsletter below. I appreciate you, and I’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow with the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim