Hello and happy Thursday, my techy friend! Is there a telltale sign of AI writing? The em dash (this guy: —) is a dead giveaway. Humans use it now and then, but chatbots? Obsessed. Let me tell you, if you don’t think punctuation is important, try forgetting the comma when you tell someone, “I’m sorry, I love you.”

👉 Stop spam texts and calls right now. Data brokers sell everything from your address to your Social Security number to anyone willing to pay. Enter Incogni. They scrub your personal info from the web. I negotiated a 60% discount just for you. More below. Onto the news! — Kim

I was doing some research about Amazon and ran across a golden nugget I couldn’t wait to share with you. We all know Amazon tracks everything including what you browse, buy, watch and even ask Alexa.

But here’s the surprise: You can download all of it. I’ll show you how.

So, what kind of info are we talking about?

Tons. It’s literally every single thing that you’ve done with an Amazon product or site.

How do I get it?

✅ Hit the Privacy Central page. When you’re logged in, you can choose one category of data or get ‘em all at once as a ZIP file. Click the confirmation email you get, then … don’t hold your breath.

Amazon says they’ll send over your info ASAP. “Usually, this should not take more than a month.” If it’s somehow even longer, they’ll let ya know.

Can I remove all my data from Amazon?

No, not all of it. Amazon will forever keep your Fire, Echo and other device data, customer service messages, order history and account information. Even if you delete your Amazon account, they keep your details. But here are steps to:

🤔 If there’s someone in your life who might be interested in this know-how, use the icons below to share it with them now. You know, I once ordered a thesaurus on Amazon. All of the pages were blank. I have no words to describe how angry I am.

"I signed up with Incogni 3 days ago, and my junk email is already significantly reduced!" That’s a note I got from a reader named Gail. Heck yeah. The same happened for me, Gail. And it just gets better! I don’t get spam texts anymore, either.

How, you ask? Incogni stops spammers and scammers at the source. This smart privacy service automatically scrubs your personal data from shady data-broker lists and people-search sites, stopping the flood of:

🚫 Annoying junk emails
📵 Endless spam texts
📲 Frustrating robocalls

How it works: Create an account and Incogni contacts data brokers and people-search sites on your behalf with requests to remove your info. I’ve tried this on my own over the years, and it’s such a pain. With Incogni, I put in about three minutes and they did all the rest.

A little TLC makes everything feel better.

🚘 Nice ride: I’ve got just the stuff to get your car shiny and organized.

Whoa, it’s not an iPhone SE 4! Apple's newest budget model ($599) is the iPhone 16e. It’ll have a 6.1-inch OLED screen, 48MP Fusion Camera, 5G modem, Apple Intelligence and a beefier A18 chip. What’s missing? MagSafe, the old Home Button and zippy Wi-Fi 7. Preorders start on Friday. Both the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE were discontinued, too.

😱 Robin Hood: Hackers dropped a toolkit that permanently unlocks almost all versions of Windows (7 and up), plus Office 2013 to 2024. They’re giving it away for free because “profiting from piracy is not good.” How ethical. Go with the free LibreOffice instead.

Craigslist scam: The guy listed a luxury Palm Beach apartment for $950/month (red flag because it actually costs $5,200/month), and a couple took the bait. The scammer gave them a tour and handed over the keys so it seemed legit. Turns out the real owner had left them in the door for a handyman. Argh.

💰 Armed rideshares are popping up everywhere: The new Protector app (iPhone only) lets you book armed guards and Escalades to chauffeur you around for $200 an hour. Think Uber, but with active or retired law enforcement and military officers behind the wheel. BlackWolf hires military and law enforcement too.

🍑 Imagine accidentally leaking your own nudes: That’s what happened to one guy thanks to a little-known Google Pixel setting. Pressing the power button five times activates Emergency SOS. It calls emergency services and sends a video recording to your chosen contacts. He was naked in bed and half asleep. You can turn it off under Settings > Safety & Emergency > Emergency SOS.

I own a real green screen: The YouTube Shorts AI, Veo 2, whips up clips with just a few words. Like OpenAI’s Sora, type what you want and the AI does the rest. You can specify a style, lens or cinematic effect. Want to try it yourself? Open YouTube, go to Shorts camera > Green Screen > and type your prompt.

Bow wow: A former police officer is using a heat-seeking drone to track down missing dogs. So far, he’s reunited 42 dogs with their families. Here’s an adorable clip of a pup lost in the snow. His little tail wags like crazy when he sees his owner. I’m so excited that I’m getting a new puppy. Meet Bella.

Name drop: ChatGPT makes a good intern. Just fill in the blanks: “I need name ideas for a [event, post, product] about [topic] using these [keywords]. The target audience is [age group, industry].” Results may vary, but it’ll get you thinking.

“Hey, Kim, what was the name of that …” I get so many questions about our security sponsors. You need five security products. I put together a handy resource where you can find what they do, links and deals I’ve negotiated just for you.

🌊 Wipe out: Paste text without copying all the extra formatting like size, font and color. Hit Control + Shift + V on Windows or Command + Shift + V on Mac. This tip alone was worth the cost of the subscription to this newsletter. Oh, right … it’s free.

Missing Fire Stick remote? With the Amazon Alexa Voice Remote Pro, say, “Alexa, find my remote.” It’ll ring if it’s connected to your Fire TV and within 30 feet. For an older remote, use the Fire TV app.

Want to get into podcasts (ahem, like mine)? You need a nice set of earbuds like these* that sound great, have a 32-hour battery life and are a fraction of the price of AirPods.

Play detective: WHOIS lookup sites list all the details about who owns a website, along with their contact info. I use who.is when I need to do some digging.

The FBI is looking for this guy pretending to be a Chinese police officer. He cons international students into wiring him money for crimes they didn’t commit in order to avoid arrest and extradition.

A quick $125: Nope, not a scam. Mystery Shopping Service pays folks to call or visit senior living centers, apartment complexes and other businesses posing as a potential renter. Apply here if you want to try it. They have an A+ BBB rating.

🐜 Five ants rent an apartment. They realize there’s plenty of room so they invite another five ants to join them. They are now tenants. (Oh, that's so good!)

Before you go: Incogni is the reason I have zero spam calls and texts on my phone. They’ve sent over 1,190 requests on my behalf to people search and data broker sites to remove me. Incredible. Try it yourself for 60% off right now. Make it a great day and I’ll see you back here tomorrow with the best tech newsletter in the USA!— Kim