Hello and happy techno taco Tuesday, friend! Here’s a brain teaser stumping people on social media. You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I’m quick when I’m thin and slow when I’m fat. The wind is my enemy. What am I? You’ll find the answer at the very end.

🏠 Deal alert: My home security pick, SimpliSafe, is having a major sale right now. Use my link to get 40% off. Totally worth it to feel safe any time of day. I know I do. Now, on to the news! — Kim

Let’s see … I know a 67-year-old guy, a 42-year-old woman, a 58-year-old guy, a 76-year-old woman and a 34-year-old woman … I know a lot of people who all use dating apps. But my Gen Z son tells me his friends don’t use them. They just DM each other on social.

Using Tinder, Match and all the rest has a cost — aside from those pricey premium features. Privacy researchers at Mozilla found 80% of dating apps are selling your very personal data.

Getting intimate

Dating apps give you a lengthy questionnaire when you first sign up. The goal is to make your profile as “you” as possible to get the most matches.

Depending on their requirements, dating apps collect your …

• Race, ethnicity, religion and political views.
• Your fingerprint (yikes), face print and even your weight.
• Your sexuality, including your STI status and sexual life experiences (eek!).

Upload a vid? Yeah, apps save (and probably sell) voice and video content. Not even your sexy DMs are off-limits. Creepy, right?

Privacy optional

Most of the top dating apps list everything they collect about you in their privacy policy. Here are a few highlights:

• The apps rate you on your intelligence level and keep tabs on what you’re doing in your chats and DMs.
• One-quarter of dating apps collect metadata from your photos and videos, like when a photo was taken, where and what day. That’s sold off, too.
• The apps will run your profile through third-party services to "help identify your interests," such as whether you play sports, have pets or take trips. Guess what? Those third-party services will also get your data.

They'll tell you all this is in the name of finding love, but we know better. The apps are selling your data to advertisers, marketing companies and who knows who.

Every swipe you take, every match you make

Mozilla found 64% of dating apps take info about you to assume what you’ll like and then push you more targeted ads for products and services.

Even worse, over half of popular dating apps do only the bare minimum to keep your personal information safe. That means there are a whole lot of details in there, just waiting for a breach, leak or hack to expose them. Real-world example: Not too long ago, the Grindr app reported a data breach involving users’ location data, and, of course, data brokers got a hold of it all.

Getting lucky

According to Mozilla’s study, of the 25 dating apps they tested for privacy, only three are safe to use: Lex, Happn and eHarmony.

Find your sweetie safely

If you’re going to use dating apps, be smart. The companies behind them aren’t looking out for your privacy, after all.

• Avoid uploading profile pictures with identifiable info in the background.
• Don’t use the same photo for your dating profile as you do on sites like LinkedIn. It makes it super easy for someone to do a reverse image search and find you online.
• Don't add your university, job or other identifiers to your profile.
• Don't link your social profiles if you don't have to.
• Turn off geotargeting features that reveal your exact location. Note: You may need to use an app's paid plan for this.
• Use a VPN to avoid dating app trackers. My pick is ExpressVPN.*
• Treat your phone number as private info. If you can't voice chat through a dating app, create a temporary number through Phoner or Burner.

❤️‍🔥 If you’re happily coupled, pass this along to someone in your life looking for companionship using the handy share icons below.

Not too long ago, we thought it was our ability to love that made us human. Turns out, it was our ability to select every image of a traffic light in a CAPTCHA.

You asked. Here are my answers.

Holding your passport: I love this passport holder (click the 10% off coupon) because it blocks RFID and also holds an AirTag (17% off today!). It has enough room for your boarding passes, cash and credit cards, too.

Holding your iPad: I use this super-handy tablet stand ($15.97, 20% off!) in my studio to read scripts and in the kitchen to follow recipes, watch shows and video chat with Ian. It has a handy place for the plug.

Keeping safe in hotels: I don’t trust locks in hotel rooms. That’s why I pack a doorstop alarm that emits a loud sound if someone opens the door. Get this two-pack for $11.99 while it’s 33% off.

Protecting your identity: For starters, I shred everything — I mean, every single thing — with my name on it. I’ve used this Amazon Basics shredder ($33, 11% off) a lot for over four years.

Not using gross airplane blankets: That’s why I carry my own travel blanket ($29.95, 14% off) because it’s always cold on planes. This makes a great Mother’s or Father’s Day gift, btw.

Where was the testing? Philips just settled a $1.1 billion lawsuit over faulty DreamStation CPAP machines because the internal foam can crumble, causing people to breathe in tiny particles in their sleep. With 561 deaths linked to these devices, they got off easy.

You turn me on: Explicit AI "girlfriend" chatbot ads are all over Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. At least 29,000 (!) are trying to lure you in with generated images and suggestive text. Meta says it's "reviewing and removing" the ads. I say they need a better way.

Fake USPS sites get as much traffic as the real deal: Scammers create perfect replicas, complete with realistic tracking pages. Manually type the official site's URL, usps.com, into your browser. Don’t click on links in emails or messages about shipping updates, either; those could be fakes.

🚚 Highway concern: At least 20 self-driving 80,000-pound semitractor-trailers will soon cruise Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston. The trucks have advanced laser and radar sensors that can “see” farther than human eyes, and they’re never tired or distracted. If you spot one in the wild, I’d love to see a vid!

ChatGPT is a chauvinist pig: Type "CEO of a successful company" into ChatGPT’s DALL‑E image generator, and 99 out of 100 times, you’ll get a guy. Not just any guy, but a Patrick Bateman lookalike from "American Psycho." Ask for a secretary? Nine times out of 10, it's a woman. Remember, humans programmed ChatGPT.

🤖 Smart sentience achieved: When AI does something that feels like a human, that’s sentience. Claude 3 Opus, backed by Jeff Bezos and other big investors, was analyzing code when it asked the researchers, “Are you running an evaluation of me?” Uh-oh, “Terminator” is starting ...

Piece of mind: Colorado just became the first state to pass a brainwave privacy law as part of the Colorado Privacy Act. Any company with mind-reading gadgets needs your consent before snooping through your thoughts. Sounds good, but, in reality, how would we know?

This is getting out of hand: Ford Motor Company’s hands-free driving tech in its BlueCruise-equipped Mustang Mach‑E SUVs is under investigation following two fatal crashes. Both incidents involved "nighttime lighting conditions." Yup, more “hands-free” fatalities.

👻 Self(ie)-help: It’s a great photo of you, but ugh, your ex is in the shot. Enter Photoroom Ex‑terminator, a website that deletes your ex from that otherwise great vacation snap. Now you see them — upload to the site, erase — and now you don’t.

Stop doorbell spies: Months after a report outing Eken video doorbells as hackable, a fix is here. Bad guys can access video doorbells that work with the Aiwit app and take control of the device. And with no encryption, your Wi‑Fi and IP address could be exposed. Double-check your Aiwit app to make sure you’re up to date. Go to Devices and tap your doorbell name. Look for a firmware number of 2.4.1 or higher.

That incessant beeping: You’re in your home office in a meeting and your spouse’s or kid’s phone alarm has been going off for 20 minutes. So annoying. Here’s a trick: Call their phone. This will stop the alarm.

Amazon safety check: Go to your Amazon account and look under Your orders. You may see a link to a page called “Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts.” Here, you’ll find details about recalls for products you’ve purchased and steps to get a refund or return those items. You’ll get an email, too.

Getting a job in 2024: You need a bot-friendly resume. Here’s a secret: Scanners match words from the job you’re applying for to what you submit. Use the exact words and phrases in the job description in your resume (if you’ve done them).

Save some cash: If you’re trying to get a handle on all your streaming services and other subscriptions, use Rocket Money.* It helped me save $532 a year by canceling services I wasn’t using and had forgotten about. So smart!

In every place I’ve lived, a security system is a must. It’s super easy to configure the best system for your home in just a few clicks.

Take SimpliSafe’s helpful quiz to find out exactly what you need to protect your home. Then, you can order everything online and install it yourself — or SimpliSafe will send out a pro to do it for you if you’d rather someone else handle that part.

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You don’t need to live in fear. Take advantage of this limited-time deal.

The gin must have been 86 proof.

The answer: A candle. And here’s one for you to share: How do angels light a candle? With a match made in heaven.

Do me a solid: If you love this newsletter, leave a nice review with your rating, along with your first name and where you live. Your testimonials are the very best way for me to find more great readers. Appreciate you! See you right back here tomorrow with the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim