Happy May Day, friend! BTW, no relation to “Mayday! Mayday!” The emergency signal was created as an alternative to SOS. An English airport captain suggested a butchery of the French term, “m'aider,” or “help me.” So what about a ship that’s in a less urgent pickle? There’s a phrase for that, too. Can you guess? (Hint: It’s a common item in your kitchen.) Answer’s at the bottom!

I hate passwords, and I bet you do, too. That’s where the ironclad Keeper Security comes in for only $17.50 for one year. This super-handy password manager does all the hard work of remembering every single darn password for you. More on them below. On to the tech know-how you need in your life right now! — Kim

Benjamin in Huntsville, Alabama, emailed me with a question I get often enough to think, “Ya know, I should write about this in The Current.” Someone hacked his Facebook account, stealing 16 years of treasured memories.

He’s feeling that panic I know far too many of you have felt. He can’t access his account and has no idea who’s logged in doing who-knows‑what.

🚨 Do your friends and family a favor and share this intel on your Facebook account. You’ll find one-click sharing icons below the article. You could help someone more than you know.

You’re not alone

Facebook is a big target for hackers and scammers. Think about this: Facebook has 2.989 billion monthly active users worldwide. In other words, about 37.2% of the global population uses Facebook.

Once your Facebook account gets taken over, it quickly becomes a moneymaking machine exploiting your trusted family and friends. Here are some ways they do this:

• The hacker shares fake viral videos or malicious links designed to steal other people’s account credentials.
• They message your family and friends, claiming you need money because you’re stuck in another country, suddenly diagnosed with an illness or lost your job.
• They post pictures of lost pets or children, asking people to share the post to help find them. When the post gets enough shares, they edit it to direct users to a scammy link.
• They advertise anything from pianos to puppies for sale on your account. People pay and they steal the money.

Your first step: Go to Facebook.com/hacked and alert Facebook that your account has been compromised. You’ll need to enter your email address or phone number associated with your account. Be sure to give every bit of info they ask for — the point here is to prove you’re you, the rightful owner of your account.

Next, contact your friends and family. You’ll have to do this outside of Facebook, of course. Tell them your Facebook account was hacked, and ask them to do you a huge favor.

You want them to also tell Facebook your account was hacked.

To do this, they’ll need to go to your profile, click the More or three-dot menu > Find support or report. The whole idea here is the more reports Facebook receives, the better your chances of getting back in.

⌛ Do not fall for scams that promise things like, “Hey, pay us and we’ll get your Facebook account back.” You won’t.

Now, it’s a waiting game. In the meantime, open a new Facebook account and lock down all your other social media accounts — strong passwords and two-factor authentication are musts!

Need help? I’m here for you. Drop me your question, and I might answer it in an upcoming column, newsletter or on my national radio show.

One of my favorite little pleasures is returning to the car after a long hike, popping open my cooler and grabbing an ice-cold drink — ah‑h‑h. Recreate that bliss at the beach, on a boat or even at your desk with these little coolers — all chosen for their awesomeness by the folks at Consumer Reports.

Best status-cooler alternative: YETI, Stanley and Hydro Flask coolers make all the best-of lists — and their coolers can cost over $200. The nine-can Titan ($32.99) has features that rival the status coolers (deep-freeze insulation, padded and adjustable shoulder strap, a no-zip flip top) without the name-brand markup.

Best backpack cooler: If you can’t (or don’t want to) wait to get back to your car before popping open a cold one, swap out your regular daypack with this backpack cooler ($29.99). Its waterproof interior can hold up to 28 cans and keep ‘em cold for 16 hours. The outside pockets hold your keys, phone and granola bars.

Best for the golf course: A cooler so genius that it was on “Shark Tank,” the Caddyswag ($25.99) fits six cans of seltzer or soda or whatever and slides perfectly into your golf bag’s external pocket. This will be a slam dunk Father’s Day present for a lot of you, I’m sure.

Best for style: A hip cooler? Yup. They call it retro, but I just call it cool. Igloo’s neon ‘90s cooler (17% off, $24.99) is hot pink, teal and highlighter yellow with a carrying handle and a shoulder strap. Keep nine LaCroix ice cold for enjoying anywhere you want to be refreshed and stylin’.

Best for lunch: PackIt’s freezable lunch bag ($23.99) is both a bag and an ice pack all in one. The bag flattens down to practically nothing so you can store it in even the most packed freezer, then just grab it, pack it and you’re on your way. Cool color options, too.

🚨 15 million vets’ health data was leaked: It was part of the recently reported Change Healthcare and UnitedHealth ransomware data breach. Supposedly, patients’ "full medical histories" weren’t compromised, but with more dirt coming out about the breach almost every day, who’s to say how deep this rabbit hole goes? Watch out for medical ID theft.

Travel scams flying high: You see a vacay at a too-good-to-be-true discount online. After booking, you get a call about an "extra charge” to finalize your trip. All fake! Protect yourself: Verify unknown companies at the BBB website, look for "https://" in the site URL (it means the website is secure), and use a credit card so you can dispute phony charges.

Pump the brakes: A new safety standard says all light-duty vehicles will need automatic emergency braking by 2029. Brakes will kick in at speeds up to 90 mph for impending collisions and up to 45 mph when sensors detect a person. It’s much-needed: 42,514 people died in crashes last year alone.

Don’t buy an iPhone now: Apple’s doing a deal with the ChatGPT team to bring regenerative AI to the iPhone 16. This means the AI will learn and remember your likes and dislikes, just like a real (virtual) assistant. The iPhone 16 is expected to roll out in September or October. This will be the biggest iPhone update since it was first released in 2007.

Sam’s Club is rolling out AI to stop theft: After you check out, you’ll pass through a big, blue gateway where cameras snap pics of your cart to compare with your order. It’s supposed to make shopping 23% faster. Expect it in stores nationwide by the end of the year.

Amping up your followers: Instagram’s algorithm is changing to promote original content over people reposting others (aka aggregator accounts). If you’re trying to build an audience on IG, you’ll want to post more videos or Reels. That’s why I’ve been doing just that on my IG account here.

📻 Save AM radio: Car manufacturers say AM could interfere with EV powertrains. But when crap hits the fan, AM radios are crucial for emergency broadcasts. To tell Congress to keep AM radio in cars, text "AM" to 52886! It’s important.

The forgetful musician lost his notes: ChatGPT Plus will now remember things about you for future convos. Say “I love houseplants,” and it’ll suggest more greens you can add to your space the next time you need decor advice. It’s on by default, but you can turn it off in your settings.

Shop on Amazon? It might be worth signing up for the Amazon Visa. You get 3% back on Amazon purchases (and lots more), plus a bunch of travel perks and a $50 gift card if you’re approved. My rule of thumb: Only put it on a card if you can pay it off at the end of the month.

Mouse shortcut: Highlight some text, hold down Ctrl in Windows (Cmd on Mac), click your left or primary mouse button, then drag the text elsewhere. When you let go of the mouse button, your text will be pasted there. Neat, right?

Is it real or AI? A new web app called AI or Not might have the answer. This free tool uses content recognition tech to identify if a pic is the product of AI tomfoolery. Drop in an image to see here.

Need for speed: All the browser tabs open on your phone are slowing you down. Close ‘em. Open Safari, then tap and hold the icon that looks like two overlapping squares. From the pop-up, choose Close All Tabs. Done! It’s even easier if you use Chrome on an Android. Just say, “Hey, Google, close all tabs.”

Watch a movie as the director intended: Filmmaker Mode is available on TVs from Hisense, LG, Philips, Samsung and Vizio. Open your picture settings, and find the picture mode option. Select Filmmaker Mode. Don’t forget the popcorn.

Tomorrow is World Password Day, a day dedicated to smarter and better password habits. That’s pretty darn important when they’re the first line of defense for our digital lives.

Here are a few password rules to remember:

• Anytime you get an alert an account has been compromised, change the password.
• Turn on two-factor authentication for every account that offers it.
• Password-protect your wireless router.
• Don't store passwords on your computer or phone.
• Log out when you're done with a program or app, especially if it contains financial info.

I know, it’s a lot to keep track of. That’s where Keeper Security comes in. It’s the password manager I use to help me keep my accounts safe. It creates complex passwords, remembers them so I don’t have to — it even auto-fills them for me — and sends alerts anytime one of my logins might be compromised.

It’s a great car for browsing the neighborhood.

The answer: If you have an urgent need but there’s not a threat to your life (or vessel!), you say, “Pan-pan!” I’m going to adopt it in texts to Barry. “Call me when you can, not an emergency” = Long, cumbersome. 🍳🍳 = Short, perfect.

Speaking of … What is it called when someone steals a large frying pan from a smaller classmate? Taking a long wok off a short peer. (Oh, you totally laughed at that one!)

Are you fed up with passwords? Keeper Security is the easy, safe way to keep track of all your logins — and you can get it for 50% off right now. I’m sure glad I did. See you back here tomorrow, friend! Until then, keep being your amazing self! — Kim