Happy Monday to you! Did you know it's National Cheeseburger Day? You can get double cheeseburgers for only 50 cents when ordered exclusively through the McDonald's app. Burger King customers with a Royal Perks account can get a free cheeseburger with a $1 purchase. Wendy's is selling a 1-cent Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger with any purchase. Other places have deals, too. Just ask! 🍔

⌛ Quick sharing tip: Want to share a specific section of a webpage? In Google Chrome, highlight the text, right-click your selection and choose "Copy link to highlight." Paste in that link, and it'll send your recipient right to that spot. Magic! — Kim

Let me put it this way: If you’re not using Google Calendar (it’s free), you’re missing out. Here are some things you can do with it:

• Personal appointments and events: Beyond birthdays and meetings, manage personal commitments from school dates and doctor's appointments to spa days.
• Meal planning: Organize your culinary journey for the week. Jot down recipes, shopping lists and daily meals.
• Fitness schedule: Crush those fitness goals! Allocate time for gym sessions, brisk walks or meditation. Seeing it scheduled might just give you that extra push.
• Budget and bill payments: Make financial stress a thing of the past. Set reminders for bill payments or even budgeting check‑ins.
• Learning and growth: Slot in some "me" time dedicated to personal growth. Be it an online course, a crafty DIY or a book chapter, ensure you're constantly evolving.
• Shared calendars: Sync up with others with a shared calendar! Whether planning a family vacation, tracking team projects or organizing community events, sharing is caring. Simply click "Share" in the calendar settings, add their email and decide their permission level. Now you're both on the same (calendar) page!

Here are a few of my fave Google Calendar tricks:

• Know when people are free: I use this daily at work. Put your cursor in the box labeled Search for people under the Meet with heading. Everybody in your organization should be searchable here, so no more setting meetings no one can attend. You can also create a new meeting, add guests and click Find a time under the date to see the attendees' availability side by side!
• Automatically share meeting minutes: In your meeting details, click Create meeting notes under the event description to generate a Google Doc that automatically gets shared with attendees. It includes a built-in outline with the meeting date, attendees, notes and action items. Pro tip: Attach additional notes, docs, slides or whatever else to the meeting so no one’s looking around for them later!
• Never miss a beat: When setting an appointment, simply click Add Notification. Choose how long before the event you'd like to be reminded. Boom! Whether it's 10 minutes or a day in advance, Google Calendar's got your back. No more oops moments.

I knew a guy who got fired from his job at the calendar factory. All he did was take a day off … (Oh, was that a groan I heard coming from you?)

✅ You know I have more amazing tips up my sleeve. Get more Google Cal secrets. →

iOS 17 drops today: Some of the big, new features? Live transcriptions of voicemails, better search in messages and downloadable maps for offline use. To update your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Got an iPhone older than 2018? Sorry, you won’t be able to get the new iOS.

⌚ No time left for you: If you rock a $350 Pixel Watch, cross your fingers it doesn’t break. Google still doesn’t have a repair plan for it, despite its launching 11 months ago. Yep, if your screen cracks, your watch won’t be covered by a warranty — you’ll need to buy a new watch.

Own a website? Google quietly removed its advice that website content be “written by people'' from its SEO guidance. This means you no longer need to be human to get better search rankings. I’m telling you … It’ll be hard to trust anything written online.

A fresh coat for Paint: Microsoft Paint is now getting support for layers and transparency with a new update. To try it out, just click on the layers button in the toolbar, and it’ll open a side panel a la Photoshop. This only took 38 years.

🐦 Want to birdwatch from your couch? Bird Buddy launched Bird Buddy Explore, a feature in its app that lets you watch birds from cams worldwide, including Hawaii, Kenya and Chile. The feeders can recognize more than 1,000 types. One bird can't finish an entire bowl of Froot Loops, but toucan.

Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!"

Listen to my podcast, Kim Komando Today, here.

Try your hand at AI art: Describe the design you’re after in words and watch your creations come to life. The more details you can give Microsoft Designer, the better. And it’s free. Nice.

📱 Get your IG shots: Launch Instagram and give your profile pic a tap. Now, spot those three little lines in the top right? Tap 'em! From there, select Your Activity and Transfer Your Information. And just like that, you've unlocked the magic door to send your stories, snaps and videos straight to popular spots like Google Photos and Dropbox. Easy peasy!

Office freebie: Unless you absolutely need Microsoft 365, don’t waste your money. I’ve recommended LibreOffice, the free, open-source office software suite, for years, and it just got a major update. Plus, it works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

🍖 Meet-less Mondays: Ever in a Google Meet and want to get other work done, but you need to look like you’re paying attention? Try the new picture-in-picture mode. Just move everyone’s faces right next to that email or doc. Bueller?

Starstruck: NASA's welcoming anyone to put their name on the Europa Clipper, bound for a 1.8 billion-mile journey to explore Jupiter's moon, Europa. Sign up here to make your cosmic mark.

A virtual private network, or VPN, is a great place to start. A VPN encrypts your data and hides your IP address, giving you an extra layer of protection from snoops, advertisers and Big Tech companies looking to profit off you.

Some VPNs slow your connection or, worse, track your internet activity and compromise your security. Not ExpressVPN.

ExpressVPN’s servers run on RAM, or volatile memory, that’s cleared each time the server is reset — meaning they don’t save your data. You can connect in just one click from a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, iPad, you name it.

🚨 Deal alert: Get an extra THREE months free since you subscribe to my newsletter.

❓ Have a question for me? Drop it right here, or leave me a voicemail at 602‑381‑8200 ext. 290.

It can be impossible to tell with human eyes if something is real or not. A web app called AI or Not might have the answers. This free tool uses content recognition tech to identify if a pic is the product of AI. Bookmark this one for when you need it!

Drop in an image to check here. →

🏁 The race is on! With just a few hundred entries already, you still have a great chance to win that shiny, new iPad or Windows laptop, valued at $1,200! Every signup using your unique referral link below equals one entry. Share the love, spread the word and increase your odds of winning that awesome prize! Keep going — it could be yours!

See you tomorrow for another deep dive with the best free tech newsletter in the world. — Kim