Good, good, good morning, beautiful people. It’s Wednesday and we’re kicking it off with some word trivia. An “aficionado” is an enthusiast — like you and I are tech aficionados! But originally, the word referred to an enthusiast of a particular type of entertainment. Was it … A.) Opera, B.) Bullfighting, C.) Puppet shows or D.) Wrestling? You'll find the answer at the end!

Privacy, please: I use Incogni to get my info off creepy, invasive data-broker sites. Sure, you can DIY — but it’s a major pain. Be like Jeff in Salem, Oregon, and use code KIM60 for 60% off. He says, “I could have never done this myself. Well worth the price.” On to the news! — Kim

Medical alert systems ain’t cheap. There’s the price of the hardware ($50 to a few hundred), the charge to set everything up (set aside $100 for that) and a monthly fee of $20 to $40 for the ongoing service. All for a little button on a necklace? It’s highway robbery.

Here’s the good news: With the right settings and subscriptions, your smart home assistant can help you call or contact your loved ones in an emergency. Before you rely on one, though, there are a few things you need to know.

I researched the best emergency services for Alexa and Google Home — and what they’ll cost you.

Free: The Drop-in feature on Alexa

It’s nothing fancy, but if you’re an Alexa user, you can call another Alexa-enabled speaker directly like you would with an intercom system.

• Cost: Free!
• Features: When enabled, the person on the other end doesn’t need to answer or accept the call for you to talk to them.

Affordable: Alexa with Emergency Assist

With this home security feature, you can say, “Alexa, call for help,” and an urgent-response agent will call for first responders.

• Cost: $5.99 per month for Amazon Prime members (or $59 per year). Not a member? It’s $7.99 a month. (An Amazon Echo Pop with Emergency Assist bundle costs under $46.)
• Features: Alexa will help you call 911, and the device will share crucial info with medical personnel, like medical conditions or a gate code.

Tip: Buy a few Echo Pop speakers (under $40 each on Amazon), and scatter them around the house. They’ll help to pinpoint your location and share it with first responders.

Premium: Amazon Together

Amazon Together is a monthly service full of caretaking features. It allows you to check in on loved ones or get them help no matter how far apart you are — all for the same price as your Netflix subscription.

• Cost: $19.99 per month (or $199 per year).
• Features: 24/7 urgent response, fall detection, custom alerts, remote assistance and reminders from up to 10 contacts in your “Circle of support.” Pretty fancy for the price tag!
• Freebie: Get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Together here.

Tip: Each individual added to your “Circle of support” needs an Amazon account and an Alexa-enabled device in their home for this to work.

Cheap but not ideal: Google Nest

I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, Google Home owners: Google Assistant isn’t as helpful in an emergency as Amazon Alexa with Emergency Assist. It can’t even call 911! But it does have a couple of useful features.

• Cost: Connect your Google Home with a Nest Aware subscription, which starts at $8 per month (or $80 a year) for extra services.
• Features: Use Google to broadcast a message to Google or Nest devices in another room on the network, or say, “Broadcast to,” followed by the device or location’s name.

Important note: Nest Aware can’t call 911 but can reach a contact. Make sure your loved ones’ contacts are updated. That way, it’ll know who to call when you say, “Google, call Barry!”

Wanna go deeper? Explore more features and full step-by-step instructions to set up these services on my site!

😂 I set up our Alexa to prank Barry. When he asks about the weather in our home in Santa Barbara, Alexa reminds him, “Hey, dummy, look outside. You live in a glass house!”

Unethical data brokers will do anything for money. They were just caught red-handed selling the personal data of American military service members. We’re talking highly sensitive information like mental and physical health history, financial records and location data.

You need to get yourself out of those databases — something that would take hundreds of hours on your own. That’s where Incogni comes in. Just fill in a few details, and they start getting your info removed immediately.

So far, they’ve removed me from over 150 websites. Even better, they check regularly to make sure data brokers didn’t sneak me back in.

I negotiated a deal just for you: 60% off. Take back your privacy today!

Like taking candy from a pre-K student: Schools are low-hanging fruit for hackers thanks to outdated systems and limited cybersecurity experts. Case in point: A million-dollar ransomware demand that impacted 70,000 students in Albuquerque. Work at a school? Be very careful what you click.

🚫 New chatbot restrictions: Google’s Gemini chatbot is “playing dumb” on election asks. Ask about any election, and you'll get, "I'm still learning how to answer this question." Google says it’s on a mission to fight misinformation. ChatGPT? That’s a different story.

Founder hounders: Hackers are using calendar links to scam aspiring entrepreneurs who use Macs. They pose as eager investors on apps like Telegram, then bait you with a “meeting” link via Calendly. Hitting “join” launches a script that silently installs malware on your macOS system. Word to the wise: Verify new contacts and double-check those links.

🤖 Amazon’s box bot: It’s testing six-foot-tall, bug-like robots for warehouse grunt work. These bots can navigate any terrain, haul up to 35 pounds and tackle boring tasks like carting around empty bins. Amazon says they’re here to help avoid hernias, not steal jobs.

End of an era? More and more 20-somethings are ditching TikTok to improve their sleep, work and social life. They’re hunting for real-life experiences over algorithms. Let's just hope they don't find those “experiences” in the metaverse.

Calling all biz owners: Meta's new AI-powered ad tools let you create tailored ads and spotlight products based on user activity. Reminder ads got better, too, with clickable links to the latest deals and AI that slaps promo codes right on the ad. Now, that's what I call a shop lift.

Tesla drowning: Billionaire Angela Chao met a tragic end when her Tesla dove into a pond on her Texas ranch. The Tesla Model X's reinforced glass, meant to keep her safe, ended up blocking rescuers. The chilling twist? The sheriff's department is calling it an accident, but there are whispers about a possible hack.

👏 Karma is real: After Sydney Sweeney's spicy appearance on SNL, hopeful pervs ran to X looking for “leaked” pics. Surprise, surprise — their creeping led them straight to pop-up adware that takes browsers hostage. Sure, X could moderate this stuff better, but can't say I feel sorry for them.

You know you saw an article on a specific website, but, for the life of you, can’t find it. Newsflash: You can turn Google into a search engine that crawls any website. All you need to do is hit the Tab button.

• Start typing the address of the site you’d like to search. Google will automatically complete the URL if you’ve visited it before.
• Don’t hit Enter. Instead, press the Tab key.
• The URL will convert into a search engine for that website.
• Now, type in your search term and hit Enter.

This works in Edge and Chrome.

For Chrome, Safari and Firefox, you can use this trick:

Enter site: followed by the website you want to explore and the search term. For example, you might put in site:komando.com tech tips to search my website for even more clever tech tips.

🧑‍🍳 Chef’s kiss: You can do it with recipes, too. Try site:allrecipes.com blueberry muffins.

🛫 Prepare for takeoff: If you’re traveling with a group, forget forwarding airline confirmation emails or sending texts to figure out who’s where. Flighty for iPhone lets you create a group and get automatic notifications of friends’ flight arrivals, gate information and delays.

Out of office: When writing your OOO message, give yourself an extra day before promising replies. Emails will pile up while you’re gone, and everyone’s brain is a little mushy the day back from traveling. I speak from experience.

🧠 Speed reads: One of the reasons I like Perplexity is it analyzes PDF documents for free (up to three a day). If you need a quick summary of something, it's fab — hey, I don't have time to read everything.

Wait, what? You can re-read that Android notification you didn't fully look at the first time. Tap Notifications > Notification History in Settings to view that push alert on whatever wild thing Elon Musk said this time.

📴 Buzz, buzz: Do Not Disturb is fantastic, but there are certain people you might want to reach you, even if it’s on (like your kid or spouse). Set them up as an approved contact. Sweet.

Sometimes, you just need to take a few deep breaths. Other times, you need a piece of plastic called the Bug Bite Thing.

• Magnetic shower curtain weights keep the plastic off your legs. (The ones sewn into the bottom are never heavy enough!)
• Suction the bug saliva out of your bites to stop the itch. Sounds fake, but folks, it works.
• A sturdy plastic scraper for decal removal. I spent 20 minutes last week trying to get the sticker goo off my new mixing bowl, so … I’m getting this.
• Peanut butter stirrer for when you (accidentally) buy the “naturally separated” stuff.
• Tube squeezer for eeking out that last bit of toothpaste.

You can always count on AI (to add an extra finger).

The answer: B.) Bullfighting. “Aficionado” was first used in Spain to describe a person with a passion for bullfighting. Not too many of those around anymore — it’s banned in many countries and some Spanish cities.

By the way, do you know what to call a bull with a passion for sleeping? A bulldozer. 💤💤💤 (I hear the groan, but I know you’re going to repeat it.)

Before you go: Take back your privacy. Right now, get 60% off Incogni, and they’ll wipe your info out of scummy people-search databases. Amazing, like you. I’ll see you again tomorrow in your inbox with the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim