Wednesday is comin’ in hot! Trivia time. Which of these tech companies was founded first? Google, Yahoo, Adobe, Apple or Microsoft. Bonus points if you can put them all in order.

Glad you’re here because we have a lot of tech news and advice to dive into … And because writing this newsletter for just me would be a real bummer. Want me to address something in a future issue? Reply to this email! — Kim

It's one thing for Amazon to know what kind of dishwasher tabs you use and which socks you wear. It's entirely another for it to have your health records.

Book an appointment through the new Amazon Clinic, and you’ll meet with a clinician who can prescribe medication for anything from allergies to high cholesterol.

Here’s the thing: Amazon does not provide the care itself. It’s a middleman between you and the people who will treat you. And that’s where the problems begin. 

Not-so-protected health information

Though Amazon declares it is “compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA),” there’s more to the fine print. 

When you sign up for treatment through Amazon Clinic, you also “authorize” all those involved (doctors, pharmacies and labs) to share your Protected Health Information, or PHI, with Amazon. That includes:

• Contact information, including your email address. Fine.
• Demographic information, such as your date of birth. They probably already have that.
• Account and payment information, including insurance info. Getting murky.
• Your complete patient file, including medical and billing records. Jackpot.

Amazon has the right to “retain, use and disclose this information” for two purposes: If a healthcare provider you used through Amazon Clinic leaves, Amazon will set you up with another one. 

Amazon can also use your PHI to “facilitate services from other providers.” Who exactly are these providers? Doctors? Other businesses looking to target you with ads related to your condition? It’s not clear.

The HIPAA in the room

Say you’ve given Amazon the go-ahead to use and disclose your PHI. Amazon may also “redisclose” this information and “this redisclosure will no longer be protected by HIPAA.” Confused? That’s the point.

Remember, Amazon Clinic is not a clinic. It connects you with third parties, which in turn provide telehealth services with clinicians. Reminds me of those Russian stacking dolls …

Amazon is held to different standards when it comes to HIPAA, and you’d need an experienced lawyer to determine where Amazon’s permissions begin and end.

Here’s my take:

Don’t sign up for Amazon Clinic. Ask your doctor for medical advice or find a reputable clinic for treatment. There’s no reason to hand over your most private information to a company known to play fast and loose with data. 

If you’ve already used Amazon Clinic and have second thoughts, you can revoke your authorization. Of course, Amazon makes it difficult, but I’ll walk you through it here. 

🐰 Tell this one to a friend: A priest, a pastor and a rabbit walked into a blood donation clinic. The nurse asked the rabbit, “What's your blood type?” The rabbit replied, “I'm probably a type O.”

Work smarter: New to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides: A search box where you can type what you want to do in normal, everyday language. Sure beats digging around tool menus. In Sheets, you can type “remove column,” or in a Doc, try, “Who last edited this?” Handy!

Keep the receipts: Your 2023 taxes might be trickier than last year’s. The IRS is now monitoring what you sell on sites like Etsy, eBay and Facebook Marketplace and through payment processors like PayPal, Square or CashApp. If you make $600 or more on a platform, you’ll get a 1099-K form to report the income. This doesn’t need to be a side hustle, btw. The rules apply if you sell your old car, appliances or anything else worth good money. Yeah, thanks.

Microtransactions, not just for games: It’s Elon Musk’s latest idea to generate revenue for Twitter. When you hit a paywall on a website, you’re prompted to subscribe to pay for a subscription. Twitter’s new “one-click” model will let you pay for one-off articles. No word yet on costs. Would you pay for Twitter articles? Tell me here.

Sad story: A 75-year-old Georgia woman sold her home because a guy she met on Facebook kept asking for cash. She sent the lowlife $95,000. They never met in real life. Before you think, “Who’d ever fall for that?” … Americans lost $1.3 billion to scams like this in 2022.

That’s electrifying: The lack of charging stations is one of the biggest arguments against electric vehicles (EVs). Sweden’s “e-motorway” could fix that. It’s a planned 13 miles of highway that will allow vehicles to recharge while driving. In other news, before Elon Musk got into EVs, he was known as simply Lon Musk.

Birds, bees and … robots? The first babies conceived using a robot were just born. Engineers in Barcelona created a bot that’s the latest breakthrough in automated in vitro fertilization (IVF). Fun fact: The bot is controlled using a PlayStation 5 controller. I’ll let you come up with your own joke …

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.

Tech companies go all out when they want to show off new gear and Google I/O is no exception. I have the inside scoop on what to expect at Google’s massive annual tech show next week!

New flagship phones: The much-anticipated Pixel 8 and 8 Pro probably won’t make an appearance so soon after the launch of the Pixel 7. Instead, keep your eyes peeled for the streamlined 7a’s grand entrance. It’s got most of the bells and whistles at a lower price, around $500.

Joining the fold: Google’s been hinting at a foldable phone for a while now. It could be similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. Translation: A fancy OLED screen on the outside and an even bigger, fancier one on the inside. It’ll cost ya, though. We’re talking $1,900 for the top model! Ouch.

Size (and price) matters: The rumored Pixel tablet is gunning for the iPad, with fast hardware and a killer screen. Best of all, it could come in at a cool $300 (the latest iPad starts at $449). A tall order, but this might be a contender — especially in a down market.

For more rumors, including what’s coming with Google’s AI Bard, hit my site.

If you live in an area where getting solid Wi-Fi coverage is a real pain, monitoring your property remotely with a security camera is still possible. I get this question often enough that I wanted to drop some tips and links here for you.

• Connect it to a mobile hotspot. Just use your smartphone's data plan to connect your camera to the internet. Here’s how if you need help.
• Run a cable. If your camera has an Ethernet port, you're good to go. 
• Some home security cameras come with a micro SD card slot, which allows you to store footage locally. That means you can still record video even if you don't have an internet connection. Nice.
• If you want to go completely wireless, use a battery-powered camera. These use internal batteries to power the device and usually come with built-in storage for recording video. 
• Solar-powered cams work well, too. Placement matters, so don’t stick one in a place that never gets light. This model can pan around if you need more coverage.

🏠 Need a whole-home security system? My pick is SimpliSafe.* Easy to set up and no expensive contracts.

👁️‍🗨️ Who is the patron saint of surveillance? St. Francis of a CCTV.

I vet every single sponsor, so when our sales VP told me about GetRefunds.com, I tried it out. This site helps small businesses get COVID relief funds for keeping employees during the pandemic. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much.

Whoa! I found out I was owed $400,000. Seriously. This is not PPP. It’s different. It’s the Employee Retention Credit. If you kept your full-time or equivalent employees on payroll during COVID, you could get a huge refund, too.

There’s no upfront charge — they don’t get paid until your business gets its refund. Heck, it’s worth checking to see if your business is owed money, too. Go now to GetRefunds.com. Be sure to tell them I sent you!

The horse’s name is Mayo. And Mayo neighs.

The answer: Microsoft, founded in 1975. Followed by Apple in 1976, Adobe in 1982, Yahoo in 1994 and Google in 1998. 

💪🏻 If you made it all the way down here, I appreciate you. And if I can help you with a digital dilemma, drop me a note here. See you tomorrow! — Kim