A very happy techy Monday to you, friend! Let’s start the week with an interesting trivia question. In our age of filters and photo-editing apps, what is the percentage of truly unedited, unaltered photos posted to social media? Is it … A.) 5%, B.) 12.5%, C.) 20% or D.) 27%? Make your best guess, and you’ll find the answer at the end.

Welcome to the inner circle. If you’re starting your day with me, good morning. Marianne in Austin, Texas, asked me what was in my cup during a recent episode of my show. Sadly, it’s not a lemon drop martini. I make sun tea using this pitcher ($19.99, 41% off today!) and passion fruit tea bags. Tea is so great for you, and it’s perfect iced on a summer day. On to the news! — Kim

Your phone is dying as you’re reading this. Many people don’t realize that, like milk, bike helmets and condoms, phones are sold with a built-in expiration date. Here are the average lifespans for some of today’s most popular phone brands and makes:

• Apple iPhone: 4 to 8 years
• Samsung: 3 to 6 years
• Google Pixel: 3 to 5 years
• Huawei: 2 to 4 years

These are averages, meaning your mileage may vary.

What’s your number?

Your phone’s lifespan clock starts ticking from its manufacture date, not when you purchased it, so knowing when it was built is super important. Here are ways to find out:

• Look around: The manufacture date is often listed on the package. If you tossed it, check the “About” section in your phone's settings for a date or serial number.
• Serial number: Many manufacturers encode the manufacturing date within these numbers. The site SNDeepInfo can help you decode yours.
• Dial secret codes: Special codes and menus can reveal manufacturing information. Dialing *#06# might show your phone's serial number.

Yeah, I know. This looks like way too much work.

Hallelujah, there’s an easier way

Instead of taking the steps above, head to endoflife.date. This handy site lists the end-of-life (EOL) dates for devices, software programs and others. Some quick links for you to check your phone’s EOL:

• Apple iPhone
• Samsung
• Google Pixel

The links below aren’t for phones, but I thought you might want to check the EOL for your other tech:

• Apple Watch
• Apple iPad
• Android OS
• Amazon Kindle
• Microsoft Windows

This is an excellent site to check before you buy any used tech. If it’s about to hit its EOL date, don’t buy it.

This is serious stuff

Using tech past its EOL date is bad for a bunch of reasons.

• No important updates: Sure, you won’t receive the latest features, but, more importantly, you also won’t get any new security updates.
• Hackers love you: Yep, hackers can break into your outdated tech more easily to exploit unfixed bugs and security issues. We’re talking about unauthorized access on your phone to your bank accounts, health data, and even your voice from calls and voicemails.
• Crappy battery life: As phones age, their battery performance degrades because lithium-ion batteries lose capacity over time.
• Slow down: Older phones struggle to run newer apps and operating systems.
• No new phone smell: That sweet manufacturing scent is long gone. (Just kidding, there’s no scent. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention!)

Now you know the smartphone makers’ dirty little secret. I bet there’s at least one person you know who’d appreciate this fact. Use the handy share buttons below to spread the tech know‑how.

How about some new patio chairs to upgrade your outdoor setup? Let’s face it: You need ‘em.

• Two zero-gravity lounge chairs for $100 (23% off!). They have over 42,000 five-star reviews, and everyone says, “Comfy!”
• This oversized zero-gravity chair is also on sale for $80. Dang! It’s 27% off!
• Adirondack chairs look and feel great. This durable no-crack and no-fade option has a retractable ottoman and cup holders. Sweetness.
• Put your pool toys, gardening tools, sports gear — you name it — in this 70-gallon lockable storage bench. It has a 551-pound weight capacity, so plop down. It’s $110 — that’s 38% off right now!
• This hammock just screams summer. Best of all, it’s 46% off (only $75). Love all the colors.

Btw, here’s a link to find money-saving coupons on Amazon.

Scammers' newest trick: They’ve racked up a whopping 850,000 fake orders across 10,000 sketchy retail websites, and they’re using PayPal and Stripe for payments. The twist: They don’t charge you for the phony order. Instead, they capture your credit card info to sell it on the dark web. These are probably the crappy bogus products hawked on social media feeds. Don’t fall for ‘em.

🥩 The password “beefstew” is not stroganoff: Hackers are still going after password manager LastPass. If someone calls and offers help changing your LastPass login, hang up because it’s fake. You really need a better password manager. My pick is Keeper Security* — only $1.46 a month to protect all your usernames and passwords with a service you can trust.

AI coming to save Siri: Apple’s upcoming iOS 18 update, which is expected to be announced on June 10, is all about AI upgrades (Bloomberg, paywall link). Coming soon: The ability to control your apps using Siri, transcriptions and summaries of voice memos, automated text replies, AI-generated emojis, and advanced photo editing. If Siri worked for me, I would’ve fired her years ago.

AI chatbot Perplexity has a new feature: You might like Perplexity if you haven’t tried it already. Its new trick is that you can type in a prompt and it’ll research, write and lay out an entire report. All the teachers just groaned.

From the “I’m-from-the-government-and-I’m-here-to-help” department: Effective June 1, the federal internet subsidies that gave 20 million low-income U.S. families access to speedy internet are over. Here’s a list of providers offering discounted internet prices through the end of 2024.

🦾 New term to know: Internet of Bodies. Like the Internet of Things (IoT), the IoB is an ecosystem of devices humans rely on to function (even partially), including internet access, AI and other tech. Smartwatches and the like are in the first category, followed by internal devices like smart prosthetics. The third IoB generation? Devices that completely merge with the body, like Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chips. I swear, sci-fi movies are coming to life.

If it’s not a mother or father, it’s not a parent: Chip and Joanna Gaines, the former HGTV stars known for the hit show "Fixer Upper," just said they have a strict no-social-media policy for their five kids until the summer before college. Now, juxtapose this sage advice with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s 10-year-old daughter, North, who has 19.2 million followers on TikTok. If you thought yesterday’s child stars were screwed up, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

💲 If you put a Ring on it: Ring’s raised its Basic video doorbell subscription costs from $3.99 to $4.99 a month. Always something, huh? More than ever, getting SimpliSafe* to protect your whole home is a smarter and cheaper choice.

Override your hotel thermostat: This site compiled videos of all the ways to hack the most common hotel thermostats. For some, it’s as simple as holding down a couple of buttons.

😎 Super useful: ShadeMap shows where shadows fall around your home at any given time of day. Smart to check if you’re taking photos, installing new blinds, planning a garden and so on.

Mickey and Minnie, take note: Here’s a cool mouse shortcut for your desktop: Hit Shift on your keyboard, then use your mouse wheel. Instead of scrolling up and down, your mouse wheel will scroll left and right.

Need to clean a TV or monitor? Don’t spray the screen directly with a cleaner. Spray it onto a rag. I like this super-affordable $10 pack of 24 microfiber cloths. Oh, and turn off your screen before you clean, OK?

AI is changing the world at a pace we’ve never seen before in the history of mankind. That’s why you need to take a free test drive to learn how you can save time and money using AI in your business.

The problem: Buying the tech to make it happen is expensive — and who knows if you’re even choosing what you truly need?

The pros at Oracle will bring AI to your company the easy way. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure uses NVIDIA GPUs, so you know you’re getting the gold standard in processing power. Let them worry about updates and maintenance so you can focus on the future.

Talk about busting a move!

The answer: C.) 20%. One out of every five photos posted is shared without edits, reflecting natural moments. I find this hard to believe, too.

Speaking of photos … Did you hear about the two friends who always edited photos together? They were sharecroppers!

🍃 Psst, did you know you can take me on the go? Fire up the Kim Komando Show podcast on your next walk. Get it here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I’d love to keep you company! See you right back here tomorrow with more tech know-how from the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim