Welcome to a tech-wonderful Wednesday, friends! Let’s start with something you see every day. Ever wonder how your smartphone knows the exact time of day? It uses a specific clock. What is it? You’ll find the answer at the end of this newsletter.

🦸 Want to be my superhero? Just share this email with one friend who’ll enjoy it as much as you do. Your unique referral link at the end of each newsletter is your superpower. One click, one share — that's all it takes to help our community soar. Thanks for being awesome! — Kim

Before you start whining, "Kim, I don't need no stinkin' gift ideas," other folks here with you are loving them. I wanted to help you out because it's an important day.

Today is the last day to order most things online and get them in time for Christmas. Well, that is, unless you like paying for expensive rush shipping. In that case, there are a ton of tech tips below the gift guides in today's newsletter, as usual.

• That always-cold person will thank you for this heated mattress pad with dual controls
• Got a recipient who loves fishing? A mystery fishing box is perfect
• Teens love these custom neon signs
• This head shaver has over 10,000 five-star reviews — no more missed spots!
• A smartphone screen magnifier is perfect for watching movies and apps without straining your eyes
• Stanley water bottles will fit in their car’s cup holder, and they have a sweet handle, too
• This crossbody bag holds water, keys, a phone and more
• A fabric shaver will make their favorite sweater (or couch) like new
• For the baker: A nice KitchenAid stand mixer
• This press, steamer and iron is so easy to use
• Perfect gag gift: A purse that holds a bottle of wine
• A magnetic holder for their phone in the car is so handy!
• Every gal needs a pair of these comfy, nonslip slides with great support
• These ginger cake tea bags are from my favorite brand
• Toss a 12-pack of metal straws in the stockings
• These covers keep drinks fizzy and protect them from spills
• This super-cute puzzle game for kiddos is like IRL Tetris
• You’ll be a hero if you show up with a laser tag set
• We all know someone who would love to get in this inflatable ball and run around
• This DIY solar-powered robot is ideal for kids ages 8 to 10
• Disney lovers will want to make all these recipes inspired by the parks
• So cool — classic board games that look like books on the shelf

More great gift guides

I want to make your gift-giving super fun and easy. Here’s a handy way to pick the right gift by category. Enjoy!

Kids & Teens | Grandparents & Parents | In-laws & Siblings | New Homeowners | Tech Geeks | Foodies | Outdoorsy Folks | Book Lovers | Budget Options

• This sleek MacBook sleeve props up the keyboard for better ergonomics. Brilliant!
• This huge mouse pad with all the best Windows keyboard shortcuts
• A nice wrist rest should be standard if you type a lot.
• This desk pad is an excellent replacement for a crusty, old mouse pad
• So smart — a memo board that sticks to your monitor for notes

🚗 Fake parking apps: Next time you're Googling a parking app, be extra cautious. Scammers are using fake ads to mimic popular ones like PayByPhone. They lure you in with “free” downloads, which are really just pricey subscriptions. To stay scam-free, stick to official app stores and don’t download straight from search or a QR code.

SEO myth-busting: Google's John Mueller says domain age doesn't boost its search rankings. Huh? For years, SEO gurus swore old domains ranked better. So a website about medical info that popped up today might score higher in the search rankings than, say, WebMD, John? That's frightening.

No quick bucks for Cybertrucks: Sell your new Cybertruck within a year and Tesla might slap you with a lawsuit worth $50,000 or more. You gotta offer it back to Tesla first — for less, of course. And get this: Even if you get the go-ahead to sell, you’ll need its “written consent.” Wow, that hertz.

🐭 Mouse VR: Scientists at Northwestern University have crafted the iMRSIV — think Oculus Rift for rodents, but to study human responses to VR. These tiny goggles create a 3D world of mousy adventures, complete with virtual birds of prey. Mice react to VR threats just like they would in the wild — running faster or freezing.

Guess what's zooming in by early 2024? Wi‑Fi 7! Promising speeds up to 40 Gbps — yep, 4.8 times faster than Wi‑Fi 6. For now, gear up for a wireless revolution that could make Ethernet cables a thing of the past. Oh, in celebration of Wi‑Fi 7, be sure not to miss my joke about sevens at the end. You’ll laugh!

🍔 Insta-flop: In the world of #foodie posts, some chains just don't make the cut. Subway tops the list of least Instagrammable eats, with a mere 80,500 posts. Arby's and Wingstop aren't far behind. Turns out, the messier the meal, the less love it gets on Insta. Meanwhile, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonald's are slaying, with millions of tags. But hey, does a hashtag really mean the food's fab? Food for thought!

Here’s a new term to know: “Typosquatting.” It’s also called “URL hijacking.” How it works: Hackers register domain names slightly off from existing websites. If they target you, it could damage your business.

Picture this: You want to visit Amazon, Macy's or Nordstrom online, but instead, you accidentally type a variation of the site’s name. Boom, you land on a page that looks just like the real one, with all the products and deals.

But it's a fake. Hackers are crafty, setting up forms to snatch personal info. Since it looks real, it's super easy to get tricked. Imagine if they made a fake version of your site.

▶️ If you own a website, check out HaveIBeenSquatted.com. Type in your site's name, and it shows you all the typo variants out there.

💍 Speaking of … Dating online when you’re over 45 is like registering a domain name. All the good ones are taken, but you always get one from a foreign country.

Hotly debated around here: The pronunciation of “poinsettia.” Let Google settle it. Open Google and search for your hard-to-say word, followed by “pronunciation.” You’ll see the word spelled out phonetically next to a speaker icon. Tap the icon to hear it. Btw, poyn‑seh‑tee‑uh.

🔄 Undo mistakes: Get out of the menu and use your keyboard! Type Ctrl + Z (Windows) or Cmd + Z (Mac) to undo your last action in various applications — typing, deleting or formatting.

Know when people are free: I use this daily at work. In Google Calendar, put your cursor in the box labeled Search for people under the Meet with heading. 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.

This is your friendly reminder you don’t have to do everything yourself. A strong team can help you get more done — and open up your time for things that really matter. That’s true whether you’re just getting started or you have a bunch of employees already.

Use the site I do: LinkedIn. You can try it out totally free, and you’ll see how easy they make it to weed out the candidates that aren’t the right fit. No kidding, 86% of small businesses get a qualified candidate within 24 hours.

The king said, “Gimme more.”

The answer: OK, this is kinda geeky. Your smartphone synchronizes to the globe's Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Servers around the world occasionally adjust for leap seconds to account for the earth's irregular rotation. Then, your phone converts UTC to your local time. The next time you look at the time on your phone, there's a lot of science showing those numbers. Cool stuff, right?

One for the road: A man wakes up at 7:07 a.m. on July 7, the seventh day of the seventh month. As he steps outside, bus No. 7 goes by. He visits a coffee shop and the bill is $7.77. The man thinks, "The universe is trying to tell me something with all these sevens." So, he goes to the race track. In the seventh race, horse No. 7 is "Lucky Universe." The man can't believe it. He runs to the teller and bets all his money on the horse. The horse came in seventh. (Good one, right?!)

Thank you for letting me in your inbox. It’s an honor I don’t take lightly. I’ll be back tomorrow with another edition of the best newsletter in the USA! Be sure to share me with one person today. You rock! — Kim