$1B in romance scams, Microsoft price increase, girl influencers at risk | In partnership with ExpressVPN | | Welcome to your spectacular Thursday, friend! I have a particular fondness for the word “free,” and I know you do, too. This weekend, Jan. 4 and Jan. 5, Apple TV+ is totally free to watch. They have a ton of award-winning series, documentaries, comedies, dramas and more. Download the app on your smart TV, gaming console or any Apple device. I’ve got some of my favorites to watch down at the bottom. Let’s be friends. Don’t miss out on the security alerts, tips and fun I post on social media. If you’re not following me already, hit these links for Instagram, X, YouTube and Facebook, and say, “I go Komando!” 🙈 Now, on to bestowing tremendous tech smarts your way! — Kim 📬 Was this email forwarded? Sign up here for free |
TODAY'S TOP STORY New year, clean inbox Right now, I'm sitting here beaming because my inbox is empty. Really! Did I read and reply to every single message? Well, no. I'm not an “Inbox Zero” person. Watch this quick video if you have no clue what that means. Before I took back control, I had 409 unread emails. But I have a trick to starting each year with a clean slate. You can do it, too! Clear out your inbox You could try sorting your emails into a maze of folders, but who has the time for that? Here's a surprisingly easy fix to start the new year right: Archive your inbox. It's like a magic wand for your digital clutter! What's email archiving, you ask? Picture this: A digital vault where every email you've ever sent or received is safely stored, complete with attachments. No more scrolling endlessly through a jam-packed inbox! So, are you ready to beat the email bloat? Here's your quickstart guide to mastering your inbox with the power of archiving. 🤖 Steps to archive emails in Gmail Open your Gmail account on a computer and click the Inbox folder on the left. Above your emails, there's an empty checkbox. Click the small arrow next to it, and choose All to get the conversations visible on your screen. To select all emails, click Select all [number] conversations in Inbox, then hit the Archive icon. (It looks like a folder with a downward-pointing arrow.) Gmail will take some time to process your request, so be patient. You may have to do this step a few times to get everything. Once you've archived a message, you can hit All Mail to the left, under “Inbox” and your other email folders, to find it. Search by a term you know was in the email or by the sender. 🍎 Using Apple Mail? Here’s what to do Open the Mail app on your Mac. Look through your inbox or other folders and find those emails you want to stash away. Click on an email to select it, or, if you've got a bunch, hold down Cmd and click each one you want to archive. Got an Archive button (it looks like a small box) on your toolbar? Click that and you're golden. No button? Click Message at the top, then choose Archive from the dropdown. For a shortcut, hit Ctrl + Cmd + A to send those emails right into your archive. To see your archived emails, head to the Archive folder in the sidebar under “Mailboxes.” Got more than one email account? Each has its own “Archive” folder. 👉 Use Outlook or Yahoo? I have steps for archiving here on my website. Worried you missed something? Archiving isn’t the same as deleting. It's like putting stuff in a storage box. Even if you archive emails, they can be subpoenaed for legal cases. I don’t give legal advice, so consult a lawyer if you have any questions. 😂 How do people from the South respond to emails? Reply y’all! |
KIM KOMANDO TODAY One email cost this man $167K Pat Lawlor was ready to buy his first home. A fake email from someone he thought was his escrow officer changed everything. Tap or click below to play this podcast now. Use this link to listen on Komando.com → |
WEB WATERCOOLER Just horrifying: It’s no secret predators go after kids online, but I never thought I’d read whackjob parents are welcoming this (paywall link; Warning: This story contains very disturbing items). The New York Times spent a year investigating girl influencers and parents who encourage them to take sexualized photos and develop relationships with adult men to make money. This is child abuse. CPS should be all over this. The Windows of my soul: Here’s one way to market a product. Microsoft is rolling out its AI assistant, Copilot, as part of its 365 subscription. It’s not free and you can’t opt out. It’s going to cost you an additional $30 per user per month for businesses. Wow. 💔 $1 billion in romance scams: That’s how much more than 64,000 Americans were talked out of, double the total four years ago. The Online Dating Safety Act could help. If approved, it’d require dating apps to notify anyone who has come in contact with a scam account. This begs the question: If they can identify scam accounts, why can’t they just remove them? Don’t buy a new drone now: Coming soon is the DJI Flip, a leaked folding drone priced at $829 that will offer first-person streaming. It has a 34-minute flight time with its 3110mAh battery and a three-axis gimbal camera — geek-speak for impressive. Check those extensions: Google Chrome extensions Cyberhaven, Internxt VPN, VPNCity and ParrotTalks just got hijacked to include malicious code that steals your data. Browse the full list of compromised extensions here. It’s part of a bigger campaign. If you have a ton of extensions you did not really vet, disable your extensions for now. Hit the puzzle piece icon near your URL bar > Manage Extensions > toggle them off. 👶🏻 Meet Generation Beta: Born between 2025 and 2039, this next generation won’t sit in traditional classrooms; personalized AI companions will teach and entertain them. They won’t carry phones; it will be in their ears or implanted. Robots will do everyday chores, from cooking to cleaning. They’ll go to space for the heck of it. I sure hope they still get to experience what it means to be human, too. |
DEALS OF THE DAY It’s a new year 🥳 So try something new! These all sound like a blast to combat the post-holiday blues. This pickle kit lets you ferment and pickle anything your heart desires. My favorite? Red onions, yum! Crotchet a cute little dinosaur with a crotchet kit for beginners ($25). The step-by-step video tutorials are so helpful. Want to get into podcasts (ahem, like mine)? You need a nice set of earbuds like these* that sound great, have a 32-hour battery life and are a fraction of the price of AirPods. This cocktail codex (52% off) shows you the fundamentals of drinkmaking and how to make every kind of cocktail. It even gives substitutes if you’re missing any ingredients! Try your hand at calligraphy with this workbook for beginners (29% off, $20). An indoor herb garden kit (19% off) lets you grow your own herbs and veggies. It comes with a bunch of different pre-seeded pods that make it easy. |
DAILY TECH UPDATE Read texts without the sender knowing Dodging your ex or that annoying group chat? I’ve got clever tricks that let you read messages stealthily. Tap or click below to play this podcast now. Use this link to listen on Komando.com → |
TECH LIFE UPGRADES ✋ Now that your inbox is clean: Stop the junk overload. In Gmail, add a + (plus sign) and any word or number combination before the @ symbol in your email address to make a new address you can easily filter right to the trash if it gets clogged. Say your email is bobjones@gmail.com. You could use bobjones+coupons@gmail.com. Have an Apple iCloud+ subscription? You can get free addresses ending with @icloud.com with their Hide My Email feature. I use this all the time. Oops: To delete an entire word at a time, hit Ctrl + backspace on a Windows computer. On a Mac, it’s Option + Delete. Teach Alexa your voice: I had Barry do this because she only understood me. In the Alexa app, go to More > Settings > Your Profile & Family > Your Profile > Add Your Voice. Even still, Alexa likes me better. Make this year the one you take care of you: Hearing aids aren’t expensive and bulky like they used to be. The tech has come such a long way. Get a free evaluation with a doctor.* You’ll be glad you did. ⚠️ “Synthetic identity fraud”: That’s when scammers use stolen Social Security numbers (often from kids) and add bogus names, birth dates and email addresses to create fake personas. They open credit cards, max them out and leave a trail of debt. Losses from this scam are projected to hit $5 billion next year. Have a kid 13 or younger? Fill out this form to see if they have a credit report, and freeze it if they do. No one needs to know: Archive Amazon orders you don’t want someone else to see. On a computer, hover your cursor over Account & Lists and click Orders. Find the order you want to hide, click View order details, and tap Archive Order. Click Archive Order again to confirm. No fires, please: Power strips rock, but they’re not for everything. Stay safe and never, ever use one for a fridge, freezer, microwave or other small appliance, space heater, heating pad, hair dryer, or gaming console. They all draw too much power, and power strips aren’t built for that. |
BY THE NUMBERS 280 mph Top speed for China’s new bullet train prototype. That’s a world record and fast enough to zip from New York to Chicago in under three hours. China’s current fastest trains max out at 220 mph. The fastest Amtrak trains go 160 mph, but most top out closer to 100 mph. We really need better trains in the U.S. 9 days after going missing A four-year-old German shepherd mix named Athena rang her owner’s doorbell. It was Christmas Eve at 2:30 a.m. — a holiday miracle! The Green Cove Springs, Florida, family searched as far as Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Check out the doorbell cam video that melted my heart. 4-word phrase You shouldn’t say to kids: “I’m disappointed in you.” Columbia sociologist Adam Galinsky says all it does is make them feel shame. Try being constructive instead, like, “How can we set up a system to get your homework done?” I still remember when my dad said to me after one college semester, “You get an A in Physics, Computer Programming, Statistics and Economics but a D in Accounting. What the hell is wrong with you?” He didn’t have to use the word “disappointed!” 😂 |
WHAT THE TECH? Elon Musk changed his name on X to "Kekius Maximus," with a gladiator-style Pepe the Frog avatar. The name “Kek” started in World of Warcraft and used to mean “LOL.” |
UNTIL NEXT TIME ... What to watch on Apple TV+: Most popular right now is the new show “Shrinking” with Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. “Severance” is a good sci-fi thriller, and “Ted Lasso” is a total feel-good show (but not for little kids). “For All Mankind” is for all my space nerds, and “The Morning Show” with Jennifer Aniston is totally addictive. 🫡 Pop in, watch an episode or two, and remember to cancel that free $9.95 monthly membership if you’re not into any of the shows you try! Speaking of free, maybe this is the year you ditch all the streaming services you’re not using. You can get so much good content through the freebies. Hit this list of seven ways to stream for free for more info. 😂 I want to watch “Hamlet” on a streaming platform. Does anyone know which one it's on? Is it Tubi or not Tubi? (Was that a groan I heard?) Phew, that was a packed issue. Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you tomorrow — same time, same place — for more smarts to keep you tech-ahead with the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim |
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