It’s Tuesday, superstar. Let’s get this party started with trivia. What unique product did Samsung produce in the 1970s before getting into the electronics industry? Was it a … solar-powered TV, three-wheeled electric car, noodle-making machine or washing machine with a built-in radio? Answer’s at the end!

🪄 If I could, I’d wave a magic tech wand and zap away all your tech troubles. Meet GetKimsHelp.com, always ready to help. If we don’t fix your Wi-Fi, printer, router, phone or whatever, you don’t pay. — Kim

Getting your credit cards stolen is aggravating. Having your entire identity stolen is next-level awful … but what if a thief pretended they were you at the hospital?

It sounds stranger than fiction, but medical identity theft is no joke. A recent data breach at HCA Healthcare exposed the personal identification data of around 11 million patients — a hacker's dream.

That wasn't you in the ER?

Just how bad can things get? One woman realized something was up after receiving a text from a hospital. It said her ER wait time was extended, except … she wasn't at this hospital or anywhere near it. She ignored it.

The next day, she got a call from the hospital staff to discuss her test results. Even though she reported the incident as fraudulent, she still got slapped with a bill for over $3,600. To get things corrected, the victim had to escalate things to the hospital's privacy officer. 

Signs and symptoms

How do you know you're a victim of medical identity theft? One of the biggest signs is receiving a bill from your doctor or an Explanation of Benefits statement for health care services you didn't get.

Another red flag: Calls from debt collectors about medical debt you don't owe. Your credit report might also have medical debt collection notices listed. It’s a good reason to snag that free annual report.

Your health insurance company also may notify you that you've hit your benefit limits when you know that's not true. Similarly, you could be denied insurance coverage over a bogus pre-existing condition. 

Build up your immunity

Medical identity theft is scary, and victims often don't realize something is wrong until way too late.

• Store hard copies of medical records and documents with personal identification information in a safe or lockbox.
• Consider using a wallet tracker. If you carry your health insurance cards in your wallet and it’s lost or stolen, a tracker could help you pinpoint its location.
• Call your health insurance company right away if you lose your ID cards.
• Use a strong, unique password if you log into an online portal to view medical records from your doctor or hospital.
• Remove prescription labels from empty bottles before you toss them. These labels have information thieves could use.
• Monitor your credit report to check for medical debt that’s not yours.

Babies, kids and older folks are prime targets for this stuff. Criminals are banking on no one realizing there's a problem with their credit until they're long gone. Pass this on to the people you care about.

Don’t buy this: Bloomberg (paywall link) tore apart vegan meal-kit company Daily Harvest, backed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Serena Williams. Its French Lentil + Leek Crumbles sent some people in for emergency gallbladder removal surgery. They still advertise all over social media.

❓ What’s Wickr? Got this question a lot lately. News is out that Hunter Biden chats with his dad, President Biden, on Wickr. This Amazon-owned encrypted messaging app can’t read users’ messages or determine who’s communicating. Hunter downloaded the Wickr app 226 times since 2012. Have you ever downloaded an app more than a few times? Me, neither.

Wasted space: Starlink's 4,500-satellite network with Elon Musk at the helm, potentially controlling access or misusing data, is causing angst for world leaders. They're meeting to see what they can do to compete with Musk. Since 2003, the U.S. government has given Starlink $15.8 billion. I didn't even get a small-business loan.

➕ Do the math: Samsung will give you $900 to trade in an iPhone 14 Pro Max for its brand-new Galaxy Z Flip 5 or Fold 5. You can probably get more for the iPhone on eBay. Make sure you’re good with this decision; there’s no way to get your iPhone back if you change your mind.

🤡 Latest (dumb) TikTok trend: Eating apricot pits to cure acne. The pits are packed with amygdalin, which turns into cyanide when ingested. It’ll give you a headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting and rapid breathing, and it can even lead to death. Darwin at work, folks.

Pull over first: BMW’s i7 electric sedan has a hefty price tag ($151,000) and a big 31-inch screen that rolls down with all the streaming apps. “Theater Mode” shades the windows and dims the lights. For that kind of money, it ought to make popcorn, too.

🤯 A modern miracle: A 45-year-old man from Long Island can move and feel again after being paralyzed in a diving accident. Doctors used machine-learning-based surgery (aka AI) to connect a computer to his brain to treat or cure other impassible illnesses like blindness, deafness, ALS, seizures, cerebral palsy and Parkinson’s. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?!

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.

Apple makes some expensive gadgets, from $550 headphones to the Mac Pro that starts at $6,999 (and maxes out at a cool $53,000). But that’s nothing compared to how much collectors' items have sold for.

Check this list, and then we'll all be kicking ourselves for not tucking one of these treasures into our closets when they came out. I’m seriously tempted to do that with a Vision Pro headset.

The crème de la crème

• The prototype of Apple's first computer, Apple Computer A, went for $700,000 last year. Co-founder Steve Wozniak soldered it by hand in 1976.
• A fully functional Apple-1 computer, the first product under the Apple name, went for $460,000 in 2020.
• Ah, the holy grail. A factory-sealed 4G iPhone (the original model) sold for $190,000 recently. The tiny-storage model was discontinued after two months, so they’re extra rare.
• The Apple VideoPad 2 never made it to production, but the prototype of the personal digital assistant sold for $14,000 in 2021. 
• Before the Apple Watch was the WristMac. OK, it’s not an Apple device, but it did work with Macintosh’s AppleTalk. The Seiko watch went for $7,500 in 2021.

👟 I had to include this one. Steve Jobs’ old Birkenstocks went for $200,000 at auction last year. A pair of sneakers made specifically for Apple employees are up for sale right now if you have a spare $50,000.

Your grandpa's old rifle, your grandmother's wedding dress and all those old family pictures are precious heirlooms that hold stories worth preserving for future generations. But how? 

• Thingealogy is a digital inventory system to capture images of family heirlooms, along with a description and the story behind each item. Works on the web or as an iPhone app. Neat. 
• For organizing and managing archival photographs, try Tropy, developed by George Mason University. It’s free to use and lets you add metadata, tags and annotations to your images so they’re easily searchable and well-organized. It works on Windows, Mac or Linux computers.

💎 What do you call an heirloom vape pen? A family Juul. Sorry …

Every week on my national radio show, I talk to interesting folks doing amazing things in tech, everyday people who could use a hand, and I share some of my best tips and tricks. Missed it? All is not lost!

Just tune in to my podcast, Kim Komando Today. What you can’t miss this week: A major healthcare lawsuit that impacts us all, hackers’ favorite file types to sneak onto your computer, my favorite new iPhone features and the latest financial trend sweeping the internet.

I so wanted to share a Uranus joke.

The answer: Noodle-making machine. You can use this one to stump your family and friends. Reminds me of the time my sister bet me $1,000 I couldn’t build a car out of noodles. You should have seen the look on her face as I drove pasta!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers with my corneal transplant. I posted an update and photo on my Instagram. While there, hit “Follow” so you never miss an update.

Referrals = Prizes. Your unique referral link to copy and share with your family and friends is below. Appreciate you! I’ll see you this afternoon with the latest Tech Hacks and tomorrow morning with the latest Tech News! — Kim