It’s a sensational Sunday! Let’s play with numbers today. How many 8.5-by-11-inch pages could you print using only one standard black ink cartridge on the lowest print quality setting, with 350 words per page, all in 12-point Times New Roman? Is it … 100, 300, 600 or 1,100 pages? You’ll find the answer at the end.

✅ Do your part and support these free newsletters by checking out today’s fantastic sponsor, Bark, the best phone to give kids and teens. I get a ton of questions about watching what kids and teens do on their phones. This blows the other options out of the water. Check them out if you have a kiddo in the family, or pass the link to someone who does. — Kim

When I first read about groups of people who get together online to exchange stories, videos and pictures of baby dolls that cost $20,000 or more, I was like, "That's nuts." I wanted to learn more about it, and now that I have, I understand this viral trend.

These aren't your run-of-the-mill dolls cranked out in some Chinese factory. These are hyper-realistic infant dolls usually made of vinyl or silicone and weighted appropriately. They're hand-painted with details like freckles, specific expressions and even birthmarks. Creating an upscale so-called "Reborn" doll is painstaking and, frankly, quite impressive.

It's easy to see one and think, "Whoa, that's eerie." But a growing community of people say “adopting” these dolls has changed their lives for the better.

Cuddle therapy

Doll therapy has been around for a long time to treat patients with dementia or Alzheimer's. Though a bit controversial, the treatment seems to have the support of many mental health professionals.

Psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall told Today.com many Reborn collectors use their dolls to deal with grief, miscarriages or other kinds of loss. "For some women, 'mothering' dolls allows them control over variables in the relationship versus responding to the needs of an actual baby and fostering their development and growth."

These "Reborn moms" find each other online, creating communities that swap sleep schedules, diaper-changing tips and other typical "new mom" topics.

Many own more than one Reborn doll. Lisa Robertson has seven. She started collecting them after her parents died to deal with the pain of being unable to have children.

Robertson knows her dolls aren't real babies — but that's the point. "They don't grow up, leave you or die," she told “Today.”

The price of parenthood

Though you can purchase a Reborn doll for under $100 (don’t shop on Temu, people!), most cost a few thousand at least. The most expensive we could find went for over $22,000.

Why do they cost so much? Time. The extreme attention to detail means these dolls require months of manual labor from the artist. This includes sculpting expressions and fingernails from silicone or vinyl, hand-painting skin textures, and "rooting" each strand of real human hair into the scalp.

The material costs add up, too — especially when the doll includes battery-operated "breathing" machines or a baby-like scent (often created by blending baby powder and laundry detergent).

A $6,500 doll on eBay has a detachable umbilical cord and a realistic "drink and wet" function. For $1,500, you can buy a doll off Etsy that’s kinda realistic and also "haunted by an active spirit." I’m not sure what that means, but I wouldn’t want it in my house.

I know this isn't a topic I usually talk about in these newsletters. I thought it was interesting that tech has allowed the creation of these dolls, along with the ability for people to get together to share. These dolls can really help heal people's hearts, and that's something special.

Solution: A one-of-a-kind phone with advanced monitoring tools

I wish this phone was available when my son was growing up. If you have a child or teen in your family, you need the Bark Phone. There’s nothing like it on the market.

Here’s why:

• Powerful content scanning: The Bark Phone automatically scans your child's texts, social media and apps, notifying you instantly of any concerning content.
• Tamper-proof design: It looks like any other sleek Samsung device, but it's tamper-proof. Kids can't delete texts, change parental controls or access VPNs to bypass restrictions.
• Location tracking: Keep tabs on your child's whereabouts with real-time location tracking.
• Screen-time limits: Set firm, unchangeable screen time limits.
• Search monitoring: Know exactly what your child is searching for online.
• Affordable: You get all of this (and peace of mind) for $49 a month.

Kids can’t raise themselves. You know that — and you also know there are a lot of sickos out there.

Amazon’s new star: Amazon’s testing a new rating system in India and Germany, so don’t be surprised when you see it here. Instead of showing a five-star rating system for each product, you’ll see a single yellow star with the product’s percentage of five-star ratings. At a glance, you can see if something is cool or crap. I’d rather they shine a light on fake reviews.

🗞 Out of the news biz: Facebook is cutting traffic to news sites and media outlets. For publishers, that means a heck of a lot less traffic and, for you, less news in your feed. Why? Money. Meta doesn’t want to pay publishers for their work and never meta a way not to sell our data.

Publishers vs. OpenAI: OpenAI grabbed everything it could to train ChatGPT. Authors have already sued over copyright violations, and the New York Times might be next. Copyright fines are no joke — up to $150,000 per piece of content — not to mention how much work it would take for OpenAI to start over training its chatbot on approved material. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three lefts do make a U-turn.

🚘 Tesla’s new marketing strat: The new Tesla Model X and Model S Standard Range are $10,000 cheaper than the originals. The trade-off: They don’t go as far on a charge. Model S gets 320 miles (usually 405), and Model Z gets 269 (usually 348). The battery itself is exactly the same, but a software lock cuts down the charging capacity. Buy either and I see a paid software upgrade in your future to unlock the extra miles.

Girl dinner: Told you about this before, the viral video trend about snack dinners made up of whatever bits and bites you want. Nutritionists are torn. On the one hand, eating a smaller meal at night can help us sleep — but a meager plate or a pile of junk food isn’t a dinner we should aim for. Add a few vegetables, girl.

Every morning, brush your teeth to my Daily Tech Update. You get fresh breath and fresh tech know-how in a minute.

Listen to my podcast, Daily Tech Update, here.

I talk to such interesting people on my national radio show. Hear my convos with these folks and more. I’m on 425 radio stations nationwide. Find yours!

• TikTok star Chris Guerra makes funny videos for his 800K followers. Say what you will about social media influencers, but what he does is hard work. Good thing he gets paid well for it. He also shares the secret to making a viral TikTok vid.
• Jim in Florida is looking for a safe way to research his ancestry, and we talked about my DNA results (all good).
• Logan Visser knows how thin the line is between fun and addiction. At one point, he was playing video games for 16 hours a day. He talked with me about how he broke the cycle.

Plus, Glenn handed over personal info to a fake passport site, Elizabeth keeps getting bogus “wrong number” texts, Reggie needs a marketing solution to get his small biz off the ground, and John is worried about the future of AI and fake information.

✅ You have three ways to catch my show:

1. Find me on your local radio station.
2. Listen now in the Komando Community. No commercials!
3. If you don’t mind waiting for shows to appear, get the podcast: Kim Komando Today.

🤗 Need my help? Let’s talk. Leave me a note here.

💰 My, how dimes have changed: I pay with my phone everywhere I can now, but sometimes a store doesn’t take Apple Pay or there’s an issue. I hide $20 between my phone and its case to always have a backup. Pro tip: Don’t tell your spouse the cash is there; they’ll borrow it.

Stuck on hold: There’s a hidden redial button on your smartphone. Hit the call button without typing a number or choosing a contact to call the last person you talked to.

ICYMI: I've given this tip before but always blow at least one mind with it. Grab any USB cable sitting around your house. See that symbol on one side? It will point up if you're plugging in horizontally, and if you're plugging in a cable vertically, the USB symbol will face you. Try it.

🌚 Switch it up: Maybe your phone is old and doesn't hold a charge like it used to. The less work your screen has to do lighting up, the longer it’ll last. Switch your wallpaper to something dark and turn on Dark Mode (search your settings) for a noticeable battery life boost.

Cup of positivi-tea: Relying on voice assistants to set timers is useful, but not if you forget what the timer’s for altogether — or if you have multiple timers going and can’t remember if the chicken needs to come out of the oven or you need to switch the laundry. Next time you set a timer, add some context, like “Alexa, set a chicken timer for 20 minutes.”

🍪 “I had my first cookie when I was 2 …” Food bloggers, please — it’s too much. Skip the story and go right to the recipe.

LOL, IDK what that means. A survey revealed the most confusing acronyms. Read the list so you know ‘em!

Chromebooks are useful and cheap, but they have built-in expiration dates. Check the model before you buy one.

Alexa, I will toss you out the window. Your Echo is annoying without a few quick changes. Disable hunches, fix sound issues and more.

It’s not just happenstance you like to listen to the birds sing with your morning coffee or tea. It’s science.

There’s a lot of truth in this meme, right?

The answer: 600 pages. Ink manufacturers come up with estimates based on the numbers I gave in the question. But, like most things in life, your mileage may vary.

It’s so annoying when music comes out of your printer. Out of nowhere, it starts jamming.

✅ Reminder to be sure to check out our great sponsor today. If you or someone you know has kids or teens begging for or using a smartphone, you def need to check out Bark. 

🌄 Have a happy, restful Sunday. See you bright and early tomorrow morning with the best tech newsletter in the world! Until then, the next time you see yourself in the mirror, smile and say out loud, “Damn, I’m good-looking!” — Kim