Tech Tuesday is upon us, friend! Let's begin with a fun fact. What temperature is too hot for an iPhone to work well? In Fahrenheit, is it … 77 degrees, 95 degrees, 113 degrees or 131 degrees? The answer’s at the end, and it’s definitely inspired by it hitting 109 degrees here in Phoenix today. And don’t even think about telling me, “It's a dry heat.” So is an oven!

✈️ Be the hero: I’m giving away $1,000 to spend toward your favorite airline. Share this link with your friends and fam so they can enter to win. All they need to do is get one issue of The Current. Win-win, right? Hey, maybe they’ll take you with them. — Kim

Sometimes, digital payment apps feel like the equivalent of finding $20 in a jacket pocket. I have $34 sitting in Venmo, $215 in Apple Pay and …

This isn’t a big deal if you keep a few bucks around to pay back a friend for a drink. But this is huge if you get paid directly to PayPal or Venmo for anything. Unlike the money at your FDIC-insured bank or credit union, you can lose your money sitting in these apps.

What’s the big deal?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says more than 75% of American adults have used one of these apps. That number is steadily growing as more folks get comfortable with the tech.

When money makes it to your bank or credit union, it's almost certainly protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC. It's generally insured up to $250,000 per account — and it's why we can sleep at night knowing our money is safe even if we can't see it.

If it never hits a bank, it never gets insured

PayPal, Venmo and Cash App don't send your money to a bank account, of course. It sits in the app, meaning those companies control it and that's how they make the big bucks. They invest money in the app's customer accounts and charge you fees for using premium features like instant transfers.

Seems unlikely that PayPal, for instance, could fail. But if it did, you’d probably be SOL. Just look at what happened to everyone who had money in the crypto exchange company FTX — billions of dollars gone overnight, just like that.

Take these steps now

What if you're a business owner who gets paid or tipped through these apps? PayPal lets you set up automatic bank transfers based on the time or your account balance, which is excellent … with a caveat: You need a Business account.

❌ Use Venmo or Cash App?

I recommend setting a calendar reminder to transfer your money out of the app every two weeks or at least monthly. An inconvenience, sure, but you’ll be glad you did if things ever go bad.

While you’re in the settings …

Take a look at privacy. Depending on the app you use, anyone else with the app in the entire world can see every single one of your transactions. Let’s fix that.

FYI, there’s no need to do this on Zelle since there’s no social feed like the others. On Cash App, too, transactions are private by default. Score.

🏦 A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove you don’t need it.

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🔍 How do you spell monopoly? G‑O‑O‑G‑L‑E: A federal judge ruled it was illegal for Google to pay $26 billion for other web browsers and phone manufacturers to make it their default search engine (paywall link). How to fix this mess? Make Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sell off Google or invalidate the illegal payoff and let manufacturers select their own search engines.

Tech to the rescue: A family of seven was saved from their sinking boat on Utah Lake thanks to a hero and drone. A bystander found the family a mile and a half from shore and shared the GPS coordinates with emergency services. Everyone's OK, except for the drone; its battery ran out, and it took a dive.

Two down, eight to go: Neuralink successfully implanted another brain chip into a human patient. No word on when its second trial recipient had surgery, but Elon Musk says it’s “gone extremely well.” The plan is to have eight more brain chip implants completed this year. I interviewed the first recipient, Noland. Amazing guy!

🤑 Apple payout: Payments are on the way for anyone stuck with the defective MacBook butterfly keyboard available from 2015 to 2019. Payouts range from $50 to $395. Check your mailbox if you submitted your info for the settlement.

Catch ‘em all: OpenAI is afraid to release an AI-detection tool they’ve been sitting on for nearly two years. It’s reportedly 99% effective at detecting AI-generated text with watermarks, and all they have to do is "turn it on." Why the holdup? People are keeping their AI use quiet, and OpenAI will tick off people by releasing its tool.

🦎 The haves and have yachts: Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, sporting a gold chain and curly hair, knows everyone’s roasting him online. From being called a “lizard” to claims he doesn’t blink, he’s OK with it all. The 40-year-old says from his 387-foot mega yacht that if you’re gonna joke, "At least make them good memes.”

👩🏼‍🏫 Gen Z’s latest craze? PowerPoint presentation parties (paywall link). Guests whip up literal slideshows on weird, wacky topics and show them to the group. It’s all about flexing creativity, getting some laughs and reliving high-school nostalgia (or nightmares). One of my favorite topic prompts: “Predictions for how each friend here will end up in jail.”

Help me hit 100,000: I’m close to a big milestone on YouTube. Hit this link to subscribe to my channel. Every click helps me out! Watch a video while you’re there. Bet I make you laugh.

What a deal: I have AirTags on, well, everything — my cars, my boat, my dog and even my husband. No, seriously! Barry loses everything. Right now, a four-pack is the lowest price I’ve ever seen, at $79.

Nifty way to wake your phone: With Samsung's “Lift to wake” feature, all you have to do is pick up your phone or take it out of your pocket and the screen turns on. Open Settings, tap Advanced features > Motions and gestures. Tap the switch next to Lift to wake to enable it. Magic!

Try and try again: If you're a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you can now edit images, too. Just click on an image to give follow-up instructions, like removing or adding objects. If the results stink, give some feedback and try again.

Dressing rooms are lame: I try on clothes at home, with lighting I like and all my shoe options close by. For elevated basics like washable silk tops and $50 cashmere, check out Quince. Go to quince.com/kim for free shipping and 365-day returns.*

Holy crepe, that thing is tall.

The answer: 95 degrees. That's the highest temperature Apple and Samsung say your phone can work without acting quirky. Pro tips: In the car, put your phone in the shade. If it feels extra hot, take off the case so it can “breathe” (and don’t drop it, OK?).

🦉 I tried to give up taking selfies, but I just can’t picture myself with my iPhone. Oof, OK, I know. But seriously, come say hi on Instagram, where I share fun videos, like the pair of owls on my roof!

If you learned something, smiled or slapped your forehead over one of my jokes, hit the thumbs-up at the end. I’ll see you tomorrow with new research about cellphone radiation in another issue of the best tech newsletter in the USA! — Kim