The Current-Sat Plus: FDA recalls 28 popular drinks, Amazon returns sold as βnew,β FBI gives away codes to foil hackers β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β In partnership with Incogni | Hello, itβs a knowledge-packed Saturday, friend! Youβve been loving the riddles here at the top, so letβs start this tech party with one. Ready? I'm not a wave, but I travel. I'm intangible and can carry a conversation. What am I? Put on your techy thinking cap. Youβll find the answer at the end. π» Listen up! The weekend means my national radio show is airing all across the country. Find your local station using our super station tool, or search for my last name in your favorite radio streaming app. Youβll learn a ton of stuff not covered in my newsletters! π I finally got my privacy back using this trick. Incogni has removed my personal data (DOB, name, addresses, phone numbers and more!) from 216 different people-search and data-broker sites. Try it yourself for 60% off with code KIM60. You are going to love the results, I promise. β Kim π« First-time reader? Sign up here. (Itβs free!) IN THIS ISSUE π Fix your voice-to-text π A secret code to foil hackers β οΈ Arsenic in apple juice |
TODAY'S TECH HACK Texting with your voice? Read this I tell Siri what to type all the time. If my husband, Barry, is in the room, he thinks Iβm talking to him, so heβll reply, "What do you mean?" and Siri picks that up, too. Yeah, I know β¦ first-world problems. Sending a text with your voice can be a real timesaver or a huge lesson in patience. Lucky for you, I'm your tech-savvy friend with a few ways to simplify having Siri or Google Assistant do the typing for you. Know the commandβos: Dictate your text and then, when you're ready to send a text, just say, "Send." If you change your mind, say, βCancel.β And if you need to shout, by all means, say, βAll caps.β That's not quite right: To delete the last word you dictated, say, "Delete the last word." To delete the last sentence, say, "Clear sentence." If you want to get rid of everything you just said, say, "Clear all." π Add an emoji: You can do this with your voice, too. Just say the name of an emoji, like βSmiley-faced emoji.β No guarantees you'll get the exact one you want. I once wanted Barry to pick up eggs, and Siri sent him the eggplant emoji instead. Not quite the same thing β¦ Look to the dot: If the microphone icon is on and glowing, it's listening. If you want it to stop, tap the microphone or say, "Stop listening." Pro tip: Youβll see an orange dot in the top right of your screen on your iPhone if it's listening; on Android, itβll display a green dot. Still thinking? Depending on your phone, every pause might turn into a comma or period. Yes, it can be annoying, but that's just how it goes. βοΈ Think of it as a rough draft: If you're dictating a long message, consider what you say with your voice a starting place. It's easy to go back and make corrections on your keyboard, and youβll still save a bunch of time. Stop yelling: Talk to your digital assistant with your βinside voiceβ like you would a friend. I get it β the more frustrated you get, the louder you get. But that just makes your voice more garbled. Take a breath and try again. Some other commands to try: βRead backβ will read your dictated text back to you. βInsert a [character],β where the character can be punctuation, like a period, comma or exclamation point. βAttach imageβ or βAttach videoβ will let you add an image or video to your message. βAdd contactβ allows you to add a contact from your phone to a text. (This is especially useful for group messages.) π Hereβs one of my favorite Siri tricks you can use on an Android, too (just swap out βSiriβ). Say, "Siri, put my phone on Do Not Disturb." I use that before I record for the radio or a podcast. You can use it before bed, church, a movie or when you just need some peace. π Between typos and autocorrect, it's getting hard to text. One tiny mistake and your whole message is urined. |
Erase your info from the internet Data brokers donβt care about your privacy. Their goal is to get their hands on your personal information and make money. Sometimes, that means selling your details to advertisers, but there are scummier uses β especially when scammers are willing to pay, too. Thatβs why you need to know about Incogni. Incogni protects you from data brokers and people-search sites by essentially removing you from the internet. They scrub your info from the sites that have your addresses from over the years, phone numbers, relatives, legal documents and anything else they can find. Hereβs a sweet bonus: Without your info posted all over the web, spam calls and texts will just stop. Mine did. Boom, my privacy is back. Use my link for 60% off for a limited time. β Please support our sponsors! |
WEB WATERCOOLER Upgrade your AV: If you use antivirus software from Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, itβs time to switch, like, now. And just earlier this year, the FTC hit antivirus company Avast with a $16.5 million fine for selling your browsing secrets for ads since 2014. Yup, donβt use that program, either. That's why my pick is TotalAV* β just $19 for a year of solid protection. π¨ Data held hostage by LockBit ransomware? Donβt negotiate with terrorists. The FBI is giving out 7,000 free decryption keys you can use to unlock your data without paying a ransom. If youβre affected, youβll probably know it (i.e., you wonβt be able to access files on your computer). Go to the FBIβs Internet Crime Complaint Center to snag your free key. The NIH blue it: For years, the National Institutes of Health has said blue light from smartphones and iPads will keep us awake at night. Well, some 11 studies now say the blue light story is bogus (WSJ, paywall link). We get so engrossed in what we're reading or watching on these screens that we simply canβt put βem down. So tonight, turn it off and go to sleep. π¦ One personβs return β¦ is anotherβs "new" purchase. Amazonβs return policy lets items that pass a quality check be resold as βnew,β even if theyβve been opened. Spot an βLPNβ label on the packaging? Thatβs a telltale sign it's been reprocessed. Hit up Amazonβs customer service pronto for a replacement. It's a buyer's market: During the pandemic, people scooped up boats, RVs and motorcycles at record rates. Now, theyβre trying to offload them, thanks to rising costs and interest rates. Plenty of dealers are stuck with excess inventory, too. Your move β itβs time to score some deals on eBay and Facebook Marketplace! π₯€ Ugh, not Martinelli's! The FDA has yanked 28 drinks off the shelves this year for undeclared drugs and cancer-causing chemicals. Martinelli's apple juice is chock full of arsenic and Fiji Water is full of bacteria. Iβll keep you updated on more offenders as the brands are released. |
LISTEN UP | MrBeast broke the YouTube record His channel has more than 270 million subscribers, making him the most-subscribed-to YouTuber in the world. What's the key to his meteoric rise? Plus, X allows porn, don't try this castor oil TikTok trend, and watch out for the latest scammer tricks. Play Now β’ 39:00 βΆ |
---|
| Subscribe wherever you listen: | |
---|
|
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT I put together a fun summer playlist: Itβs my take on yacht rock β all those fun summer jams everyone will sing along to. Hit βPlayβ and let it run in the background. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel while youβre there so you never miss one of my vids! Save AM radio: Automakers want to get rid of AM radio in cars. Thatβs a huge mistake. Hereβs how you can help save it. π° Stream for free: I found seven places to get your streaming fix, free of charge! Your phone has a built-in expiration date: Find out how many years yours has left. πΆ How the heck does that work? Iβve always wondered how plane Wi-Fi works (and why it stinks so often). I bet you're curious, too! Cash in ASAP: Deadlines for these class-action lawsuits are coming up fast. See if youβre eligible, and get the money youβre owed. |
TECH LIFE UPGRADES Iβm so over passwords: Thatβs why I use a password manager. No more typing them in for me, or (yeah, right) trying to remember them all. Try my pick for 50% off.* Itβs easy to set up and even easier to use. Need a new book? If you have Amazon Prime, grab two free e-books from their monthly First Reads selections. Itβs early access to popular new books. Sweet! Delete this app: For years, Bartender was a reliable app for decluttering your Macβs menu bar. But it was just sold to an unknown owner, and no oneβs been able to contact Bartenderβs founder. Bartender records your Mac screen to function, which means itβs not something you want to give a sketchy developer access to. Delete it ASAP. Analyze tables in ChatGPT: First, select GPTβ4o as your model. Upload your table and hit the βexpandβ button to explore your data. Click on a specific column and type any prompt (e.g., βWhatβs the total?β). You can also ask it to make a new spreadsheet from your data with specific formatting or layouts. Wanna take a road trip? Try SΔkr, a trip planner designed specifically for road trippers and those enjoying the van life. It has more scenic route recommendations and reviews for campsites off the beaten path. |
DEALS OF THE DAY Sucker-upper Can you still call it βspring cleaningβ if itβs June? These deals on vacuums, mops and scrubbers are way too good to pass up. If youβve been waiting for a sign, itβs time to pull the trigger on a Dyson. This Dyson V8 Extra Cordless vac is $120 off! Swiffers are wasteful, and old-school mops get nasty. This flat mop has a better bucket and wringer system, plus washable pads, all for 50% off right now. FYI, robot vacuums can mop now, too. The Airrobo vacuum is self-emptying so you donβt have to touch it for 60 days, and itβs 50% off! If you have pets, you need this Hoover deep carpet cleaner. Itβs 38% off and has an upholstery attachment β perfect for your old, comfy chair. If your bathroomβs due for a tub and tile deep clean, this chargeable spinning scrubber will save your back for only $29.99. |
WHAT THE TECH? Itβs called βproduct placement.β
|
Komando Referral Program Share this newsletter β Earn prizes! Step 1: Copy your unique referral link: https://join.komando.com/8818309c/ Step 2: Share your link! Post it on social media, send it in a text or paste it into an email to a pal. If they sign up using that link, you get the credit!
|
UNTIL NEXT TIME ... The answer: WiβFi. Did you get it right? FYI, "WiβFi" doesn't actually stand for anything. The name was coined as a catchier alternative to this technical mouthful: "IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence." π Prank idea: Change the WiβFi password to βitsonthefridge.β Then sit back and watch people who request it search in your kitchen. I want to help you. Iβve been around tech forever. My business has thrived for over 20 years without any debt or investors. Tell me how I can help you here. I read every single note you send. Thank you for letting me in your inbox, and Iβll see you tomorrow with another issue of the best tech newsletter in the world! β Kim | |
|
|