Welcome to your Thursday, friend. Let’s talk about our favorite passive-aggressive roommate: Alexa. Ever notice how she sounds like she’s one exhale away from judging you? That was no accident. Her voice was carefully crafted for clarity, calm and just the right amount of “I know more than you.” 

🗣️ Put on your thinking cap: Which iconic computer system inspired her icy yet soothing tone? A) HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, B) KITT from Knight Rider, C) LCARS from Star Trek, or D) GLaDOS from Portal? Find the answer at the end, saying, “Sorry, I didn’t catch that.” 

🛑 Don’t let your email provider decide what you see! Hit Reply on this email now, and leave me a comment, too. It tells the algorithms you want my content, keeping Big Tech from shoving me in your horrible spam folder. Make your inbox your choice! Thank you so much. — Kim

Your phone keeps all your secrets. Where you’ve been. What you’ve typed. Even which sketchy Wi-Fi you used in 2017. It’s got the memory of an elephant and the self-restraint of a toddler with a drum set. 

Let’s just call your phone “Sir Veillance.”

Here’s a quick breakdown of the creepy stuff your phone is tracking, and what (if anything) you lose by turning those features off. 

1. A secret map. Your phone logs your every move like it’s writing your biography. Grocery store, dentist, Vegas strip club, all of it. Want to see it?

• iPhone: Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations 
• Android: Google Maps > Your Timeline

✋ Turning it off gives you your privacy back. But say goodbye to “last parked location” and personalized suggestions.

2. GPS in your photos. Every selfie? Geotagged. Your beach vacation photos know exactly which beach.

• iPhone: Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Camera > Never
• Android: Camera app > Settings > turn off “Location tags”
  

✋ Kill it, and your pics won’t show up on a map using your photo app anymore. 

3. Wi-Fi from the dark ages. Your phone still remembers that Wi-Fi from that one airport layover in 2019.

• iPhone: Settings > Wi-Fi > Tap “i” > Forget This Network
• Android: Settings > Network > Saved Networks > Forget

✋ Scrub old networks for security’s sake. You’ll need to re-enter passwords if you ever use them again.

4. What other apps know. Apps can track what you do inside other apps and sell that data to who knows who.

• iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking > Turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track”
• Android: Settings > Privacy > Ads > Delete Advertising ID

✋ You’ll lose some personalized ads but gain a whole lot of digital boundaries.

5. Google’s tracking you. Google keeps a digital diary of your searches, clicks and cat video binges.

• Go to myactivity.google.com to clear your tracks.

✋ Turn off Web & App Activity, and you’ll lose that spooky-accurate auto-complete.

You’re not crazy. Your phone really is tracking you. But you don’t have to make it easy. Now, spread these insider secrets with your family and friends. The icons below make it easy peasy. 

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🛒 More stuff I use and love? It’s all in my Amazon storefront.

🤖 Deepfake diplomacy panic: Someone faked Marco Rubio, using AI-generated voice and messages to DM world leaders and U.S. officials via Signal. At least five targets bit, including three foreign ministers. The fake account even left voicemails. No word yet on who did it or if they got anything.

👻 Robbed by a ghost: You gotta be on your toes.A new ransomware strain called Mamona arrives via sketchy emails, fake apps or phony software. Once it’s on your device or computer, it encrypts everything and vanishes without sending a single byte. No clues, no traffic, no alarms. Finally, malware for introverts: no talking, no signals, just silent ruin.

Here it is! The cloud backup I trust: Total Drive. It’s simple, secure and just works. And get this: Right now, you can get a massive 10TB of storage for only $18. Don’t wait for a hard drive crash. Back it up before you lose it.*

👁️ Check your Chrome extensions: Some “helpful” Chrome extensions with over 1.7 million installs were secretly tracking your browser moves and even rerouting clicks. They looked benign, like color pickers or VPN tools. Spoiler: They weren’t. Google’s still cleaning up the mess, but some are still live. Time to check your browser like it’s the bedsheets at a seedy motel.

Show me your face: Tinder’s rolling out a mandatory facial recognition login, creatively named “Face Check.” It’s trying to root out bots, catfishers and the psycho 53-year-old pretending to be a 27-year-old trust fund baby. Will it work? Nah.

🥶 Antarctica said, “Not today”: This kid has guts. A teenage solo pilot TikToker trying to fly to all seven continents landed in Antarctica without telling anyone. Authorities in Chile were like, “That’s illegal,” detained him for filing a fake flight plan and now, he’s ice-o-lated.

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AI is the future — get ahead now!

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⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Lost a file? On Windows, press the Windows key and start typing the name. On Mac, hit Command + Space bar and do the same. It’s the fastest way to find documents, apps or settings.

🚗 Use your iPhone as a car key: Yep, that’s a thing, and it works with your Apple Watch, too. If you have a compatible vehicle (full list here), you can lock, unlock and even start it. FYI: You’ll need an iPhone XS or Apple Watch Series 5 or newer. 

📱 Android app fix: If an app is constantly crashing or bugging out, try clearing its cache. Go to Settings > Apps > App Name > Storage & cache (or just Storage) and select Clear cache. FYI: Don’t tap Clear data, because that erases your settings, login details and resets the app to default.

🚗 Keep your car safe: Download the free SaferCar app from NHTSA (on Android or iOS) to get automatic safety recall alerts. Just enter your car’s VIN, and the app will check for any existing recalls and keep an eye out for new ones. Bonus: It also helps you find nearby dealerships for repairs.

📄 Google trick for docs: You can look for specific file types by adding filetype: to your search. For example, type filetype:pdf user manual (PDF), filetype:xlsx monthly budget (Excel), filetype:doc job application (Word) or filetype:ppt marketing presentation (PowerPoint). 

That’s the AI scanner Hertz is using to check returned cars for damage, and the bots are not feeling generous. One customer says he got slapped with a $350 charge for two barely visible dents, including one the size of a dime. 

Worse? There’s no human to talk to, just an AI chat insisting you still owe $190. Hertz offers a “discount” if you pay fast, like it’s a parking ticket in Vegas. 

⚡️ Nothing phases these rental companies. (I know, wrong hertz, but it works.)

PSA: Before you drive away from the rental car lot, take a complete and thorough video of the car’s interior and exterior.

Answer: C) LCARS from Star Trek.Yep, Alexa’s voice was inspired by the ship computer from the USS Enterprise: calm, crisp and vaguely condescending with some pros and Khans.

🚀 I can’t decide if I want to watch the original Star Trek or The Next Generation. I guess you could say I’m stuck between a Spock and a Picard place! (Was that you just shaking your head? Let’s see you write a great newsletter with mediocre jokes!)

📩 Tomorrow, I have a fabulous list of sci-fi movies that predicted the future. This isn’t just any tech newsletter. It’s the #1 tech newsletter in the U.S. Your inbox and you just keep getting smarter, isn’t that cool? 

Don’t let tech stress you out. You’re in charge here. 💪 — Kim

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