Welcome to a tech-fabulous Tuesday, friend! Let’s start with our trivia. What is considered the world's most awful, unattractive font? Is it … A.) Times New Roman, B.) Comic Sans, C.) Papyrus or D.) Arial? Answer's at the end!

⏺️ Welcome to the inner circle! You're the first to hear about the most recent happenings in the tech world. If you shop on Amazon, you’ll be happy you read today’s top story. I bet I can save you some cash. Let’s do this! — Kim

Do you have any idea how much you’re paying for Amazon Prime? If you said, “Probably around $100 a year,” try again. You might be spending a whopping $320 a year and not even realize it. Let me explain.

Priming the pump

Come with me back to Feb. 2, 2005. That’s when Amazon announced that for $79 a year, you could get free two-day shipping on most items with no minimum purchase. They kept it at that price until 2014, when it jumped to $99 a year.

Another four years passed, and in 2018, Prime membership costs increased from $99 to $119 annually. In 2019, Amazon gave Prime members free one-day shipping. In November 2019, though, they increased the price for 100GB of photo storage from $11.99 to $19.99 a year. In 2020, Amazon’s Whole Foods delivery suddenly came with a $9.95 charge.

It doesn’t make cents

In 2022, Amazon Prime jumped $20 more to $139 annually. In 2023, Amazon Fresh grocery delivery minimums skyrocketed from $35 to $150, only to be lowered to $100 later. And for those of you tuning into Music Unlimited, those costs went up to $99 a year.

Now, in 2024, ads have crept into Prime Video. If you can't stand the interruption, it'll cost you an extra $2.99 monthly. (Sounds like a lot more when you realize it’s now $36 a year.)

A fully loaded Amazon Prime subscription isn't just a simple fee anymore — it's a significant line item in the budget. The Wall Street Journal crunched the numbers, and with all these add-ons we've talked about, your Prime subscription could be costing you up to $320 a year.

See how much you’re paying

Follow these steps:

• Sign in to your account on the Amazon website. Hover over Account & Lists at the top right corner of the homepage to open the dropdown menu.
• In the menu, click Prime Membership. You’ll see your membership type (monthly or annual), your next renewal date and the price you’re being charged currently.

Any add-ons or additional subscriptions through Amazon — think Prime Video cable channels, Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Music Unlimited — are typically listed in a separate section of your account. To check these:

• From Your Account, select Memberships & Subscriptions or Subscribe & Save Items to see a list of your active subscriptions, their costs and renewal dates.

The exact steps may vary slightly depending on whether you're using a web browser or the Amazon app … or which way the wind is blowing.

Secrets to saving money on Amazon Prime

The no-brainer is to add your family members to your account. Get the steps for that here. But that’s not all!

• Annual versus monthly: If you can afford to pay upfront, opt for an annual membership instead of monthly. You just saved $40.
• Student discounts: Prime Student is half the cost of a regular Prime membership, and you get a six-month free trial to boot.
• EBT and government assistance: If you have an EBT or Medicaid card, you may qualify for a discounted Prime membership.
• Share with a friend: Consider splitting the cost of an Amazon Prime Household account with a trusted friend or family member. Just remember this will involve sharing payment methods.
• Use Amazon Prime Rewards: If you shop frequently on Amazon or at Whole Foods, consider the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card. The cash back you receive may offset the cost of your membership.

Share this with your family and friends. I bet they’ll be surprised, too, when they see how much they’re spending on Amazon Prime!

⛵️ I bought a sail for my boat on Amazon the other day. Today, it dawned on me that it wasn’t the right size, so I tried to cancel the order. They said it's too late — that sail has shipped. (Bet you didn’t see that one coming!)

Hey, let’s make gift shopping easier. Bet they’ll like something on this list.

• Extra-large organic bamboo cutting board
• Ninja Foodi NeverStick 8-piece cookware set
• JBL wireless over-ear headphones with noise cancellation
• Energizer clip-on book light for nighttime reading
• 3-in-1 iPhone charging station
• Telescope with 10mm 40x magnification

😏 Dig deep: The White House says a new plan to "cryptographically verify" videos of President Biden is “in the works.” That’s right — the WH is working on ways to prevent AI-generated deepfakes from spreading. Really? Now? I suggested this a full 18 months ago.

Hey, big spender: A database for Winstar, aka “the world’s biggest casino app,” was left unsecured, exposing players’ names, phone numbers, and email and home addresses. I’ll wager you’re going to end up on a ton of phishing and text spam lists.

📺 This sounds fishy: Amazon Prime Video wants you to pay $2.99 (more) a month not to see ads anymore. You can also say goodbye to the great sounds from Dolby Vision and Atmos in Prime Video unless you cough up that extra $3.

🗩 Keep it to yourself: Walmart, Delta, Chevron, Starbucks and other companies are using Aware's AI to spy on employee messages in Slack, Microsoft Teams and other chat apps. This is nothing new, but it’s a heck of a lot easier now. My advice: Don’t type anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face, ever.

“Black Mirror”: Apple’s Vision Pro is cool, but some say the headsets can warp our perception and mess with social cues. Yeah, no kidding. Extended wear might distort how we see the world — and it’s not just our eyes.

It’ll be here in March: Apple might offer a "virtual card number" in an upcoming iOS update. It will allow you to make online purchases where Apple Pay isn’t an option. The enhanced protection is impressive, generating a fresh security code for each transaction.

🔥 Chaos in Chinatown: A Waymo driverless taxi in San Francisco was viciously attacked. Yup, a car. One person started the mayhem by smashing the windshield, leading a crowd to spray paint, break windows and ultimately torch the vehicle. You couldn’t pay me to live in San Francisco.

Shoot happens: Fujifilm and Skylum are teaming up to offer 50 free photo walks (think guided tours trying out Fujifilm gear) across the U.S. The program kicks off in March in Las Vegas, Dallas and Salt Lake City, with more locations to follow. Check Eventbrite for the full schedule. Sounds like fun!

Sick of squinting to read the small print? Tiny text is no match for your smartphone's digital magnifying glass. Your phone can make minuscule text readable and menus in dark restaurants crisp and clear.

🔍 This is a great thing to remember. I use it any time I need to read a tiny model number on a device … or the color of my lipgloss.

• On iPhone, open the Apple App Store.
• Search for Magnifier to access the built-in app.
• Use the slider to zoom in and read small text, and tap the flashlight icon in low-light conditions. (It works on iPads, too!)

Use an Android? Open the Settings app, tap Accessibility, then Magnification.

✍️ Say hello to Journal: It's a new, free journaling app that came with iOS 17.2. Capture and reflect on outings, trips, workouts, whatever. You can add photos, videos and audio and bookmark key moments. Remember to keep things private with Face ID or Touch ID.

Wi-Fi master: Angry IP Scanner keeps track of everything connected to your network. It scans for IP addresses and other information about the devices connected. It helps troubleshoot tech issues and catch hackers or moochers since it pinpoints unknown or suspicious devices.

🔇 You feel bad unfollowing your annoying cousin on Instagram: OK, fine. Mute him. Go to the account in question, then tap the Following button. Choose Mute. You can do this for posts, Stories, Notes or everything.

Uh-oh, your PC's monitor went blank: Before you hold down the power button, hit Windows + Ctr + Shift + B. This tells your computer, “Hey, the display is messed up. Can you fix it?” In nerd-speak, it refreshes or resets your graphics driver.

📹 So you want to go viral: YouTube Create includes free, easy-to-use tools to make Shorts and longer vids. Add clips, use the editing tools, trim everything and pop in royalty-free songs, too. Bummer, no iPhone version yet.

Running a successful business comes down to having the right people in the right roles. Hiring is a big job and a huge time-suck — unless you use the tools that make it easier.

LinkedIn is a no-brainer. Millions of people are there every single day hunting for their next career move. We’re hiring for freelance writers, an editor for this newsletter, a video guy or gal to edit clips, and a marketing manager to grow our team.

I know, it’s a lot! But trust me when I say I have big goals this year, and we need the right folks to make it happen. (Psst, if you know anyone, send them my way!)

I ink, therefore I am.

The answer: B.) Comic Sans. This childlike sans-serif font gets a ton of hate because it looks out of place in serious or business contexts.

Speaking of … Comic Sans walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Get out! We don't serve your type.”

🙏 All your sweet words and prayers were such a blessing to wake up to about my cornea procedure. Thanks for all you do to support me and the team behind the radio show, podcasts, newsletters and website. We wouldn’t be here without you! Check out Andrew and Allie today on our new video podcast, on demand or live at 10:30 a.m. Pacific (1:30 p.m. Eastern) on YouTube, Rumble or Facebook. — Kim