Hi and happy Tuesday, my friend. I was watching TV news the other morning while I got ready, and it felt like half the show was commercials. So, today’s trivia: How many minutes of ads are shown per hour of traditional TV? Is it … A.) 8 minutes, B.) 10 minutes, C.) 12 minutes or D.) 14 minutes? Answer’s at the end!

🧏‍♀️ Hear me out. Hearing aids aren’t what they used to be — expensive and bulky. If you or a loved one needs help, check out today’s sponsor. There’s no reason not to hear loud and clear with today’s affordable tech. You’ll be glad you did, and so will the people around you. On to the news! — Kim

When I saw this, I knew I had to share it with you. Researchers over at Electronics Hub did the thankless work of going through 400 of the most-used apps on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store and thousands of user reviews — all to find the buggiest, most frustrating-to-use apps.

Take a look at this list, and remember: Sometimes, it’s not about you not knowing how to use your phone; it’s the apps.

Someone call pest control

Here are the worst app offenders of 2024:

Squash those bugs

Before you delete that buggy app and throw your phone out the window, try a force restart.

Didn’t work? Restart your phone. Failing that, I have a bunch more tips here on my site here.

You could also leave a scathing review … or contact the app's developer. Both Android and Apple users can find contact details under the App support heading in the Google Play or Apple App stores to report bugs. It might be the lesser of two weevils … 😅

I’ve used this whitening toothpaste for years to keep my smile sparklin’, but if you’re just getting into the teeth-whitening game, I found some helpers to jumpstart your journey.

📸 Try this one-week all-natural whitening kit ($22.99) to kick it off. Social media stars have been all over it to get their chompers camera‑ready.

🦷 Or try this two-step system with a polish and a gel ($12.92). You’ll be movin’ on up the teeth-whitening scale in no time.

🪥 Take your whitening game on the road with this pack of disposable toothbrushes (20% off, $9.49), which have a little bead of whitening toothpaste pre-applied. Adding these to my regimen!

🚨 Selfie scam warning: Criminals are combing social media for selfies, and older adults are the main targets. Why? They use your selfies to open fake accounts or access existing ones that use facial biometric tech, all so they can steal your money. Safety checklist: Enable multifactor authentication and keep your social media profiles private.

Another health care data breach: WebTPA provides admin services to health benefit plans and insurance companies. Hackers stole the names, contact details, birth and death dates, Social Security numbers and insurance info of 2.4 million people in April 2023. Yes, it happened over a year ago and we’re just hearing about it now. The company’s CEO basically said, “It’s no big deal.” Yeah, not for you.

I don’t want to taco about it: Not even here on Taco Tuesday. OpenAI removed the sultry Scarlett Johansson GPT‑4o voice, saying they don’t want to “deliberately mimic” a celebrity’s voice. All it took was her hiring lawyers (paywall link) after she said “no” to CEO Sam Altman’s offer to voice his AI.

🧱 Another brick in the wall: Just as I predicted, Microsoft announced a line of Copilot+ PCs starting at $1,000 that’ll ship June 18. The big deal? The AI is baked in without any need to use cloud data centers for requests. They demoed Minecraft. Today, Microsoft is showing off their latest AI version. I’ll update you tomorrow.

Human voice notes are the rage: Ah, the sweet spot between texting and calling (paywall link). Voice notes mean less screen time, and they’re easier than typing and keep your communication personal without the phone call commitment. Just hit the mic icon in your messaging app and start talking. And if your friend likes to ramble, listen at double speed.

🌪️ Going out for a spin: Travelers are shelling out big bucks to chase dangerous storms in “Tornado Alley,” which stretches through the central U.S. and into the Canadian Prairies. For $2,000 to $4,500 per trip, tour guides bring folks as close as safely possible to hail the size of baseballs and winds that can sweep you off your feet. Yes, you’ve got to sign a waiver.

Dead end: A man turned his terminally ill father into a chatbot. After recording hours of his life story, it answers him in Dad’s voice. Would you want your family members to do this for you? If not, talk to them or add a line to your estate documents.

🤦 Baby, don’t Hertz me: Get a load of this — rental car giant Hertz got caught charging Tesla renters hundreds for gas. They blame a system glitch that added a “Skip the Pump” fee to EV invoices. Refunds are rolling out. Are they sorry? Yup — you get one free EV rental day. I’ll pass.

Most cash-back apps are junk: But Upside really works. They pay you for what you’re already doing, like getting gas or groceries. I got $10 just for checking the app at the grocery store. Download it now for iPhone or Android, And use the promo code Kim when you sign up so they know I sent you!

🆓 Free magazines: With an Amazon Prime account, you can access a rotating library of popular magazines free for 30 days. Check them out here. Titles include Wired, Popular Science, Reader’s Digest and Taste of Home. Score.

Your eyes only: Make sure someone can’t open a doc on your PC. In MS Office and Google Docs, click the Help button in the menu bar. Click Help again, then type in Encrypt with Password. Your program of choice will walk you through the steps.

Customize your own white noise: A Soft Murmur is free (yay, no ads!) and lets you make background noise just how you like it. Extra waves for me, please. I miss living in Maui!

🔎 Tricky, tricky: Zoom in or out by holding down Ctrl on a PC and spinning your mouse scroll wheel up to zoom in and down to zoom out. Some websites and apps, such as Google Maps, let you zoom in and out simply by scrolling up and down. Beautiful.

I get notes all the time from folks (of all ages) experiencing hearing loss. Long gone are the days of clunky, obvious hearing aids. There’s a better way!

These innovative devices from hear.com are practically invisible and fit comfortably in or behind your ear. Their breakthrough German technology offers crystal-clear speech understanding and Bluetooth connectivity, and they’re even rechargeable!

With insurance, flexible financing options, and both telehealth and in-person care, getting a pair of these award-winning hearing aids has never been easier. Best of all, you can try it risk-free for 45 days.

This is airplane food in the 1960s. Lookin’ gouda!

The answer: C.) 12 minutes of ads per hour is the average on regular cable or broadcast TV. Fewer than I thought, but more than the ad-supported tiers of streaming services like Hulu (8 minutes) or Amazon Prime (3.5 minutes). What do you call it when you’re angry about watching ads? Mad‑ison Avenue. Ba‑dum‑tss.

✅ Before you go … Is your hearing not as great as it used to be? Need a hearing aid? Maybe you know someone who does. Stop waiting — things will just get worse, not better. Check out Hear.com right now for customized help. Can’t beat that.

See you back here tomorrow with an important warning about your “free” email address. You don’t want to miss it! — Kim