The Current Plus: Urgent Apple update, Oura Ring saves, FTC payouts and more tech goodness - In partnership with EndpointLock | Itâs a tech-rific Thursday, friend. I love using overripe, brown bananas for banana bread, but those days are numbered. Scientists at Tropic Biosciences have developed a gene-edited super banana that stays fresh and resists browning. đ Keep your eyes peeled, because these will be hitting stores near you soon! đïž âKim, My local radio station flipped formats and is not carrying your weekend radio show. Can I get it as a podcast?â Well, thatâs a bummer, Randy in Ohio. Yes, you can get my show as a podcast on Apple and Spotify. Listen to it when and where you want â commercial-free, by the way. Love you for that! đŹ Glad to bestow upon you tech know-how that youâll use time and time again. Iâve packed in lots of goodies to share with your family and friends. â Kim đŁ Donât keep me a secret: Share this email with friends (or copy URL here) | TODAY'S DEEP DIVE Eyes on you You might not realize it, but airlines and cruise lines collect a lot of data, from your seat choice to the websites you browse on their Wi-Fi. When you book a flight or cruise, they collect the usual stuff, including your name, email, phone number, passport info and payment details. But it doesnât stop there. They also track: Your travel habits: Where you go, how often, your seat selection, how many bags you bring and the weight, how likely you are to buy the upsells, and what perks you like (or donât). Your onboard Wi-Fi activity: What sites you visit, how long you stay on those sites and the apps you use. Facial recognition: Some airlines and cruise ports scan your face for check-in and boarding. Your facial scan can also be cross-referenced with government databases and that tracking, too. And they also know: What you eat and drink: Yes, all that is saved, and they even track how many minutes it takes for your drink to be empty so they can offer a refill (or sell you another cocktail). If youâve complained before: Flight attendants and cruise staff can see your complete whining history before you even say a word. What you watch and shop for: Whether itâs a seatback screen or your in-room TV, they log what you browse, watch and buy. đł Your airline or cruise app is tracking you, too If you downloaded the airline or cruise lineâs app, youâve handed over even more data, including your device info, operating system and cellular carrier. They also track: Your location: Even when youâre not flying or sailing, they may collect GPS data. Your browsing history: What youâre searching for inside the app, including trips you didnât book. Your fitness data: Cruise lines will log workouts, spa treatments and even step counts. đ How to lock down your travel data Itâs a safe bet that airlines and cruise companies are selling all your data. If this bothers you, there are steps you can take. Ask them to delete your data: If youâre in California, Colorado, Connecticut or Virginia, privacy laws work in your favor. Otherwise, call customer service and ask them what you need to do to remove your data. Skip onboard Wi-Fi: Download movies, music and books before your trip. Use your own devices: Avoid seatback screens and in-room entertainment to limit tracking. đ€Ł What do you call an airplane that flies backward? A receding airline. Oof, I know. |
Digital Life Hack Why itâs so hard to cancel Getting out of a subscription is hard by design. Hereâs how companies use âcancellation funnelsâ to keep you paying up. Listen on Komando.com â |
DEALS OF THE DAY Keep calm and travel on đ§ł Grab some gear for spring break or your everyday life. This slim RFID wallet ($10) helps keep your cards safe from digital pickpockets. Catch some Zâs on your flight with a memory foam neck pillow (20% off). A tablet holder (13% off) will entertain your little ones on long drives. Tangled cords? An electronic organizer ($13) keeps them neatly packed. Now you wonât lose a multi-charging cable ($8) at the bottom of your bag. đ¶ Puppy love? I canât stop talking about my new pup, Bella (sorry, not sorry). Check out these dog seat covers to save your back seat from dirt and fur. |
WEB WATERCOOLER Update your iPhone and iPad ASAP! Apple found a serious security bug that could let hackers bypass protections if you load malicious web content. Affected devices include the iPhone XS and later, iPad Air 3rd gen and later, multiple iPad Pros, plus plenty of others. Go to Settings > General > Software Update. đ„ Paging Dr. Holo: Cancer patients in rural Tennessee and Mississippi can now talk to their oncologist via hologram. Your doctor appears in a $70,000 box and communicates via a camera. Proto Hologram (paywall link), famous for concert tech, makes it. Patients feel like the doctorâs in the room. Check out a pic of this cool setup toward the end of this newsletter. đ A nurse says her Oura Ring saved her life: Nikki had been dealing with night sweats and fatigue but brushed it off â until her Oura app kept warning her that her body was under stress. That push made her see a doctor, where she was diagnosed with Hodgkinâs lymphoma, a type of cancer with the same symptoms. The Oura Ring is FSA or HSA eligible, btw. Get your refund: The FTC is sending $25.5 million worth of payments to 736,375 scam victims. Restoro and Reimage tricked folks with fake pop-ups and ads into thinking their computers were infected when they werenât. Check your PayPal if thatâs you. A new AI chatbot hit the web: Manus isnât your typical China-owned chatbot. Think of it like a digital worker that gets stuff done on its own. I tried it for a new business Iâm starting, and it even drew prototypes. Youâll need to fill out the invite to try it. Remember, this is China, so nothing confidential. đ± Purrfectly at home: Kevin Mohn built a two-story âUp North Cat Condoâ (paywall link) to keep stray cats warm in the chilly Minnesota winter. Now over 3 million people watch the livestream here. Whatâs the difference between a cat and a comma? A cat has claws at the end of its paws and a comma is a pause at the end of a clause. Feeling left behind? Download NetSuiteâs free knowledge drop, âThe CFOâs Guide to AI and Machine Learning.â* No matter what you do, you should know more about AI. Itâs not going anywhere. |
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DAILY TECH UPDATE 3D video calls are coming this year Smartphones, AI you can talk to and glasses-free 3D video calls: Itâs not sci-fi anymore. Hereâs what youâll be using soon. Listen on Komando.com â |
DEVICE ADVICE đ” Kids glued to their phones? Pick a day or time for the whole family to unplug and spend time together. Download my kidsâ tech contract for them to sign and hang it on the fridge as a reminder. Lost and found: Need help but donât know where you are? The free what3words app (iOS and Android) helps emergency crews find you. Put it on your phone now. It breaks down exact locations into a three-word name. WFP(hone): Google Meetâs Switch here lets you switch from your phone to your desktop without dropping the call. If youâre in a live meeting, click to Join the meeting on your other device, and youâll see Switch here. Sweet. Fill âer up: The free Upside app gives you cash back on gas, groceries and dining out. Download Upside* and use promo code Kim to get an extra $0.25 back for every gallon on your first tank of gas. đ Make Kindle page turns less confusing: Ever flipped a page and werenât sure if you went forward or back? The animation looks the same. Fix it with a realistic wiping effect. Tap on a page > select the Aa formatting button > go to the More tab > turn on Page Turn Animation. đ Want to see which apps need updating on Windows? Open the Search bar, go to Command Prompt, then right-click and select Run as administrator. Next, type âwinget upgradeâ and hit Enter. Youâll get a list of apps with available updates. Itâs also great for finding and deleting apps you havenât used in a while. Whoa. |
BY THE NUMBERS 82% K-12 schools hit by cybercriminals from July 2023 to December 2024. Thatâs over 9,300 incidents. Most happened when staff fell for phishing scams. But they didnât just lose data. Some attacks forced schools to close and affected meals and special education services. About $100 The expected price tag of Grand Theft Auto 6. This leaked on a Swiss storeâs website but got quickly deleted. Hardly a steal? Itâs actually about the same as the $50 original GTA from 1997 in todayâs dollars. The game should be out later this year. 26 terabytes The size of Western Digitalâs new $569.99 hard drive designed for Network-Attached Storage systems, letting multiple people store and share massive amounts of data. The first hard drive, the IBM 305 RAMAC, was introduced in 1956 and cost around $50,000 (over $500,000 today adjusted for inflation). It had a whopping 5MB of storage! đČ |
WHAT THE TECH? If you live in a small community, ask your provider if they offer Proto Hologram. Isnât this tech incredible? Love it! |
LOGGING OUT ... đ Could Noahâs ark be more than just a story? Scientists are reexamining the Durupınar site in Turkey â a 538-foot ship-shaped formation â after finding evidence of a massive flood 5,000 years ago. Soil samples reveal marine deposits, clay and shellfish remnants, suggesting the area was once underwater. What do you think? Check out the photos. Just wow! đ Noah had just landed the ark. After all the animals had disembarked he went back in to look around, and there were two snakes in the corner crying. He said, âWhatâs going on? I told you to go forth and multiply.â They replied, âWeâre adders!â Well, thatâs a wrap. See ya back here tomorrow with a look at the new laptops hitting. Spoiler: No keyboards, and itâs not an iPad. You donât want to miss that and a lot more in the best tech newsletter in the entire world! â Kim | |
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