Hi, hey, it’s Monday, friend, and it’s also my birthday! Tech trivia is first today, of course. In which major U.S. city do Uber drivers make the most money? Make your guess and find the answer at the end.

📨 Surveillance capitalism at work, right in your “free” Big Tech inbox. You’d better believe all your details are packaged up, used to target you with ads and sold to whoever wants to buy it. Check out StartMail. They put you first with secure, private email. Now, on to the tech goodies! — Kim

You have to hear this one. A Minnesota woman recently got a shocking phone call. Her husband had dirty financial laundry: An unpaid loan from years ago. The caller told her they were putting a lien against their home.

The mystery caller then gave the woman a case number and a phone number to call for more details. Her husband was adamant he never took out the loan. Luckily, this woman was smart. She called her county recorder, who said there was nothing on record against their property. It was all a scam, and homeowners across the U.S. are falling victim.

Who’s a target?

Lenders will secure loans with liens that give them a claim to your property if you don’t make payments. But there’s always a paper trail.

Scammers also target homeowners at risk of foreclosure. They'll reach out with promises to save the day if the homeowner just forks over some cash. They call homeowners and convince them to refinance their homes.

Buying a home? Scammers are out for you, too. They'll create fake real estate listings and trick you into paying a deposit. They may pose as an escrow company and ask you to wire money.

Sign up for free notification alerts

The best way to protect yourself from property fraud is to be proactive. Some counties offer free alerts via email, voicemail or text when a land document (like a deed) gets recorded with your name on it.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a comprehensive centralized directory to find the service for any county, but you have a few options:

Have a friend thinking about buying or selling a home? Don’t let them be a victim. Share this story to keep them safe!

When a service is free, you're the product. The email providers everyone knows (yes, I’m talking about Gmail, Yahoo and all the rest) aren't really free. You’re paying with your privacy. From where you are and what you click, to who you talk to most, they know it all.

StartMail is the secure email provider I trust. There’s no invasive tracking or annoying ads. Plus, it’s packed with top privacy features, like unlimited disposable email addresses and easy-to-use encrypted communication. They offer a business subscription, too, that includes extra storage, shared email aliases and the flexibility to add unlimited domains.

I negotiated a special deal just for you. Right now, StartMail is offering an exclusive 60% off annual subscriptions, including the new business plan. No way you can beat that. I checked.

🚨 Don’t chance it: TeamViewer, the go-to remote access tool, was hacked by Russian spies. The company says the breach was limited to its corporate network, but, hey, I’d assume they accessed customer files, too. If you have it, change your password pronto and set up 2FA. Share this one with your favorite IT pro.

Major slip-up: A company TikTok, Uber and X hired to verify user identities left admin credentials exposed online for over a year. They process photos of faces and driver’s licenses, a boon for criminals. Yup, a free meal ticket for identity theft. Remember, when you give info to a company, you’re giving it to their vendors, too.

Windows 11 = Ad central: First, it was a pop-up ad to install Edge, and then ads showed up in the Start Menu. Now, you’ll see Game Pass under Settings soon. They call them “recommendations” designed to “improve your system.” It's a money grab, plain and simple.

🍏 Browser showdown: Apple is warning its 1.46 billion iPhone users to stop using Google Chrome. They're throwing shade by plastering billboards worldwide, with the message Safari is "a browser that is actually private." Google has admitted to collecting data even when you’ve enabled Incognito mode, so Apple makes a valid point.

Say cheese: Thanks to the 20-something TikTok crowd, Fujifilm's retro-themed cameras, like the X100, are selling like hotcakes. They're such a hit that Fujifilm is struggling to meet demand, even at $1,599 a pop. Here in Hawaii on vacation, I see the trend firsthand.

🥫 Inflation hits hard: A guy is going viral on TikTok for tapping the “Reorder” button in his Walmart grocery app. What was $126.67 two years ago for groceries (45 items) is now $414.39 for the very same products. I wouldn’t be surprised if Walmart limits access to past order histories.

Commitment issues: Remember when meeting the parents was a big relationship milestone? Now it’s saving someone’s full name in your contacts. Folks these days aren’t wasting precious phone memory on casual flings (paywall link). It’s all fun and games until you text the wrong date.

☄️Taking out the space trash: The International Space Station, home to astronauts for almost 25 years, is set to meet its fiery end in 2030. Elon Musk's SpaceX is building a "space tug" vehicle to pull it toward Earth, earning $843 million from NASA for the gig. It'll be an unmanned mission; both the tug and the ISS are expected to burn up upon reentry into the atmosphere.

🚀 Are you still using QuickBooks? Discover why tens of thousands are switching to NetSuite’s* superior all-in-one solution. Don't settle for less. Experience real-time insights and streamlined processes, and make decisions based on data, not your gut. Take a free product tour right now!

A free upgrade could be hidden in your TV: NextGen TV broadcasts have more vibrant colors, a higher resolution, better-quality surround sound and interactive features. Newer TVs from Sony, Hisense, Samsung and TCL have NextGen tuners built in, but you probably didn’t know it. See if your TV has NextGen here and which channels are available in your area!

If you have an iPhone: Say to Siri, “I see a little silhouette of a man.” The reply is so funny!

Lock it down: Need to quickly lock your computer? Hit the Windows key + L to get the job done. On a Mac, it’s Ctrl + Cmd + Q.

If it’s been a while: Visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall lookup page. Enter your VIN in the search field to see any safety recalls for your vehicle. If none appear, you’re good to go.

Calm your palm, my frond.

The answer: New York City, of course! An Uber driver there averages over $30 per hour. If you need a ride in NYC, cab prices won’t be as taxi‑ing on your wallet; they average 35% to 83% less than using an Uber or Lyft — a little FYI if you take a trip there this summer.

Sponsors keep this free newsletter free to you. Does Big Tech control what emails you see? Take back the power with StartMail. Plans include 20GB of storage (that’s a lot!) and unlimited aliases. You can encrypt your emails, and there aren’t any ads or tracking to deal with.

👋 See you tomorrow with all the hidden ways your tech is tattling on you. You don’t want to miss another exciting knowledge-packed edition of the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim