Monday, Monday, it’s here! Yeah, I like Mondays — even the first Monday of the month. Speaking of firsts, the first Google Doodle was created in 2000, when founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin asked intern Dennis Hwang to create a drawing to commemorate a holiday. Was it … A.) The Fourth of July, B.) Bastille Day, C.) Chinese New Year or D.) Diwali? You’ll find the answer at the end!

Watch and learn. Happy to say folks are loving our daily video podcast. Stream it live at 11:30 a.m. Arizona time (10:30 a.m. Pacific, 1:30 p.m. Eastern) on YouTube, Facebook or Rumble. If you love it, share the link with a pal! And now for the news. — Kim

Gadgets have a set shelf life — which is why we're not all still using huge, bulging monitors and portable CD players. You might have cupboards or even an entire basement packed with outdated tech you keep meaning to get rid of.

Hang on, though, before you send it all to the trash. Vintage tech — and even toys — can make you some serious cash as collectors’ items.

In other words, your dusty basement could be a treasure trove of classic technology. Some of these numbers are jaw-dropping!

I regret not buying two

If you've got an unopened first-generation iPhone lying around from way back in 2007, lock it up in a safe or safe deposit box: One of these phones fetched over $190,000 last year. Not a bad profit, considering it originally retailed for $499.

Runners-up in the gadget category: A sealed iPod 1 ($20,000), a Nintendo Game Boy ($1,800), a sealed Nokia 8910 ($1,050) and a Sony TPS‑L2 Walkman ($700).

Computers: Expensive then, worth a lot now

Classic computers and gaming consoles often rake in high returns as well. A rare Commodore 65 prototype from a series of computers that were must-have devices back in the day went for a cool $50,000 on eBay. You can buy quite a few laptops with that kind of cash.

A functioning Apple‑1 computer from 1976 sold for $442,118, and it can't even run Safari. OK … this particular one was hand-numbered by Steve Jobs himself and only one of 200 ever made.

Runners-up: The MITS Altair 8800 ($8,125), an Apple Macintosh ($2,500) and an Amiga 4000 ($2,200).

Collectors love vintage games, too

Have your old console or games sitting around? A sealed copy of Super Mario 64 from 1996 recently fetched an astonishing $1.56 million. If you opened your copy to play it, you won't get as much, sorry.

Runners-up: The Legend of Zelda ($870,000), Sonic the Hedgehog ($350,000), Stadium Events ($35,000) and Tetris ($15,160).

Barbie is so in right now

Barbie dolls were attracting record prices way before the latest movie. The Guinness World Record for the most expensive Barbie sold? $302,500. It was custom-made with a diamond necklace.

Runners-up in the toy category: GI Joe ($200,000), Boba Fett ($185,850), a Steiff Louis Vuitton teddy bear ($182,550) and a Transformers Air Guardian Jetfire ($25,000).

OK, listen. Your stash of old tech may not break records, but you might still be able to make a good chunk of cash. Time to raid the basement!

🤣 I’ll never forget when my Xbox, PS4 and Switch all broke on the same day. I was in‑console‑able.

So much for security: Big, bad news from a tech company that routes millions of two-factor authentication SMS texts every day. A database was exposed and spilled 2FA codes for sites like Facebook, Google and TikTok. If you’ve requested a 2FA code recently, change your password for that site.

No one is surprised: A new study found AI is spreading phony election information more than half the time. Answers range from incomplete to straight-up wrong. Meta's Llama 2, for instance, said California voters can vote by text message. Folks, look elsewhere for election info.

Bots off my docs: DocuSign is using customer data — you know, confidential contracts — to train AI bots. They say the data is anonymized, and there’s no way to opt out. Not cool. DocuSign has always been a top pick (I use it and have recommended it to you in the past), but this stinks.

Freakiest feature of the day: Spotify's latest creation is called Song Psychic. Apparently, it can answer your existential questions about life, the universe and everything else … in the form of song picks. I’ll stick with a magic eight ball.

Start saving: GoDaddy and 101domain say their new tool, GlobalBlock, is the best thing for your company’s site since sliced bread. It’s built to stop homograph attacks — aka when someone creates a URL that’s very close to yours (often a typo). Hold on to your wallet; prices for GlobalBlock range from $5,999 to $8,999 a year.

22 million views … and it’s fake: I’m talking about a viral photo of a guy smoking a cigarette in a McDonald’s in what appears to be the ‘80s. I knew right away it was AI-generated — look at his hands! The guy in the background is warped, too. FYI, X added a disclaimer to the photo, finally.

On the Edge: Microsoft yanked away Edge version 122.0.2365.63 faster than a toupee in a hurricane. (Sorry.) Why? An "out-of-memory" error left users’ browsers crashing all over the place. The culprit? Enhanced Web Protection defaulting to Strict mode.

📝 Your data, your rules: TurboTax wants a peek at your tax returns for more than just crunching numbers. To do that, they need your consent to share financial details for targeted ads (The Washington Post, paywall link). This info is protected by law. If you use TurboTax and are prompted there to “Review and Sign,” just click “No, thanks.”

A spouse, roommate or friend can’t snoop on your phone if there’s no opportunity to do so. Here are a couple of simple precautions you can take.

Lock it down — Just like with your computer, you need to set a password. You may choose to use a passcode, a fingerprint, a pattern or your Face ID. The key is to actually use them. Touch and Face ID are great ways to boost security, as they can’t be guessed. They’re easy to enable, too, so you won’t feel like you’re stuck entering a code all day long.

Hide your notifications — Notifications are tempting to read and can reveal a whole lot. You can hide them from your lock screen.

🍷 There's an interesting joke about guests waiting for refreshments. That's the punchline.

AI is here to stay: If you run a business and need help getting your AI capabilities off the ground, head to oracle.com/kim. They shell out for the best gear in the biz, like NVIDIA GPUs, so you don’t have to. Take a free test drive!

Roll it back: Three people and 12 versions later, you’re totally lost editing a Google Doc. Pro move: Retrace your steps by opening the File menu > Version history > See version history. Choose a time on the right, and you’ll see who did what (and when!).

In a flash: iPhone always on silent? Stop missing important notifications, and get your camera to flash whenever an alert comes in. Open Settings and tap Accessibility > Audio & Visual > LED Flash for Alerts.

Skip the webcam upgrade: An update coming to Windows will let you easily use your Android phone or tablet as a webcam with any video app. You’ll even be able to switch between the front and back cams. Great news if your laptop’s built-in cam makes you look like a blurry potato.

You need the right tools to get the job done. Yeah, sorry, but Quicken, Excel and QuickBooks just aren't going to get it done.

After 20-plus years operating a business in the radio and tech industry, I know you have to let the data do the talking. I wish someone had told me this a long time ago.

That’s what is so great about NetSuite by Oracle. In one easy-to-use dashboard, you see everything — revenue, inventory, sales, employees, expenses, you name it. Over 37,000 businesses rely on NetSuite.

Ahem, that’s the left path.

The answer: B.) Bastille Day. Google’s leaders loved Hwang’s Doodle so much that they appointed him “Chief Doodler.” Love art and want to learn more about it? Here are more than 50 museums you can visit online for free. Ah, free … my favorite price.

Hey, thanks for getting my newsletter. It’s such fun being able to spread tech know-how this way. The clock is ticking on our survey, so pop in and tell me what you want to see more of. I’m listening! See you right back here tomorrow with the best tech newsletter in the solar system! — Kim