The Current Plus: Credit card theft ring, phishing phone call, bye-bye internet discount β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β In partnership with Oracle | A very happy techy Monday to you, friend! Letβs start the week with an interesting trivia question. In our age of filters and photo-editing apps, what is the percentage of truly unedited, unaltered photos posted to social media? Is it β¦ A.) 5%, B.) 12.5%, C.) 20% or D.) 27%? Make your best guess, and youβll find the answer at the end. Welcome to the inner circle. If youβre starting your day with me, good morning. Marianne in Austin, Texas, asked me what was in my cup during a recent episode of my show. Sadly, itβs not a lemon drop martini. I make sun tea using this pitcher ($19.99, 41% off today!) and passion fruit tea bags. Tea is so great for you, and itβs perfect iced on a summer day. On to the news! β Kim π« First-time reader? Sign up here. (Itβs free!) IN THIS ISSUE π΄ Check your phone π³ 850K credit cards stolen π² LastPass fake phone call |
TODAY'S TOP STORY It has an expiration date Your phone is dying as youβre reading this. Many people donβt realize that, like milk, bike helmets and condoms, phones are sold with a built-in expiration date. Here are the average lifespans for some of todayβs most popular phone brands and makes: Apple iPhone: 4 to 8 years Samsung: 3 to 6 years Google Pixel: 3 to 5 years Huawei: 2 to 4 years These are averages, meaning your mileage may vary. Whatβs your number? Your phoneβs lifespan clock starts ticking from its manufacture date, not when you purchased it, so knowing when it was built is super important. Here are ways to find out: Look around: The manufacture date is often listed on the package. If you tossed it, check the βAboutβ section in your phone's settings for a date or serial number. Serial number: Many manufacturers encode the manufacturing date within these numbers. The site SNDeepInfo can help you decode yours. Dial secret codes: Special codes and menus can reveal manufacturing information. Dialing *#06# might show your phone's serial number. Yeah, I know. This looks like way too much work. Hallelujah, thereβs an easier way Instead of taking the steps above, head to endoflife.date. This handy site lists the end-of-life (EOL) dates for devices, software programs and others. Some quick links for you to check your phoneβs EOL: Apple iPhone Samsung Google Pixel The links below arenβt for phones, but I thought you might want to check the EOL for your other tech: Apple Watch Apple iPad Android OS Amazon Kindle Microsoft Windows This is an excellent site to check before you buy any used tech. If itβs about to hit its EOL date, donβt buy it. This is serious stuff Using tech past its EOL date is bad for a bunch of reasons. No important updates: Sure, you wonβt receive the latest features, but, more importantly, you also wonβt get any new security updates. Hackers love you: Yep, hackers can break into your outdated tech more easily to exploit unfixed bugs and security issues. Weβre talking about unauthorized access on your phone to your bank accounts, health data, and even your voice from calls and voicemails. Crappy battery life: As phones age, their battery performance degrades because lithium-ion batteries lose capacity over time. Slow down: Older phones struggle to run newer apps and operating systems. No new phone smell: That sweet manufacturing scent is long gone. (Just kidding, thereβs no scent. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention!) Now you know the smartphone makersβ dirty little secret. I bet thereβs at least one person you know whoβd appreciate this fact. Use the handy share buttons below to spread the tech knowβhow. |
WEB WATERCOOLER Scammers' newest trick: Theyβve racked up a whopping 850,000 fake orders across 10,000 sketchy retail websites, and theyβre using PayPal and Stripe for payments. The twist: They donβt charge you for the phony order. Instead, they capture your credit card info to sell it on the dark web. These are probably the crappy bogus products hawked on social media feeds. Donβt fall for βem. π₯© The password βbeefstewβ is not stroganoff: Hackers are still going after password manager LastPass. If someone calls and offers help changing your LastPass login, hang up because itβs fake. You really need a better password manager. My pick is Keeper Security* β only $1.46 a month to protect all your usernames and passwords with a service you can trust. AI coming to save Siri: Appleβs upcoming iOS 18 update, which is expected to be announced on June 10, is all about AI upgrades (Bloomberg, paywall link). Coming soon: The ability to control your apps using Siri, transcriptions and summaries of voice memos, automated text replies, AI-generated emojis, and advanced photo editing. If Siri worked for me, I wouldβve fired her years ago. AI chatbot Perplexity has a new feature: You might like Perplexity if you havenβt tried it already. Its new trick is that you can type in a prompt and itβll research, write and lay out an entire report. All the teachers just groaned. From the βIβm-from-the-government-and-Iβm-here-to-helpβ department: Effective June 1, the federal internet subsidies that gave 20 million low-income U.S. families access to speedy internet are over. Hereβs a list of providers offering discounted internet prices through the end of 2024. π¦Ύ New term to know: Internet of Bodies. Like the Internet of Things (IoT), the IoB is an ecosystem of devices humans rely on to function (even partially), including internet access, AI and other tech. Smartwatches and the like are in the first category, followed by internal devices like smart prosthetics. The third IoB generation? Devices that completely merge with the body, like Elon Muskβs Neuralink brain chips. I swear, sci-fi movies are coming to life. If itβs not a mother or father, itβs not a parent: Chip and Joanna Gaines, the former HGTV stars known for the hit show "Fixer Upper," just said they have a strict no-social-media policy for their five kids until the summer before college. Now, juxtapose this sage advice with Kanye West and Kim Kardashianβs 10-year-old daughter, North, who has 19.2 million followers on TikTok. If you thought yesterdayβs child stars were screwed up, you ainβt seen nothing yet. |
LISTEN UP | Your tech could interfere with medical implants Have a loved one with a pacemaker or defibrillator? Here's something they need to know. Play Now β’ 9:21 βΆ |
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TECH LIFE UPGRADES π² If you put a Ring on it: Ringβs raised its Basic video doorbell subscription costs from $3.99 to $4.99 a month. Always something, huh? More than ever, getting SimpliSafe* to protect your whole home is a smarter and cheaper choice. Override your hotel thermostat: This site compiled videos of all the ways to hack the most common hotel thermostats. For some, itβs as simple as holding down a couple of buttons. π Super useful: ShadeMap shows where shadows fall around your home at any given time of day. Smart to check if youβre taking photos, installing new blinds, planning a garden and so on. Mickey and Minnie, take note: Hereβs a cool mouse shortcut for your desktop: Hit Shift on your keyboard, then use your mouse wheel. Instead of scrolling up and down, your mouse wheel will scroll left and right. Need to clean a TV or monitor? Donβt spray the screen directly with a cleaner. Spray it onto a rag. I like this super-affordable $10 pack of 24 microfiber cloths. Oh, and turn off your screen before you clean, OK? |
BY THE NUMBERS 7% of adults Say βpleaseβ when asking for something. And half the time we use it, science says we want to guilt the other person into doing something. Kids say please about 10% of the time. Reminds me of the time Ianβs middle school art teacher told me, βIan says βpleaseβ and βthank youβ too much.β Yeah, I schooled her on that. I worked hard to be sure he was a gentleman, and he is to this day. 39% of car buyers In the U.S. want a traditional gas vehicle. Hybrids came in second, with 34%, and only 21% of shoppers want an EV, according to a new poll. On the West Coast, demand for hybrids jumps to 43%. Talk to me when there are more charging spots. $257 to $213 The average projected concert ticket price this summer compared to the summer of 2023. More major acts are canceling their tours as the post-pandemic live music boom cools down. Still, ticket-seller Live Nation hit $3.8 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2024. Bet they say a prayer for Taylor Swift every day. |
WHAT THE TECH? Talk about busting a move!
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UNTIL NEXT TIME ... The answer: C.) 20%. One out of every five photos posted is shared without edits, reflecting natural moments. I find this hard to believe, too. Speaking of photos β¦ Did you hear about the two friends who always edited photos together? They were sharecroppers! π Psst, did you know you can take me on the go? Fire up the Kim Komando Show podcast on your next walk. Get it here on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Iβd love to keep you company! See you right back here tomorrow with more tech know-how from the best tech newsletter in the USA! β Kim | |
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