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June 16, 2023 |
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Hey, itโs Friday! Maybe youโre itching to take a drive this weekend. You wonโt get electric vehicle (EV) โrange anxietyโ with the right car. Whatโs the longest maximum range in an EV today? Is it โฆ 174 miles, 301 miles, 405 miles or 516 miles? The answerโs at the end. Bonus points if you know the carโs manufacturer. Welcome to the inner circle! You're the first to hear about the most recent happenings in the tech world. Letโs dive in! โ Kim ๐ซ First-time reader? Sign up here. (Itโs free!) IN THIS ISSUE๐ฎ Will Netflix win the thumb war?๐ณ Embarrassing Zoom behavior๐ธ The FemTech explosion |
TODAY'S TOP STORYNetflixโs plan to dominate gamingNetflix has a plan to dominate your screens in more binge-worthy ways. The streaming company has quietly launched more than 60 interactive, exciting and some frankly beautiful video games. Even better, theyโre all free with your current Netflix subscription. Wait, what? Netflix has games? Yep, prepare to blow your friendsโ minds. Already a powerhouse in movies and TV, Netflix now wants to win your thumbs. Ready to blow off some steam? Five top-rated Netflix games:Exploding Kittens: Fun, funny and designed by the creator of โThe Oatmealโ comics, Exploding Kittens is a cute way to release stress.Kentucky Route Zero: Unravel the mystery of a secret highway running through the caves of Kentucky and its strange inhabitants. Think old-school point-and-click games of yore, like Myst, with graphic-novel-level animation. Into the Breach: If giant robots are more your speed, check out this one. Stunning graphics plus a little time travel make for an escapist animated adventure.Asphalt Extreme: Get your road rage out with tons of customizable vehicles and uber-detailed racing terrains.Heads Up: This oneโs great for the whole gang, and the rules couldnโt be simpler. Hold the phone up to your forehead. Your friends read the display and fire out clues until you guess what the phone says. (For the record, most other versions of this game on the app store cost money!)BTW, these are all easy to find and play. Just tap the game controller icon on the appโs home page. Netflix has a lot up its ruby-red sleeveTime will tell if it pays off. CEO Reed Hastings is the latest tech founder to bet big on moonshots outside his companyโs core offerings (you know, similar to Metaโs hemorrhaging VR play). ๐ Another wild project: A pop-up restaurant with a menu created by Netflix-famous chefs (think โThe Great British Bake Offโ). The Los Angeles-based Netflix Bites will open soon. New games are coming, but these classic movies are goingBe sure to catch titles including โThe Departed,โ โAustin Powersโ and โResident Evilโ before they leave Netflix at the end of June! โ Hereโs what else Netflix has cooking โ including its latest move to crack down on password sharing. |
DEAL OF THE DAY
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WEB WATERCOOLER๐ Time for some therapy: A Belgian TikTokker gave his family a fright by faking his own death, then making a dramatic entrance at his funeral in a helicopter โ to see who loves him. Lesson? Give your dad a call. The AI bubble begins: In the 1990s, the Nasdaq 100 soared over 800% in the dot-com boom. Now, itโs AI. Nvidia just reached a $1 trillion valuation as the companyโs price-to-sales ratio hit a record 40 times this week. Just remember: What goes up must come down. High-five selfie: A Google Pixel phone update triggers a self-timed photo by just raising your palm. Set the timer for 3 or 10 seconds, strike a pose and give your phone a palm salute to capture a hands-free shot. ๐ฆ Quack chat: Now you can gab with Donald Duck or any of over 20 characters from Disney on your Amazon Echo. Just say, "Hey, Disney!" to start your magical convo. You must be a paid subscriber to Amazon Skills or have an Amazon Kids+ membership. So much for artisanal: Etsy sellers are using ChatGPT to churn out AI garbage โ like quilt patterns, birthday cards and clip art โ and AI image generators like Midjourney to quickly create them. Shop carefully. Pump the breaks: Prepare to be bombarded with video ads on your Uber app. They'll pop up while you're waiting for your ride, en route and even after your late-night Uber Eats order. This is big money for Uber โ a projected $1 billion in revenue by 2024. You can opt out in the Uber app settings menu. Get out of FB jail: A Georgia man found himself locked out of his Facebook account for no clear reason. After trying unsuccessfully to get his account back, he sued Meta โ and won. Heโll get a judge-ordered $50,000 payout. ๐บ Everyone hates Clippy: Remember Microsoftโs overeager digital helper? Kevan Atteberry is the mastermind behind it. Guess what? He says heโs embarrassed about his creation. Now I feel bad for making fun of Clippy all these years. Watch the short video with Kevan and Clippy here. |
๐ง Want great content on the go?Sound like a tech pro, even if you're not one. Try my award-winning, daily podcast. Search for my last name with "K" wherever you get your podcasts and "Go Komando!" |
TRENDINGFemTech is exploding, but is your private data safe?๐๐ผโโ๏ธ This privacy alert is for our female readers, but guys, you can read it, too! โFemTechโ is the broad term given to apps and programs that cater to women's health. Consumer Reports recently raised concerns about the privacy practices of womenโs health apps, specifically period trackers. These apps know a lot about your intimate activities and health โฆ but do you know where all your data's going? Period data = Big businessFemTech app makers share data with external advertising partners to develop personalized ads. It's no coincidence you're getting tampon ads a week before your period. Even more alarming? Those external partners can then sell your private info to data brokers, who create a profile on you and sell it to others. It becomes a black hole from there. Sharing isn't caringLove the idea of a period tracker but want to protect your privacy? Choose wisely. Some of today's most popular FemTech apps sell your data to advertisers, have murky privacy policies or won't let you use their app without giving up your email address. Even popular apps like Clue, Flo and Ovia raise an eyebrow. How to hide from data hoardersUntil app developers begin to take data privacy seriously, proceed with caution. Here's what you can do to safeguard your info: Use a password manager to generate super-strong passwords for your apps and encrypt them for extra safety. Save 50% on my top pick, RoboForm, a sponsor of my radio show.Limit ad tracking on your smartphone. This helps you hide from targeted ads and keeps companies from finding out sensitive data.Once you download a period tracker app, opt out of any permissions to share your data.Or go old-school. Track your cycle using a calendar and thermometer. No data tracking or targeted ads. โ Click here to find out much of your private data mental health apps are sharing. The lack of privacy and the selling of data just never stop. |
DEVICE ADVICECool tricks with hot keysI bumped into Arnold Schwarzenegger, and, being who I am, I asked him if heโs upgraded to Windows 11. He said, โI still love Vista, baby!โ I love passing along clever tech tricks youโll use time and time again. Here are a few goodies! Winning at WindowsOn Windows, letโs keep it simple with keyboard shortcuts you need to know: Windows + Shift + S brings up the screenshot tool. Drag the box that pops up and, voila, a screenshot of whatever you want. I take screenshots all the time. Itโs so helpful when youโre trying to explain something. Yup, a picture is worth 10,000 texts.Looking for a file? Hit the Windows key and start typing the name. Thatโs it.Pressing the Windows key and โ.โ (period key) together opens the emoji picker. You can easily insert emojis into your documents, messages or any other text field. The emoji picker also includes symbols and special characters.Mac magicThis first Mac tip is genius if you use your laptop for both work and personal life or if you share your MacBook with someone else: Set up different user accounts attached to different fingerprints. Maybe your work profile uses your pointer finger and your personal account uses your ring finger. Or you and your spouse have your fingerprints linked to your own accounts. Go into System Preferences > Touch ID to set these up.Control + Command + spacebar: This shortcut opens the Character Viewer, which lets you browse and insert special characters, symbols and emojis into your documents, emails, texts, whatever. It works in most programs.Option + Command + V: When you copy text or files, theyโre usually pasted in the original format. Using this shortcut, you can paste the copied content without formatting.โ But wait, thereโs more know-how! Over at my site, I have a list of really awesome keyboard shortcuts to quickly lock your device, zoom in and create a snazzy virtual desktop. |
Protect your data with the VPN Kim trustsBig Tech is supposed to safely handle our personal online data, but now theyโre getting into the political game. I donโt want to be any part of that, and neither should you. Thatโs why I trust and use ExpressVPN. These Big Tech companies match your internet activity to your identity or location by using your public IP address, but with ExpressVPN, no one can see your IP address โ no one. Go to ExpressVPN.com/Kim and get three extra months free. โ |
BY THE NUMBERS13% The percentage of people whoโve had s*x during a virtual meeting. Iโm speechless. I hope they were on mute. Other bad Zoom meeting behavior, according to a recent survey: Picking your nose (25%), taking a nap (22%) and working out (25%). And we wonder why bosses are threatening to take away our WFH privileges. $7.70 The amount youโll earn from Googleโs $23 million privacy settlement. Greeeatttt โฆ Google has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for the unauthorized sharing of your search data with third-party websites and companies. Just file an official claim by July 31. Call me a dreamer, but I hoped my data would be worth more than a Happy Meal. $1,000 The price Marylandโs DMV paid a casino in the Philippines for its website. Turns out, someone at the org forgot to renew the domain name etched onto thousands of the stateโs license plates, which originally contained info about the War of 1812. An online casino immediately scooped it up and enjoyed free advertising featuring a โscantily clad womanโ for about six months until the DMV bought it back. |
WHAT THE TECH?I can totally relate to this! |
UNTIL NEXT TIME ...๐ The answer: The Lucid Air ($139,650) gets 516 miles on a single charge. Coming in at No. 2 is the Tesla Model S ($89,880) at 405 miles. And at No. 3 is the Hyundai Ioniq 6 ($46,615) at 361 miles. One more for the road: Honda is coming out with the first electric vehicle with wireless charging. Itโs called the Honda Accord-less. (Ah, that was a good one!) ๐ My new cornea is doing great. I posted a pic along with details on my IG. Iโll see you back in your inbox on Sunday. Until then, forward my free newsletter to a few folks and invite them to sign up. Thank you! โ Kim |
How'd we do?What did you think of today's issue? ๐ Fantastic๐ Just OK๐ Waste of time |
๐ซ Was this forwarded to you? Sign up free here. ๐ง Ready to hear more? Check out my podcasts. ๐๏ธ Want to listen to my show? Find your local radio station. ๐ Thinking about upgrading? Try the Komando Community free for 30 days. โ Got a question (or comment) for Kim? Ask away here. ๐ฒ Looking to advertise in this newsletter? Email us. |
Photo credit(s): Netflix.com, ยฉ Vladyslav Yushynov | Dreamstime.com |
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