It’s a wonderful Wednesday, friend! Oxford Dictionary’s 2024 Word of the Year is … drumroll, please … “brain rot.” That’s the term for frying your brain with a stream of mindless online content. Feels like a new phenomenon, but its first recorded use was 170 years ago, in Henry David Thoreau’s 1854 book, “Walden.” He used it to describe the widespread and detrimental effects of mental decay. Hmm … I wonder what he’d think of TikTok. 😳

☕ Glad to have you here. If you’re starting your day with me and a cup of coffee or tea, good morning! Let’s get to it. — Kim

Tech privacy policies are confusing on purpose. I know, big shocker! But I’m always surprised by just how difficult these things are to comb through and what they hide.

Today, I’m calling out the biggest offenders — and sharing one of my favorite, easy-to-use privacy tools.

The worst of the worst

I read these privacy policies so you don’t have to. Some of these companies are collecting far more than you might realize.

Feeling a little creeped out? Me, too.

Cut to the chase

It’d be nice if we could wave a magic wand to see all the hidden privacy gotchas. The next best thing? These easy tips:

⌛ Time-saving tip: When you’re reviewing a company’s privacy policy on your computer, use Ctrl + F on Windows or Cmd + F on a Mac to quickly search for buzzwords like “sell,” “partners” and “affiliates.” Words like “geolocation” and “geotargeting” indicate your location information will be collected. Def search for those.

💬 Know the terms: Sections with names like “How we collect your personal data” show what a company gathers from you and how they do it. “How we use your personal information” is their take on why they need your data in the first place. “Business purposes” usually means they share it with third parties.

🎮 Protect the kids: Look for references to “COPPA” or the “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” to see how a company protects your kid’s data.

Phew, that’s a lot. I’m always on the hunt to shortcut some of the hard work of securing your privacy. That’s where Incogni comes in.

My secret weapon

This service finds all the sketchy people-search and data-broker sites where your personal information is listed and submits requests to remove it. Incogni has removed my info from 752 different data-broker and people-search sites. Amazing, right?

I love getting regular progress updates and knowing my info stays off these sites for the long haul. If you go the DIY route, prepare to remove yourself from the same sites over and over.

👉 Ready to reclaim your privacy? I negotiated a 60% discount on Incogni just for you. Take back your privacy today. If you don’t like the results, Incogni comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Another scammer is now rich: A retired Florida therapist thought she was helping the FBI take down a Mexican cartel. Really, scammers convinced her to wire $600,000 from her retirement account to a protected “government locker.” Her banks tried to warn her, but she was fed a script to get them off her back. How awful.

Re-FundMe: There’s a lot of drama here. Donors to a GoFundMe campaign meant to locate missing Hawaii woman Hannah Kobayashi want their money back. The 30-year-old vanished after missing a flight at LAX, but CCTV shows she went to Mexico. The family used part of the $46,000 raised for her father’s funeral; he committed suicide during the search. Don’t give to a GoFundMe unless you know the recipient personally.

🎮 Twitch and YouTube are booming: Gamers spend more hours per week watching other people play video games than playing themselves. This year’s League of Legends World Championship esports event peaked at nearly 7 million viewers. Hey, parents — your kids can turn playing video games into a real job after all.

He who must not be named: Random names like “Brian Hood” and “Jonathan Turley” make ChatGPT glitch out. Try it: You’ll get a message saying, "I'm unable to produce a response." OpenAI isn’t saying anything, but the names are connected to defamation lawsuits.

🚀 Every buck adds up: If your wallet is achin’, cancel all those subscriptions you’re not using. Try the app I use, Rocket Money,* which makes the process a breeze.

🏴‍☠ Hands off my treasure: Porch piracy is so out of control, you can now pay for stolen package insurance. PorchPals covers up to $2,000 of deliveries (or three claims a year) for $120 annually. Don’t bother. Save your money. Sign for your packages or have them delivered to a locker. Steps here!

Winter brake: Employees at Tesla’s Cybertruck factory were told to stay home for a few days. This is after weeks of inconsistent schedules and odd assignments. Demand is dipping, and the supposed years-long backlog has dried up. Having six recalls in one year isn’t great for PR.

🗺️ Map-nificent: Duncan McCabe from Toronto turned his daily runs into viral art. Using the Strava app, he plotted 121 routes over 700 miles to create a GPS animation of a dancing stick figure. You have to see the video. Talk about going the distance!

🤑 Because you can always give a great gift.

The Waze of the future: Google Maps is baking in Waze’s real-time incident reports. You’ll get alerts for accidents and speed traps reported by Waze’s 140 million active users. It’s rolling out slowly, so be patient if you don’t have the intel yet. (Yes, Google owns Waze.)

➗ Count on this: Bookmark calculator.net. It’s got tools for everything from mortgage payments and loan interest breakdowns to figuring out your BMI and your running pace, all to subtract stress and add time back into your life (I had to).

🌤️ Rise and shine: Have an Echo? Say, "Alexa, good morning." Your speaker will provide a personalized briefing — weather, news and the day’s events on your calendar.

Did you say half? If you’re using AI in your business, those costs add up fast. Take a free test drive of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure now at Oracle.com/kim* to see if they can cut your bill in half. Heck yeah.

Trick to maximize credit card rewards: Do you struggle to remember which credit card gives you the best perks at a restaurant, gas station or warehouse club? Labeling your cards is a simple way to organize your wallet so you know what card to use and when. Subscribe to my pal Clark’s free newsletter at Clark.com* for must-have money tips every day.

Get sound alerts from your phone: Your phone can alert you to noisy things like barking dogs, crying kids or broken glass. Don’t rely on it to tell you if the baby is crying or to keep your dog safe, but it’s a nice fallback.

Can you spot all six gingerbread men in 30 seconds? Don’t get crumbly. The answer’s here!

📚 And finally: The shortlist of contenders “brain rot” beat out for Oxford’s Word of the Year. Let’s get another drumroll going …

⭐ I appreciate you being here and all the support you send my way. A favor to ask if you listen to my podcasts: Drop a review. In Apple Podcasts, look for “Write a review” and say something nice. On Spotify, it only takes a sec to give me five stars. Every review helps more people find me and get tech-ahead. Thank you! 🙏

Another day in the books. Before you go, do yourself a favor and check out Incogni. I’ve heard from so many people who are glad they signed up, and you will be, too. Back atcha tomorrow! — Kim