⚠️ 5 settings to change before midnight

🥁 It’s the last day of the year, {{first_name | friend}}. If you hit play “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins at 11:56:20 PM this New Year’s Eve, the drum fill will welcome you into 2026.

Tonight, millions will upload pictures of their celebrations, toasts and “new year, new me” resolutions. Back in 2010, a platform first launched as a complex check-in app called Burbn. It was failing, so the founders dropped everything except the photo sharing feature and a few filters. 📸

How long did it take for this company to go from a two-man startup to a $1 billion acquisition? A) 18 months, B) 3 years, C) 5 years or D) 7 years. Take a guess. The answer at the end is the Silicon Valley success story poster child, and a reminder that sometimes, less really is more. 

🥳 Kick off the new year right! Make sure I keep landing in your inbox and not next to spammy candle coupons. They smell awful. If you’re on Gmail, drag this email to your Primary tab (or hit the ⭐️). On Apple Mail, tap my sender name and select Add to VIP, and if you’re using Outlook, right-click and select Add to Favorites. These small taps tell your email provider that you actually want to see this content, keeping our community connected and out of the junk folder all year long. — Kim

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2025 was the year of the Silent Opt-In. You see, Big Tech rolled out massive AI updates, and in many cases, they automatically signed you up to donate your personal data to train their algorithms and models. Nice, right?

Before we hit 2026, let’s do a collective privacy audit. Here is your hit list to see what you’ve volunteered for and how to shut it down.

Meta is using your public posts, photos and captions to teach its Llama AI, essentially turning your personal history into a free training manual for a bot.

LinkedIn quietly defaulted every profile into an AI training program.

Google integrated its Gemini AI into Gmail and Docs. If you’re not paying, your conversations can be reviewed by human contractors.

By default, your ChatGPT and Claude chats are fed back into the machine.

Apple pushes privacy, but they still want to know how you use their AI. They let you see what they’ve sent to the cloud.

Let’s head into 2026 with your data exactly where it belongs, under your control.

Share the knowledge! If you know someone who values their privacy, forward this email to them. They can sign up here to get ahead every day, too.

Dan from Denver thought he rebooked a flight. Instead, he lost $17,000 to a scammer who knew exactly what to say. Plus, the smart glasses that record everything you see and why old-school paper résumés are making a comeback.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now wherever you get your podcasts, search for “Komando.”

📱 Hold the phone: I get this question a lot, “What is the best age to give my kid a phone?” One massive study tracking 10,000+ kids says the earlier you hand one over, the harsher the long-term risks (paywall link). Like, worse sleep, more weight gain, bad attitude. That’s just the start. Heavy social media use? Linked to lower test scores, worse memory and attention problems. It’s clear screens are shaping developing brains. Australia already banned social media for kids under 16. U.S. lawmakers are taking notes. 

👀 Everything is OK, I swear: Want to make half a million babysitting a potential sci-fi villain? OpenAI’s dangling a $555K salary to hire someone whose literal job would be to prevent the company’s AI from causing total collapse. Your mission? Mad-dog the algorithm and manage risks around cyberattacks, bioengineering and mental health fallout. End-times vibes but with stock options.

The battery that could: EV folks, don’t you just love hitting 40% charge halfway on a long-distance road trip? Suddenly those rural gas stations don’t look so bad. Most EVs conk out around 250 miles. Cue heroic trumpet music! A Mercedes EV drove 745 miles without charging, powered by a solid-state battery from Factorial Energy. That test landed them a $1.1B deal to take the business public. The company’s sole focus is to build better batteries. The tech could hit roads by 2027.

🤫 My New Year’s secret: Every year, the #1 resolution is to get healthy, and by Jan. 10, most people quit. That’s why my team and I created ImproveLife’s GLP-1 Support. It quiets the snack noise and keeps your energy steady without stimulants or caffeine. I take it daily to stay on track. Try it now for up to 30% off with free shipping.**

Hiding in plain sugar: So apparently, cancer’s been wearing a sugar disguise to sneak past your immune system. Classic villain move. But MIT and Stanford researchers have built a molecule, AbLec, that rips off the sweet costume and yells, “Excuse me?!” It outperformed standard antibody treatments in tests. Still early, but this could be a really big step forward for cancer immunotherapy.

📱 Swipe right for a paycheck: It’s a jungle out there for job seekers, and some are doing the unthinkable: turning dating apps like Hinge, Bumble and Grindr into networking tools (paywall link). They’re trying to match with hiring managers instead of soulmates. Recent data shows roughly one-third of users are swiping for a salary, with two-thirds specifically targeting employees at their dream companies.

🥾 Story time: This reminds me of when I was desperate to get my show on KFI in Los Angeles. I arrived at the radio station with donuts at 8 a.m. and sat in the lobby waiting for the program director until 5 p.m. for only 10 minutes of his time. Maybe, he said. He never even said hello.

I didn’t have a dating app to haunt back then, so I went to Goodwill and bought a giant pair of size 13 men’s workboots. I mailed him a boot with a note that said, “Now that I have one foot in the door, how about that meeting?” He still never reached out. But hey, at least I didn’t have to super-like him to get ignored. Now, he’s a consultant, and I don’t take his calls. Paybacks are, well, you know what.

Is your spouse acting sketchy? Guarding their phone? That’s where private investigator Steph A. (aka @YourFavInvestigator) steps in. Armed with a camcorder and pro spy skills, she catches two-timers in the act. Listen now to find out if your partner is lying to your face.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now wherever you get your podcasts, search for “Komando.”

Drive into 2026, all for under $26.

🔋 Hands-free power: A magnetic car mount (32% off, $17) is a phone holder and a 15W fast wireless charger in one setup. Works with iPhones and Androids. Love that.

Cargo control: The reinforced bottom on this trunk organizer (24% off, $13) keeps it upright when you load it with groceries, emergency kits or even sports gear.

❄️ Ice, ice (gone) baby: This 360° pivoting ice scraper brush (40% off, $24) wipes layers of snow in one swoop. Extends over 43 inches with 12 adjustable lengths.

Finally fits: Your giant tumblers have found a home with these adjustable cupholders (41% off, $19, two-pack). Fits Yeti, Stanley, Hydro Flask and more.

✅ Promo code of the day: Use FRESHSTART26 for an extra 20% off fitness steals till Jan. 3.

One more thing: Check out my Amazon shop for hundreds more practical finds like these.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: New Year’s Eve parties happening tonight? Have your kids or spouse share their location for extra safety. Open Google Maps, tap your profile icon, select Location sharing, then Share location. Choose how long to share it (like six hours) and who you want to send it to. You can track locations in real time, even when the app isn’t open.

Out with the old tabs: That random website you used a few months ago doesn’t need your location forever. In Chrome, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings and review which sites still have access to your camera, microphone, location and notifications. Now’s also a good time to clear your All time browsing history, so things run a bit smoother.

✂️ Cut the dead weight: Before the ball drops tonight, do this one financial check. You’re probably paying for subscriptions you forgot about months ago (streaming channels, AI trials, fitness apps). Rocket Money finds them in seconds and cancels the junk for you. I saved $478 doing this. Stop wasting money and start 2026 fresh. Try it now.*

Instagram intervention: Don’t head into the new year doomscrolling memes and reels. On Instagram mobile, open Settings and activity > Time management > Daily limit and set it to something like 1 or 2 hours max. When you hit the limit, Instagram tells you to close the app. Baby steps toward breaking the habit. They count.

📺 Roku data alert: You have a say in who gets your personal info. Go to Settings > Privacy > Privacy Choices and toggle on Do not sell or share my personal information and Limit use of sensitive information. Bonus: Under Privacy > Advertising > Sensitive ad content, you can opt out of ad categories like violence.

Your trail cam thought it was documenting local wildlife. Instead, it got audited by the boss of the woods. 

In this clip, a grizzly hears that tiny internal click and smells the foreign plastic. What happens next? A total teardown.

He rips off the rain cover, paws the lens, then plays a high-stakes game of keep-away with the evidence. It’s less about a curious animal and more like a bouncer checking a fake ID at a dive bar and dealing with a nervous pause. (Get it?)

He eventually wanders off, but he never turns his back because in the wild, dominance matters, even over a gadget that can’t fight back.

🙏🏻 Before we wrap up, I want to take a moment to say thank you. Every time you open this newsletter, listen to the show, get the podcast, watch a video or reach out with a question, you’re more than a subscriber, you’re part of this amazing community we’ve built together. It’s my honor to be your digital guide, and I never take for granted that you trust me to keep you tech-ahead.

Help a friend avoid a digital meltdown in 2026: If you know someone who could use a tech upgrade, forward this to them! Let’s keep our community growing and secure.

Coming in hot tomorrow: Robots in the kitchen, foldable phones 2.0 and the best (and kookiest) tech we can expect to see in 2026. See you next year with the #1 tech newsletter in the USA!

🌅 The answer: A) 18 months. That’s all it took for Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger to go from humble beginnings with a clunky idea to selling Instagram for a casual $1 billion to Facebook in 2012. Facebook got a steal. Today? Instagram is worth an estimated $100 billion and contributes nearly 30% of Meta’s total ad revenue.

What is a thousand times better than Instagram? Instakilogram! (I saw that smile, so my job here is complete!)

Happy New Year! If you get a suspicious link today, remember, your delete finger is faster than any hacker in a hoodie. Prove it. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): Gemini, AuroraLink, Yukon Wildlife Cams

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