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📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: I read about an 81-year-old swimming with dolphins and residents suddenly finding new friends at lunch using VR. This story is unexpectedly beautiful.
Settle into your Saturday, {{first_name | friend}}. A little weekend reset for your spine before we get into it. Because your phone may weigh 5 ounces, but your neck has a request.
🦴 When you tilt your head down to look at your phone, how much force does that put on your neck? A) 10 to 12 pounds, B) About 25 pounds, C) Up to 60 pounds or D) The weight of the world. The answer’s straightening up at the end.
🪪 Your license is for sale: Scans of more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver’s licenses turned up on a dark web service in a breach traced to IDScan, the verification vendor Hertz, Target and FedEx use. If you have ever scanned your license to rent a car, your info is likely in that file. Coveron monitors the dark web and alerts you the moment anything surfaces. Save 71% at Coveron.com/Kim. That’s $4.36 a month.*
📻 Listen up! My national radio show is airing all weekend across the USA. With over 510 stations strong, find your closest one by using our super-duper station locator map, or listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify I’m wherever you are. — Kim
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Screen test
Image: ChatGPT/Kim Komando
🤯 WOW! Retailers negotiate their own exclusive model numbers with TV manufacturers, so an identical set at two stores technically isn’t the same product. Consumer Reports pointed to a Samsung QN75Q60BD at warehouse clubs and a QN75Q60B at Amazon and Best Buy. One letter, and your price match gets denied at the counter.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
I’ve spent a lot of time around the people who install and calibrate televisions for a living. They know things. They don’t volunteer them for some reason.
Here are six of their secrets that will save you money and instantly improve your setup. The last two require crawling. Really.
🛒 What they know at the store
That model number exists so you can’t price match. At Costco, the 75-inch Samsung QN80F is a QN75QN80FAFXZC. At Best Buy, it’s a QN75QN80FAFXZA. Same panel, same processor, same ports. Best Buy does list Costco as a qualified competitor, but its policy requires an identical product, and that last letter makes it not identical. Your price match dies at the counter over a C.
The $160 HDMI cable does nothing the $8 one won’t. A digital signal arrives or it doesn’t. There is no richer. What matters is the certification category: Premium High Speed carries 18Gbps, plenty for 4K streaming, and Ultra High Speed carries 48Gbps for 4K at 120Hz. Look for the certification label on the box and scan its QR code to confirm the cable is legitimate. FYI, long runs are the real exception. Past about 15 feet, build quality starts to matter.
🛠️ What they know at your house
Vivid mode is a weapon, not a setting. Pros call it torch mode. It exists to win a fight against 40 other screens under showroom fluorescents. At home, it blows out skin tones and crushes shadow detail. Switch to Filmmaker Mode, or Movie if your set doesn’t have it. That’s the picture the colorist actually approved.
Your TV is dimming itself right now. The ambient light sensor, buried in an eco or energy-saving menu, quietly drops brightness based on your room. Half the people who think their TV is dying have this one switched on. Turn it off.
Do the subwoofer crawl. Put the subwoofer up on your couch, then crawl the room with your ear near the floor. Wherever the bass sounds fullest and tightest, that’s where the sub belongs. You look ridiculous, but it works every time.
Do the mirror trick. Sit in your spot while someone slides a mirror along the side wall. Anywhere you spot a speaker in the reflection is a first reflection point, where sound bounces at you a beat late and smears everything. A bookshelf or a heavy blanket on that spot fixes most of it.
Six fixes, zero dollars and one sincere apology from me to your knees.
📩 Send this to someone who is shopping for a TV.
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
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📺 YOUTUBE: THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
On the air this weekend!
Apple finally unveiled its foldable iPhone. Researchers say an LG smart TV quietly scans your home network and saves audio even while it's sitting there in standby. "Off" is apparently a lifestyle choice now.
What else is in this s:
Retail stores are installing Flock cameras. Those license plate readers aren't just at intersections anymore. They're in parking lots at stores you shop every week, logging a lot more than your plate.
The keyboard hack for smart TVs. Plug any old keyboard into the USB port on the back and stop pecking out passwords with the arrow keys. Your TV could always do this. It just never mentioned it.
A garage scientist brewed an AI-designed drug. Two folding tables, a benchtop robot and a chatbot for a lab partner. Wait until you hear what he made.
AI redesigns your room for free. Designers run $150 to $300 an hour. Snap a few photos, and you get a full makeover plan in seconds.
25 years after 9/11. Two minutes to save a voicemail from someone you love, before your carrier quietly deletes it. This is the segment I'd want you to hear.
Hit Subscribe so every episode lands automatically, and if this show has ever saved you money or a headache, leave a 5-star review. Ten seconds of your time, and it's how new folks find us. Follow me @kimkomando
Why did the smart TV get invited to every party? It was a great listener.
WEB WATERCOOLER
🦟 Claude Meets chikungunya: Get this. Anthropic says foreign scientists dodged its blocks and asked Claude for help with risky biological research. In May, one looked for a state grant to engineer more harmful chikungunya mutations, possibly at a military institute. Anthropic banned five accounts but couldn’t tell whether the goal was medicine or a weapon. That’s the same chatbot you use to sound less passive-aggressive in an email. Comforting, like a mosquito in the bedroom.
Shop opera: I felt my credit card flinch when I read this. Amazon lets Prime Video viewers shop the jacket, lamp or mug they spot on-screen without leaving the couch. Its new Shop the Scene feature syncs the Amazon app to more than 600 titles and uses Amazon Lens to find similar products. Exact matches aren’t guaranteed, but the distance between ooh and checkout just became dangerously shorter.
🛡️ Don’t browse naked: The FTC clocked a record $15.9 billion lost to scams last year. Hackers are using AI to write code that slips past free and older antivirus software. Don’t be a line in next year’s report. Webroot scans in seconds, blocks real-time threats and won’t slow down your computer. 62% off Webroot Essentials, exclusive to my readers, $19 a year. Click without flinching.*
Ghosting the ghosters: I felt oddly relieved reading that dating app numbers are dwindling. I’ve heard enough horror stories. Time reports Tinder, Hinge and Bumble are all losing paying subscribers as burned-out singles ditch endless swiping, ghosting and monthly fees. Instead, people are trying run clubs, mixers and, crazy new idea, introductions through friends. If you’re newly single or coaching an adult kid, awkward eye contact is back in stock.
🦸 Toddler takes command: Three years old and better in an emergency than half the adults I know. A little girl was at home in Texas when her mother suffered a medical emergency. The girl FaceTimed her grandparents 700 miles away in Georgia, and they called 911 as she comforted Mom. When paramedics arrived, she climbed onto a chair, reached the dead bolt and waved them inside. Her grandparents had rehearsed emergency steps with her. Apparently, toddlers remember the important meeting notes.
BROUGHT TO YOU BY
📺 Light up your watch parties
4.5 ⭐ 10,500+ reviews
You spent good money on that screen. But the picture stops dead at the edge, and that gap is why theaters feel immersive and living rooms don't.
The Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite fixes it. A tiny camera sits on top of your TV, reads the screen in real time and matches the LED strip to it, color for color. Big play? Your team's colors pulse across the wall.
Setup: peel, stick, plug in. Done. It works with Alexa and Google Assistant, and the app handles scenes, schedules and brightness. The 55- to 65-inch version is on sale for $70.* Govee makes other sizes too.
✅ Save 22% on Amazon and give your wall a supporting role. →
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: That little weather widget in Apple Maps is hiding a whole forecast. Glance at any location and you’ll spot current temp and air quality at top left. Long-press it and it expands: chance of rain, highs, lows, the hourly breakdown. Tap once more and it drops you straight into the Weather app’s full week ahead. No app switching, no surprises. ☔️
🤦♀️ You know what drives me nuts? People drop $1,300 on a new laptop but won’t spend a few bucks to protect the data inside it. That computer is replaceable. Your family photos, videos, years of work and tax documents are not. I use Carbonite to back up everything automatically to the cloud. Get 50% off right now.*
🔔 Android keeps a log of all your notifications: Swipe one away by accident, and it doesn’t actually vanish. It sticks around for 24 hours in a history you can pull up anytime. Head to Settings > Notifications > Advanced settings and switch on Notification history. Might even show that message someone deleted quickly. 👀
🎵 iPhone, iPad built-in noise machine: No app, no download, just Rain, Fire or Balanced Noise sitting in Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Background Sounds. Pick your vibe, adjust the volume and let it drown out your coworkers, your neighbors, your own racing thoughts. Better than the apps charging $6.99 for the same rain sound. 🌧️
🖱️ Jumpy mouse? Flip your mouse off, wipe the sensor underneath with a dry cloth, then slide plain white paper beneath it and turn it back on. Optical mice hate glass and glossy desks where the sensor can’t get a clean read. Paper gives it something consistent to track. Real fix? A fabric mouse pad. Till then, printer paper buys you tonight. 😅
🛜 Before you start blaming your Wi-Fi: Check Downdetector. Search the app or service acting up, like Netflix, Facebook or Teams, and you’ll see whether everyone else is having a bad day, too. It shows outage reports from the last 24 hours, along with common problems like logins, signal and streaming. Sometimes the problem really is on their end. 🙄
KIM’S DAILY DEALS
As an Amazon Associate, some links pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. Keeps this newsletter free. Thank you.
🚀 Tech that travels light
Big power in tiny packages.
📱 Seatback sidekick: Phone holder (50% off, $10)
4.4 ⭐ 6,400+ reviews
I like gear that pulls double duty. Think of this as a mini tripod. Clamp it to your desk or tray table, then swivel it any way you want. The built-in LED light helps you look sharp on video calls, too.
Image: LISEN
🔋 Pull for power: This fast wall charger (21% off, $30) hides a retractable cable inside the brick. One less cord to pack, forget or lose.
Tidy tech bag: An electronic organizer (30% off, $10) keeps your gadgets from tying themselves in knots. Padded layers hold them in neat rows.
🔊 Play all day: Crank up this waterproof Bluetooth speaker (17% off, $25), and it runs a full 24 hours. Want stereo sound? Pair two together.
💸 Don’t dig for discounts: I did the hunting for you. Dozens of can’t-miss tech steals are a click away. →
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: Philips
🪢 Knot your average light
Philips Hue decided your ceiling lines are underdressed.
The new Liane 360° is a 16-foot flexible rope that shines white or in color all the way around, with OmniGlow smoothing out the gradients so it looks more neon sculpture than dorm-room LED strip.
It’s cuttable, app-controlled and bright enough to hit 3,750 lumens, basically a very expensive glow worm with an architecture degree.
The price is $529.99? There are only two reviews, both 1 star, saying it’s cool but way overpriced. Call that a dramatic fade.
Why do moths like the light? Because if they liked the dark they’d be goths.
LOGGING OUT …
🎓 What you learned today: TV pros know the model number and HDMI cable tricks, Claude got caught fielding risky bioresearch requests, your movie has become a shopping list, license scan data keeps leaking everywhere and Philips Hue’s rope light may glow harder than its reviews. Not bad for one email. Tomorrow, I’ll show you how VR transports seniors to childhood neighborhoods, concerts and national parks, bringing them together afterward.
😖 The answer: C) Up to 60 pounds. Yep. Your head weighs about 11 pounds. Tilt it forward 60 degrees, the angle most of us text at, and the load on your spine climbs to around 60.
That’s a third grader hanging off your neck. Raise the phone to your face instead of dropping your face to the phone.
🔐 A thief wants more than your money. He wants to be you. Imagine a stranger opening cards and draining accounts in your name. You don’t hear a peep until you’re sitting at a loan officer’s desk getting told “no.” That’s identity theft in 2026. Silent until the worst moment. I ditched LifeLock for Coveron. Real-time dark web monitoring, instant alerts, half the price. Save 71% now. Be the guy nobody can fake.*
🪟 The window to your heart may be broken. Open it up to good things. The air is refreshing. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE: Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.
Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Govee, LISEN, Philips
Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.