Apple may owe you $95

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Welcome to your Tuesday, {{first_name | friend}}. You’ve seen that little glowing halo in every YouTuber’s eyes. That’s a ring light doing overtime. It smooths skin, brightens eyes and tells wrinkles, “Not today.”

Before it became the unofficial mascot of selfies, TikToks and can everyone see my screen? Zoom calls, it had a very different job. 

💡 What was the ring light originally invented for? A) Fashion photographers shooting magazine covers, B) NASA engineers inspecting rocket parts, C) Dentists photographing the inside of your mouth, D) Interrogating suspects who look fabulous under pressure. Take a guess, the answer’s waiting for you at the end.

🛡️ Still trusting that old antivirus? Hate to say it, but it might not be keeping up. Today’s AI-driven threats are smarter than ever, and older protection can fall behind. If it’s been a while since you upgraded, you could be at risk. Webroot Essentials scans up to 6x faster, uses far less space and won’t slow down your computer. Get 62% off today with my link.* — Kim

🤯 WOW! One photo of your kid’s pencil drawing becomes a 10-page illustrated storybook, with the art drawn in your kid’s own style, and it reads itself aloud. Free, about two minutes, no design skills required.

The Short Version: Snap a photo, open Gemini's Storybook tool, paste one prompt, then print the PDF. Steps below.

📖 Read time: 2 minutes

I asked Barry to draw a monster. He didn’t ask why. He just drew. (You know you’ve been married a long time when the other person does what you want without asking a single question.)

Two minutes later, his blue-pen beast became Ziggy, the star of a real 10-page storybook: Ziggy’s Great Big Connection. It’s a tale about how tech is wonderful, but real people are the best connection of all. There’s a link at the end to see it.

Google’s free, truly amazing Storybook tool inside Gemini takes one photo of a pencil drawing, then writes and illustrates a 10-page picture book around it. It even reads the story aloud. Total time: about two minutes. The look on your kid’s face: permanent.

Make it theirs: Ask for your kid’s name as the hero, the family dog as the sidekick or a lesson baked in (“trying new foods,” “being brave at the dentist”). Want a different look? Storybook does comic book, claymation, crochet, even a coloring-book version the artists can fill in themselves.

Upload the drawing photo and paste: “Write a 10-page illustrated children’s storybook starring this character. Keep the drawing’s exact look, one picture per page, then make it a printable PDF.” You get the pages and the file, ready to print.

Two FYIs. Gemini’s Storybook requires an adult account, so this is a do-it-together project with you at the wheel. And read the book once before bedtime. AI still improvises, and you want to see the plot twist before your 6-year-old does.

One tip from me: Tuck the original drawing inside the back cover of the printed book, with the date on it. Twenty years from now, that’s not a book. That’s a time machine.

😈 In case you want the book I created, it’s here on my site and free. I know you like that price.

🎯 Send this to someone who has a budding Picasso, a printer and a bedtime routine.

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(Starts at 1:01) No more stressing out with Photoshop. Claude Design makes graphics for you. In seconds. Picture-perfect shortcut.

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🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

🔦 Turn them down: Is it me, or do some cars’ headlights make you feel like you’re being zapped up via light beam by aliens? A survey found 60% of us say headlight glare is a problem, and 75% say it’s gotten worse over the last decade. This month, the NHTSA rejected Tesla’s appeal over illegally bright headlights. Tesla must notify owners and fix or replace the parts for free. Small win for our retinas. 

Hotel betrayed you: Hackers hijacking Wi-Fi at hotels and conference centers have a new trick. They send travelers convincing fake Microsoft 365 login pages. No shady email or attachment required. The address looks normal while the gateway steers you wrong. Soon, the crooks have your inbox. The minibar’s $14 cashews have been pushed to second-worst hotel trap.

🦴 Now in stock, 40% off: I’m on ImproveLife Joint Support, and I stand behind it. If your knees and joints have been slowing you down, this is the formula I trust. Cartilage support, inflammation control and hydration all in one. Get up to 40% off and free shipping today. Full disclosure, my son and I are co-owners of ImproveLife. I only partner with who and what I believe in, and this one, I literally invested in.** 

🍎 Delayed Siri payday: Apple sold us the AI future, then Siri needed a rain check. That’s the funny little legal burrito. Apple’s proposed $250 million settlement could pay eligible iPhone owners who bought certain iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models from June 10, 2024, to March 29, 2025 (That would be me!). If approved, claims are $25 to $95 per device. No official settlement website or claim link live yet. I’ll let you know here when that happens.

🧮 Spreadsheet of love: Dating is so broken that chemistry gets a spreadsheet and your friends get admin access. People use spreadsheets (paywall link) to compare their values against those of a romantic interest. One guy built a tracker with a friends-feedback tab, then sold more than 10,000 copies for $9.99 each. I understand the desperation, but getting dumped by a cell formula is rough. 

📡 No bars here: I spent the last week driving through Montana and Wyoming with Ian in a high-performance Mercedes. Fun times, but I started to shake after three hours with no coverage. Amazon plans to launch 5,105 satellites starting in 2028, giving satellite-ready iPhones calls and mobile data where towers can’t reach. It follows the company’s $11.6 billion Globalstar deal and goes far beyond today’s emergency texts. Pricing is still a mystery. Cherish the days you can blame Verizon for getting lost.

Congregants are split about church leaders using chatbots to write sermons. Plus, scammers cloned Pastor Jennifer using her own video. Then solicited money from strangers. We share the trick to spot deepfakes.

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Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: You might not be able to speak during an emergency. In many areas, you can text 911 instead. Send your address first, say whether you need police, fire or medical help, then add brief details. Check text911.info now to see if it’s supported where you live. Best not to wait until you need it.

Save your go-to reply: If you’re always typing the same “Thanks, I’ll get back to you” email, let Gmail do the work. Go to See all settings > Advanced tab and enable Templates. Compose your usual response, click the three dots > Templates > Save draft as template. Next time, open Templates and pop it straight into your email.

🔊 Tired of saying “What?” You know the drill. The TV’s blasting loud enough for the neighbors to follow along. You’re nodding at dinner like you heard the joke. You’re skipping parties because it’s too exhausting to keep up. David has the Horizon IX hearing device and told me, “I hear things like never before!” I believe him. This tiny device zooms in on voices, drowns out background noise and fits comfortably in or behind your ear. No awkward bulk. No more missing punch lines. Just crystal-clear sound. Try Horizon IX risk-free for 45 days!* 

Since when do monitors install apps?! Some LG models were caught quietly installing a Windows app that pushed McAfee subscription ads. No warning, no permission, just surprise software. LG says it’ll remove the pop-up, but check whether anything else snuck in. Open Settings > Apps > Installed apps and sort by latest.

🍟 Food taking longer in the air fryer? Unplug it and let it cool completely. Remove the basket and look above it. Grease or crumbs around the heating element could keep your food from cooking properly. Clean the area gently with a soft sponge and hot, soapy water. Skip steel wool and hard brushes. They can damage the coating.

😅 Hide that awkward photo: Handing someone your iPhone gets risky when one embarrassing selfie is sitting two swipes away. Open the photo, tap the three dots (top right) and choose Hide. It disappears from your main library. To find it again, go to Utilities > Hidden and unlock it with Face ID. You’re welcome. 

📻 Missed the show? Click to listen to my latest show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The whole thing is waiting for you.

You know you’ve made it when the internet is arguing over whether you’re AI. Jimothy, Seattle’s perfectly ball-shaped raccoon with a rare spine condition, has no idea he’s famous. He just wants the trash. Honestly, same. 

But his fans turned that fame into cold, hard cash. One Jimothy painting sold at auction for $6,543.21 to benefit a food bank, then Amazon and other big businesses piled on with matching donations. Total haul: more than $58,000. That’s more than most committee meetings ever did for Seattle. 

Check out Jimothy’s subreddit and the masterpiece itself. Congrats, buddy. You’re officially a trash-ionaire.

🎓 What you learned today: A doodle can become a bedtime storybook, hotel Wi-Fi can fake a Microsoft login, Apple may owe you up to $95, texting 911 is worth checking now and Jimothy raised $58,000 in fur-covered goodwill. Tomorrow, appliance standby mode can drain money all year, and the fix costs about as much as lunch.

🪥 The answer: C) Dentists photographing the inside of your mouth. Yep, the ring light was invented in 1952 to help dentists take clearer photos of teeth and the back of the mouth without shadows getting in the way.

Fashion photographers stole the idea decades later when they noticed it made models’ skin look airbrushed in real life. Then the influencers discovered it. And now a tool built for cavities powers the selfie economy. 

Want the ring light effect without buying one? Face a window. Big, soft, front-facing sunshine is the original ring light, and it’s free. Keep the light behind your camera, never above you. Overhead light carves shadows under your eyes.If you do buy one, go 10 inches or bigger. The tiny clip-on ones light your nose and call it a day.

Turns out looking younger on camera was never about the filter. It’s all about the fill-ing.

🛡️ Your antivirus is a sitting duck: Today’s malware uses AI to bypass old-school security. If your protection is more than a year old, you’re leaving the front door unlocked. Webroot blocks threats in real-time and won’t hog your system resources. Deal: Get 62% off Webroot Essentials today.*

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Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

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Photo credit(s): Barry Young, Gemini, FIBATDOR, u/JeefsterBears via Reddit

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