🚨 Don’t use your bank app until you read this

A very happy Monday to you, {{first_name | friend}}. Surveillance palooza has entered the chat. Your humble smart speaker might be doing more than DJ’ing dinner parties, it’s starring in murder trials. That’s right. One virtual assistant snagged a confession mid-homicide, and the court said, “Exhibit A!”

💡 Take a guess which smart device recorded a murder confession that was later used in court: A) Alexa, B) Google Nest, C) Ring Doorbell or D) Apple HomePod? The truth is at the end. 

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This is not the most exciting way to start a week. But it’s super important.

Let’s talk about your banking app. It does more than show your balance. With the right settings, it can protect your money, catch fraud fast and help you avoid nasty surprises.

Most people never touch the app’s security or alert settings. Yes, some banking apps are better than others. If yours doesn’t let you turn on alerts or lock your card with a tap, it might be time to switch.

This is most important. Always go to your bank’s actual website and look for a direct link to the app in the App Store (for iPhone) or Google Play (for Android). That way, you’re not guessing or accidentally grabbing a fake version made to steal your money. 

Watch out for misspelled names, weird logos or apps with barely any reviews, all red flags. And never download banking apps from pop-up ads, text messages or sketchy links. When it comes to your money, don’t take shortcuts.

Now that I got that out of the way, we have work to do.

Here are five things to set up today.

1. Transaction alerts
Turn on notifications for everything, purchases, withdrawals, transfers. If someone’s using your card or account, you’ll know instantly. Bonus: You’ll catch those sneaky subscriptions or accidental double charges, too.

2. Low balance warnings
Set an alert for when your account dips below $100 or $250. It’s your early-warning system before you bounce a payment or rack up those ridiculous overdraft fees.

3. Bill due reminders
Even if you’re team auto-pay, reminders are key. They give you time to catch weird charges or sudden increases before your money vanishes.

4. Login and security alerts
Make sure your bank app alerts you when someone logs in, changes your password or tries (and fails) to sign in. And if you haven’t already, turn on two-factor authentication, or better yet, use an authenticator app. 

5. Voiceprint? No thanks
Here’s the creepy part. Some banks quietly enroll you in voice ID without really telling you. When you call customer service, your voice may get recorded and stored as a login method.

It happened to me. I asked to opt out and got a speech about “added security.” Sure, but voice cloning is real. With just a few seconds of audio, scammers can mimic your voice and use it to break in.

👉 So call your bank. Ask if you’re enrolled in voice ID. If you are, opt out. It takes five minutes and could save you from a total headache (or worse).

🇷🇺 You know what they say. In Soviet Russia, you rob banks. In capitalist America, banks rob you! (You totally just said that in a fake Russian accent.)

Now, use those simple share icons below to spread this important information with your friends. Together, we can save the world.

An Arizona woman helped North Korean IT agents land fake remote jobs at 309 U.S. companies. Plus: You can now pay down national debt with Venmo, Microsoft reveals jobs AI is coming for, and why Mark Cuban reads 700 emails a day.

Listen on Komando.com →

🛀 You’re in there every day. Might as well make it awesome.

💭 Sink more about it: There’s way more where that came from over on my Amazon store.

🫠 Your AI chat’s in the wild: That chat convo you shared with a friend? It might be on Google now. Really. If you hit “Share” on a ChatGPT chat, it’s public and searchable. Thousands of personal exchanges, including trauma dumps and mental health stuff, are popping up in search results. Yikes. 

Robot slurs are here: People are officially calling AIs “clankers,” and somehow it stings. The term, lifted from Star Wars clone trooper banter, is being used to mock chatbots, robo-voices and overly excited AI techies. Other contenders: “prompstitute,” “bot-licker” and “clanker wanker.” Three guesses which one will end up on a protest sign first.

⚡ Solar hacker warning: Turns out smart inverters in home solar panels can be hacked. If attackers exploit hardware bugs or trick people into granting app access, they could disrupt entire power grids and trigger blackouts. The kicker? These inverters last over 15 years, so even good security now might not hold up later. 

Teen taxi takeover: Waymo just dropped a self-driving car service (paywall link) for teens in Phoenix, with plans to expand. Kids ages 14 to 17 can summon robot cars to school, soccer or wherever else, no license needed. Parents are jazzed. “So like my dad’s Waymo can pick us up at 6 if your mom’s Waymo can drop us off at 10.” 

🚗 Shock and vroom: Ford says it’s cooking up an EV so revolutionary, it’ll make the original Model T look like a horse and buggy. On Aug. 11, CEO Jim Farley promises to show off a sub-$25K electric car that’s built to scale, fast, cheap and U.S.-powered.

Stream your own drama: Fable Studio just got Amazon funding for Showrunner, an AI platform where you can script shows, insert yourself into episodes and get paid if others build on your story. It’s $10 to $40/month and launching publicly this week. Your next group chat meme could be a full TV episode.

🚨 TSA power bank crackdown: Folks, your charger might not make it through security next time. Power banks must be in your carry-on and within the 100Wh (27,000mAh) limit. If it’s unlabeled, too powerful or packed wrong, TSA might confiscate it. Need a replacement? This one’s 40% off.

The internet’s a powerful tool, but it’s still just that: a tool. We get to choose how we use it.

Listen on Komando.com →

😎 Miss me this weekend? If you didn’t catch my national radio show, I’ve got you. Enter your ZIP code into my station finder to see where to tune in next weekend, or grab the podcast and listen whenever it works for you. Your earbuds and tech brain will thank you.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Switch between Gmail accounts fast. Tap your profile icon (top right), select Add another account and sign in. Now tap the profile icon again to swap between inboxes.

Move iPhone apps at once: Want to clean up your Home Screen without deleting anything? Long-press an app to enter jiggle mode and start dragging it. With another finger, tap other apps to add them to your stack. Once you’ve got them all, swipe to the App Library and let go.

🛍️ Get $20 after your first purchase: Try Kudos. It’s a free tool I love that helps you rack up the best credit card rewards automatically, no guesswork. It shows you which card gets you the biggest perks. Use code KIM, and you’ll get $20 back after your first purchase. Free money? Yes, please.*

Add labels to your Windows 11 taskbar: No more guessing which icon does what. Right-click the Taskbar, go to Taskbar settings > Taskbar behaviors, then scroll to Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels. Change it to Never to always show labels, or When taskbar is full to show them until space runs out.

🛒 Clear your Amazon search history: Great for hiding gift ideas or clearing out those very awkward clicks. On desktop, hover over Account & Lists under Hello, [Your Name] at the top. Click Browsing History, find the item you want to hide and select Remove from view. Because “I was hacked” only works once.

🔐 Weak passwords are so last decade: Every single one of your accounts needs its own unique password. No repeats! I know, it’s a pain. But it’s also the best way to keep hackers from turning one slipup into a full-blown disaster. Make your passwords 16+ characters, and mix in uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols. Or save yourself the headache and use the password manager I trust to keep everything locked down and organized. One click, and you’re safer online.*

$151 billion
That’s Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth. The real flex? He says he’s made more billionaires on his management team than any other CEO. He personally reviews pay for all 42,000 employees and gives out raises every year. Nice, right? Well, only if they survive. An ex-employee had to attend seven to 10 meetings a day.

$250 per month
That’s what it’ll cost to access Google’s new Gemini 2.5 Deep Think AI. It’s their most advanced model yet, capable of exploring multiple ideas at once to find the best answer. Fun fact: This is the same model (well, a variation) that scored a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Hope it does taxes, too. 

2 eggs a day
Can help lower bad cholesterol with a big oval but. You also have to eat a low saturated fat diet. Think lean meats, low-fat dairy and plant-based proteins. The real villains? Butter, bacon and whatever else is deep-fried on your toast. Speaking of… A piece of toast and a hard-boiled egg walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Sorry, we don’t serve breakfast here.”

🧺 Laundroid dreams are made of this

Well, it finally happened. A humanoid robot was caught on video doing what every teenager avoids at all costs: loading the washing machine.

Engineered by China’s Fourier Intelligence, the robot, named GR-1, bends down, grabs clothes and shoves them into the washer like it’s auditioning for Real Housewives of Silicon Valley. 

Sure, it moves like a sleep-deprived toddler at ballet class, but let’s give it credit: This bot isn’t folding towels yet, but it’s already ahead of half the people in your household.

The future is unfolding, friends. Let’s hope it knows the difference between delicates and denim. Watch the action here.

💦 I need this robot. My husband and I were arguing as to whose turn it was to do the laundry. Finally, I threw in the towel.

💡 Answer: A) Alexa. In a real-life plot twist straight out of a Netflix crime doc, an Amazon Echo was suspected of capturing audio during a 2015 murder in Arkansas. Law enforcement believed it “heard” key events and requested the files, turning Alexa into an unexpected star witness. Let that sink in next time you ask her to play “lo-fi beats.” 

This is the #1 free tech newsletter in the U.S. wishing you a productive Monday. Tomorrow, Google SEO is dead. I will tell you the insider tricks to get AI chatbots to recommend your business.

🫡 Be sure to hit those ratings below, and leave me a comment if you want. I read every single one. Thank you for letting me in your inbox. It’s an honor I do not take lightly.

🫶 You’ve got the whole week ahead, so make it smart, make it bold, make it yours. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, Brett Adcock via X

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