💵 He made $25K with ChatGPT and zero experience

Welcome to your moneymaking Monday, {{first_name | friend}}. Before we get to that, picture this: You whip up a little side project as a joke, and the next thing you know, the whole planet is glued to it. That’s exactly what happened back in the floppy-disk days at Microsoft, when a “just for fun” experiment turned into one of the most iconic time-wasters of all time.

🙃 Which digital prankster became a productivity killer? Was it: A) Minesweeper, B) MS Paint, C) Solitaire or D) MS Bob? Stick around, the big reveal’s waiting at the end. And no, you can’t Alt+Tab your way to it. Scroll, baby scroll.

🎙️ Missed my show this past weekend? I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed. (Can you tell I’m a mom, too?) The good news is you can listen to it when and where you want. Here’s a one-click link to my show on the most popular podcast players. Now, let’s jump in to keep you and your loved ones tech-smart and safe. 

📌 Pin this to your inbox’s top shelf with a favorite. It’s smarter than leaving it to Gmail’s mood swings. — Kim

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You’re sitting on a gold mine made of random facts and questionable life skills. I’m talking about things you know, say gardening, budgeting, investing, photography, music, baking, fixing stuff, navigating tech, prepping, accounting, car repairs, parenting, teaching, you name it.

With a little help from ChatGPT (or your favorite chatbot), turn that know-how into a book and sell it on Amazon. You don’t have to be a writer. You don’t need a publisher. You don’t need to be a graphic artist. You just need a topic you care about. I helped a family member earn $25,000 with this advice.

It’s easier than you think!

If you price your book between $2.99 and $9.99:
✅ You keep 70% of each sale.
❌ Amazon keeps 30%.
Example: Sell a book for $4.99, and you earn about $3.50 per copy.

If your book is under $2.99 or over $9.99:
✅ You keep 35%.
❌ Amazon takes 65%.
Example: Sell a book for $1.99, and you only make about $0.70.

Ideas for you:

👉 Want to brainstorm ideas? Book a free one-on-one session with me. I’d love to help you write your next success

China can monitor, censor and cut off citizens online. I also help a guy take his paranormal YouTube channel to the next level. Plus, an 80-year-old wires $6,700 to a fake astronaut, and insurance drones spy from above. It’s a great one!

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Subscribe on your favorite platform:

Spice things up (literally). Adjust from powdery to chunky, without the wrist workout. Makes for a great housewarming gift.

🥗 Salad spinner (20% off): If your salad still drips, you’re doing it wrong. Double drainage means faster prep.

Olive oil sprayers (12% off, two-pack): Pour or spritz, it’s your call. Comes with labels so you won’t confuse oil for vinegar

🔥 Reusable oven liners ($13, two-pack): These heavy-duty mats will save you from scrubbing baked-on disasters.

Glass meal prep containers (15% off): Stackable, leak-proof and microwave-safe. Packing lunch just got easier.

🛒 The shortcut aisle: Stroll over to my Amazon page for 30+ kitchen lifesavers that’ll save time and sanity.

🕵️ FBI imposters online: Scammers are spinning up fake FBI and IC3 websites to trick you into handing over your personal info under the phony promise of “recovering your stolen funds.” Some even claim there’s a complaint filed against you. The sites look legit, with slick logos and URLs that are just off enough to fool you if you’re not paying attention. Here’s the deal: The real FBI will never DM you on social, email you out of the blue, or ask for money to fix anything. Always type ic3.gov directly into your browser. If someone says, “We’re here to help you get your money back,” they’re trying to steal what’s left. Stay alert.

🫣 Wait, is TikTok … different? The U.S. takeover deal’s in motion, and with it? A few quiet tweaks. Your “For You” might feel a little … less global. New terms, new vibes and maybe fewer dance trends from Berlin. It’s not broken, it’s just moving in with Oracle.

💻 The kids are not alright: I read this new report and felt sick. One in three boys, ages 9 to 12, has had sexual interactions online. Yeah, 9. Instagram, Discord, even Roblox. Most aren’t telling anyone. If you’ve got kids, ask what apps they use. No shame, no lectures, just real talk. Be their safe place before someone else pretends to be.

Bad news for photodumps: The new iPhone 17s, yep, the $1,200 ones, are apparently glitching if you take pics near bright LED lights, like at concerts. One reviewer found black boxes, missing chunks, ghostly squiggles. Apple says it’s rare and a fix is coming, but for now? Your pics might look like abstract art.

🧃 Electric camel unlocked: Mercedes built a prototype EV that drove 749 miles across Europe without blinking, and it still had 85 miles in the tank. One battery. Zero charging. That’s the distance from New York to Chicago, and maybe circling the block for parking. Solid-state tech, real-life road, no science fair nonsense. It’s coming by 2030.

🫠 Martian spa: Mars wasn’t always a dead rock. It had water. A lot of it. NASA’s rover just found proof the Jezero Crater got wet, not once but three different times. And not just any water, they’re saying chill, life-friendly mineral baths. Basically, Mars hosted spa days long before we even had plants. 

🛬 iPad turbulence: When a Spirit Airlines flight flew too close to Air Force One over Long Island the other day, air traffic control urgently warned the pilots to turn and finally snapped, “Get off the iPad!” The FAA says the planes maintained a safe distance. Read the entire exchange here. It’s interesting.

🛟 A smart tip to help protect your retirement savings: With the economy so unpredictable, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I protect a portion of my savings with real gold and silver from Goldco. And right now, Goldco is giving up to 10% back in FREE silver when you open a qualified account.*

AI companies scrape billions of pics from social media to train facial recognition. Yep, creepy. Protect your selfies with this simple trick.

Listen on Komando.com →

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Flying soon? Keep power banks under 100Wh (it’s usually printed on the box) and always in your carry-on bag, never in checked luggage. Need a new one? Here you go!

✨ Try Gemini in Chrome: You can now use Google’s AI without a subscription. It’s rolling out on desktop for Windows and Mac if Chrome’s language is set to English. Look for the sparkle icon at the top, tap it and ask questions like “What clothing blog was I looking at last week?” Don’t see it yet? The update’s still rolling out.

😒 Stop Android screens from timing out: If your phone keeps going dark too fast, go to Settings > Display > Screen timeout and bump it up. Even better, toggle on Screen attention (or Keep screen on while viewing) in the same menu. This way, the countdown only starts once you actually look away.

📄 Delete PDF pages for free: Using the basic version of Acrobat? You can’t remove pages directly, but there’s a loophole. Go to Menu > Print, set the Printer to Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) or Save as PDF (Mac). Under Pages to Print, choose the range you want (like 5–12), then hit Print and save your new file.

Lock it down: ExpressVPN is my go-to for online privacy. With one click, everything you do is hidden from hackers, snoops, even your internet provider. Right now, you’ll get 4 months FREE!*

🖥️ macOS 26: In Messages, set a background if the person you’re talking with is also on the latest Apple OS. Click the chat name at the top, go to the sidebar on the right and select Backgrounds. Choose from solid colors, themes, photos from your library, or generate one with AI.

⌚ watchOS 26: The Notes app is finally on the Apple Watch. Open it and you’ll see all your synced notes. Pinned notes show up first, then everything else is sorted by date. To create a new one, tap the Note button in the bottom right, dictate with Siri and hit Done. It’ll appear in Today and sync across your devices.

📱 iOS 26: Go to Settings > Battery and you’ll see new tricks. When charging, your iPhone now shows how long it’ll take to hit 80% and 100%. Scroll down to Power Mode and try Adaptive Power. Instead of Low Power Mode, it automatically makes small performance tweaks during heavy use to stretch battery life.

🍏 iPadOS 26: The Journal app has landed on iPad. To create an entry, open the app and tap the (+) next to Journals in the left sidebar. Name it, pick a color and choose an icon. Then tap (+) at the top of the screen, add a title and start writing. You can also insert photos, record audio or draw with markup tools.

Tugboats have been hauling and pushing ships since the early 1800s. These torque monsters of the seas usually run on diesel engines so loud and dirty they could double as villain lairs in a Marvel movie.

Enter Arc, the SpaceX-founded boat startup. It just scored its first big industrial win: a $160M order for eight hybrid-electric tugboats. Arc’s 6 MWh battery pack does most of the heavy lifting. 

🤫 The Port of Los Angeles only has about 20 tugs total, so swapping in eight cleaner, quieter ones is a big deal. We’re talking less pollution, less noise and maybe, for once, crews can yell over the waves instead of the engines. It’s like swapping your grandpa’s coal furnace for a Tesla engine on water. Now that’s shipshape!

♦️ The answer: C) Solitaire. Everyone’s favorite retro time sink was actually created by a Microsoft intern in 1989 as a joke. But it had a surprising purpose: teaching people how to drag and drop with a mouse in Windows. If anyone asked why you wasted so much time playing games, just say it was “mouse training.”

Speaking of… Why does Batman love playing Solitaire? There is no Joker. (lol) 🃏

Thanks for getting my free newsletter. I appreciate you! Drop a rating below. Tomorrow, a new scam tech is blasting out tens of thousands of sketchy texts in seconds and I’ll help you spot them before your phone turns into a fraud cannon.

✌️ When you see a challenge, remember you’ve got the skills to handle it. — Kim

📣 Don’t keep me a secret: Send your friends to GetKim.com

Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, Circle Joy, Arc

Companies noted with an asterisk (*) sponsor my national radio show. Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.

This newsletter and its content are intended for informational purposes only. They are provided without warranty of any kind. You shouldn’t construe anything provided here as legal, health, medical, technical, tax, investment, financial or any other kind of advice.

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