🫧 Is the AI bubble about to burst?

Welcome to your Cyber Monday, {{first_name | friend}}. I’d love to give you some holiday cash. My Christmas Cash Giveaway is going strong. Every single day, one lucky subscriber to this free newsletter wins a $100, $200 or $500 Amazon gift card. Check the Golden Ticket section towards the end because today might be your day!

👔 There’s office “multitasking” lore that led to Cyber Monday becoming the biggest online shopping day. Can you guess what most people were secretly doing at work that helped Cyber Monday blow up? Was it: A) Using office internet to shop faster, B) Sharing coupon codes in group chats, C) Testing store websites for fun, or D) Returning items from Black Friday? The answer is holding its breath at the bottom.

They can't scam you if they can't buy your number: Most robocalls start with a data broker selling your info on a lead list. Stop playing defense against individual calls and cut them off at the source. Incogni automatically forces these brokers to delete your profile, making you invisible to the people trying to sell your data. Make yourself un-buyable today, right now it’s 60% off. — Kim

📬 Was this forwarded to you? Be the first to know, not the last to hear. Sign up now. It’s free!

All anyone wanted to talk to me about during the Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving get-togethers was AI. “Can I use AI to make money?” Yes. “I love ChatGPT more than my wife.” You need a therapist. “I think all AI is all BS.” No, it’s not. 

But the question I heard the most was, “Is this AI bubble going to burst like the dot-com mess did?” So I bet you might be wondering the same thing.

It’s December, a time when Wall Street is usually in full peppermint-latte celebration mode. The classic “Santa Claus Rally,” when stocks typically rise during the last stretch of the year, is one of the market’s most reliable gifts. 

For the last two years, the “Mag 7” (that’s Nvidia, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon, Meta and Tesla) carried the market on their backs. How much? They’re nearly one-third of the entire S&P 500. A historic high. 

Trillions in value were created on one big promise that AI is the future. And it is. No doubt about it. But when Q3 earnings rolled in last month, investors changed from “How cool is this AI tech?” to something far less fun: “OK, where are the profits?”

Now, this is not the dot-com bubble where companies had no revenue at all. This time, the companies do have revenue. They’re spending it faster than they can make it, though. That’s a problem for sure, but they need to build now for the future.

Big Tech is pouring over $200 billion every year into chips and data centers. Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta spent about $78 billion in Q3 2025 on AI infrastructure. Nvidia alone is spending more than Ford, GM and Boeing combined. Yea, a ton.

Some AI data centers are sitting half-finished because they cannot get enough power or cooling online. The money flowing back from those investments is not even close to catching up. Think of it like building the world’s most expensive Ferrari, then using it to drive to Sam’s Club.

The “S&P 493” (that’s the rest of the index outside the giant tech players) is actually doing fine. Steady. Healthy, even. They delivered over 58% of the S&P 500’s total return through the first three quarters of 2025. 

That AI crash? The Mag 7 stocks have become so top-heavy that when AI gets the sniffles, your 401(k) starts shivering.

Is the Santa Rally canceled? December ends positive about three out of four years. If we do get a rally this year, it might not come from the usual tech darlings. It might come from the boring-but-beautiful categories like health care, utilities and consumer goods. By the way, utilities are going to be huge as AI data centers triple electricity demand over the next few years, even coal and nuclear reactors.

So don’t panic if you see volatility this month. This is the price of admission for the AI revolution. Take a look at your portfolio. If every dollar is riding on AI, you are basically putting all your cookies in one tin. Even Santa spreads things around.

Pass it on: If this helped cut through the AI noise, don’t keep it to yourself. Forward this newsletter to a friend or two or use the share icons below. One more thing: Why did the AI go broke? Because it lost its cache.

Is it the end of the poker face? There is a new app for lawyers that analyzes micro-expressions to catch dishonesty. Caller Maranda in Texas writes lyrics by hand and fears losing them, so I get her digitized. Plus, the new Ikea x Sonos drop and how porch pirates are going high-tech.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

🤦 A real Houdini: So this Missouri magician thought it’d be cool to implant an RFID chip in his hand for magic tricks, then he forgot the password. It was sitting under his skin like a tiny USB drive he couldn’t open, complete with a Bitcoin address and a dead meme link. As implants go mainstream, here’s a friendly reminder that losing a password hits different when it’s inside your body. He ended up finding it, but he still got my vote for “World’s most useless cyborg.” 

A tragic mess: This one is awful and hard to read. A family is suing OpenAI after their 16-year-old son died by suicide. The lawsuit says ChatGPT-4o encouraged his darkest thoughts and helped him plan it. OpenAI fired back this week, blaming the teen for “violating terms.” Basically, their defense boils down to “You weren’t supposed to ask those questions, so it’s not our responsibility if we mishandled them.” The family’s lawyer called the response “disturbing,” and I can’t disagree.

You are the product: Gmail and Yahoo don’t keep your email private; they track your activity to sell ads. That’s the price of “free.” I use StartMail because it blocks the trackers, never scans your content and keeps your personal life secured under European law. Plus, you get unlimited aliases, use a fake email for every sign-up, and if spam starts, you delete it. Take control! Lock in my exclusive 60% off deal, plus 3 free months right now!*

A real hang up: A new startup called Tin Can proved families are hungry for simpler tech. They launched a landline-style phone and sold 120,000 of them in three days. It does one thing only: talking. No apps. No scrolling. It’s only a way for parents and kids to stay connected without falling into the screen trap. Love this!

📝 The paid test revolution: Whether you’re hiring or merely trying to stand out in a sea of AI-polished résumés, this one hits home. Fed up with candidates faking skills and personalities with AI (girl, me, too), one founder ditched interviews completely and moved to paid test projects that show how people actually work. The fakers were exposed instantly, and good candidates stood out from the bots.

Thanks for the memories: RAM and SSD chips re spiking in price, thanks to all the demand from AI-powered data centers. That means phones, laptops and desktop PCs will cost noticeably more in 2026. Look for an up to 15 percent price increase. So if you’ve been waiting for “it’s a little cheaper,” this might be your last window.

✨ I try to keep my wellness routine on track: I really do, but some days I need a little extra support. That’s why I’ve been taking ImproveLife GLP-1 Support each morning. It helps reduce cravings, supports a healthy metabolism and maintains steady blood sugar levels, so I feel more balanced throughout the day. No stimulants and nothing harsh, just simple support that fits easily into my routine. Right now, you can get 50% off plus free shipping and a bonus gift.**

Mom’s apple pie. Grandpa’s lasagna. Don’t risk losing them. Here’s how to take those treasures off paper and into the cloud.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Press the spacebar to pause a YouTube video, then use the comma and period keys to step backward or forward one frame at a time.

Write it down: You can send handwritten messages on your iPhone. In Messages, open a conversation and turn the phone sideways. Tap the squiggly line in the bottom right, draw with your finger, then hit Done and Send.

Customize dark mode on Android: Dark mode helps with eyestrain and can even save some battery, but you can set it to turn on automatically. Go to Settings > Display and tap Dark. Then open Dark mode settings and choose Turn on as scheduled. You can pick sunset to sunrise or set your own hours, like 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Shop smarter with Alexa: When restocking, say, “Alexa, reorder paper towels,” and it’ll add them to your cart. For delivery updates, ask “Alexa, where’s my stuff?” to hear if an item has shipped. You can even try “Alexa, what’s the most popular dog food?” to get ideas on products you’re unsure about. FYI, the Echo Dot is a great gift (36% off, $32).

✏️ Add a signature in Outlook: If you want your sign-off to appear automatically, go to Settings > Accounts > Signatures. You can type something simple like “Sincerely, Kim” and add a phone number or alternate email underneath. You can also choose whether it shows up on new messages only or on replies and forwards, too.

Feeling left behind? Download NetSuite’s free knowledge drop, “Demystifying AI.” No matter what you do, you should know more about AI. It’s not going anywhere.*

Meet SOLARIS, a new solar-powered motorcycle that charges itself using retractable circular wings, turning every parking spot into a sunbathing ritual. 

This Transformer succulent is modeled after a leopard they say and runs solely on sunlight. It features a carbon-aluminum chassis, regen braking and a solar brain that manages power in real time.

I can totally see these things taking up three parking spaces. That would be wheelie bad.

The answer: A) Using office internet to shop faster. Back in the early 2000s, home internet was moving at the pace of a tortoise on decaf. But office Wi-Fi? That was the autobahn. Analysts clocked a massive spike in traffic as employees sneakily used their work computers to hit “Add to cart” before their manager came back from the break room. And just like that, Cyber Monday was born.

I went online shopping for a cherry and a microphone the other day. Bought a bing, bought a boom. (lol, you can borrow that one from me.)

🤯 The amount of information data brokers have on you would make your head spin. Your birthday, old addresses, medical issues, political views. Shady brokers package it all up and sell it. Incogni finds the worst offenders and gets your data deleted. It’s one of the smartest ways to cut down on spam and scam attempts. Right now, get 60% off with code KIM60.

Tomorrow, how a DNA test could get you an inheritance, really. You don’t want to miss that!

💬 Text someone you haven’t talked to in a while. It’ll make their day, and yours too! — Kim

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

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Amazon, MASK architects

Companies and products noted with an asterisk (*) sponsor my national radio show or is a paid ad. Also, as an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Companies and products noted with a double asterisk (**) contain statements not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary.

This newsletter and its content are intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. Every newsletter is 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.