👀 It already knows you

It’s a terrific Thursday, {{first_name | friend}}. Kevin O’Leary has seen a lot. Cat wigs. Edible spray paint. An app that literally just said, “Yo.” But nothing prepared him for this.

Mid-Zoom job interview. Someone moves in the background. It’s the candidate’s mom. Just there. Kevin didn’t blink. “Your mom is not going to be part of this discussion, so we’re going to have to shut her down, or you’re not going to be considered for this role.” Turns out, it’s happening everywhere. Recruiters are reporting parents on Zoom calls, in salary negotiations, sliding into DMs on their kid’s behalf. (Seriously.)

💼 Guess what percent of Gen Z job seekers admitted in a 2025 survey that they brought their folks along? A) 12%, B) 33%, C) 55% or D) 77%? Answer’s at the end. And no, you can’t phone a parent to ask.

💧 Big news. My brand new AI newsletter, Splash of AI, launched today. Every Thursday, one AI trick to try, one scam to dodge and one fact that’ll make you the smartest person at dinner. Five minutes. No jargon. Only a small group got the first issue today (we’re warming up our email servers), but I’ll drop a link tomorrow, so you can read the whole thing. Trust me, you’ll want to. I found out I was wasting $564 a year. Haven’t signed up yet? Get on the list at SplashOfAI.com. It’s free. — Kim

📬 Someone forwarded this to you? Smart friend. Want it in your own inbox instead of waiting on them? Sign up here. It’s free, and I promise not to spam you.

⚡ TL;DR Key Takeaways

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

You mention needing new tires. An hour later, tire ads everywhere. Your friend says it’s creepy. Your spouse says you’re paranoid.

Here’s the thing. The truth is worse than either version.

In 2024, 404 Media got their hands on a leaked pitch deck from Cox Media Group. The marketing giant was selling something called “active listening.” The slides said smart devices could “capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations.” The deck listed Google, Facebook and Amazon as partners. 

Google’s response? Kicked Cox off its Partners program. Amazon denied everything. Cox called the materials “outdated.” Sure, Jan.

Researchers at Northeastern University analyzed 17,000 Android apps, looking for secret mic access. Not one app was recording your voice.

What did they find? Apps secretly screenshotting your phone and sending images to third parties. One app recorded video of everything on your screen. Your messages. Your browsing. Your passwords.

It’s called ultrasonic cross-device tracking. (Stay with me.) Companies embed inaudible sound signals, above 18 kHz, beyond what human ears can pick up, into TV commercials, websites and store speakers. Your phone picks them up silently and links itself to your TV, laptop and tablet. Now advertisers know all those devices belong to you.

Researchers found 234 Android apps quietly listening for these ultrasonic signals without users knowing. The apps didn’t need Wi-Fi. Just microphone access. That permission you granted to a flashlight app three years ago? That’s the open door.

Layer on GPS location data, browsing history, loyalty card purchases and the Facebook Pixel tracking you across millions of websites. It all combines into a profile so precise it feels like someone’s listening.

They don’t need to listen. They already know.

On my site, I have painfully tested and wrote up the steps you need to audit your microphone permissions, kill personalized ads, stop your smart TV from snitching and Alexa, too. Click here for the steps. It was too much to include here in the newsletter.

I guess you could say advertisers have really been playing it by ear. Tough crowd.

🗣️ TEXT/POST THIS STAT: Researchers found 234 apps secretly using sounds you can’t hear to link your devices together for ad targeting. Your phone doesn’t need to record you. It already knows. → GetKim.com

One creepy interaction. One pair of hidden camera glasses. Half a million views. When Alex was approached outside a club, she didn’t realize she was being filmed for the world to see. She joined us to break down the fallout of a privacy nightmare that spanned every major social platform.

Watch on YouTube →

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

🎧 Headphones or goodbye: I’m sure we can all agree we don’t want to hear someone’s TikTok or Candy Crush on full blast at 35,000 feet. So annoying. United quietly updated its contract of carriage, the legal fine print, so if you play audio or video without headphones, they can remove you and even ban you from future flights. And get this, the provision is tucked into Rule 21 with about 20 other bootable offenses, like no ID and safety threats. Bring earbuds, or enjoy Greyhound.

Second opinion roulette: Stop asking ChatGPT if you’re dying. A Nature Medicine study put ChatGPT Health through 60 doctor-reviewed scenarios. It missed real emergencies 51.6% of the time and screamed “urgent care!” for 64.8% of totally safe cases. That’s basically a coin flip. Use it to research questions for your doctor. Don’t use it instead of one. Your co-pay is cheaper than the alternative.

🎮 $20,000 gone: An Ohio man spent over $20,000 on PlayStation games, going all-digital. Then a hacker got into his PSN account using one trick: Sony’s own recovery chatbot. One old order number. Email changed. 2FA disabled. Account gone. The entry point wasn’t malware. It was customer service. Going all-digital is convenient until someone else holds your entire library. Moral of the story: A physical disc never got phished.

Apple's cheapest Mac ever: Apple dropped the MacBook Neo, and the price tag is wild: $599. That's the cheapest Mac laptop in history. It runs on an iPhone chip (the A18 Pro), comes in four colors (indigo, blush, citrus, silver) and gets 16 hours of battery life. The catch? Just 8GB of RAM with no option to upgrade. No backlit keyboard either. Students get it for $499. It's Apple's answer to Chromebooks, and it ships March 11.

❄️ A credit freeze has a massive blind spot: It stops crooks from opening new accounts, but it does nothing to stop them from draining the bank accounts you already have. That’s the part nobody talks about. I use NordProtect to cover that gap. It scans the dark web 24/7 and alerts you the second your info leaks. Get 72% off right now for just $3.79 a month. For less than a latte, you’re not an easy target anymore.*

⛽️ Your gas app snitched on you: A federal judge ruled Allstate must face a class action accusing it of secretly tracking 45 million drivers through apps like GasBuddy, Life360 and Fuel Rewards. The allegation: Allstate's data unit embedded hidden software that monitored your speed, braking and location, then used it to raise your premiums. Even passenger rides counted against you. Fifteen lawsuits combined into one big case. "You're in good hands?" More like tracked hands.

Think AI is just a job killer? It’s actually creating a new class of $200,000-a-year careers. From “vibe coding” to high-paying roles that require zero programming skills, ASU’s Dr. Ross Maciejewski reveals how to future-proof your paycheck and master the human-tech partnership.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: YouTube has a sleep timer so it’s not playing till 6 a.m. While watching, tap the gear icon, select Sleep timer and pick a time or End of video. No more waking up to whatever autoplay decided. Bonus: In the same settings, there’s a new AI Voice boost option being tested. Makes dialogue louder and clearer over background noise. Two useful things, one menu.

Windows Snipping Tool does more than take screenshots: Open the app, click + New, and snip anything on your screen. Right-click the snip and choose Visual Search with Bing. Your browser launches and finds matches for whatever’s in the image. See a lamp you love in a YouTube video? Snip it and find exactly where to buy it. You’re welcome.

You can comment anonymously on Facebook groups: Tap Comment on any post, then tap your profile icon next to the text box. Switch to Anonymous participant, type and hit send. Nobody sees your name. Well, almost nobody. Admins and moderators can still see exactly who you are. So maybe think twice before going off. 

Your phone battery is lying to you: If your iPhone hits 100% in an hour or barely makes it to dinner, check this first. Go to Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging. Anything below 80%, and your battery is officially done. Apple will replace it for $99. A new phone runs $800+. Do the math. Most people replace the whole phone when a $99 fix would’ve solved everything. That’s your cash walking out the door.

🚗 Free car manuals, no catches: If you’ve ever paid a mechanic just to tell you what’s wrong, this one’s for you. charm.li is a free library of repair and service manuals covering over 50,000 car and truck models from 1982 to 2013. No sign-up. No paywall. No “start your free trial” nonsense. Find your make, model and year, and download the full repair manual as a PDF. Shade tree mechanics, this is your new best friend. You’re welcome, and so is your wallet.

You know a company’s feeling confident when it goes from budget phones to hypercars.

This is the new Xiaomi Vision Gran Turismo, a 217 mph electric concept. It’s hyper-aerodynamic (0.29 drag coefficient, meaning it slices through air), wrapped in dramatic air channels and features a “sofa” cockpit that flows like one giant gaming chair. 

There’s even AI that adjusts lighting and sound based on your mood. If this ever goes into production, consider it the most expensive mood ring ever.

🔜 Tomorrow: Your printer has been snitching on you since the ’80s. Every page it prints? Secretly stamped with a hidden dot pattern the naked eye can’t see. Your name. Your printer. Your document. Think shredding keeps you safe? Think again.

The answer is D) 77%. You read that right. According to a 2025 Resume Templates survey, more than 3 out of 4 Gen Z job seekers admitted they’d brought a parent to a job interview. One in 5 said a parent contacted an employer or recruiter on their behalf. Some parents actually complete hiring tests for their kids. (Seriously.)

A few years ago, a 23-year-old showed up to an interview at my office. With his mom. In my conference room. She looked me dead in the eye and said she was there for “moral support.”

I asked her to wait in the lobby. She was not thrilled. Look, I get it. Parents want to help. But there’s a difference between “good luck, you’ve got this” and following your kid into the building like a golden retriever who doesn’t know they can’t come inside.

Kevin O’Leary’s advice to employers: Cut the interview short. “Just say: ‘Sorry. That’s not going to work for us.’”

Mine: If your kid needs you in the room at 23, the interview isn’t the problem. And yes, I felt bad. But not bad enough to hire him.

One for the road: Interviewer: Is the glass half empty or half full? Applicant: It’s completely full. Interviewer: We’d be glad to hire you. Welcome to the Lays factory. (lol)

😁 Know more. Fear less. You got this! — 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): Gemini, Govee, Xiaomin

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