🫣 Meet the $300 stalker on your face

🌌 Look up at the sky tonight. You’re basically time traveling. What? Every star you see with your naked eye is within about 4,000 light-years from Earth. So you’re seeing them as they were up to 4,000 years ago, right around the time the pyramids were going up in Egypt. Just your eyes, a clear night and nothing too Sirius like a telescope. You’ll find my favorite star-finding apps at the end.

⭐ Now you can take The Current on the go! George is hosting our brand-new AI-powered podcast, serving up some of my best stories in a quick, fun listen. Perfect for your commute, dog walk or while you’re pretending to fold laundry. Click here to check it out now! You can also let it run in your browser. — Kim

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That’s me, virtually trying on Meta’s glasses on their website, doing my best Tom Cruise Risky Business impersonation. Spoiler, I didn’t buy them.

These remind me of Google Glass. Those awkward $1,500 face computers from 2013 that made you look like a cyborg at brunch. They launched with a ton of hype and died just as fast. 

Between the terrible battery life and the privacy panic, “Glasshole” became a real word. Here we are over a decade later, and smart glasses are back big-time.

Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses start at $299 and have already sold over 2 million pairs. They look like regular sunglasses but take hands-free photos, livestream video, play music and even answer questions through Meta AI whispered in your ear.

Battery life is four to six hours, and they charge inside a little sunglasses case. Everything syncs to the Meta View app, where your content is stored in the cloud. 

Here’s the thing: The glasses are always listening, and they can start recording with just a tap. Meta added a tiny LED that lights up when filming, but really, who notices that at a Starbucks or party?

Privacy aside, Meta’s serious about this space. They own a $3.5 billion stake in EssilorLuxottica, the massive eyewear company behind Ray-Ban, Oakley and pretty much every brand you’ve ever tried on at the mall.

Halo X is the chilling nerdy challenger, made by startup Brilliant Labs. It projects AI-generated responses right onto the lens. You can ask it to translate a sign, identify a flower or even help remember the name of someone you met at a bar two Friday nights ago. 

Seriously, it records everything. Video, audio, all of it gets uploaded to the cloud. No local storage. No off switch. That’s helpful … or horrifying, depending on how you feel about privacy. 

Battery life is short, two or three hours. When it ships in a few months, the glasses will cost $350 to $400.

In most U.S. states, as long as you’re part of the conversation, you can legally record it. This is called one-party consent law. But in about 11 states, including California, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania, all parties must consent before recording anything, even a one-second video or audio clip.

Want to check your state? Here’s a handy breakdown of which states require everyone’s consent and which don’t.

Knowing your state laws before you record someone is just sound advice. (I saw that smirk!)

Now, would you wear them? I’m curious. Let me know what you think at the end when you rate this newsletter. I’ll pick the person with the best reasons to win $25 and be a special guest on my show. Yes, your 15 minutes of fame and money!

Losing your keys can ruin your day. New AI tools can scan your room, point out where they are hiding and even suggest the most likely spots to check. Here is how it works.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Subscribe on your favorite platform:

⚡ ChatGPT gets babysat: OpenAI’s finally adding parental controls to ChatGPT three years after launch. Parents can link accounts, set “age-appropriate” rules and get alerts if the AI thinks their kids are in crisis. The bot will also tap into a global physician network for mental health referrals. Basically, Mom just joined a group chat that was long overdue.

📦 Shipping crackdown: Amazon’s dialing back some Prime benefits; you’re not allowed to share your Prime free shipping with people unless you live together. From Oct. 1, outsiders must pony up a discounted $14.99/year for the first year, then $14.99/month. Amazon Family still works, but only if everyone’s under the same roof. No more long-distance toothpaste subsidies.

YouTube’s family freeloader era is over, too: So you’ve been coasting on someone else’s YouTube Premium family plan for years? Well, YouTube just went full Netflix on us. Starting now, every 30 days, it’ll GPS‑scan your butt to make sure you actually live under the same roof as the account holder.

⚡ Classic cars get plugged in: Imagine your busted Land Rover or the Ferrari 308 from Magnum, P.I., now whisper-quiet as a Tesla. U.K.’s Electric Classic Cars has converted 100+ classics since 2015, swapping gas engines for battery packs without chopping up the vintage shells. Conversions start around $57K, but wild custom builds climb past $190K. I don’t know, I love the roar of my ’67 Corvette that was actually in the movie Con Air.

Denial as a service: Medicare’s new WISeR program will pay AI firms a share of money saved by denying “wasteful” care. That's right, AI companies are turning into health care mercenaries. Just 12 procedures targeted at first, but it’s a slippery slope. Six states (NJ, OH, OK, TX, AZ, WA) start the experiment in January.

👀 Sofa surprise: This is wild. The Baroque painting “Portrait of a Lady,” stolen by Nazis in 1940, just popped up casually hanging above a couch in a living room photo on an Argentinian real estate site. Doesn’t take a history buff to guess how that happened. Apparently the Zestimate skyrockets when your décor is a war crime.

Feeling left behind? Download NetSuite’s free knowledge drop, “The CFO’s Guide to AI and Machine Learning.” No matter what you do, you should know more about AI. It’s not going anywhere.*

Hear that rumor about a big-name politician? Or something else? Here’s why.

Listen on Komando.com →

Your 2 a.m. toe savers. Perfect for hallways, bathrooms or that Lego minefield in your kid’s room.

🔌 Outlet concealer kit (28% off): Hide those bulky plugs and messy cords. Finally, your furniture can sit flush against the wall.

🌀 Double-sided mounting tape (10% off): Holds up to 120 pounds. One roll has endless uses, from securing rugs to hanging decorations.

🚽 Bidet toilet attachment (35% off): A quick DIY install, and boom, you’re saving trees and cash on overpriced TP.

💧 Under-sink organizers (29% off, two-pack): No more crouching. Pullout shelves bring your cleaners and sponges right to you.

✅ Fix everything faster: Upgrade your space without emptying your wallet. Shop more handpicked helpers on my Amazon page.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: In Chrome, quickly mute a noisy tab by right-clicking it and selecting Mute site. Saves your ears from those annoying autoplay videos that pop up out of nowhere. You’re welcome.

🖥️ Hide Taskbar extras on Windows 11: Widgets and the Task view button can’t be unpinned like regular apps, but you can still remove them. Right-click an empty spot on the Taskbar, select Taskbar settings, and under Taskbar items, toggle off Task view and Widgets. FYI: You can also hide the Search box from here.

▶️ Add a channel trailer on YouTube: Give potential subscribers a preview of what to expect. Log in to YouTube and go to YouTube Studio > Customization > Home tab > Layout. Click + Add section > Channel trailer, pick the video you want, and hit Publish. Pro tip: Swap it out every few weeks to keep things fresh.

Find your mouse pointer on Mac: If the cursor keeps disappearing, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Display > Pointer. Drag the Pointer size slider to make it larger, and pick new colors for the outline or fill. Bonus: Turn on Shake mouse pointer to locate. Next time you lose it, a quick shake makes the pointer balloon for a second. Amazing.

✍️ Add a signature in Gmail: Go to Settings > See all settings > General > Signature. Click Create new, give it a name and type in details like your contact info and job title. You can also insert an image of your real signature. Then choose whether it appears on new emails, replies or both. Scroll down and hit Save Changes. 

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$27,500
The likely sticker price for Slate’s “Blank Slate” pickup. The first trucks from the Bezos-backed company are expected to hit the road late 2026 or early 2027, just ahead of Ford’s $30K EV competitor. Already, 100,000+ people have put down a reservation (it costs $50) for this no-frills entrant into the EV truck game. 

8 inches
That’s how far off AI was when it flagged the wrong guy as a criminal. The innocent guy is taller, heavier and was miles away when the crime happened, but the NYPD’s facial recognition still went “Enhance!” and called it a match. Nothing like AI-powered “Where’s Waldo?” with people’s lives on the line.

$2,000
That’s what Garmin’s new MicroLED smartwatch will run you. What started as a hiker’s gadget with solar charging and route maps now comes with texting, voice calls and satellite SOS. It’s dropping Sept. 8, just one day before Apple unveils its upgraded Watch Ultra 3.

It’s Trailer Swift!

Aka the Pebble Flow, a $175K smart trailer that basically does the hard parts of RV life for you. 

It drives (sort of) and hitches itself, lightens the load on your truck, parks with an app and sets up camp with one button. Inside, you get a full kitchen, bathroom, office-to-bed setup and a week of off-grid power from its giant battery and solar roof. 

💩 Best part? Its “Auto Dump” feature empties its own sewage tank. No gloves, no gagging, no problem. Yup, it’s flush with innovation!

✨ The best “infinite scroll” is overhead

The night sky is packed with stars, planets and wonders, and with the Sky Guide app (iOS), all you have to do is point your phone to the sky, and boom: instant constellation magic.

Not into iPhones? Try SkyView on Android for the same stargazing joy, with fewer notifications. Bonus: Both apps work offline, so your phone can find Orion even if your signal can’t.

😳 One night, my nephew asked me, “Aunt Kim, how do stars die?” I said, “Usually, it’s an overdose.” My sister did not appreciate the joke at all!

That’s all today for the #1 tech newsletter in the United States. 🧠 Until next time, run your dreams on maximum bandwidth. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): Kim Komando, Lohas LED, Pebble

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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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