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📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: Schools are locking up phones, and workplaces may be next. I’ll break down the smart questions to ask before your phone becomes office contraband.
I hope your Sunday is off to a great start, {{first_name | friend}}. This one’s my favorite issue of the week, and today you’ll see why this is the number one free newsletter.
We went from “don’t sit too close to the TV” to “please strap this screen to your face, doctor’s orders.” I keep saying this, tech is a circle.
🩺 What does the first VR headset authorized by the FDA treat? A) Chronic lower back pain, B) Fear of flying, C) Insomnia or D) Surviving Thanksgiving with the in-laws. Keep reading, the answer’s waiting for you at the end.
🔍 He tracked her 2,000 times. He had a badge. Stalkers don't need one: A Kentucky officer is charged with using police plate cameras to follow his ex more than 2,000 times. Scary part? Anyone can do the same thing for $2 on a people-search site. No badge required. Incogni scrubs you from 420+ of those sites automatically. They can't hurt you if they can't find you. Get 60% off at PrivacyKim.com.*
📺 Tired of scrolling for something worth watching? Head to my YouTube channel! It’s packed with smart tips, real laughs and tech talk that actually matters. Click now and enjoy screen time that’s finally worth it. — Kim
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Queens for a day
Image: ChatGPT/Kim Komando
🤯 WOW! Sue Livingstone is 84. Last winter, she stood on the block in Queens where she grew up, a street she hadn’t walked in 70 years. She did it from a chair in Los Gatos, California, wearing a headset. The system she used is in 800 senior communities across the U.S. and Canada.
Why it matters: The gadget we blame for isolating our kids is also getting older people to the same lunch table. Keep reading for the one question to ask Mom’s activities director.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
“Kim, I heard you talking how older adults are using VR to go places. My mom is really lonely in an assisted living center. Can you tell me more about this?” Kathleen in North Carolina
Of course! Let me tell you about Sue Livingstone who is 84. Last winter, she stood on the block in Queens where she grew up, a street she hadn’t walked in 70 years. She did it from a chair in Los Gatos, California, wearing a VR headset.
“It isn’t just about being able to see it again,” she said. “It’s about all the memories.”
🥽 Where they went
Ginny Baird, 81, swam with dolphins. Her review: “We got to go underwater and didn’t even have to hold our breath!”
Bob Rogallo, 83, spent his birthday hiking Glacier National Park with Sallie, his wife of 61 years, in the seat next to him. He smiled the whole way.
It’s called Rendever, and it’s in 800 senior communities. Everyone puts on a headset at once, and the whole room goes to Paris, Queens or the ocean floor. Together.
The surprise? People who traveled together started eating lunch together, playing games and talking. They suddenly had things in common.
The surgeon general has compared chronic loneliness to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The NIH is spending $4.5 million to study whether group VR cuts isolation. I’d put my money on Sue.
If Mom or Dad is in a community, ask the activities director: “Do you have VR, and can I sit in?” Ask where they want to go. Record the story. That’s the real feature.
🛒 Mom or Dad live at home?
First, get the hardware.
The headset: Meta Quest 3S, $350. No computer, no wires. (Meta raised the price $50 in April. Sigh.)
Splurge pick: Meta Quest 3, $600, for a sharper picture.
Second, add the VR apps.
Wander ($9.99) runs on Google Street View. Say an address, and you’re on the sidewalk. The old farmhouse. The church where they got married.
BRINK Traveler ($14.99) has 56 lifelike 3D scans of spots like Bryce Canyon.
Alcove Sanctuary is free, from the Rendever folks.
YouTube VR: free hot air balloon rides and safaris.
Pro tips:
After you set up the glasses, you might need to bump up the text: Settings > Display & brightness > Display size > Large. You can cast the display to your TV, so you see what Mom or Dad sees.
Buy two headsets, and you can meet up inside Wander, BRINK or Alcove. You in Denver, Mom or Dad in Dayton, same sidewalk.
Farmers have put VR headsets on cows to show them summer pastures. Talk about a mooood enhancer.
📩 Send this to someone who can’t visit Mom and Dad as often as they’d like.
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Your license plate isn’t the scary part
A license plate tells someone what you drive. It doesn’t tell them where you sleep. That’s where data brokers come in. For a couple of dollars, people-search sites can sell your home address, phone number, information about your relatives and everywhere you’ve lived.
That’s what makes this so disturbing. You don’t need a badge, special access or sophisticated hacking skills to find someone, and you may never know who bought your information. Your personal data has become a product, available to people you’ve never met. That’s why I use Incogni.
Incogni sends removal requests to more than 420 data broker and people-search sites, then continues to follow up so you don’t get quietly re-listed. It does the work for you, helping take your personal information off the market. The less strangers can find out about you, the better. They can’t harm you if they can’t find you.
Thank you for supporting our sponsors, who keep this newsletter free.
🎤 PODCAST: THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
Uber’s AI fails potato test
A customer asked Uber support to say “potato” to prove they were human. They couldn’t even mash together one word. Don’t get fried up about it. There’s a trick to get a real person on the line.
🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.
WEB WATERCOOLER
🚔 Four eyes, one warning: A new iPhone app called Zuckoff sniffs out Meta smart glasses nearby using their Bluetooth fingerprint and tells you how close they are. A Polish developer built it after "pickup artist" videos of women, filmed with the glasses and posted without their faces blurred, started piling up online. It can't tell if the camera is rolling, or who's wearing them. Free version; Pro adds background alerts. Meta says the recording light does the job. A $2 sticker says otherwise.
Look Ma, fewer crashes: IEEE Spectrum sorted through the numbers on self-driving cars, and they're lopsided. Waymo has 220 million miles and 20 million paid rides, with 92% fewer serious-injury crashes than human drivers on the same streets. An insurance industry study in July found 68% fewer crashes: 76% lower in Phoenix, 35% lower in San Francisco, and 4% higher in Austin, on a tiny sample. The caveats: fair weather, a handful of cities, and half of human fender benders never get reported. Still, the robots aren't texting.
🛑 Don’t wait for the warning signs. Brittle nails, thinning hair and wrinkles happen when your collagen drops as we age. I take NativePath every single day to keep my skin looking smooth. It dissolves instantly in my morning tea and has zero taste. Get up to 53% off plus free shipping and free gifts right now.**
Rotors to the rescue: A non-verbal 10-year-old bolted from a Redwood City, California, school and headed straight for traffic on Woodside Road. Police launched a drone as first responder, and it found the child and led officers in before the first patrol car pulled up. If your child wanders and can't answer when you call, seconds are everything, and an eye in the sky covers ground no running adult can. Same drone tech we argue about for privacy, doing its best possible job. Sometimes the cavalry has rotors.
🚶 Step up your pace: New research on 103,684 people, tracked with wearables and followed for eight years, says the magic number is 7,500 to 10,000 steps a day for the lowest risk of early death. Can't get there? Speed up instead. Under 5,000 steps at a brisk 80-plus steps a minute matched the benefit of 7,500 at a stroll. Your watch or phone already counts both. Check the cadence number after your next walk. Short on time, long on life. Turns out you can walk your way out of it. Take me with you. Listen to my latest show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
🖼️ Turn your camera roll into keepsakes
4.4 ⭐ 4,300+ reviews
You probably have thousands of photos on your phone. How many have you framed? Exactly.
This portable photo printer gets it done in under a minute. Connect over Wi-Fi, and boom, a full-color 4x6 ready to stick on the fridge or tuck into a card. No trip to the drugstore, no waiting around like it’s 1993.
The secret is thermal dye sublimation. Translation: the same tech professional photo labs use. Colors are rich, accurate and resistant to fading.
✅ Save about $60 or 27% now on Amazon while it’s still on sale! →
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Never bought NFL Sunday Ticket? It’s $240 for the season, up to 50% off. Bought it last year? You’re looking at $378. Before you pay up, try turning off auto-renew. Some returning fans say YouTube then flashes the $240 offer. Fine print: It’s only out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, not your local CBS or Fox ones, and you’re locked in for the season once you buy. Your couch has never had better seats.
Smart business tip: I’m implementing NetSuite in my own company. AI is built right in to save time, tackle complex decisions and keep teams working better together. Download your free business guide at NetSuite.com/Kim.*
⚙️ PC, heal thyself: Your PC won’t start. Now what? Windows 11 can fix some meltdowns on its own. Go to Settings > System > Recovery > Quick machine recovery and switch on both toggles. (On most home PCs, Automatically check for solutions is off by default. That’s the one that matters.)
Copy here, paste there: You copied an address on your iPhone, and now you're retyping it on your Mac. Don't. Copy on one, paste on the other. It's called Universal Clipboard, and it's already built in. On the Mac, make sure System Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > Allow Handoff is on, with both devices on the same Apple ID, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on. Works with photos, too. One clipboard, two screens, zero retyping.
🤫 Captions for everything: The kids sent a video, you're in the waiting room, and the sound is off. Your phone can caption any video, podcast or voice memo on the spot, no internet needed. iPhone: Settings > Accessibility > Live Captions (English only, for now). Pixel: Settings > Sound & vibration > Live Caption. Samsung: Settings > Accessibility > Hearing enhancements > Live Caption, then tap a volume button and hit the caption icon. Silent phone, loud and clear.
KIM’S DAILY DEALS
As an Amazon Associate, some links pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. Keeps this newsletter free. Thank you.
🍽️ A dash of under-$40 genius
The secret sauce is better gear.
🥗 Chop to it: Vegetable chopper (50% off, $25)
4.5 ⭐ 95,800+ reviews
Tired of uneven chunks? Load veggies on top, press down and get neat pieces fast. The 5-cup bin catches all the scraps and comes with four swappable blades. Pop it in the dishwasher and call cleanup done.
Image: Fullstar
🧂 Season in a pinch: Rechargeable electric grinders (31% off, $20) dish out salt and pepper at the touch of a button. No twisting, no cranking.
Fresh for later: These glass storage containers (24% off, $38, five-pack) seal tight and can handle the freezer, microwave and oven.
🍳 Slide-off skillet: This nonstick frying pan (27% off, $16) is PFOA-free, so toxins stay off the menu. Induction cooktops? You’re covered.
😋 Stomach growling? Dig into all my hot picks before having friends over for your next cookout. →
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: LumaTempo
🐠 Tank you very much
We've automated the vacuum, the thermostat and the coffee maker. The fish were starting to feel left out.
Enter Dreame's LumaTempo, a 7-gallon smart aquarium with app-controlled feeding, temperature alerts, mood lighting and seven layers of filtration. You can schedule up to 15 meals a day. Fifteen. Your goldfish now eats more often than you do, and on a tighter schedule.
It launches next year, no price yet. Fair warning: once the fish gets push notifications, it's only a matter of time before it asks for a Roomba.
LOGGING OUT …
🎓 What you learned today: Clearview turns your face into a life map, drive-thru AI still needs human backup, gamers get metered, iPhone Check In can alert someone when you get home and smart aquariums are coming to coddle your fish. Not bad for one email.
Tomorrow: Your phone could be the next thing banned at work. I’ll show you how employers are testing pouches, lockers and “core hours,” along with the legal limits.
💊 The answer: A) Chronic lower back pain. RelieVRx, from AppliedVR, is a prescription VR headset. No opioids, no clinic. You use it on your couch.
Here's how it works: 56 sessions, about six minutes a day, mixing breathing exercises, distraction and cognitive behavioral therapy. The goal is to retrain how your brain responds to pain signals.
It's legit. It was the first VR therapy to get its own Medicare billing code. In clinical trials, patients reported less pain and better sleep, with relief lasting up to two years after the last session. The VA offers it to eligible veterans.
If back pain runs your day, ask your doctor if a prescription headset belongs in your treatment plan. Here VR.
🔍 2,000 searches. One woman. He had a badge. Stalkers don't need one: A Kentucky cop is charged with using police license plate cameras to track his ex more than 2,000 times. He had a badge. Here's what should scare you: nobody else needs one. People-search sites sell your address, phone, relatives and daily routine for about $2. Incogni pulls your info off more than 420 of those sites automatically and keeps it off. They can't find you if you're not there. Get 60% off at PrivacyKim.com.*
🔨 Look at your smarty pants. All teched up! Now, go make it an amazing day! — 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): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Liene, Fullstar, LumaTempo
Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.