👀 One wrong 'ping' and you're a suspect

Welcome to your Wednesday, {{first_name | friend}}. Have you ever introduced two people and they became instant friends? Turns out, that might even be possible with bots. 

True or false, have AI bots already been caught talking to each other in made-up languages that humans do not understand? Take a guess, the answer is at the end! 

😬 Ever Googled yourself and wished you hadn’t? Strangers can easily and quickly find your home address, phone number and political affiliation, along with complete details about your family. Yeah, that’s terrifying. Incogni finds and removes your info from over 420+ data brokers and people-search sites and works to keep it off for good.

🛑 Don’t let your email provider or Big Tech decide what you see! Simply reply to this email and say “Hi.” That one word will tell the algorithm you want my content. If you can reply for a few days in a row, I’d really appreciate it. Thank you so much. — Kim

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A woman in Colorado was falsely accused of theft because a Flock camera that looks like the one in the image above spotted her car near the scene. She wasn’t even close. She had to dig up dashcam footage, GPS, even her outfit to prove it. The charges were dropped, but the stress? Very real.

These Flock cameras and license plate readers are popping up everywhere. One wrong ping and suddenly, you’re guilty until proven innocent. These are private cameras, installed by HOAs, apartment complexes and businesses, all connected to police departments and searchable databases. 

They scan every license plate that passes by, recording where and when, the make and model of the car, and sometimes the driver’s behavior.

Flock cameras scan billions of plates each month. And while they’ve been used to recover stolen cars and even solve murders, they’ve also raised serious privacy red flags. There have been documented cases where police, and in some instances, rogue employees, used the system to track people for personal reasons. Yikes.

You don’t have to break the law to get caught in the net. 

Drive a borrowed car, switch plates or happen to match a vehicle description? You could be flagged, followed or questioned.

This tech is growing fast. And it’s not going away. I’d love to know what you think. When you rate the newsletter at the bottom today, leave me a note. If you have a story about Flock cameras and would like to come on the show to talk about it, leave me your email address too.

📸 These cameras are spreading, and most people have no idea what they do. Hit the share icons below to send this to your group chat, neighborhood thread or Facebook feed. If they’re not in your ZIP code yet, they might be soon.

Why can’t Meta stop the fraud? Easy. It doesn’t want to. Hear how it made billions off scam ads last year. Plus, the Musk-Altman feud and a big Google Maps update. Then I talk to caller Byron, who says scammers drugged him and used facial recognition to unlock his phone. Scary!

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now on your favorite platform:

💳 Watch out for this new scam: Ever checked out of a hotel, then realized your card got hit again? That’s the “I Paid Twice” scam in action. Hackers email fake “bank verification” links to hotels, drop malware and snag booking credentials to bill guests twice. Now you know to double check all links.

Bubble bust: Bill Gates says we’re in an AI bubble, not full tulip mania but definitely dot-com vibes. He thinks some AI companies will be game changers, but most? Burning cash and copying each other. Totally something Microsoft wouldn’t do. “Dead ends,” he called them. The tech’s real, but the hype is getting expensive fast. After seeing my third AI note-taking app this week, I can’t say I disagree. 

This song is whiskey business: An AI-generated “artist” named Breaking Rust hit #1 on Billboard’s Country Song Sales chart, beating real heavy-hitting artists. The Spotify numbers are suspiciously massive, and there’s zero disclosure. The fans? Possibly bots. The “singer”? Not real. I bet he’s not even a real outlaw! Give the song a listen. With the evolution of self driving cars, it’s not going to be long before a country singer’s truck leaves him as well as his wife.

Served on stage: Sam Altman was handed a subpoena while on stage in San Francisco, mid-event, next to Steve Kerr. Prosecutors tried reaching him at work and online first. It’s tied to a criminal trial involving protesters who blocked OpenAI’s HQ in February. The group Stop AI claims they were trying to slow OpenAI’s “attempted murder of everyone and every living thing on Earth.” Just another day in San Francisco tech. Oh, to add to the stress, his video app Sora is costing OpenAI $15 million a day. 

Per my last brain cell: OK, you know those emails that start with “Circling back” or “Please advise”? Yeah, turns out everyone hates them, and now AI’s writing that way, too. We basically trained the bots to sound like they’ve been trapped in middle management since 2006. A new study looked at a million emails, and the worst offenders are exactly what you’d expect: “per my last email,” “take this offline,” “just ping me,” “low-hanging fruit,” “bandwidth” and the dreaded “quick question.” 

The secret to a happy marriage: Lyle and Eleanor Gittens broke the world record for the longest marriage ever: 83 years! He’s 108, she’s 107, and when asked their secret, Eleanor said, “We love each other.” Lyle? “I love my wife.” That’s it. No tech hacks, it’s love that lasts. Marriage is really educational. When I was single, I didn’t even know there was a wrong way to put a fork in the dishwasher.

The average American spends nearly $200 a month on streaming and internet. Here’s how to audit your subscriptions and still catch every show you love.

Listen on Komando.com right now →

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Fire Stick buffering nonstop? A quick restart can solve glitches. Go to Settings > My Fire TV (or Device & Software) and tap Restart. Or hold Select and Play/Pause on your remote for a few seconds.

Pause those surprise updates: Windows 11 can decide to install a big patch right when you’re in the middle of something important. The good news is you can delay it for a bit. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Pause updates. When you’re done, head back and click Resume updates to keep things secure.

🎞️ Make your own GIFs: Head to GIPHY, create a free account and upload your MP4 video. You can trim it, crop the frame, add text or throw in a few stickers. If you run a small business, it’s a good way to spice up “sale” statuses or comment replies. 

Turn it down a notch: If your iPhone’s speaker is too loud for your liking, you can set a limit. Go to Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Volume Limit > Limit Maximum Volume. Use the slider to cap it anywhere from 20% to 80%. Even at full blast, it won’t go past your chosen level. FYI, this only applies to media, not calls or alarms.

Clean up your Android: Your phone probably came with a bunch of apps you don’t use that are eating up your storage. You might not be able to delete them, but you can turn them off so they stop running or updating. Go to Settings > Apps > [app name] > Disable. Goodbye, random photo editor you never opened.

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YouTuber-slash-billionaire (the 2025 equivalent title of oil baron) MrBeast is opening his very own $85 million theme park in Saudi Arabia called Beast Land. And no, it’s not a normal theme park. 

Split into two zones, Beast Arena for games and Beast Land for rides, it’s a mash-up of American Gladiators and Mario Party designed by a man who once gave away a private island for content. 

There’s a catapult game, a trapdoor drop challenge and something called “Airmail,” where you zip-line while chucking bags at targets. Tickets start at $6.67, chaos included.

The answer: True. In 2017, Facebook researchers were developing chatbots to negotiate deals. But things got weird. The bots started communicating in a new language, one they made up themselves. Facebook pulled the plug. 

Speaking of, what language do they speak at the center of the Earth? Core-rean. (That hurt even me as I was writing it.)

You may not control the internet, but you can control your data. Incogni removes your personal details from over 400 people-search sites and data brokers. Protect your privacy now and save 60% with my special offer at privacykim.com.

😞 Mea culpa! Yesterday’s newsletter, I spotlighted a great ceramic space heater that delivers warmth in seconds and heats up to 150% farther than many traditional models. Here is the correct link. Sorry for the hassle.

Tomorrow, how travel sites charge more depending where you live. They don’t want you to know this, really. This is the #1 free tech newsletter in the United States. 

🚀 Momentum starts small. Take the first step, then the second shows up. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, Hicober, MrBeast

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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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