💰 Same room, $207 more

Welcome to your Wednesday, {{first_name | friend}}. Today’s forecast? 25% chance of waiting at Gate B12 longer than you’d hoped. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. flights were delayed last year. What drives me nuts is that the airlines know a delay is coming. The data’s all there: inbound plane still in last city, storm rolling in, crew is 40 minutes out. But they don’t tell you until the last possible second.

☕️ One company in particular figured out how to read the sky’s tea leaves, using machine learning, historical flight data, real-time radar, and aircraft tracking. Can you guess which tool can predict your flight delay before the airline even announces it? A) Kayak, B) FlightAware, C) Google Flights or D) Hopper? The answer is cleared for landing at the end. 

📩 Hey, quick favor before we dive in. If this email landed in your Spam or Promotions folder, drag it to your Primary inbox and mark it “Not Spam.” Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, they all do this. It takes two seconds, and it tells your email provider: “I actually WANT this.” Otherwise, I’m hanging with fake receipts, and you’re missing out on the good stuff. We both lose. — 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

I searched for a hotel in Miami from Phoenix. The price? $389 a night. I switched to San Antonio. Same room, same dates: $506. Then I connected through Warsaw, Poland. $299. Same room. Same nights. The most expensive price was 69% higher than the cheapest, because of where my Wi-Fi thought I was sitting. That’s $207 a night vanishing into thin air.

This is AI dynamic pricing, and every major booking site does it. They track your location, your search history, how many times you’ve looked at the same hotel. The more desperate you seem, the higher the price climbs.

Here’s how to stop paying the eager traveler tax.

First, I opened an incognito window (Chrome: Ctrl + Shift + N. Safari: File > New Private Window). Then, I used ExpressVPN to connect to a server in a country with lower purchasing power. Poland, Japan and India consistently show lower hotel prices in multiple tests.

Why the two steps? The VPN changes your location. But your browser still has cookies from past searches, which can give you away. Incognito wipes the slate clean.

Now search for your hotel. FYI, this is 100% legal. Booking sites don’t ban VPNs. They prefer you don’t know about them.

Sites like Expedia charge hotels a 15% to 30% commission on every reservation. That’s why I always call the hotel’s front desk directly with the best online rate I found and ask them to beat it. Plus, booking direct often gets you free breakfast, late checkout, loyalty points or waived resort fees.

Pro tip: Checking in on a Sunday can be up to 24% cheaper than Friday. Booking within a week of your stay can usually save another 21% compared to booking a month out, because hotels slash prices to fill empty rooms.

VPN + booking direct + flexible check-in = money saved. All for about 60 seconds of effort before you search.

ExpressVPN is super easy to use. It’s literally one click, and the booking site thinks you’re in London, Warsaw or wherever gets you the best deal. 

Speaking of, my friend tested this trick using ExpressVPN with a rental car in the UK. Same car, same dates, same agency. Booking from Los Angeles? Over $600 more than booking as if she were in London.

If you travel at all, even once a year, here’s why ExpressVPN pays for itself before you pack:

✅ Try it at ExpressVPN.com/Kim and get 4 extra months free. By the way, I get no kickbacks or residuals if you buy. It’s the VPN I use and recommend.

Alex talked to a creepy guy outside a club. What she didn’t know? He recorded the whole interaction via smart glasses. The video was then posted to 500,000 strangers on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. I talked to her about the fallout.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

🙏 Deepfake tithe collector: Please don’t fall for this. Deepfake scammers are cloning pastors online (paywall link) with their face, voice, backdrop, the whole deal. Fort Lauderdale pastor Jennifer LeClaire says a fake of her convinced a follower to pay for bogus one-on-one counseling. The tell? Blinking, lip-sync drift, odd audio, janky lighting and out-of-character money asks. Nothing says spiritual guidance like the holy trinity of fraud: deepfake AI, voice cloning and your unwary local church Facebook group. 

Crime content circus: When did a missing 84-year-old grandmother become a photo op? Nancy Guthrie, Today cohost Savannah Guthrie’s mom, vanished from her Tucson home. Blood on the porch. A masked figure on the doorbell cam. And true crime streamers are camping outside like it’s a tailgate. If you have info, call the FBI. If you have a ring light and no leads, stay home.

🏝️ Zuck got bucks: Mark Zuckerberg dropped $170 million on a house still under construction. That’s a different tax bracket of confidence. We’re talking about a 30,000-square-foot billionaire bunker (paywall link), nine bedrooms, a dock, a massage room, a 1,500-gallon fish tank and a library with a secret passage. Perfect for the man who knows everything about your data but doesn’t want you knowing anything about his. I did the math, let’s say he got a 30 year mortgage, at 5% interest after putting 20% down. His monthly payment would be roughly $730,000 a month. And that's before property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and staff. When 3 billion people's data pays your bills, $730K a month is a rounding error.

Third eye sunglasses: We invented sunglasses that can film our whole life, then we act surprised when our whole life gets filmed. Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses recordings get shipped to contractors in Nairobi to label for AI training. They’re seeing everything: bathroom trips, people changing, bank cards, porn, even sex. Best part? You reportedly can’t use the AI features unless you send data to Meta. Hey, someone’s gotta pay that Miami electric bill.

🪝 Hooked, chained, freed: I saw this video and immediately felt guilty about every piece of plastic I’ve ever touched. A drone photographer in Hawaii spotted a humpback whale dragging 251 feet of fishing line and 10 feet of chain threaded through its mouth. The photographer called NOAA, and a rescue team spent five hours cutting it all free. Another whale stayed close the whole time, like a best friend in the waiting room. Once it was disentangled, the whales swam off. It’s the best thing you’ll see all week. Watch the video here.

Did you know they could be used against you by your provider? Here’s what you need to know.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

Got a question about something you read in a newsletter or saw online? Or maybe something techy is bugging you in your own life? Drop me a note right here. I read everything.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Google Maps knows what you mean, even when you don’t. You don’t need an exact name. Type “quiet cafe with Wi-Fi” or “cheap oil change near me,” and it pulls up local spots instantly. Here’s the fun part. Try “sunset view” for somewhere scenic or “free things to do” for parks, events and museums that cost zero dollars. Google Maps is basically a concierge you forgot you had. Just check reviews first. Some people’s definition of “cozy” is generous.

Know who’s calling without looking at your phone: Your iPhone vibrates the same way for everyone. Fix that. Open Contacts, tap the person, hit Edit. Scroll to Ringtone or Text Tone, tap Haptics, then Create New Vibration. Tap out your own pattern and save it. Now you’ll know it’s your kid, your boss or your mom before your hand hits your pocket. That mystery buzz? Gone.

🫣 Hide any app on your Android in 10 seconds: Banking apps, dating apps, anything you don’t want someone spotting when they borrow your phone. Long-press a blank space on your home screen, tap Settings, scroll to Hide apps on Home and App screens, pick your apps and hit Done. Need them later? Search the name. They’re not deleted, just discreet.

You’re probably not getting the monitor you paid for: Most screens default to 60Hz right out of the box, even if you shelled out for 144Hz or 240Hz. Go to Settings > System > Display > Advanced Display, select your monitor and crank it to your actual refresh rate. Don’t see the option? Your cable is the problem. Swap it for HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort. That upgrade you thought was underwhelming? It’s about to feel brand new.

🗣️ Stop saying “Hey, Alexa” 47 times a day: Follow Up Mode lets you keep talking after the first command without repeating the wake word. So instead of “Alexa, lights on (pause) Alexa, set a timer (pause) Alexa, play music,” you just keep going. Say “Alexa, turn on Follow Up Mode” or open the Alexa app > Device Settings > Follow Up Mode. Got an Echo Show? You can even interrupt her mid-sentence. Finally, a two-way conversation.

📈 Quit chasing AI buzzwords: You don’t need a shiny new toy, you need a solid strategy that actually makes your business money. NetSuite cuts through the expensive hype to show you exactly how to boost your bottom line. If your revenue exceeds seven figures, get the FREE business guide, “Demystifying AI,” right now.*

Spotify partnered with Liquid Death on the Eternal Playlist Urn, a U.S.-only, limited-run container with a built-in Bluetooth speaker in the lid. Sync it like any device. Loop forever.

A quiz and scan of your listening history help generate your forever soundtrack. Finally, a way to get a song stuck in your relatives’ heads one last time.

Top picks for the afterlife playlist: “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen, “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult. And anything by the Grateful Dead, obviously.

🔜 Tomorrow: The good news is that researchers checked 17,000 apps and found zero secretly using your microphone. The bad news? They didn’t need to. Apps are quietly grabbing screenshots, recording your screen and using ultrasonic signals (sounds you can’t hear) to track you across devices. There were 234 apps doing it. Your phone isn’t listening to you. It’s watching you. I’ll show you which apps and how to shut them down.

✈️ The answer: C) Google Flights. Yep, the same company humanity uses roughly 8 billion times a day. Google built AI-powered delay prediction right into Google Flights, and it can often spot trouble before the airline admits it exists. It pulls from historical on-time performance, live aircraft tracking and weather to flag delays. It won’t warn you unless it’s at least 80% confident. 

Pro tip: Search your flight number in Google (like “UA 237”), and it’ll often tell you what’s coming, plus the why (late incoming aircraft, weather, etc.). No app needed. Works on any phone, any browser. I do this every single time I fly. Remember that move.

🤣 Need a laugh? Mike and his wife, Sara, went to the state fair every year, and every year, Mike would say, “Sara, I’d like to ride in that airplane.” Sara always replied, “I know, Mike, but that airplane ride costs 50 dollars, and 50 dollars is 50 dollars.” One year, Mike said, “Sara, I’m 80 years old. If I don’t ride that airplane, I might never get another chance.” Sara replied, “Mike, that airplane ride costs 50 dollars, and 50 dollars is 50 dollars.” The pilot overheard them and said, “Folks, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take you both up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say one word, I won’t charge you, but if you say one word, it’s 50 dollars." Mike and Sara agreed, and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not a word was spoken. He did all his tricks over again but still not a word. When they landed, the pilot turned to Mike and said, “My, my, I did everything I could think of to get you to yell out, but you didn’t.” Mike replied, “Well, I was gonna say something when Sara fell out, but 50 dollars is 50 dollars.”

🔐 Your strongest encryption is good judgment. Upgrade it daily. — 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, Spotify

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