🕵️ Someone may already be you

📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: I clicked around one afternoon and found my dad’s actual WWII draft card. His handwriting. His signature. At 18. That moment is available to you, too, and most of it is free.

Thanks for sharing your Sunday, {{first_name | friend}}. Here’s a Steve Jobs story that sounds made up. It’s not. The engineers working on the very first iPod prototype walked into Jobs’ office, proud of what they’d built. Jobs picked it up, turned it over, weighed it in his hands. Too big, he said. Make it smaller.

📱 The engineers told Jobs it was physically impossible to make the first iPod any smaller.

How did he prove them wrong? A) He opened it up and rearranged the components on a whiteboard, B) He showed them a competitor’s smaller device and told them to match it, C) He dropped it in his office fish tank and pointed to the air bubbles floating up, D) He removed features until the engineers admitted there was room to shrink it. The answer is waiting at the end.

📺 This week on my show: Meta cut 8,000 jobs, then told the survivors every keystroke they type is being recorded to train the AI that could replace them next. Plus, a CIA scientist claims the government has proof of four alien species. A researcher breaks down how AI is powering wrongful arrests. And a grandpa used AI to write a children’s book for his grandkids. Grab the tissues on that last one. Watch this week’s episode, and don’t miss a thing. — Kim

⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

Mark, you’re not paranoid. You’re paying attention.

The family member angle? That’s called familiar fraud. People who know you have your name, birth date, maybe your SSN. No phishing needed. Simply access. And identity theft is usually silent for months before victims find out.

1. Pull your free credit reports at all four bureaus. Look for accounts you didn’t open, inquiries from lenders you never contacted and addresses where you’ve never lived.

2. Request an IRS identity protection PIN at IRS.gov/ippin. Six digits only you and the IRS know. Nobody files a return in your name without it.

3. Check your insurance portal for medical claims. Thieves use your coverage, and those bills come to you. Look for doctors you’ve never seen.

Already a victim? IdentityTheft.gov has a free, step-by-step recovery plan.

Mark, trust that gut. 

Making sure a struggling family member can’t take you down is its own form of love. We all have that one person in our family who is a little sketchy. 

Since you mentioned NordProtect, it does the watching you can’t do yourself. It scans the dark web around the clock for your SSN, bank accounts and personal info, sending alerts the moment anything surfaces somewhere it shouldn’t. 

You can check your credit report weekly. You can’t personally monitor thousands of dark web markets at 2 a.m.

For Mark, and anyone with a risky person close by, NordProtect is the early warning system that catches fraud before it tanks your credit. 

Right now, it’s 66% off, just $4.74 a month. Lock it in, and know you’re protected 24/7 for less than a cup of coffee.

📩 Send this to someone who has ever gotten a mystery bill or a collection call for something they didn’t buy.

Share this now:

(Starts at 38:50) This Memorial Day, you can uncover a treasure trove of family history, like WWII draft cards and signatures, entirely for free. Search the National Archives website at archives.gov/veterans using your relative’s name and military branch. It’s the best way to ensure your family’s legacy stays locked in.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

⚠️ QR you kidding? Please stop believing every QR code in your inbox is a helpful little square. Microsoft says it tracked 8.3 billion phishing emails in the first quarter of 2026, and QR-code scams were the fastest-growing mess, up 146% from January to March. Crooks stick a code in an official-looking email, you scan it, and you’ve handed over your login. The nasty bit? It can dodge company filters and even multifactor authentication. Don’t scan email QR codes. Ever.

Cardiac crystal ball: Get this. AI may spot sudden cardiac arrest risk two years before your heart pulls the fire alarm. A University of Washington team, with MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute, built a model using medical records and EKGs from patients in the U.S. The goal is catching the people who look fine until they suddenly aren’t. The model flags high-risk patients up to 24 months out. That could flip some grim stats. Talk to your doctor about this if you’re at risk. 

💲 What is your phone bill actually costing you? If you are paying over $100 a month, you are overspending. Consumer Cellular runs on the same towers as the big carriers but skips the inflated price tag. Right now, if you are over 50, get two unlimited lines for $60 a month and $200 off your bill when you switch. Best deal they have ever offered. Use code KIM200 before June 14.*

Tablet to talk: A quiet Uber ride where the driver has everything handled? Honestly, that sounds like a paid upgrade. A deaf man made about $50,000 driving for Uber last year, more than he ever earned working in restaurants. He uses a tablet to communicate with riders, follows visual navigation cues and has a near-perfect rating. Give the guy the right tools, a steering wheel and no forced small talk, and be amazed. I’d say he truly drove the point home.

🧳 TSA goes private: I did a double take at TSA Gold+ because it sounds like a lounge perk, not airport privatization. The TSA announced the opt-in program this week, letting airports hire private contractors to manage more screening, staffing and tech. The feds keep oversight. It builds on a 20-airport contractor program, with a promise of no added airport cost. For travelers, rules and PreCheck stay the same, but wait times could change fast. Get ready for airports to start saying stuff like “Platinum Freedom Lane.”

Found a box of old cursive letters but no time to type them out? Your phone can do it in seconds.

Listen on Komando.com →

Click your favorite podcast player below to listen now or later:

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

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: TV turning off like clockwork? If it shuts down after two or three hours, it’s probably not haunted. That’s the sleep timer. Open your TV’s Settings, find Sleep Timer and turn it off. Still happening? Check Power or Power Saving for Auto Power Off, which kicks in when nobody touches the remote.

🎞️ Netflix is hiding content from you: Different countries get completely different Netflix libraries. The UK has shows you can’t watch. Japan has movies you’ll never see. I use ExpressVPN to switch my location with one click and unlock it all. Works on your TV, laptop, tablet, PC, phone, up to 14 devices at once. Stop missing out and get 4 extra months right now.*

iPad can identify mystery photos: Got a picture of a plant, landmark, food or pet? Open Photos, pick an image and tap the sparkly Info (i) button at the top. If it recognizes something, select the Look Up option. You might get a recipe or even the cat breed. No sparkly i? No match.

🚶 Your phone is a free pedometer: Getting around 8,000 steps a day is linked to better heart health. Your phone can track your steps for free. On iPhone, open the Health app > Summary > Steps. On Android, check Health or Fitness app > Home > Steps. Remember, it only counts when your phone’s with you.

⏩ Fast-forward any video: The free Video Speed Controller Chrome extension lets you speed up, slow down or rewind videos on way more than YouTube. Install it, then press D to speed up or S to slow down. Great for lectures, tutorials and even ads. Wink, wink. Your browser just got a turbo button.

💸 ICYMI, make AI audit that scary medical bill: Before paying, ask for an itemized bill with CPT codes, not the summary. Paste it into your AI chatbot and ask: “Explain every charge in plain English, flag duplicates or suspicious costs, compare each charge to average prices, identify billing code or bundling violations, and draft a dispute letter.” One prompt could save you thousands. After more AI tips? Sign up for my free weekly Splash of AI newsletter every Thursday.

🚶🏼‍♀️ Take me on a walk: Click to listen to my latest show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I also make chores go by faster!

Movie theaters keep promising immersive experiences. Usually that means better speakers, not simulated evacuation instincts.

A viral video from China shows a 5D theater using heat effects so intense people reportedly thought the cinema was actually on fire. Think Disney ride meets accidental workplace safety drill. A horror movie where the jump scare is your own survival instinct taking over.

Soon, theaters charging an extra $14 for the near-death package. I’m glad Netflix isn’t trying to copy setting my house on fire, too.

Share this now:

🔜 Tomorrow: I found my dad’s WWII draft card online, and it stopped me cold. I’ll show you how to find military records, draft cards and service stories hiding in free archives. If someone in your family served, this is the one to open.

Tomorrow’s trivia boards Air Force One to find out why the presidential plane has more hidden wiring than you can imagine. 

The answer: C) He dropped it in his office fish tank and pointed to the air bubbles floating up. Jobs walked to the aquarium in his office and dropped the prototype straight in. Bubbles floated to the surface. He pointed at them. “Those are air bubbles,” he said. “That means there’s space in there. Make it smaller.”

The engineers went back. They made it smaller. That’s the Jobs move nobody teaches in business school. He didn’t argue. He didn’t explain. He showed them what they couldn’t see, that “impossible” and “we’re done” aren’t the same thing.

The original iPod launched in October 2001. A thousand songs in your pocket. It laid the groundwork for everything Apple built next, including a little device called the iPhone. The fish tank came first.

I guess you could say Jobs really knew how to make a splash. 

P.S. Someone in this community is 12 referrals away from a virtual sit-down with me. Prizes are still very much on the table through “Share The Current.” Three referrals get you my AI Prompt Hack Pack instantly, 12 prompts I use to save time, money and frustration. Keep going, and a mug, a hat and a hoodie are waiting. Your link is at the bottom of every issue. 

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.

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🎉 Keep it going! You got this! — Kim

Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, FEPPO, @dasoulmade1 via X

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