📦 Stop the delivery chaos for good and get control

Happy Saturday, {{first_name | friend}}. My Christmas Cash Giveaway, powered by Incogni, is here! Every single day, one lucky reader is randomly selected to win a $100, $200 or $500 Amazon gift card. Check the Golden Ticket below to see if you won!

💸 Everyone has a Monopoly strategy. Barry chases Boardwalk and Park Place. I buy everything I land on. But the math geeks ran a full probability model, and we’re both wrong. Only one color set strategy delivers the best return on investment. Which Monopoly color set is statistically the most profitable to own? Is it: A) Light blue, B) Yellow, C) Orange or D) Red? The answer is at the end. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. 

💥 Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. Your hard drive is going to crash. Data recovery for a single dead drive can cost you up to $3,000, and they can’t guarantee anything! If backing up your files is on your to-do list, stop procrastinating. I use and trust Carbonite because it’s automatic and reliable. Today, for Black Friday, you can get total peace of mind for 75% OFF, which is only $1.99 a month! Grab it now. — Kim

📬 Was this forwarded to you? Be the first to know, not the last to hear. Sign up now. It’s free!

Prepare for the onslaught of boxes. Between gifts, orders and those late-night shopping sprees you don’t remember, the deliveries keep coming. Here are my smart ways for you to take back control.

Since Amazon is clearly our go-to, let’s start with the app.

Tap the box icon: Open the Amazon app and tap the little box icon at the bottom. You’ll see what’s arriving today, running late, shipped, scheduled and packages on the truck, complete with real-time map tracking.

Turn on delivery notifications: Make sure “Out for Delivery” and “Delivered” are both turned on for alerts the moment your package is scanned at the facility, loaded onto the truck and dropped at your door. Amazon app > person icon > Settings (gear icon) > Notifications > Account and Shipping > toggle on Shipping and delivery.

Set delivery preferences: Don’t let boxes sit outside all day, in pirate territory. When you check out, an available delivery date may show up. Choose Evening delivery or Deliver after 5 p.m. if available.

Add safe delivery instructions: Want packages left by the side gate or hidden behind the planter? Tell Amazon, and drivers see your note every time. Here’s how: Amazon app > person icon > Account > Account settings > Your addresses > Select your address > Add delivery instructions.

Open Gmail and look at the left sidebar for Purchases. Inside, you’ll see every order, shipping update, delivery confirmation and return notice. No searching. If you don’t see it, go to Settings, click See all settings, choose the Inbox tab and set inbox type to Default. 

It takes just a minute to set up a rule or filter.

Apple Mail: Mail > Settings > Rules
Outlook: Settings > Mail > Rules
Yahoo: Settings > More settings > Filters

🙌🏼 Everyone needs this intel. Forward this newsletter or use the share icons below. After all, cardboard boxes are the number one item shipped by Amazon.

🕳️ Rogue browser alerts: Heads up, hackers are hijacking browser notifications and disguising fake alerts as Netflix, PayPal, even TikTok to steal your log-ins. All it takes is clicking “Allow notifications” on the wrong site, and suddenly your notification bar becomes a cybersecurity case study in motion. These things look real and live in your legit notification bar. If you don’t trust the site, don’t click anything sketchy.

iPhone’s core market: Apple’s on track to outsell Samsung for the first time in 14 years. They’re expecting 243 million iPhones shipped next year, riding the iPhone 17 hype and a massive upgrade cycle. Even used iPhones are feeding the pipeline with 358 million secondhand units sold since 2023. Many of those folks are now itching for a new one. Those guardians of the Galaxy need a kick in the butt.

Putting the Nick in nickname: Facebook finally realized we don’t want to argue with strangers using the name on our W-2. Groups now let you pick a nickname to keep your real profile tucked away. That’s right, you can show up as “GlutenForPunishment” or “DeepfakeDave” without dragging your real identity into the mess. Admins can see the real you, but everyone else only knows your weird little alias.

⚠️ Stop using the “+” trick in Gmail: Spammers and data brokers strip that “+” out in milliseconds, exposing your real email anyway. It’s a waste of time. I use StartMail because it creates true burner email aliases. They look like completely different accounts. Use one alias for every new purchase, newsletter or whatever. If you get spammed, you delete the alias. Poof! The spammer hits a dead end, and your real inbox stays pristine. It’s my strategy to cut spam by 90%. Plus, StartMail doesn’t read your email, sell you out or track you like Big Tech. Get 60% off + 3 FREE months right now. This is their Black Friday deal, so don’t miss out!*

Robots want in: McKinsey says AI could replace 40% of American jobs, and it’s not subtle about who it wants. It’s aiming straight at the spreadsheet people. Paralegals, admins, coders, AI wants your desk. Nurses, plumbers, building fixers? Robots fear you. Companies are already bragging about growing revenue without hiring humans.

🕊️ Spy birds are here: The “birds aren’t real” folks are going to love this one. Russia is literally creating pigeon drones. Yup, ordinary birds with brain implants, electrodes, solar-powered backpacks and GPS so they can be steered like tiny feathered Uber drivers. They say the birds “want” to fly where they’re told after the brain zaps. Pigeons can fly 310 miles a day. Ravens, seagulls and albatrosses are next. This is messed up. Free like a bird? Yeah, not in Russia, even with an attempted coo.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Too many tabs open in Chrome? Tap the little downward arrow in the top-left corner of your toolbar. You’ll see every tab you have open plus recently closed ones, so you can hop to the one you want.

Fake CEO club: You’ve probably seen those photos of Musk, Zuckerberg and the whole tech crew crammed into a sad little living room or hanging around a McDonald’s parking lot like a divorced dads’ meetup. Fake. Now, you can toss any image into Gemini and it’ll tell you if Google’s hidden SynthID watermark is in there.

Most common pass fails: The top 10 most commonly used passwords floating around the internet include “admin,” “password” and the entire lineup of 12345, 123456, 12345678 and yes, 12345678910. “Gmail.12345” made the top 10, too. Number 12 on the list is a combination of the f-bomb with the word “slut.” Who would type that in all the time? If any of these look familiar, get a password manager. The one I use is only $0.95 per month, and you get 4 extra months with this Black Friday deal.*

📚 Kindle gets a grip: Book lovers, PopSockets’ first-ever Kindle Paperwhite case is finally back in stock! The built-in MagSafe-compatible ring lets you prop up or hold your Kindle with one hand. It’s for 11th- and 12th-gen Kindles. Not you? Here’s their full lineup. PopSockets make great gifts for sure!

Having trouble concentrating at your PC? Windows 11’s Clock app has a built-in focus mode that turns off notifications and alerts. Open Clock, click Focus sessions on the left, and set how long you want to work. It’ll add breaks automatically. Then hit Start focus session. FYI, turn on Keep on top to pin the timer in the corner of your screen.

Make your Android run faster in seconds: Your phone gets sluggish when apps run in the background. Open Settings, tap Battery and device care (Samsung) or Battery (Pixel), then choose Optimize or Adaptive Battery. This shuts down energy-draining apps and frees up memory instantly. It’s the quickest speed boost you can give your phone.

🥛 I try to drink enough water: I really do, but most days, I fall short. I’ve even ended up in the ER because I was dehydrated. That’s why I’ve been adding NativeHydrate from NativePath to my water bottle. It’s packed with essential electrolytes (no sugar, just 5 calories), and it helps my body stay hydrated. Plus, it tastes good because let’s be honest, plain water gets pretty boring fast. Right now, you can get 44% off plus free shipping and bonus gifts.*

🎉 It’s week 2 of my Kim’s Christmas Cash Giveaway. My national radio show is airing all weekend across the USA. With over 420 stations strong, find your closest one by using our super-duper station locator map, or listen commercial-free on Apple, iHeart or any podcast player!

Quick favor: Love the show? I need you to tell your local station! Hit their “Contact Us” page or send a social media shout-out. Your 30 seconds keeps the tech talk coming to your city. TY!

🎸 She gave Led Zeppelin $500,000: I took a call from Troy from Salt Lake City, Utah. His niece is 100% convinced that she is in a relationship with the legendary Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. Spoiler: It’s not him. Tune in to listen to the call here.

Or listen wherever you get your podcasts, search for “Komando.” See you there!

Meet Amazon Leo, the freshly rebranded satellite project that sounds like Jeff Bezos adopted a space kitten. But this little “Leo” has claws. It’s a gigabit-speed antenna that turns your roof into a corporate-grade Wi-Fi Death Star.

We’re talking 1-gig downloads and 400-meg uploads. That is enough power to run an oil field, a massive farm and, yes, your cousin’s basement crypto mine that is definitely illegal in at least three states.

Leo Ultra isn’t for regular humans yet. It’s only in private preview for enterprises, logistics networks and serious industry players. But here’s the real headline: Starlink finally has real competition, and you know what comes with that: innovation. I love that for us.

🍊 The answer: C) Orange. Why? Location, location, location. The orange properties sit six to nine spaces past Jail, the most frequently landed-on spot in the game. A mathematical model called a Markov chain shows that about 1 in 10 turns ends in Jail, which means players are constantly leaving that space and landing right on your orange empire.

Fun fact: The research also shows the sweet spot is three houses, no matter the color. Four or five houses on the pricey sets can actually lose you money. I think it’s wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly.

Your hard drive WILL crash. Don’t lose everything! Carbonite provides automatic, continuous cloud backup for all your files. Get protected this Cyber Week. Get total peace of mind for 75% OFF, which is only $1.99 a month! Grab it now before the deal is gone.

Tomorrow, holiday deal pages are filled with pop-ups, rogue apps and hijacked home pages. I’ll show you how your holiday click could’ve just haunted your hard drive, and how you can clean house. This is the #1 tech newsletter in the United States. 

🎧 Take a break and listen to your favorite song. Loud. And dance like no one is watching. I do that all the time! — Kim

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Mad Man, Amazon Leo

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.