⚠️ That deleted photo? Still on your phone (and recoverable in 60 seconds)

Welcome to your Saturday, {{first_name | friend}}. Texting has a wild origin story. It was practically built on spare parts. Your sweet “lol ok” hitches a ride on network leftovers, the same signaling data that keeps your phone connected to the tower. Phone companies used to charge for texts like they were delivering artisanal, handcrafted emojis. We’re talking real money for something that costs them, well, you tell me.

💬 Pop quiz: How much does it cost carriers to send a single text? A) A few micro-pennies, B) 2 cents, C) 10 cents or D) 18 cents. Take a guess, the answer drops at the end. (Spoiler: You might get mad.)

💥 Prepare for the inevitable. If your computer crashed right now, do you have $3,000 to spend on data recovery? I didn’t think so. That’s what it costs to save your files, and there are zero guarantees. Or you could spend only $4 a month for Carbonite and never worry about it again. Get 50% off right now.

📻 Listen up! My award-winning 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 wherever you get your podcasts. Search for my last name, Komando. — Kim

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

That embarrassing photo or risque video you deleted last year? It’s still on your phone. And if you sold your old iPhone on eBay, the new owner can get it back in about 60 seconds.

Here’s what delete actually means, and how to make sure your private stuff stays private.

When you delete a photo, it doesn’t disappear. It moves to a holding area and sits there for 30 days. Check yours right now:

The fix: After deleting photos, empty the trash immediately.

Even after you empty Recently Deleted, the photo isn’t gone. Your phone marks that storage space as available and hides the image from view. The actual data sits there, fully intact, until new photos or apps eventually overwrite it. That could take days, weeks or months.

This is why forensic investigators can recover deleted texts and pictures from phones years later. They use special tools to scan unmarked storage and pull back everything. That photo you deleted in 2019? Still there.

Deleting an image from your phone doesn’t delete it from iCloud or Google Photos. They’re separate. You have to delete it twice.

Skip this step, and your deleted photo lives forever in the cloud.

A factory reset doesn’t guarantee deletion. Studies show up to 40% of wiped phones still contain recoverable data. Here’s what you need to do.

If your old phone has truly sensitive content, don’t sell it. Physically destroy it. Some things aren’t worth the $200 resale value.

Your data is your business. Make sure it actually disappears when you want it to.

📤 Know someone with an old phone lying around? Forward this before their private photos end up on Reddit. Or use the share icons below to email them a copy or post to your social media.

👀 Seeing isn’t believing: We’re barely one week into 2026, and real news is getting buried under false images, AI videos and recycled clips that look convincing enough to fool anyone scrolling fast. After the Venezuela operation, AI fakes and altered videos spread everywhere, and more followed in the wake of the ICE shooting. When everything might be fake, people stop caring what’s real. And once that happens? Nobody’s fact-checking anything, they’re checking out.

Stalker spyware: This story is a mess. Bryan Fleming admitted he knowingly sold spyware that helped people secretly watch their partners’ phones and computers. His software, pcTattletale, recorded screens, keystrokes, everything, then uploaded it to the cloud. The wild part? The website literally told users to install it while their partner was sleeping and hide the icons so they wouldn’t notice. If your relationship requires surveillance software, it is already over.

👨‍💻 Major in prompts: Purdue University is the first major U.S. college to make AI skills mandatory for graduation. Starting with freshmen this fall, every student must prove working competency in using AI tools, understanding strengths and limits, researching and partnering in AI projects. Since 90% of students are already using stuff like ChatGPT for homework, they might as well get graded on it instead of sneaking it past their professors. 

Pulling the plug: Stellantis (the giant car conglomerate) confirmed it’s done selling plug-in hybrids in the U.S. Jeep Wrangler 4xe, Grand Cherokee 4xe, Chrysler Pacifica PHEV are all officially donezo. What gets me is the timing. The Wrangler 4xe was the top-selling PHEV in the country, then recalls hit, and suddenly the whole category is gone. Stellantis says buyers moved on, so now it’s hybrids and range-extended EVs only. This feels like buying a juicer and immediately going back to coffee.

💲 Stop getting ripped off. Be honest. When was the last time you actually looked at your phone bill? If you are paying over $100 a month, you’re throwing money away. If you’re 50+, you can get two unlimited lines for only $30 each line, plus your 2nd month FREE. Same coverage, same networks, zero contracts. Reader Ralph saved $900 a year doing this. Stop overpaying and check it out now.*

♟️Myth checkmate: Chess folks, get ready to see your sacred cow slaughtered. Turns out it doesn’t magically make you smarter. I know, take a seat, it’s hard news. If it makes you feel better, experts say smart people tend to like chess. What actually helps your brain? Being forced to juggle info fast, adapt on the fly and deal with surprises. That’s where video game play quietly wins. These activities build specific skills (strategy, memory, social awareness), not raw intelligence. Was that a collective Yeah! I heard from the kids in the crowd?

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Need help but can’t speak? Text 911 from your phone. Send your address first, then say whether you need police, medical or fire services. You can also add details about what’s going on. Visit text911.info to see if it’s available where you live.

YouTube keyboard shortcuts: ICYDK, on desktop, you can press K to play or pause. Jump ahead 10 seconds with L, or rewind 10 seconds with J. Speed things up by 0.25x with Shift + >, or slow it down by 0.25x with Shift + <. Use , (comma) or . (period) to move frame by frame, and hit M to mute. Soon the mouse will feel optional.

📬 More emails, less clicking: Gmail usually shows 50 conversations per page on desktop, but you can bump that up. Go to Settings (top right), stay on the General tab, and look for Maximum page size. Set it to Show 100 conversations per page, then scroll down and hit Save changes. Comes in handy if your inbox fills up fast.

📸 Steadier photos, no tripod: If your phone photos keep coming out a little blurry, use the timer. On iPhone, open the Camera app, swipe up in Photo mode, tap Timer, and set it to 3 seconds. On Android, look for the clock icon and do the same. It separates the tap from the shot, giving your hands time to settle.

💸 You are bleeding money. It’s Jan. 10. Do you know exactly what you have paid for this month? I bet there are streaming services, “free” trials and apps charging you right now that you completely forgot about. Rocket Money finds those sneaky charges instantly and cancels the junk for you. I saved $478 a year doing this. Stop wasting cash. Try it now!*

🫡 Let’s get it going! Listen to my award-winning radio show, airing this weekend on over 420 stations. You can also listen commercial-free on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart or in the Komando Community.

📞 Got a burning tech question? Book an appointment to speak with me here, and you could get your answer on air. So cool! 

Do me a solid. Love the show? 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!

💰 Stranger danger: I talked to Brenda from Georgia, who opened Venmo to donate $1 to a teen at a stoplight. He grabbed her phone to scan a QR code and transferred $2,000 instead. Hear the call in this podcast.

🎧 Listen now. Search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

Remember when you’d listen to the sound of Pop Rocks fizzing and cracking in your mouth? Get a taste of this. 

Lollipop Star is an $8-to-$10, single-use candy that plays music through your teeth, using bone-conduction tech. Yep, bite down, and vibrations travel through your jaw straight to your inner ear, no Bluetooth, no earbuds, no dignity.

Each flavor ships with one exclusive track (Ice Spice, Akon, Armani White) locked in like a sugary USB stick. Think of it like a disposable iPod Shuffle. When the candy’s gone, so is the concert. I wonder what gluten-free sounds like?

🔐 Coming tomorrow: If your password is “admin,” we need to talk. One in five people are using passwords like 123456 and password in 2026. Yes, really. I’m breaking down the latest report from NordPass on the world’s most common passwords, and spoiler alert, we’re making it embarrassingly easy for hackers. Don’t miss this one.

The answer: A) $0.000003. That’s three-millionths of a cent, not a typo. SMS messages are basically digital stowaways, catching a free ride on bandwidth already being used to keep your phone near a cell tower.

So that begs the question: Why were we paying $0.10 to $0.20 per message back in the day? Because carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.) knew we would. If texting were priced like gasoline, you’d be paying $120,000 a gallon.

A mom sent a text to her son. “Hi! Son, what does IDK, LY & TTYL mean?” The son replied: “I Don’t Know, Love You & Talk To You Later.” The mom replied back to him, “It’s ok, don’t worry about it. I’ll ask your sister, love you too.” (So cute.)

🛑 Don’t go without reading this. Your hard drive will fail someday. It is not if, but when. Why risk losing every photo and document you own? I use Carbonite because it backs up everything automatically to the cloud. Grab my exclusive deal: 50% off for a limited time. That is less than $4 a month to protect your digital life.

🦄 Be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then be a unicorn. I am. — Kim

📣 Don’t keep me a secret: Send your friends to GetKim.com

Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, Wolfmen, Amazon, Lollipop Star

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