📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: A free tool that turns your kid's pencil drawing into a 10-page storybook that reads itself aloud. Amazing.
Let’s get this Monday started right, {{first_name | friend}}. Boomers and Gen Z agree on almost nothing. Music, tipping, whether a phone call deserves a warning text first. But get this. Researchers found one phone habit that nearly every American adult calls unacceptable. Yep, this tops the lowlight reel of cellular sins that really grind cross-generational gears.
📲 What did Americans agree is the rudest thing you can do with a phone? A) Taking a video call on speaker in a coffee shop, B) Playing music without headphones in public, C) Looking through a friend or family member’s phone without them knowing, D) Reading an entire group chat out loud at dinner, doing all the voices. Make your guess, the answer’s waiting at the end.
📺 Put the remote down, friend. You’ve earned better than another 40-minute scroll that ends in “eh, nothing’s on.” My YouTube channel has the smart tips, real laughs and straight tech talk you actually came for. Watch something worth your time. — Kim
This newsletter contains a paid advertisement. In the following sponsored message, Mode Mobile explains how it aims to help smartphone users earn money from their devices.
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Frame job
Image: ChatGPT/Kim Komando
🤯 WOW! The camera pointed at you in the next booth looks exactly like a pair of Ray-Bans. The only warning is a white LED the size of a pinhead, and a piece of tape can cover that. Learn the three tells, know which conversations your state protects and take steps when you spot a recorder.
📖 Read time: 2.25 minutes
Look around the coffee shop. That person wearing glasses might be filming you right now.
AI smart glasses became the fastest-growing gadget in America while nobody noticed. Ray-Ban sold over 7 million pairs last year, up from 2 million across the two years before that combined. In the first three months of 2026 alone, the category shipped as many units as it did in all of 2024.
And they look like ordinary Ray-Bans. The camera hides in the corner of the frame.
😳 Why the sudden surge?
This isn't your grandma's camcorder. Today's AI glasses analyze whatever the camera sees, live. We're talking identifying strangers on the street, reading the text on the phone screen next to you, streaming it all straight to social media. They're not taking pictures. They're processing everything around you, in real time, including YOU.
Here’s the privacy problem, you never opted in. There's no waiver for walking through the grocery store. That tiny recording light? Easy to miss, easier to cover. Your face, your kids, your license plate, all scooped up by a stranger's sunglasses and shipped off to some company's cloud, where it can be stored, analyzed and sold.
👓 How to tell they’re rolling
A tiny white LED lights up when the camera runs. Watch for a faint dot near the hinge. That’s the one warning it gives you, and it’s a weak one:
It’s small and nearly invisible in daylight.
The camera captures a photo so fast the light barely blinks.
A piece of tape or a dab of marker covers the light entirely.
Trust your instincts to back up your eyes. Look out for a stranger whose lenses aim your way a beat too long or a finger tapping the side of the frames. That tap is usually the camera shutter.
⚖️ What the law says
Video in public is generally legal. Where nobody expects privacy, you can be filmed.
Audio has the strict rules. Roughly a dozen states, including California, Florida, Illinois and Washington, require everyone in a private conversation to agree before recording.
Private can happen in public. A whispered conversation in a corner booth may still qualify.
Bathrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms are off-limits everywhere. That’s a crime, not a gray area.
Repeated following or filming crosses into harassment. Also a crime.
Three moves when you spot someone recording:
Ask them to stop. You’re allowed.
Tell the staff. A restaurant or gym can order them to quit or leave.
Move to another seat. The camera has a fixed view and a short range.
Stay sharp out there. Some specs are looking right back.
🗣️ Put this in your group text: The spy camera in the next booth looks like a pair of Ray-Bans, and the only warning light is smaller than a pinhead. Free daily tech at GetKim.com.
📩 Send this to someone who tells their whole life story in a crowded restaurant booth. Use the links below, that’s why they’re there.
Share this now:
SPONSORED BY
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
The $20B deal between Apple and Google that has iPhone users concerned
Google paid Apple $20B to be the default search engine on iPhones — and both companies hoped to shield it from the public.
The deal continues to fuel Google’s ad revenue engine, which made an eye-popping +$260B in 2025.
Mode Mobile wants smartphone users to get their piece of that money.
They’re flipping the data industry on its head, splitting the profits with their users by turning smartphones into an income-generating asset. Here’s what that looks like:
Paid out +$1B in an ecosystem of +490M users.
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Ranked #1 fastest-growing software company by Deloitte in 2023.
📲 Their EarnPhone could be considered the Uber of smartphones, and they’re gearing up for a potential IPO on the Nasdaq (ticker: $MODE).
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For complete offer details, view the official Mode Mobile Offering Circular.
This is a paid advertisement from Mode Mobile. Kim Komando and The Current have not evaluated or endorsed this offering, and nothing here is investment advice. Investing in pre-IPO companies is high risk. Read the offering circular and consult a licensed advisor before investing.
📺 YOUTUBE: THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
Watch now or bookmark for later
Disney parks’ new servers don’t need tips or lunch breaks. Star Wars bots deliver food right to you. May the snacks be with you.
Hit the link below, so you’re in the know. 👇
WEB WATERCOOLER
🍗 Ate at Chick-fil-A? Your account may have been on the menu. The chicken giant confirmed hackers hit Chick-fil-A One loyalty accounts in a June attack, exposing names, emails, the last four digits of payment cards and rewards balances across at least 10 states plus D.C. The company reset passwords and wiped stored payment methods, but change that password anywhere you reused it and watch your rewards balance like a hawk.
Facebook gets louder: I know what you’re thinking: Facebook would be so much better if it only had more ads. It’s gonna soon blast a full-screen video (paywall link) the instant you open the app, because stuffing dozens of ads in your day wasn’t enough. The place you check for school closings, family photos and Marketplace could greet you like a casino television. Since 20 million people left Meta’s platforms in Q1, subtlety has fled the building. Soon the app will fire a T-shirt cannon through your window every time Cousin Linda posts a Minion meme.
👁️ A bionic eye implant just got the green light. Science Corp's Prima chip goes under the retina and pairs with camera glasses to beam sight straight to the brain, giving people with advanced macular degeneration their central vision back. One trial patient read a 300-page novel. It's EU-approved for now (and costs six figures), but the CEO calls it “a cochlear implant for vision.” Keep an eye out. Couldn't resist.
A data center became the neighbor from hell in one Michigan town. Folks in Dowagiac say the Hyperscale Data facility roars 24/7, "like someone set up a vacuum in your living room." Headaches, a toddler who can't sleep, windows sealed all summer. The city's fining the company, neighbors filed a class action, and the CEO offered to buy their houses. If a data center wants in near you, show up to that zoning meeting. Turns out the cloud hums.
🍦 Ice cream for the people! I check McFlurry odds like a horse race, which doesn’t feel healthy. A report analyzing about six years of fan-tracked McDonald’s ice cream machine data found machines are down 10.4% nationwide. Ashland, Kentucky, is Dairy NASA at 2.1%. Cleveland, Tennessee? 46.9%. Why? One company controlled the repair software until the U.S. Copyright Office OK'd a right-to-repair fix in late 2024. The McFlurry machine is broken so often it deserves its own weather app.
🎤 PODCAST: DIGITAL LIFE HACK
Photos leak your location
Every photo you take has hidden GPS data. It’s the same trick that helped catch a fugitive in 2012. Turn it off before you share. Plus, we help Virginia restore her fire-damaged photo albums for her 25 grandchildren.
🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Pull out your phone in bright sun wearing polarized sunglasses and the screen can look completely black. It's not broken. Your shades and your screen both filter light in one direction, and when those directions cross, the picture vanishes. The fix: rotate the phone 90 degrees and the screen pops right back. Just a little twist ending.
🛑 Don’t wait for a disaster. Data recovery experts charge thousands of dollars to rescue files from a dead hard drive, with zero guarantees. Carbonite runs quietly in the background, keeping your digital life completely safe. It’s the only backup I trust and use myself. Grab my exclusive 50% off deal right now.*
Claude can manage your Gmail: It might be worth trying if important emails keep getting buried. In Claude, click the + button in the prompt box > Add connector > Browse connectors > Gmail. Then ask, “Find emails from the last seven days that look like they need a response.” Or ask it to summarize the day’s messages. More tips like this in my free Splash of AI newsletter every Thursday. Keep in mind this also means Claude has access to every email too.
🖨️ Your printer cries wolf about ink: That low ink warning is a suggestion, not an emergency. Cartridges routinely flag low with plenty left, so keep printing until the pages actually fade. When they do, pull the cartridge, rock it gently side to side a few times, and pop it back in. That redistributes the ink (or toner) and often buys you weeks. While you're at it, set your printer to Draft or EconoMode (Print > More settings > Quality) for everyday stuff. Remember, ink costs more per ounce than fine champagne. Make the printer sip, not chug.
Before you nuke Windows: A full reinstall is overkill when your PC only needs a clean start. Open Settings > System > Recovery > Reset PC and pick Keep my files. Your apps and settings disappear, but documents and photos stay put. I’d still back everything up first.
📵 The call that breaks through silent mode: Your phone's on silent overnight, but what if Mom calls at 2 a.m.? On iPhone, open her contact card, tap Edit > Ringtone, and flip on Emergency Bypass. Her calls now ring at full volume through silent mode and Do Not Disturb. On Android, star the contact, then allow starred contacts in Do Not Disturb settings. Everyone else can wait until morning. Sleep tight, worry light.
KIM’S DAILY DEALS
As an Amazon Associate, some links pay us a commission at no extra cost to you. Keeps this newsletter free. Thank you.
⛈️ Weather the worst
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Bottled water backup: Waterdrop’s water filter straw (26% off, $34) makes sketchy tap or river water safe to sip. Handy for hikes and emergencies.
💡 Lights stay on: Rechargeable light bulbs (10% off, $23, four-pack) stay lit through power outages. Screw them into a socket or hang them by the hook.
Stash for years: These aren’t regular AA & AAA batteries (16% off, $33, 48-count). They last up to a decade in storage, so they’re always handy.
🛟 Your plan B: Build your just-in-case kit on my Amazon page.
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: @Interestingengineering via Instagram
🚛 Heads will roll
Driverless trucks were already unsettling. Now some of them have ditched the entire cab, which feels like a Black Mirror version of Sleepy Hollow.
These autonomous freight vehicles move cargo without an onboard driver, using sensors and software to navigate while working beyond normal driver-hour limits. This could cut labor costs and keep deliveries moving longer.
Visually, it’s a giant metal tube flying down the interstate with a tiny robot hat on top. Efficient? Probably. Comforting to see in your rearview mirror? Nope.
Eighteen wheels, zero drivers, one very brave interstate.
LOGGING OUT …
🎓 What you learned today: Camera glasses give off three tells (the white dot near the hinge is the big one), recording audio needs everyone's OK in about a dozen states, and your photos carry hidden GPS data, so strip it before you share. Plus, your printer's "low ink" warning is a bluff, a phone screen that goes black in sunlight means polarized shades (rotate 90 degrees), and Emergency Bypass lets Mom's 2 a.m. call blast through silent mode. Phew, all this for free!
🔜 Tomorrow: I have a free tool that turns one photo of your kid's drawing into a storybook, drawn in the kid's style, narrated out loud, and printable as a keepsake.
The answer: C) Looking through a friend or family member’s phone without them knowing. That topped the list at 92%, the highest disapproval score in the whole survey.
Snooping on your romantic partner scored lower, at 84%. Among millennials, 23% said going through a partner’s phone is perfectly fine. So somewhere we decided your best friend’s phone is sacred ground and your spouse’s phone is a public library. Playing music out loud hit 82% disapproval. Speakerphone calls in public finished at 75%. I know there’s someone out there doing all four of these things regularly.
One for the road: A nosy coworker kept badgering a chemist about what he was mixing. The chemist finally snapped: “It’s none of your bismuth.”
The message above included a paid advertisement from Mode Mobile. Mode, not me or The Current, is responsible for its claims. Invest wisely.
🌅 New week, fresh start. You know more than you did on Friday, and you’ll know even more by dinner. That’s momentum, friend. Ride it. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
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Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Leaton, @Interestingengineering via Instagram
Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.