🚨 Your voice can now be deepfaked live, during a phone call

It’s Monday, {{first_name | friend}}, let’s get down to business. Saving money is smart, but this guy took it to a whole new level. Imagine launching one of the most successful tech companies in the world and still using coupons, flying coach and driving a beat-up car.

💰 Which billionaire am I writing about? A) Elon Musk, B) Mark Zuckerberg, C) Jeff Bezos or D) Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA founder). Take your best guess. Answer’s at the end.

Scammers are cashing in on your personal info, including your phone number, email and even details about your lifestyle. I’ve been using Incogni, today’s newsletter sponsor, to fight back, and wow, the results are incredible! They’ve scrubbed my info from over 2,999 websites. Finally, privacy you can actually see. 

ICYMI: If you didn’t get a chance to tune in this past weekend, don’t sweat it. The podcast version of my show is ready when you are. Just press play and pretend it’s live. I won’t tell. Catch the show on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts. — Kim

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Nicole from Washington, D.C., recently wrote, “Hi, Kim, I love your shows on WTOP. I read your article about how to use AI to write a book. I want to write a children’s book. But I’m no artist!”

Nicole, I love this idea. But you absolutely don’t need to be an artist to pull this off. Thanks to AI, you’ve got everything you need to create a gorgeous, meaningful children’s book from scratch.

Whether it’s a silly bedtime tale, a story based on your pet’s wild adventures or a way to bring a favorite Bible story to life, this is a project that becomes a keepsake.

Start with ChatGPT or your favorite AI chatbot to write your story. Use a prompt like:

Use an AI art generator like Bing Image Creator, Midjourney or DALL·E to create the illustrations. Want your 6-year-old riding a dragon while wearing a tutu and holding a juice box? Easy. 

Upload a photo of your kid to include in the prompt. You don’t need design skills, just creativity. To put it all together, hop over to Canva (it’s free) and lay out the pages with your text and images. 

When your book is ready, Lulu and Blurb are fantastic options for printing children’s books. 

Lulu offers full-color paperbacks starting around $8 per copy, with hardcovers from about $16. Blurb is known for its gorgeous photo-quality printing, with prices starting at about $12 for softcover. Both use print-on-demand, which means no big up-front costs. You can print one or a hundred.

Now, who’s writing the next classic about a wise old goldfish named Gus? 🐠

Facebook wants to scan your camera roll. Yes, the pics you never posted. Creepy? Plus, one caller wants to stop his kid from looking at naughty things on the internet. Then I get into Amazon’s robot army, why being mean to AI works and how to pay less for subscriptions.

Listen on Komando.com →

Cyberscammers out of control: A recent report shows that real‑time audio deepfakes are here. That means attackers can now clone your voice on the spot, during a phone call, with just a click of a button. They used off‑the‑shelf hardware and open‑source tools to mimic someone’s voice so convincingly that targets thought the caller was a trusted friend or boss. Since the fake voice can match pitch, tone and cadence in live conversation, traditional defenses like “recognizing the voice” no longer work. The takeaway? If someone you know calls asking for a favor that sounds odd, pause, verify, and don’t assume it’s really them. If you have time, take a sec and check out the report and sample audio.

💄 Swipe left on spies: In the most James Bond news today, U.S. counterintelligence says foreign agents, mostly from China and Russia, are cozying up to Silicon Valley execs through dating apps, LinkedIn and startup circles. Some even marry their marks. Forget malware, this is man-ware. Roses are red, violets are blue, your crypto’s gone, and she works for Xi, too.

Don’t let AI play doctor: People are still asking ChatGPT for medical advice, and it’s going horribly wrong. One guy cooked with pool sanitizer because AI said it was a salt alternative. Another skipped the ER during a stroke. Look, ask AI for dinner ideas, not diagnoses.

🔄 The hacker becomes the hackee: If you’ve ever thought, “I’ll just grab the cracked version” of a software or video game, surprise, you’re the product. Check Point found thousands of YouTube “free software” videos that sneak malware into your PC. Some hit hundreds of thousands of views. That’s crazy. Turns out that you can actually fool all the people all the time. Remember, if it’s free and asks you to disable antivirus, it’s a setup.

Wi-Fi grounded: Got big dreams of fast Wi-Fi everywhere you go? SpaceX just told Starlink Mini users to slow down. Starting Nov. 7, dishes on $165-a-month roaming plans can’t work past 450 mph (down from 550). Too many people were strapping them to private jets. Want faster internet at 30,000 feet? You’ll need the $10,000-a-month “Aviation” plan. Yep, that’s per month.

🛞 Mad Max meets Model 3: Tesla dropped two new “self-driving” modes: Sloth (grandpa speed) and Mad Max (the one your insurance hates). No confirmed speeds yet, but “Mad Max” mode is made to accelerate and swerve through traffic “like a sports car.” The feds opened a preliminary investigation, I wonder why? Coming soon: Mario Kart Mode, bananas sold separately.

💪 Cravings shouldn’t control your everyday life! →

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Stop wrestling with your thumbs to move that tiny cursor. There’s a hidden trick on your phone that lets you glide right to the mistake and fix it in seconds.

Listen on Komando.com →

You don’t need a Michelin star, only four-star and up tools.

🥣 Wood you believe it? These chic bamboo utensils (29% off) are sturdy, lightweight and safe for all your nonstick pans. Set comes with a matching holder.

Sharper than your wit: Diamond wheels on this electric knife sharpener (9% off) make meal prep faster and safer. Perfect for Thanksgiving.

🧽 Countertop hero: A stainless steel sink organizer (28% off) keeps your countertop tidy while you conquer those dishes like a boss.

Soap-er clean: Grease doesn’t stand a chance against Cascade’s dishwasher pods (5% off, 78 count). A value pack will have you set through 2026.

✅ Click, cook, conquer: My Amazon shop is loaded with even more smart, sleek and downright useful kitchen gadgets.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: In Gmail, you can see every email from one sender fast. Right-click any message and choose Find emails from Kim Komando. Look at that, you can see all my amazing newsletters you might’ve missed.

Add another user on Windows: Someone else using your PC? Give them their own space and keep your data separate. Go to Settings > Accounts > Other users > Add account. Done.

🚘 Wrap it up: You’ve seen cars wrapped in giant advertisements. You can make $100 to $450 per month. Want to try it out? Check out Carvertise and Wrapify.

Get Perplexity Pro free: If you have a 2025 Samsung TV, you can score a 12-month subscription right now. Get answers like who directed a movie, or ask it to help with everyday things. Open the Perplexity TV app from the Apps tab or inside Vision AI Companion, then scan the QR code to redeem it. FYI: Older Samsung models will get it later this year, maybe.

🐭 Mouse magic: Middle-click (click on the mouse wheel) on a link to open it in a new tab, or middle-click on an open tab to close it. Sweet!

No more credit card offers in the mail: Visit optoutprescreen.com to stop financial junk mail you’d have to shred. Choose to opt out for five years or forever. Opting out permanently? You’ll have to use snail mail, but it’s worth it. Print, sign and mail a confirmation form. I did it.

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Microsoft gave Copilot a face. Meet Mico, the chirpy little orb that’s part AI tutor, part nostalgia trip. 

Like a phoenix rising out of the digital ashes, Mico is expressive, animated and capable of reacting to your mood in real time. That’s right, it won’t just blink while you spiral on a deadline. 

Its new “Learn Live” mode turns it into a study buddy with virtual whiteboards. Find Mico in Copilot’s voice mode, ready to talk, teach and maybe even judge you.

The answer: D) Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA founder). Even with a net worth over $50 billion, he still flew coach, shopped at thrift stores, reused tea bags and drove a 20-year-old Volvo. Now that’s some real budgeting energy. 

🇸🇪 If he were elected prime minister of Sweden, he’d have no trouble putting a cabinet together. (OK, after that, I’ll see my way out.)

Stop letting cybercriminals treat your data like a free-for-all. Incogni handles the heavy lifting, removing your info and keeping watch so it doesn’t resurface. For less than a cup of coffee a week, you can reclaim your privacy and peace of mind. Start protecting yourself today.

Thanks for being here with me, and I sure hope you’re loving being tech ahead. Tomorrow, I have the scoop on new high-tech running shoes that do the work for you, really.

🚀 Blast off into your brilliant day. I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning. — Kim

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

Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, COSORI, Microsoft

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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.

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