🚨 Your calendar has a backdoor

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Welcome to your terrific Thursday, {{first_name | friend}}. Some internet debates simply refuse to die, and this one loops forever. We’ve sent GIFs for everything: the side-eye, the mic drop, the dog doing too much. But one tiny question still has people ready to throw elbows in the group chat. 

When Steve Wilhite, the inventor of the GIF, finally weighed in, how did he say it should be pronounced? A) Hard G, B) Soft G, C) Either or D) “Not my problem.” The truth is waiting for you at the finish line. Spoiler alert: It’s pronounced GIF.

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⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

When I mentioned Google Calendar scams on the show last week, my inbox lit up. You wanted more info. Here it is. Because this one is sneakier than almost anything I’ve covered recently, and the fix is genuinely simple once you know it exists.

By default, Google Calendar automatically adds meeting invitations to your schedule the moment they arrive. Doesn’t matter whether you know the sender. The event appears on your calendar, sitting right between your dentist appointment and your kid’s soccer game, looking completely legitimate.

Scammers figured this out. They blast fake invites with titles designed to trigger panic. “Invoice Overdue.” “Payment Required.” “Account Suspended.” The description contains a link that looks like it goes to a real Google page. It doesn’t.

One tap and you’re on a cloned sign-in page. You type your email and password. The scammer now has your Google account. Gmail. Drive. Photos. Every saved password. Everything.

Here’s what makes it particularly nasty. Because the invites come through Google’s own servers, they sail right past spam filters. Your inbox never sees it. It lands directly on your calendar like it belongs there.

Researchers tracked one campaign that hit 300 organizations with more than 4,000 fake invites in just four weeks. The attacks surged through 2025 and show no signs of slowing in 2026.

Here are the steps. Depending on your make, model, device, operating system version and more, it may be different. On Google Calendar desktop:

Done. Strangers can no longer drop things onto your calendar without your approval.

On iPhone: Go to Settings > Apps > Calendar > Calendar Accounts and delete any calendar subscriptions you don’t recognize.

FYI, if you spot a suspicious event already on your calendar, do not click anything. Don’t even click decline. Go to the three-dot menu and hit Report as spam first. Clicking decline signals the scammer that your address is active and worth targeting again.

Phew, invisible calendars, that’s something you don’t see every day.

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Hot new job? Teaching your replacement. Companies are handing out fat paychecks to people who teach robots how to do their work. Plus, ChatGPT’s X-rated mode and a man who used ChatGPT to cure his dog’s cancer.

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

🚨 Patch your stuff: I know, I know. iPhone updates always show up when you’re busy and your battery is low. A working exploit kit that can hack iPhones leaked publicly, and it’s the real deal. It’s the kind of stuff that usually stays inside intelligence agencies or sells for millions. If you’re running anything older than the current iOS version, you’re a target with a blinking neon sign. Update your iPhone right now. Settings > General > Software Update.

RIP, Sora: Remember OpenAI’s viral video app? Sora was pitched as an AI-first TikTok, but its headline feature was to deepfake yourself into videos. Then, it let strangers use your face. It got weird and creepy immediately, and apparently nobody wanted it. OpenAI says it’s shifting focus to data centers and its next AI model, possibly code-named Spud. 

Crunchyroll crunch: Bad news for anyone with a Crunchyroll account. Hackers claim they stole personal data on 6.8 million people, wrenching access through a support agent’s credentials after installing malware on their computer. Classic. Crunchyroll says it believes the exposed data is mostly limited to customer service ticket information. If you have an account, change your password now. Turn on 2FA. And yes, that goes for every streaming account you have collecting dust.

🚫 Foreign router freeze: So the FCC says no more new foreign-made consumer routers in the U.S., after the White House flagged them as a national security risk. You know, imported boxes in potentially tens of millions of homes could be Chinese spy gear. This is mostly about new sales, not yanking your old router off the shelf. Check where your next one is built. Somewhere, a 2007 Linksys got promoted to critical infrastructure.

Dopamine subpoenaed: Seeing today’s teenagers on Instagram feels like watching hypnotism in real time. Turns out the court noticed. A Los Angeles jury handed 20-year-old Kaley $3 million after deciding Meta and YouTube knowingly built addictive products that damaged her mental health as a child. Meta got tagged for 70%, YouTube 30%. This is a first-of-its-kind sort of verdict that makes every similar lawsuit stand up straighter. Somewhere, a Terms of Service lawyer is breathing into a paper bag. 

🩸 Catch it sooner: This is exactly the kind of story that reminds me why tech matters. Researchers found two previously unknown blood proteins tied to pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancers because it usually shows up late. Pair those with existing markers, and this could become a simple blood test that spots it earlier. My mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer with no symptoms. Mayo Clinic gave her three months. MD Anderson gave her almost five more years. Earlier detection doesn’t just change survival odds. It changes everything that comes after. Keep going, researchers. We’re rooting for you.

If you thought one-day delivery was fast, just wait. Now you can get your order in the time it takes to watch an episode of your favorite reality show.

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⚡️ 3-second tech genius: You can drag files between apps like your computer actually understands you. Photo from Downloads straight into an email. File into a browser upload box. Text into Notes. No copy, save, browse, attach. Your computer has been standing there the whole time like “you can literally just bring it here.” Works on Mac and Windows. Try it once. You’ll never go back.

iOS 26.4 is out, and the emojis alone are worth it: New features, bug fixes, security patches and eight new emojis. A distorted face with bulging eyes, Bigfoot, an orca, treasure chest, trombone, a rock, fight cloud and a ballet dancer. Whoever is in charge of approving these needs a raise. Open Settings > General > Software Update to get it. Stay tuned, there’s a lot more to unpack this week.

💸 Stop paying for subscriptions you forgot about: You know that app you signed up for in 2021 and haven’t opened since? It’s probably still billing you. Rocket Money finds those sneaky charges, shows you everything in one clean dashboard and can cancel the junk for you. I use it because it saves time and money. Try it now!*

Web browsers quietly hoard gigabytes of space: Every site you visit leaves cached images, scripts and data behind. Months of it. Dead weight. On Chrome, click the three-dot icon > History > Delete browsing data > All time > Cached images and files. You’ll be amazed what’s been sitting there. Pages load faster after, too. Do it monthly. Clear out the cache on your phone while you’re at it.

🧲 Your refrigerator magnets are killing your Wi-Fi: Not only magnets. Everything on and around your fridge. The motor runs constantly and throws off a 2.4 GHz interference signal that competes directly with your Wi-Fi. If your router is in the kitchen or on the same wall as your fridge, you’ve been fighting your appliances for bandwidth this whole time. Move your router at least 6 feet away from the refrigerator, microwave and cordless phones. Move the box. People report speeds doubling. You’re welcome.

Nothing says “I have arrived” like a $600 calculator.

Casio’s S100X is hand-lacquered using traditional Japanese techniques and takes a month to make. One month. To make something that does 12-digit math. The same math your phone does in the background while you’re watching cat videos.

It has a solar panel. A backup battery that lasts seven years. And the quiet confidence of a device that looked at the entire AI revolution and said, “I’m good, thanks.”

Only 650 exist worldwide. Your childhood desk accessory is now a collector’s item that costs more than your first car payment.

I’m not saying I want one. I’m not NOT saying it either. You can count on that.

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🔜 Tomorrow: Speed cameras were annoying enough. Now cities are installing cameras that listen for loud cars, snap your plate and mail you a ticket. If your exhaust is even a little aggressive, you’ll want to read this.

🎉 The answer: B) Soft G, like “JIF.” Yep, sorry to break it to you, hard-G people. Steve Wilhite, the inventor of the GIF, was firmly Team Soft G. Wilhite created the GIF in 1987 while working at CompuServe, to make image files smaller and easier to load over painfully slow dial-up. He intentionally pronounced it like the peanut butter brand. 

He retired in 2001, spent his days camping with his wife and building elaborate model train sets in his basement and largely avoided the internet he had helped create. He passed away in March 2022 at 74. The hard-G crowd has shown no signs of surrendering. The Oxford English Dictionary says both pronunciations are acceptable. Wilhite’s response: “They are wrong.”

Pictures at his funeral were said to be very moving.

🌐 You read the whole thing. Overachiever. I love that for you. Have questions? Ask me here. — Kim

Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily

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Photo credit(s): Gemini, ScrubWiz, Casio

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