In partnership with
📬 Did someone forward this to you? Sign up here. Tomorrow: Stop typing your address, email and “running late” text over and over. Five free shortcuts give you back hours every month.
Tuesday called, {{first_name | friend}}, and it brought a tiny guilt sandwich. You’re at the park. Your little one is babbling away, pointing at a dog, a leaf, a cloud. You glance at your phone for “just a second” to check one text. Then one email. Then one quick scroll. We’ve all done it. (Me included.)
Researchers wanted to know how early kids notice when Mom or Dad checks out and the phone takes over. Results surprised even the scientists.
🐣 How young are kids when they start reacting to a parent who’s glued to a phone? A) 6 months, B) 3 years, C) 5 years, D) That age when you open TikTok during their “big presentation” about dinosaurs. Keep reading, the answer is waiting at the end like a child with a very important rock.
🍬 I’ve been the same size 4 my whole life: I’m taking ImproveLife GLP-1 Support. No needles. No prescription. Just clean, clinically studied ingredients that support your body’s natural GLP-1 response.** Save up to 50% off, free shipping and a free gift.
💧 I write this for you: Get my Splash of AI free newsletter every Tuesday. I’ll show you how to turn messy doodles into professional diagrams, make your phone read tiny print aloud, catch fake citations before they wreck your credibility and see robots fighting with weapons. Yours free. Sign up now at SplashOfAI.com, so it hits your inbox tomorrow morning. — Kim
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Home spy home
Image: ChatGPT/Kim Komando
🤯 WOW! The Federal Trade Commission looked at six of the biggest internet and wireless providers in America. They can access their customers’ internet traffic, and some even shared customers’ real-time location data with third parties. The “privacy choices” they offered? Hard to find and harder to use.
The Short Version: Your biggest snoop isn’t the coffee shop. It’s the company you pay every month. Steps to protect your privacy below.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
“Kim, I only use Wi-Fi at home. Isn’t a VPN really only for people who travel? Thanks for your shows and newsletters. I really feel like you have all of our backs!” — Joseph in Boston
Joseph, that made my day. (It’s going on the fridge.)
Most people think a VPN is a travel gadget you pack next to your phone charger. Ready for a shocker? The coffee shop isn’t the biggest snoop in your life. Your internet provider is.
🏠 Your couch isn’t private
Everything you do online at home runs through your provider’s network first. Without a VPN, it can see:
Where you go. The websites you visit and when, every single one, even the embarrassing ones.
What you use. Which devices in your house are online, and there are a ton.
What you do. How much you stream, game, download and everything else.
The Federal Trade Commission dug into six of the biggest providers. It found they combine browsing, app and location data to target ads. The privacy choices they offered? Buried and hard to use. (Shocking. Truly.)
Then there’s speed. When your provider can see what you’re doing, it can slow down specific activities like streaming or gaming. That’s called throttling. If movie night buffers like it’s 2009, this could be why.
A VPN wraps your connection in encryption. Your provider sees you’re online. That’s it. Not the sites. Not the shows.
Pro tip: Test your speed at Fast.com, which Netflix runs from its own servers. Do it with the VPN off, then on, at different times. If Fast.com crawls until you turn on the VPN, your provider may be slowing your streaming.
🔒 Why my family uses NordVPN
I tested all the big VPNs before picking the official one of The Kim Komando Show. That’s NordVPN. I use it, and so does my entire family. Here’s what you get:
One account, 10 devices. Phones, laptops, the smart TV, the kids’ tablets. Covered.
Scam and phishing protection. It blocks known malicious sites before they load, like a sketchy link in a text or ad.
High speed. Its NordLynx protocol is built for fast streaming and video calls.
Next-level encryption. NordVPN uses post-quantum encryption, built to hold up against tomorrow’s code crackers.
Set it and forget it. Turn on auto-connect, and it kicks in on its own.
Ready for the holidays. Hotel, airport and vacation rental Wi-Fi get the same protection as your living room.
No risk. Every plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
✅ Get up to 76% off a 2-year plan from $3.37/month, plus 4 extra months. Grab the deal here.
📩 Send this to someone who thinks VPNs are only for travelers.
Share this now:
📺 YOUTUBE: THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
She dumped ChatGPT. Then this happened.
Can someone get too emotionally attached to AI? This ChatGPT breakup sparked an online backlash.
▶️ Watch on YouTube →
WEB WATERCOOLER
🧠 Total recall, Meta edition: Meta rolled out Muse Wonder, its smartest AI model yet. It’s the new brain coming soon to Muse, Meta’s AI assistant app that books trips, answers email and shops for you. Meta says it rivals OpenAI and Anthropic’s best. Its trick? It can “remember what’s important to you over days, weeks, months and beyond.” The more it remembers, the less you should share.
🔊 What did you say? Asking that more often? Don’t miss out on the meaningful conversations that matter. One of my longtime readers has the Horizon IX and says, “I hear like never before!” Tiny and comfortable, Horizon IX helps make voices clearer, even at noisy restaurants or crowded family gatherings. Try it risk-free for 45 days!*
📸 Home sweet tracked: Post a photo of your bathroom online? Police may be able to find the house. 404 Media reports an AI tool called Raven, formerly GeoSpy, matches interior shots to listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Zillow. In one demo, a single washer-dryer pic pointed to a specific Charlotte, North Carolina, rental in seconds. The LAPD and Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office have bought access. See how it works. Think twice before posting room tours.
📲 Fold the line: Want Apple’s first foldable on day one? Pre-orders for the $1,999 iPhone Duo open this Friday, Oct. 16, at 5 a.m. Pacific, and supply is expected to be tight. Apple’s “Get Ready” tool lets you pick color, storage, carrier, trade-in and payment now, so ordering becomes one tap. Yes, I’m ready to spend $2,199 on a phone and isn’t that ridiculous?
🎬 Unfriended at the box office: Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning,” about a Facebook whistleblower who leaked documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter, opened to just $5.5 million in 2,606 theaters. Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg. Sorkin’s “The Social Network” opened to over $22 million and grossed $224 million worldwide. The new one reportedly cost about $30 million, and audiences gave it a B-minus. Wait for streaming. Seen the movie about the fish at the cardboard company? It also flopped at the box office.
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Here is what I tell everyone about GLP-1
You can’t go a day without hearing about GLP-1. Ozempic. Wegovy. Weight loss is everywhere, and so are the questions in my inbox asking what I recommend.
Here’s my answer. I don’t chase trends. I do my homework.
I wanted support without the needles, the prescription or the $1,000-a-month price tag. That’s why I take ImproveLife GLP-1 Support.
It’s clean, stimulant-free and supports your body’s natural GLP-1 response to help you feel satisfied longer and make healthier food choices. It’s made in the USA with premium, clinically studied ingredients, which is exactly why I recommend it.**
“This helped me go from 300 lbs. to 138 lbs. in a year. Use it!” — Jeanne M.
I take it every day, and I think you’ll love it, too.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Stop scrolling for that hotel confirmation. Gmail now answers questions about your own inbox. Type a plain question in the search box, like “What’s my Hilton confirmation number?” or “When does my flight to Denver land?” Google’s Gemini AI digs through your email and serves up the answer.
🎬 Get to the good bit: Ever sent a two-minute video when you only wanted to share ten seconds? Google Photos has a new Quick Edit button. Open your clip, tap Share, then find it at the bottom right of the preview. Trim or crop before sending. FYI, the edited version saves to your device, so delete the extra copy when you’re done.
📝 Less paper to hang on to: That headphone leaflet doesn’t have to live in a drawer. Save the instructions in iPhone Notes. Start a note called “Headphone setup,” then tap the paper clip > Scan Text. Point your camera at the page, check the preview and hit Insert. When that light starts blinking six months later, you’ll know where to look.
📱 Put that big Android screen to work: Most models let you use two apps side by side. Open Recent apps, tap the app icon above its preview and choose Split screen. Select another app, then drag the middle divider to adjust the space. You can look up a restaurant while answering everyone’s questions about it.
⌨️ Where’s that symbol hiding? Your Windows keyboard doesn’t show everything you can type. Open Search, type Character Map and launch it. Choose a symbol, click Select > Copy, then paste where needed. Try different fonts at the top for other styles. Copyright signs, the é in café, degrees for temperatures. No more wasting time googling them.
✂️ Cut out the background: Want just your dog, without the messy living room behind him? On iPhone, open the photo, press and hold the dog until a glowing outline appears, then let go. Tap Copy to paste him into a text, or Add Sticker to make him a sticker. On a Mac, right-click the photo and choose Copy Subject. Your pup, minus the laundry pile.
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.
🛋️ Couch potato power-ups
Less hassle, more entertainment.
📺 Old TV, new tricks: Roku Streaming Stick 4K (44% off, $45)
4.7 ⭐ 99,100+ reviews
Tired of laggy TV apps? Plug in this Roku and stream in crisp 4K with Dolby Vision. Long-range Wi-Fi helps keep buffering at bay. Plus, the voice remote lets you pull up shows without all that scrolling.
Image: Roku
🌟 Never lose the remote: Glow-in-the-dark silicone covers (20% off, $7 for two) make your clicker easier to find when the lights go down.
Hide those ugly wires: Delamu’s cord covers (23% off, $10) stick right onto walls and baseboards. You can even paint them to match your wall.
📸 Say cheese: This kid-friendly camera (15% off, $34) prints pics on the spot, just like a Polaroid. A fun gift for little ones as young as 3.
Wipe out smudges: MagicFiber’s cleaning cloths (33% off, $10, six-pack) leave glasses, phones and screens scratch-free and lint-free.
⚡ Tech it further: Tap here for more smart home staples I swear by. →
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: @bolau_ via X
🩸 Blood, sweat, screenshots
Ever wanted to run a doomed blood-testing empire without the criminal trial? There’s a browser tab for that.
An engineer built a 2016-era Theranos simulator using more than 1,000 emails, texts, slides and documents released during Elizabeth Holmes’ trial. You can poke around Holmes’ iPhone and MacBook and even fire up a virtual Edison blood-testing machine.
Naturally, it’s marketing for the developer’s document-processing company, which is so clever.
Check it out here. It’s like The Sims: Silicon Valley Fraud Edition, except the evidence is real.
LOGGING OUT …
🎓 What you learned today: Your internet provider can see every site you visit at home, one bathroom photo can lead police to your front door, Meta built an AI that remembers everything, and Gmail will now find your confirmation numbers for you. Not bad for one email. Tomorrow, your phone, Mac and Gmail can type whole sentences when you enter three letters. Here’s how to set up the free shortcuts in minutes, plus the five every busy person should make today.
🍼 The answer: A) 6 months. Yep, six tiny months. In one study, babies showed more protest and less happy engagement when a parent interrupted play to focus on a phone. In other words: Before they can say “rude,” they can absolutely feel it.
Researchers say it looks a lot like the reaction babies have in the classic “still-face” experiment, when a parent suddenly goes blank and unresponsive. Not exactly the review you want from someone wearing Velcro shoes.
Easy fix: Try the “two-turn rule.” When your child starts something important, go back and forth twice before you pick up the phone. What does the baby computer call its father? Data.
🍂 The holidays will be here before you know it: I take ImproveLife GLP-1 Support every day to support my body’s natural GLP-1 response and help me feel satisfied longer. No needles or prescription.** Save up to 50% off, plus free shipping and a free gift today.
💛 The best privacy setting in your home isn’t on your router. It’s putting your phone face down when someone you love is talking. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE: Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.
Photo credit(s): ChatGPT/Kim Komando, Roku, @bolau_ via X
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.