🏡 Your neighbor’s mortgage is one click away, and so is yours

Happy Friday, {{first_name | friend}}. This past week flew by for me! Long before we were staring at people making charcuterie boards on TikTok before bed, the internet was feeding us in a far more literal way. 

Enter PizzaNet. Yep, in 1994, Pizza Hut launched one of the first-ever online ordering systems. For the low, low bandwidth of dial-up speed, you could suddenly get a pie without talking to an actual human. Revolutionary stuff. 

🍕 So, what was the very first online pizza topping combo that made digital history? A. Hawaiian (ham and pineapple), B. Pepperoni, mushrooms and extra cheese, C. Meat lovers, or D. Vegetarian supreme? Find the answer baking at the end! 

❤️ Never miss a byte. Let’s be friends, so I don’t vanish into the black hole between “spam” and “more spam.” Just tap my name at the top of this email in the From area and hit “Add to Contacts” or VIPs or Favorites, depending on the email app you use. Now, on to the tech smarts and fun! — Kim

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Most people hop on real estate sites just to see their dream house or check local sales prices. That’s cute, but if you know where to click, these sites cough up more secrets than your drunk aunt at Thanksgiving. 

🏠 Homes.com, The Mortgage Peep Show

This one is crazy. Search an address, scroll down far enough on the page, and sometimes you’ll see the current mortgage details: how much the owner borrowed, what they still owe and their interest rate. 

Yep, you can find out if your neighbor snagged a sweet 2.75% or is sweating it out at 7%. Not every property shows this, but when it does, it’s like finding the golden ticket.

📊 Redfin, The Price Detective

Scroll past the listing fluff and head to Public Facts and Price Insights. You’ll see the home’s entire sales history, property tax changes and exactly when price drops happened. 

There’s also a “Time on Redfin” number. If that dream house has been sitting for 112 days, guess what? The seller’s probably ready to deal.

🏡 Zillow, The Quiet Gossip Queen

Everyone knows Zillow for the “Zestimate,” but that’s just the appetizer. Click Price/Tax History, and you’ll see what the seller paid, when they bought and how their taxes have climbed over the years. 

Flip on the “Foreclosures” or “Make Me Move” filters, and you’ll uncover homes that aren’t officially on the market but could be yours if the price is right.

🗺 Realtor.com, The Neighborhood Spy

Click the Neighborhood tab, and it’s like you’re strolling the block with X-ray vision. You get commute times, school ratings, crime stats and what the neighbors paid for their houses. 

Peek at the Property History, too. Sometimes it shows if a home was yanked off the market before. That’s insider info you can use to your advantage.

When you’re buying, selling or just being nosy (no judgment), the boring tabs are where the gold is. And yes, it’s all legal. It’s just hiding in plain sight, waiting for someone savvy like you to click.

🎲 Speaking of… When it comes to board games about buying real estate, Hasbro really has the Monopoly.

Tesla’s new futuristic diner promises food and fast charging. For nearby residents, it’s a neon nightmare that never sleeps.

Listen on Komando.com →

🪄 You don’t need a magic wand to organize your digital life, just these:

💻 From laptops to desktops: I’ve rounded up 20 computer recs that actually keep up with you over on my Amazon shop.

🚨 Docusign warning: Scammers are sending fake Docusign emails claiming you’ve been charged by companies like Apple or Netflix. They tell you to call a number if you didn’t make a purchase, but it’s actually fake customer support trying to steal your info. Don’t click anything. When in doubt, log in directly to check your purchase history.

⚡ What it feels like to chew 5 Gum: It’s official, GPT-5 is rolling out in four distinct versions and can help write apps, redesign front ends, summarize your inbox, explain medical symptoms, and it somehow even feels more human. Early takes say it’s better at logic, memory and sounding like a person who pays taxes. 

IG’s map is sus: Rolling out now, Instagram Map broadcasts your last app activity location to friends. Meta swears it’s off by default, but I don’t trust it and apparently neither does half the internet. Here’s how to turn it off: Go to your Profile and Tap the ≡ menu (top right). Select Story, live and location, tap Location sharing, and toggle off sharing. 

🩸 Caught red-handed: A jury ruled Meta broke privacy law by quietly siphoning up data from the Flo period app. Yes, including your pregnancy goals and cycle info. The twist? Flo gave it up via hidden SDKs. Meta claims it didn’t know what it was collecting. The court was like: lol, ok. Now they face massive damages.

Pour one out: After 24 years, Apple finally gave the old “Macintosh HD” icon the boot, replacing the hard disk image with a new SSD-style one in macOS 26 Tahoe. Because nothing says innovation like updating a decorative PNG five years after the hardware changed. Wait until they hear Safari’s icon is a compass. 

⚰️ Robot mourning: Funeral homes are turning to AI to write obituaries, automating grief one prompt at a time. Tools like CelebrateAlly and ChatGPT are now ghostwriters for the literal dead. It’s convenient, weird and makes dying feel like a content strategy. One user called his AI-written tribute a “banger.” A real quote. From a real person. About his father.

A new scam tricks riders into handing over account access. Here’s how to stay safe.

Listen on Komando.com →

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Google Docs can instantly translate text. Go to Tools > Translate document > Choose a language > Translate. It creates a new copy, so your original stays untouched. C’est incroyable!

Multiple desktops on Windows 11: You can split up work and hobbies with separate spaces for each. Click the Task View icon on the task bar and select New desktop. Now right-click the new one to rename it and give it a different background. It’s like having a second screen, without actually buying one.

🔋 A secret Android battery drainer: Scan for nearby devices constantly uses your Bluetooth. Turn it off in Settings > Google > All services > Devices. Check your phone’s version under Settings > Connections > More connection settings, and switch off Nearby device scanning, too.

Check what stuff actually sells for: Don’t waste time scrolling active listings. Go to eBay and click the Advanced button next to the Search bar. Type your item, tick the Sold items box under Search including and hit Search. You’ll see what people paid, not just what sellers are hoping for.

📍 Smart ways to use AirTags: I put them on almost everything. If something goes missing, I can find it with the Find My network. Luggage and cars are the obvious picks, but you can also drop one in your kid’s backpack or a toolbox in the shed. Bonus: A four-pack is 19% off right now.

You need a VPN. ExpressVPN keeps your online data safe, blocks trackers and lets you browse without limits. Right now, get four extra months free when you sign up.*

Over 1.2 million kilometers
How far one 1985 Toyota Tercel has driven in the past 40 years. The car’s still in mint condition, and if you don’t believe owner Andy, he’s got a photo of the odometer rolling over at 999,999 (it only goes up to six digits). His secret? Regular oil changes. (That’s about 745,000 miles if you’re like me and never got the metric system.)

11:18 p.m.
That’s when the average American actually falls asleep. Bedtime may start at 10:36 on average, but your brain’s running a late-night talk show until nearly midnight. Toss in some regret, a side of scrolling, the kids starting school again, and voilà, sleep debt before sunrise.

$160,000
The price of the “Ammortal Chamber,” aka a human optimization pod. It uses 10 wellness technologies to boost your body and mind in just 20 to 30 minutes. Pro athletes are already using them, and soon you can, too. They’re popping up in spas across the country.

💩 Meet Throne: a smart tech toilet clip-on that analyzes your … well, you know.

Built with AI-trained sensors and a downward-facing camera (don’t worry, they say it’s private), Throne tracks hydration, gut health and digestion, hands-free. 

Just clip it to your toilet, pair the app and go about your business. It logs pee, poo, food and meds, giving you real-time health insights without test strips or doctor visits.

This might not be the number one gadget, but it has a strong chance of seeing number two. Oh, I’m on a roll! 🧻

Answer: B. Pepperoni, mushrooms and extra cheese. A tech-savvy pizza purist out there kicked off the online ordering revolution with a combo that still slaps today. 

🌺 I burned my Hawaiian pizza last night. I should have cooked it at aloha temperature. (I saw that smile, and that makes me happy!)

And that’s why this is the #1 tech newsletter in the U.S. It’s got enough bytes and bites to keep you full until lunch. Tomorrow, the tech thieves hate the most.

Until then, if no one’s told you today: You’re doing great. Even if you had to Google how to turn something off. — Kim

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Photo credit(s): ChatGPT, Throne

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