🚩 Your phone isn’t listening. It’s worse.

Today’s Advertiser

🤯 WOW! Researchers at Northeastern University tested 17,000 popular apps for a full year, hunting for secret microphone spying. They found zero apps recording conversations. What they found instead: apps filming your screen and shipping the video to strangers.

📖 Read time: 2 minutes

At dinner last week, I said out loud, to actual humans, that I want to hike Mount Fuji. Never typed it. Never searched it. My friend had just gotten back and was passing her phone around the table, showing off her sunrise photos.

An hour later, I pick up my phone and bam: Fuji everywhere. Trekking poles, flight deals to Tokyo, “2-Day Sunrise Summit Tour.” My phone’s a snitch with a microphone.

Not so fast. Northeastern University researchers ran 17,000 popular apps through a year of testing, hunting for eavesdropping. Secret recordings sent to advertisers: zero. Not one. (They did catch apps filming your screen for analytics companies. Different creepy, still creepy.)

Advertisers don’t need your voice.

They built a model of you so accurate it feels like eavesdropping.

Note: I checked the steps below, but depending on your device, maker, operating system version and more, it may be different for you. Poke around and you’ll find the right setting.

As for my Mount Fuji trip? In the planning stages. The only Fuji I want to develop a profile of me is Fujifilm.

🎯 Send this to someone who whispers around their phone like it’s a nosy in-law. Use the handy dandy links below. That’s why they’re there.

📱 Text-worthy: Settle the argument: Researchers tested 17,000 apps and found zero secretly recording conversations. Ads feel psychic because 2,230 companies feed Facebook your data, plus your location, searches and shared Wi-Fi. Kim says: Check mic permissions, delete your advertising ID, watch for the orange dot.

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(Starts at 1:36) A viewer says her son thinks he’s in love with the drummer of a popular band from Mexico. Hate to break it to him. He’s not. No one can talk him out of it. We tell her how.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

🧾 The scroll bill: Facebook and TikTok just learned that parental controls aren’t the same thing as legal immunity. A court rejected their early attempt to stop thousands of lawsuits from parents and former teens who say addictive features, easy work-arounds and exploitative content damaged young people. They may be able to fight liability later, but they can’t erase the lawsuits now. A separate child-data trial is scheduled to start Wednesday. If you’ve got kids and grandkids scrolling, pay attention.

Post-its mark turf: Call me old school, but I keep notes and to-do lists in a spiral notebook. I’m not the only one. While companies pour billions into AI, Gen Z is grabbing notebooks, colorful desk pads and toys to make temporary, standardized workplaces feel like a home base. Pen and paper are making a comeback. HR keeps finding graph paper on Gen Z desks. Clearly, they’re plotting something.

Propellers with alibis: I’m imagining a drone wearing a tiny stars-and-stripes sticker while it sweats through customs. You have to follow this. Odyssey Robot claimed its drone controller was made in California and assembled in Texas. Well, a researcher found the drone is really a DJI clone and has DJI’s proprietary transmission design. Remember DJI drones were banned by the FCC this year because of China spy concerns. Oh, the irony! A company named Odyssey tried bringing a Trojan horse into the USA. 

🛫 Hackers and hobbies: I would’ve changed planes the minute two dozen DEF CON hackers boarded my Delta flight. After the Las Vegas security conference, crew members reported passengers jammed the onboard internet, forcing a router reset mid-flight. Funny for five seconds. I admire curiosity, but maybe test the clever stuff somewhere without a seat-belt sign and trapped strangers at 40,000 feet. Jokes aside, watch this video about the DEF CON conference, it actually looks really cool. Bottom line: Passengers paid for in-flight Wi-Fi and never reached the promised LAN. (Ok that was a good one!)

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: You probably thought you could only grab text from photos on your phone. Nope. If you spot words in a video, pause it. On iPhone, press and hold a word, then copy what you need. On Samsung, open the paused frame in Gallery, tap the T icon and select the text. Other Androids, try Edit > Lens icon > Text.

🔐 A credit freeze is so 1990s: A credit freeze won’t stop someone from opening bank accounts, filing fake tax returns or using your info in data breaches. You need real protection that monitors the dark web, leaks and identity threats a freeze can’t touch. I used to have LifeLock, but it got so expensive. That’s why I switched and got more protection for less money. Here’s what I use, and now, get 66% off with my exclusive link.* 

🚨 Windows alert: Don’t wait on this, folks. Microsoft patched 400 security holes, and one was already being used by hackers. 😱 If the update hasn’t popped up, go to Settings > Windows Update > Check for updates and install it. Mine took about three minutes, including the restart. 

That Roku stutter might not be your Wi-Fi: Many movies are filmed at 24 fps, but your Roku may be outputting them at 60, making motion look jerky. Go to Settings > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced display settings, then turn on Auto-adjust display refresh rate. Should be much smoother.

👪 Teach kids to outsmart the internet: Got an 8–12-year-old glued to a screen? The FTC made a free tool called Youville that turns online safety into puzzles and activities. While they play, they learn how to spot scams and what info not to share. You’ll need to print the activity sheets, but hey, it might keep them busy tonight.

🧠 For the stuff your brain drops: Alexa can hang onto little details you’ll probably forget later. Say, “Alexa, remember the printer ink code is 67XL,” or save that restaurant name someone mentioned. You can also say, “Alexa, remind me to reorder my medication on Oct. 14 at 10 a.m.” FYI, Echo Dots are under $50. Not bad for a memory sidekick. What question can Alexa not answer? “Why are you unplugged?”

Steve Brown’s doctors missed his cancer diagnosis. So he built an AI agent that caught what they didn’t. Saved his life.

Listen on Komando.com →

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

Somewhere in the Caribbean, a cocaine smuggler learned the sea has surveillance.

Two autonomous Saildrone Voyagers tracked a suspicious boat until the U.S. Navy swooped in and seized more than $81 million worth of cocaine. The 33-foot drones can stay at sea for over 100 days, making them less “boat” and more of a robotic fish. The Navy dropped $16.3 million expanding the program.

The war on drugs found an employee who can’t get sunburned. 

Check it out.

Why do drones get so many pictures of mermaids? They’re Ariel photographers.

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🎓 What you learned today: The ad machine already knows enough about you to not listen in, Facebook and TikTok still have a massive teen-safety lawsuit problem, install Microsoft’s latest Windows patch, and autonomous Navy boats helped track an $81 million cocaine shipment. Not bad for one email. Aerial photos flag tarps, moss, trees and yard clutter, and some homeowners are getting dropped by their insurance providers over old or wrong images. Tomorrow, I’ll show you what to ask for, what to document and how to fight back.

📸 The answer: D) About 200 years. Yep, top pigment-ink printers (like Epson’s UltraChrome line) earn display ratings up to 200 years for color prints on the right paper. Black-and-white? Roughly 400 years. That’s a print made today still hanging around when the calendar says 2426. Take that, ancient Rome.

Before you print your whole camera roll, know the fine print:

Two hundred years, now that’s what I call a lasting impression. Old photos never die, they just ... lose their pigment of the imagination.

The message above contained a paid advertisement from Mode Mobile. Mode, not me or The Current, is responsible for its claims.

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, BOB AND BRAD, FEPPO, Saildrone

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