📱 Your phone's lying to you

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Say hello to a great Tuesday, {{first_name | friend}}. Well, that’s weird. Did you know that Parmesan cheese is facing a $2 billion counterfeit global crisis? The official Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium (yes, that’s a thing) is microchipping 88-pound cheese wheels with tiny edible trackers that are smaller than a grain of salt to verify the real deal. The same RFID tech in your office key card is inside your dinner. 

🧀 Here’s the wild part: You can scan a wheel of real Parmigiano-Reggiano with your phone and verify it’s legit. Check the QR code on the rind next time you’re at a good deli. Turns out that not all Parmesan is who it claims to Brie. At the end, some recipes you’re going to want to make. I’ll tell you my next meal!

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⚡ TL;DR

📖 Read time: 3 minutes

You know the feeling. Your phone lags. Your laptop takes four years to start. Your Wi-Fi drops right in the middle of something important. And your battery hits 12% at noon like it has somewhere else to be.

None of this is normal. None of it is permanent. And all five of the most common tech complaints I hear have straightforward fixes. Let’s go.

Important note: I confirmed all of these steps, but menus shift, depending on your device, make, model and OS. If yours looks a little different, you’re not lost. Poke around nearby.

1. Slow phone: Every app on your phone is checking for updates in the background while you’re trying to use it.

2. Dying battery: Your Always On Display is on. Every iPhone 17 model ships with Always On Display enabled by default. It burns battery showing you a clock you’re not looking at. Turn it off: Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display. Then turn on something better. iOS 26 has a new Adaptive Power mode that learns your habits and silently extends your battery on heavy-use days. iPhone 17 users already have it on.

iPhone 15 Pro and 16 owners: Settings > Battery > Power Mode, toggle Adaptive Power on. It takes a week to learn you, then it works.

3. Computer slow to start: Windows Copilot and Teams are loading whether you want them or not.

4. Crawling Wi-Fi: Your mesh nodes haven’t updated. If you have a mesh system like Eero, Orbi or Google Nest WiFi, outdated firmware silently kills speeds. Open your router’s app and check for firmware updates. No mesh system? Plug your laptop directly into the router with an ethernet cable. If speeds jump, the problem is Wi-Fi signal, not your internet service. Call your provider only after ruling that out.

5. Spam texts have passed spam calls. Stop replying “STOP.” Responding confirms your number is active and lands you on more lists. Don’t do it.

Phew, that was a lot, but you handled it like a pro! Jokes about tech support really turn me off and then back on. (lol)

📩 Send this to someone who complains their phone is slow but hasn’t changed a single setting since the day they bought it.

The CIA’s never-before-used “Ghost Murmur” saved a downed airman in the Iranian desert. Hear how. Plus, a toddler was bitten by a wolf while his parents were glued to their phones, a 50-year Dodgers season ticketholder got locked out of the game because he doesn’t have a smartphone and why adult film stars are turning to AI. 

Then, legally blind Chrichelle Brown is experiencing the world in a whole new way thanks to her Meta Ray-Ban glasses. How it’s changing her life and empowering the visually impaired community.

Search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.

The price lie: I miss the days when the price was the price. Now, it feels like the opening bid. Companies are piling on surcharges (paywall link) after you’re committed: 3% for using a credit card, 5% for a restaurant wellness fund, higher baggage and shipping fees tied to fuel. And it works: 34% of small businesses add card fees, while 20% of restaurants tack on extras. Nothing says relaxing dinner like doing forensic accounting over a plate of rigatoni.

💲 Paying over $100/month for your phone? You’re getting ripped off. If you’re 50+, you can cut that bill in half right now. Get 1 line for $35, plus your 2nd month FREE. Same coverage, same networks, zero contracts, zero BS. Stop overpaying, and see how much you’ll save with Consumer Cellular. Alice told me she’s saving $75 a month. That’s incredible! Click here now to start saving big bucks. *

⚠️ Avis owes you: If you rented from Avis, there’s a chance your personal data hit the open road first. A class action settlement from the 2024 Avis breach is offering up to $5,000 for documented losses, or a smaller payment if you just want something for the trouble. Exposed info reportedly included names, addresses, driver’s license numbers and card data. File by June 21, 2026, here. And yes, this is a real settlement. The scam version would ask for your SSN up front.

Old number Hallmark: Phone companies really do recycle everything. Shantasia Stanley, 27, texted her dead grandmother Lucille’s old phone number during a grief wave, almost two years after Lucille died, and got a reply. First message back was angry, which was probably quite a jump scare. But after Stanley explained, the number’s new owner, a 12-year-old girl, flipped instantly into kindness: sympathy GIFs, anime images, then a video of herself singing. Stanley later posted the story on TikTok, where it pulled 2.7 million views. Of course, you shouldn’t reply to unknown texts.

🎤 I’m a Belieber: I’ve seen TSA agents give people more time than Bieber gave his own hits at Coachella. For his $10 million headlining gig? He sped through his classics off a laptop like it was YouTube karaoke, skipping through songs like they were unskippable ads while pitching the newer stuff. Pretty good reason, though. He sold his catalog to Blackstone-backed Hipgnosis Songs Capital for over $200 million in 2022, so he dished out the old Bieber era using his Macbook. So clever. Take that lawyers!

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Bulk deals look like they’re saving you money. Too bad that giant pack is not always cheaper. Check the unit price first, meaning cost ÷ number of items, or the cost per item, ounce or count. On Amazon, it’s right there in small print next to the price. A lot of these “value” packs are from stores clearing stock and hoping nobody does the math.

🚨 Chrome needs a patch: Google pushed out another security update for Chrome, fixing 60 bugs, including two critical ones. If you ignore it, hackers could crash your browser or run malicious code on your computer. Lovely. To get it, open Settings > About Chrome. It will install automatically. Then relaunch the browser. You want version 147.0.7727.55 or .56.

FaceTime can fake eye contact for you: On video calls, you may be looking at the person on screen, but to them, it looks like your soul has left the chat. Go to Settings > Apps > FaceTime and turn on Eye Contact. Your iPhone subtly adjusts your gaze to appear you are looking them in the eye. Tiny setting. Way less awkward.

📱 Dimmer than dim: Android has a secret toggle that makes the screen even darker than the normal lowest brightness setting. Open Settings > Accessibility > Vision enhancements and turn on Extra dim. Then add it to Quick Settings, so it’s one swipe away. I like this because I don’t have to keep changing my usual brightness. When I want it darker, I tap Extra dim, then switch it off and everything goes back to normal.

💬 Discord is not only for teenagers: It is a free app where you can text, voice chat, video call and send files or photos, all in one place. You can even make your own server, basically a private hangout where friends can drop in, jump on a call or share their screen anytime. It feels less like messaging and more like everyone casually hanging out in the same room. FYI, works on Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone. Download here.

Look at that little marvel of phenomenal tech on that plane’s fuselage. Smooth. Slick.

Amazon’s Leo Aviation Antenna is on a mission to stop airplane Wi-Fi from being the punch line it’s been for 20 years. The antenna delivers up to 1 gigabit-per-second download and 400 Mbps upload simultaneously across every seat on the plane, including while parked at the gate. 

No moving parts, installs in a single day and works over oceans and polar routes where in-flight Wi-Fi historically dies completely. Delta and JetBlue have already signed on.

A gigabit on a plane? I want to believe. This is the promised LAN. (Ok, I laughed writing that so you can at least chuckle!) 🤭

🔜 Tomorrow: That grocery loyalty card in your wallet may be doing a lot more than saving you money. I’ll show you how your shopping history can quietly turn into a profile about your health, habits and finances and what you can do to protect yourself.

👩‍🍳 It’s for the grater good: The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium has a free recipe library, and I’m making the cauliflower cheese pie this week. Also on the list: baked Parmigiano croquettes, cauliflower au gratin, Parmesan chips and a shepherd’s pie that looks ridiculous. All free, all from the people who invented the cheese. Check it out. 

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One more thing before you go. A dear person reading this newsletter referred 60 people in a little over a week. He is on his way to a meet and greet with me. Share your unique link below. So fun!

👋 I see you. I believe in you. Now, trust your instincts. — 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.

Your referrals get you great rewards!

Send your unique link below to friends and family.

👉 Your link is: {{ rp_refer_url }}

They get tech-smart. You get prizes. Win-win. The more referrals, the more prizes. (Yes, even a meet and greet with me. I’d love that!)

Your referral count is: {{ rp_num_referrals }}

You’re {{ rp_num_referrals_until_next_milestone }} referrals away from {{ rp_next_milestone_name }}.

🎉 Keep it going! You got this! — Kim

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Oral-B, Amazon

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