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Happy Friday, {{first_name | friend}}. Remember when influencer meant a human with a ring light and a dream? Well, the pet influencer industry is booming, too. Brands pay top dollar for a well-placed squeaky toy or a dog reviewing a product like it’s Consumer Reports with paws. Jiffpom, a 10-pound Pomeranian with 30M+ followers, has done deals with everyone from pet food to Ulta Beauty. Yep, makeup. For a dog.
🐾 How much can the top dog influencers earn for a single sponsored post on Instagram? A) $500 to $1,000, B) $2,000 to $5,000, C) $10,000 to $30,000 or D) $50,000 to $100,000? Keep reading, your answer is at the end. It’s a ruff life.
💰 LinkedIn's latest data: AI literacy is the #1 skill employers want. People who use AI tools earn 56% more than the same role without them. That gap widens every week you wait. I'm launching a free weekly AI newsletter next Thursday. One trick, one tool, one scam to dodge. Five minutes. Don't get left behind. Sign up here right now before the first issue drops. — Kim
📬 Someone forwarded this to you? Smart friend. Want it in your own inbox instead of waiting on them? Get it here. It’s free, and I promise not to spam you.
TODAY’S DEEP DIVE
Reading the room
Image: Gemini
⚡ TL;DR
AI tools can identify your location from a single photo in seconds, no GPS data required.
One tool, GeoSpy, can narrow your location down to within a few feet.
You can protect yourself in under 2 minutes with a few quick settings changes.
📖 Read time: 2.5 minutes
You post a photo of your tacos. Harmless, right? Nope. AI tools can look at that photo and figure out exactly where you’re sitting. This is wild.
It’s not using any GPS data. The AI analyzes ceiling tiles, electrical outlets, trees outside the window and even the angle of sunlight.
📍 How it works
An AI tool called GeoSpy was trained on millions of images worldwide. It reads architectural styles, vegetation, soil types, road surfaces. Its latest model can nail your location to within a few feet. No metadata needed. Just the photo. It used to take trained intelligence professionals years to develop this skill. Now anyone with an internet connection can do it in seconds.
In April 2025, people discovered ChatGPT could do it, too. They uploaded photos of random bars and restaurants, and it identified the exact location in seconds. One guy shared a library photo. ChatGPT named the specific library in 20 seconds. (Seriously.)
Get this, 14 billion images are shared on social media every single day. Instagram alone sees 95 million uploads daily. Every one is a potential location beacon.
And social media stripping GPS metadata from your uploads? Cute. That used to be enough protection. Not anymore. AI reads the pixels, not the data.
🛡️ Lock it down in 2 minutes
Turn off location tags on your camera. iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera > Never. Android: Camera app > Settings, toggle off Location tags.
Kill location on social apps. Instagram: Profile > three lines > Settings > Story, live and location > Location sharing, change who can see your location to No one. Do the same in Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok.
Think before you snap. Street signs, distinctive buildings or landmarks near your home? AI sees them. That coffee shop selfie with the unique mural behind you? Traceable.
Crop tight. Love food photos? No judgment. Crop close to the plate. Less background means less for AI to work with. Some phones let you blur backgrounds automatically. Use that feature.
Go private. If your photos are public, anyone can screenshot them and run them through these tools. GeoSpy’s own founder admitted people tried to use it to stalk specific women before public access was shut down. The tool is now restricted to law enforcement, but similar AI is everywhere. The genie is out of the bottle.
FYI, this isn’t only about strangers. A jealous ex, a nosy coworker, even a scammer building a profile on you. One photo with the wrong background, and they’ve got your neighborhood, your gym, your kid’s school.
🗣️ TEXT/POST THIS STAT: AI can pinpoint your location from a single photo by reading ceiling tiles, outlets and trees. No GPS needed. 14 billion photos are shared on social media every day. Lock your settings down. GetKim.com
📩 Send this to someone who posts pictures all the time online. Their tacos might be giving away their address. Use the handy icons below.
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THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
Don’t just listen! Watch!
Investigators originally said there was no footage. Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell was disconnected, and she didn’t have a paid subscription. Then the FBI stepped in. I break down how they recovered the video from Google’s backend and what that means for your privacy.
🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.
DEALS OF THE DAY
✅ Fresh starts you’ll actually use
Your glow-up begins with one click.
🏋️ Skip the gym guilt: Vibration exercise machine (40% off, $95)
Small enough for a corner of your living room. Step on, choose from 200 speeds and let it fire up your muscles. Great for toning, balance and boosting basic moves like squats and planks.
Image: GDCOO
😌 Cue the calm: This essential oil diffuser (23% off, $26) pulls double duty as a humidifier. Use the remote to change mist modes and soft LED colors.
Snip the scruff: Nose, ears, brows, all handled with a cordless hair trimmer (25% off, $13). It’s water-resistant, so you can rinse it under the tap.
👱♀️ Your hair, refreshed: Kitsch’s hair perfume (20% off, $16) is a reset button between washes. Pick from scents, like amber shores or warm sugar.
Sparkling smile: These floss picks (30% off, $4, 150-count) are strong and shred-resistant. You’ll be ready for photos, meetings or date night.
🛍️ More picks approved by me? Head to my Amazon storefront.
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
WEB WATERCOOLER
☢️ Robots hate losing: Ever play Monopoly with someone who flips the board when they’re losing? Imagine that with three top AI models, and the board is Earth. A King’s College London war game ran 21 simulated conflicts on GPT-5.2, Claude Sonnet 4 and Gemini 3 Flash. No model ever surrendered, and about 95% of the time they recommended nukes. Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s flirting with using AI in classified systems. Well, at least we’re finding this out now.
Hard reset: So, Block (Square and Cash App) announced they’re cutting over 50% of their staff, dropping from 10,000 to under 6,000. Jack Dorsey posted the memo himself. He says the business is growing, but AI tools mean fewer humans. Not confirmed yet, but I get the vibe they’re taking one big cut out of middle management and ops roles.
💬 Safe green bubbles: Apple and Google are testing end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging in beta, so iPhone-to-Android chats can be locked down instead of floating around like SMS soup. That’s right, those green bubble texts could actually be secure soon. Only took 17 years. We’re acting like this is futuristic, but it’s basically the minimum standard everywhere else.
Another Ford recall: Ford has to be close to setting some sort of record. They’re recalling about 4.3 million trucks and SUVs because a towing software bug can make your trailer lose lights and brakes, which are, you know, kind of the whole point of towing safely. Ford logged 405 warranty claims. Fix is an OTA update in May, or a dealer visit if you like waiting-room coffee. Ford recalls so often they should start sending punch cards, recall 10 gets you a free oil change.
📰 News picks sides: So the FTC sent Apple a warning letter about Apple News, the app on every iPhone. A study found its Top Stories ran 620 articles in January and featured zero from right-leaning outlets. Not one. The FTC chair told Tim Cook to review the algorithm and fix it if it violates Apple’s own terms. Left, right or over it, the bigger issue is a preinstalled app choosing your headlines. Check yours: Settings > Apps > Apple News. Must be that whole “think different” thing.
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THE CURRENT POWERED BY KIM KOMANDO
Is your AI chatbot gaslighting you?
New York Times reporter Kashmir Hill talked to over 100 psychologists about how these bots are fueling real-world delusions. It’s a must-hear.
🎧 Or search “Komando” wherever you get your podcasts. I’m everywhere.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Search inside any photo on your phone like it’s Google. iPhone and Android both have this, and almost nobody uses it. Open any photo, tap the search icon (or swipe up on iPhone), and your phone reads everything IN the image. A Wi-Fi password on a sticker? A phone number on a business card? A recipe on a billboard you drove past? It pulls the text right out. You can copy it, call it or search it. No app needed. It even works on screenshots. You’ve been retyping things like it’s 1997. Now, you can stop. I love that for you.
That app won’t uninstall because it’s still running: Windows 11 won’t let you remove something that’s active in the background. Open Task Manager, find the app, right-click and hit End Task. Then go to Settings > Apps > Installed Apps, click the three-dot menu next to it and hit Uninstall. Classic Microsoft. A warning prompt would’ve been nice.
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Stop typing your address out every single time: Mac lets you create shortcuts for anything you type repeatedly. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Replacements, press + and set a replace/with. Type $address, it autofills your full address. Same works for your phone number, email, anything. Set it up once. Never type it out again.
📱 Your lock screen is still on factory settings: On iPhone, touch and hold the lock screen and tap Customize. Change your clock font and color, add widgets like weather and drag to rearrange. Those two shortcut buttons in the corners? Swap them out for a QR scanner, an app, anything. Android works the same way. Touch, hold and Edit.
You’re gonna use this: You can turn any web page into a distraction-free document. Next time you’re reading an article buried in ads, pop-ups and autoplay videos, just type reader: before the URL in Chrome (or tap the Reader Mode icon in Safari). The entire page strips down to clean text and images. No banners, no cookie pop-ups, no “SUBSCRIBE NOW” blocking half the screen. Works on recipes, too. You’re welcome.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: Reddit (user profile deleted)
🕵️♀️ Love in the time of Veo
Nothing says modern dating like asking 4.4 million strangers, “Is this man real?”
The Reddit community Is This AI has become the internet’s romance fraud unit. One viral post shows a Valentine’s pic sent to someone’s aunt. The man in the image is a real California realtor who had no idea he was part of any of this. AI showed him holding a rose with the aunt’s name and a basket of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.
Turns out scammers love targeting small-market news anchors and realtors. They’re attractive, professional and have tons of public headshots to remix.
LOGGING OUT …
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🔜 Coming tomorrow: Your old tech is worth way more than you think. Not on eBay. In your own house. I’ve got 5 genius ways to repurpose the tablets, phones and laptops collecting dust in your junk drawer, each in 15 minutes or less. You don't want to miss this!
The answer: C) $10,000 to $30,000 per sponsored Instagram post. Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022 alone, and a Morgan Stanley report projects annual household spending will hit $1,733 per pet by 2030.
Nala Cat, a Siamese/tabby mix, holds the Guinness World Record for most Instagram followers for a cat (4.5 million) and can earn up to $30,300 per sponsored post.
Doug the Pug has hung out with Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber, starred in a Katy Perry music video and has an official holiday in Nashville (May 20 is Doug the Pug Day).
💰 Even pet accounts with 50,000 to 100,000 followers earn $500 to $1,000 per post. There are pet talent agencies, pet content managers and pet brand strategists (that’s a real job title, welcome to 2026). That’s one heck of a paw-folio.
One for the road you can use: I named my dog “Five Miles,” so I can tell people I walk Five Miles every day.
💭 Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will. Believe in yourself fiercely. I do. — 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): Gemini, GDCOO, Reddit (user profile deleted)
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