📺 Your TV is taking attendance

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🤯 WOW! Two Chinese companies, Quectel and Fibocom, build nearly half the world’s cellular modules, the little radios inside doorbells, thermostats and fridges. A national security report says those chips “may enable data collection and remote access.”

Read time: 2.5 minutes

Thanks, Jason. Please tell Andrew. My cohost has not laughed at one of my jokes since the Obama administration.

Yes, most of what’s plugged in at your place was built overseas. You can’t shop your way out. But “it’s all made there” and “there’s nothing I can do” are different sentences. The second one is what they’re counting on.

Your doorbell has a cellular module, a stamp-size chip that connects it to the internet. Two Chinese companies, Quectel and Fibocom, make nearly half of them worldwide.

Chinese law requires companies to hand over data to state intelligence when asked. Not “may.” Required.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies found those chips “may enable data collection and remote access.” Researchers caught smart TVs from TCL, Hisense and Skyworth reporting on other devices in the house. Your TV, taking attendance.

In March, the FCC blocked new foreign-made routers from sale here. Breathe, Jason. Yours is fine and gets security updates until early 2027.

Ask your favorite chatbot: 

That last line is the trick. Without it, AI invents a factory and says it with a straight face.

You can also verify at ProductFrom.com, free. Still stuck? Flip the device over and paste the FCC ID into fccid.io. That’s the receipt.

No American company makes one here yet, so don’t go hunting for “Made in USA” on the box. 

Routers already approved keep getting security updates until at least March 1, 2027. After that, the FCC hasn’t said. If yours is aging, don’t let that date find you. 

If your router is at least 5 years old, I’d buy Netgear Nighthawk or Orbi. San Jose company, gear built in Vietnam and Taiwan, and one of only two brands the FCC has cleared through October 2027. Eero is a fine second. 

Buy it now. What’s on shelves is the last of the pre-ban inventory at pre-ban prices, and nobody’s restocking.

✅ Now, there is a fix. It’s putting your internet-of-things gadgets on their own network. I couldn’t fit the steps in this newsletter. So click here to be magically transported to the instructions. I spent a lot of time making sure you know how to do this the right way.

Jason, your fridge can gossip all it wants. Just don’t let it near your chips.

📩 Send this to someone who has a $29 camera from a brand they can’t pronounce. Use the handy links below.

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📼 DVR turns traitor: Your DVR may be inserting commercials into programs you recorded to avoid commercials. Owners of newer Tablo models say ads are popping up at random inside antenna-TV recordings in the Apple TV app. These are shows they saved specifically to control when and how they watch. Roku and Fire TV folks haven’t reported it. Yet. Fast-forward still works, but Tablo has some explaining to do. We’ll find out after the break. 

Glow and behold: Remember Google’s “we’re making a laptop that actually looks pretty cool” shtick from earlier this year? Googlebooks roll out in October, five flagship models leading the charge. Gemini comes baked into these Android-powered laptops, with a colorful Glowbar that lights up during AI interactions. Gives me MacBook Touch Bar vibes. Pricing starts at $899, premium models around $1,199. Best spec? Ten years of automatic updates. That laptop may outlive your couch. 

🌐 You’ve been saying “I need a website” for years: I know because I hear it constantly. Hostinger’s AI builds the whole thing from one sentence. I built Barry a site in minutes, and it’s gorgeous. Site, store, email and domain all in one account. 30-day money-back guarantee. Plans start at $2.99 a month. Get an extra 10% off at Hostinger.com/Kim. You can move your site from another host to them, too! I did that with a GoDaddy site.* 

Royal roulette: Your kid’s teacher isn’t the problem. It’s the WhatsApp thread packed with bake sale debates, staff complaints, constant event reminders and, worst of all, privacy leaks. Meghan Markle reportedly joined the WhatsApp group at her children’s new school as M, thanking the moms for welcoming her. Normal parent stuff. Then someone allegedly shared a screenshot outside the group, exposing her private number. So they did what normal parents do. Moved the kids to a new school.

🏨 No vacancy: It’s harder to land a Hilton internship than a seat at Harvard. Twelve thousand college students chased 72 spots this year, and 15,000 applications are already in for 2027. Hilton’s HR chief says AI is shrinking corporate entry-level jobs, so grads are chasing hospitality, where a robot can’t check you in with a smile. Parents of a senior: Tell them to apply early and apply everywhere. I rely on hotels so much I’ve become quite Inn-dependent.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Take that shopping session from your phone to your PC. In Chrome, click three dots > History > See tabs from other devices and pick the page. Straight back to “add to cart.” ICYMI: For PC to phone, hit three dots > Cast, save, and share > Create QR code, then scan with your phone. No emails to yourself required.

🔐 A credit freeze is so 1990s: It won’t stop someone from opening bank accounts, filing fake tax returns or draining your existing accounts. You need real protection. I used to have LifeLock, but it got so expensive. That’s why I switched to Coveron. I wouldn’t use or recommend it if it was a waste of money. We all work too hard for it. Get 71% off for a 2-year plan (that’s $4.36/mo).* 

😒 Is ChatGPT about to cut you off? Before you start a big project, head to Settings > Usage to check your remaining allowance and when it resets. Beats running out of image generations or access to a smarter model halfway through your masterpiece. Replies can also slow down during busier late afternoons and evenings. Apparently, everyone else needs a hand, too.

👥 Share the tablet, spare the headache: Give everyone their own space on your Android tablet. Go to Settings > System > Multiple users > Add user for separate apps, accounts, settings and a Home screen to arrange just how they like. To switch, swipe down from the top, tap the user icon and choose a name. Ah, everything’s where you left it.

🔎 A little Google, whenever you need it: In the middle of something and stuck on a question? The free Google search app for Windows brings up a search bar when you press Alt + Space. You can also find files or use Google Lens to describe what you’re looking at. All without opening your browser. Now, where were we?

💸 How to get the iPhone 18 for less: That burgundy had me itching to upgrade. Then I saw $1,299 for the Pro Max. Ouch. But hang on. Apple Trade In offers up to $885 for an iPhone 17 Pro Max, so the switch could cost just $414. 😏 Suddenly, I’m doing the math and calling it sensible. Bonus: Don’t forget Amazon Renewed if you’re after last year’s model.

On Sunday Night Football, NBC reminded Colts fans about their revolving door of quarterbacks since Andrew Luck retired. Apparently, the emotional damage wasn’t enough, so the montage turned those QBs into glossy illustrations straight out of a kids’ Bible book.

Fans smelled AI slop before the first quarter ended. One post: “NFL too broke to hire graphic designers?” NBC hasn’t said whether a human was involved. Nothing says $100 billion sports league like “someone type quarterback into the AI image machine.”

You can check the fallout here. Turns out AI can’t draw a quarterback. Neither can the Colts.

🎓 What you learned today: Check your router’s origin, DVRs may be sneaking ads into recordings, Googlebooks are coming, Meghan Markle’s details leaked via Whatsapp, and the NFL found out about generative AI. Not bad for one email. Your forecast has a human origin story. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about Ray, who stepped outside daily at 7 a.m. to record rain, snow and temperature for the data we’ve all relied on for five decades. 

🥶 The answer: C) Fairbanks, Alaska. On the equinox, Fairbanks gets about 12 hours and 15 minutes of daylight, more than Honolulu at 12:06, Miami at 12:07 and even Chicago and Seattle at 12:09. 

Head even farther north to Utqiagvik, Alaska, and you squeeze out around 12:20. Now that is a very interesting place, check out this video about the town. Up north, the sun hits the horizon at a shallower angle, so that bent little sunbeam hangs around longer like a party guest who keeps saying, “OK, NOW I’m leaving.”

📱 Bernie’s bill went from $109 to $36: Same unlimited plan. He switched to Consumer Cellular. I did, too. One unlimited line is only $35 a month. Get an extra $100 off any unlimited plan. Hurry, this offer ends soon!*

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, Amazon, NETGEAR, @tvsilverscreen via X

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