🚨 This is important: Google Search is dead. If your content isn’t showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini, you’re invisible to millions of potential customers. Whether you run a business, blog or sell anything online, this shift changes everything. I couldn’t fit it all in this newsletter. 👉 Read my full post here. Let me know what you think, or drop me a question about it in the comments.
That photo might be an AI fake, here’s how to tell
Bing and ChatGPT
Did Prince William and Prince Harry make up?
Not even close. But thanks to Bing’s AI image generator, they practically skipped through a meadow hand in hand like it’s the finale of a very weird British rom-com reboot. No Daddy intervention, therapist or overpriced raspberry jam required.
To get around Bing’s copyright controls, I didn’t use their names. Here’s the prompt: “Two brothers in their 30s, holding hands, gazing lovingly, dressed in royal military uniforms. One’s bald, one’s a redhead. Cinematic lighting. Photorealistic. 16:9 ratio.”
And yeah, the photos are one pixel glitch away from joining the cast of The Polar Express.
If I had time, though, I could make them look very real. With scams on the rise and fake news everywhere, spotting phony photos is a superpower you need. So let’s talk about how you can do it first with a little help from tech.
🔍 Tools see through the fakery
Sure, you should still do a good ol’ reverse image search. But today’s AI tools are getting scary smart. The image might be brand-new and never have existed on the web before. That’s when the next-level detection comes in.
Meet these AI detectives:
- DeepFake-o-meter: Upload a photo or video, and it’ll scan it with multiple detection models to tell you how fake it might be. I got a “server busy” message testing my princes’ image.
- Sightengine: A behind-the-scenes powerhouse that spots digital tampering, even if the naked eye can’t. It gave me 99% that the princes were fake.
- Hive’s AI-generated image detector: Used by major media outlets to tell if that photo of the pope in a Balenciaga jacket is AI (Spoiler: It was). Yup, the princes are 99% AI foolery here, too.
These tools aren’t foolproof, but they’re your best shot at sniffing out the phonies. It’s like using a blacklight at a hotel: Once you see what’s there, you’ll never trust blindly again.
🚨 Red flags to watch for
You don’t need fancy tools to start spotting fakes. Your own eyes can still catch some classic tells:
Nearly $9,000
That’s what someone paid for one of Michael Jackson’s dirty socks at an auction in France. A technician found it after a concert in Nîmes, and it’s been preserved in a frame for 28 years. The twist? Back in 2009, a casino dropped almost $350,000 on the glove he wore for his first moonwalk dance. Beat that.
Find the subscriptions you forgot about: I use Rocket Money, an app that finds all your recurring subscriptions and lets you easily cancel anything you don’t want. The first time I logged in, it saved me $435!
🖨️ Save your printer’s cartridge: Arial might look clean, but it eats through ink faster than you think. A better option: Try Times New Roman. Tests show it can use up to 27% less ink over time. To make the switch, tap the Font drop-down menu at the top in Google Docs or Microsoft Office.
Your laptop will thank you: Windows 11 swapped out Power saver for a new Energy saver mode. Go to Settings > System > Power & Battery > Energy saver. Turn on Always use energy saver to dim the screen, pause app syncing and disable fancy effects. Or set it to kick in automatically at a battery level, like 20%.
📱 Check if your device is still supported: Not sure if your phone, tablet or e-reader is past its prime? Go to endoflife.date. Search for your gadget to see if it’s been discontinued or if the manufacturer has ended support. That usually means no more security updates, and it might be time to stop using it.
Have your iPad read to you: When your eyes need a break, let your iPad handle the work. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Spoken Content and toggle on Speak Selection and Speak Screen. In your browser, highlight the text, then tap Speak from the pop-up. To stop it, highlight again and tap Pause.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Saying “cheese” in photos can make your smile look stiff. Try “yoga” instead. The soft “uh” at the end helps your face relax for a more natural look.
$1 billion
What Zuck allegedly dangled in front of an unnamed AI engineer. That’s 5,200 Oppenheimers, adjusted for inflation. The man who ended WWII got $190K a year; this mystery coder might make that before breakfast. Superintelligence might be coming, but super salaries are already here.
🎤 Got a wild tech story? Did your smart home go rogue? Did AI creep you out or help you catch a hacker? Getting scammed? Family drama because of tech? I want you on The Kim Komando Show. If I feature your story, you’ll get a $25 gift card as a thank-you. Just say you saw this in the newsletter. Click this link to send it now!
🔐 Weak passwords are so last decade: Every single one of your accounts needs its own unique password. No repeats! I know, it’s a pain. But it’s also the best way to keep hackers from turning one slipup into a full-blown disaster. Make your passwords 16+ characters, and mix in uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols. Or save yourself the headache and use the password manager I trust to keep everything locked down and organized. One click, and you’re safer online.
🛒 Clear your Amazon search history: Great for hiding gift ideas or clearing out those very awkward clicks. On desktop, hover over Account & Lists under Hello, [Your Name] at the top. Click Browsing History, find the item you want to hide and select Remove from view. Because “I was hacked” only works once.
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Add labels to your Windows 11 taskbar: No more guessing which icon does what. Right-click the Taskbar, go to Taskbar settings > Taskbar behaviors, then scroll to Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels. Change it to Never to always show labels, or When taskbar is full to show them until space runs out.
🛍️ Get $20 after your first purchase: Try Kudos. It’s a free tool I love that helps you rack up the best credit card rewards automatically, no guesswork. It shows you which card gets you the biggest perks. Use code KIM, and you’ll get $20 back after your first purchase. Free money? Yes, please.
2 eggs a day
Can help lower bad cholesterol with a big oval but. You also have to eat a low saturated fat diet. Think lean meats, low-fat dairy and plant-based proteins. The real villains? Butter, bacon and whatever else is deep-fried on your toast. Speaking of… A piece of toast and a hard-boiled egg walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Sorry, we don’t serve breakfast here.”
Teen taxi takeover: Waymo just dropped a self-driving car service (paywall link) for teens in Phoenix, with plans to expand. Kids ages 14 to 17 can summon robot cars to school, soccer or wherever else, no license needed. Parents are jazzed. “So like my dad’s Waymo can pick us up at 6 if your mom’s Waymo can drop us off at 10.”
Move iPhone apps at once: Want to clean up your Home Screen without deleting anything? Long-press an app to enter jiggle mode and start dragging it. With another finger, tap other apps to add them to your stack. Once you’ve got them all, swipe to the App Library and let go.
$250 per month
That’s what it’ll cost to access Google’s new Gemini 2.5 Deep Think AI. It’s their most advanced model yet, capable of exploring multiple ideas at once to find the best answer. Fun fact: This is the same model (well, a variation) that scored a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad. Hope it does taxes, too.
Robot slurs are here: People are officially calling AIs “clankers,” and somehow it stings. The term, lifted from Star Wars clone trooper banter, is being used to mock chatbots, robo-voices and overly excited AI techies. Other contenders: “prompstitute,” “bot-licker” and “clanker wanker.” Three guesses which one will end up on a protest sign first.