Welcome to your Tuesday, friend. Little did we know it at the time, but Star Trek was boldly predicting the future one gadget at a time. In 1966, whenever Captain Kirk wanted hailing frequencies open to ring up a strange new world or some suspicious starship, Lt. Uhura whipped out a curious little device that is now a common product today. 

🚀 Can you guess which everyday gadget made its prime-time debut aboard the USS Enterprise? A) 3D printing, B) a Bluetooth earpiece, C) GPS, or  D) an Alexa-style voice assistant. Beam me up, the answer’s at the end. 

Don’t gatekeep the good stuff. Forward this newsletter to that one coworker or friend who still thinks Blu-ray is cutting edge. You know the one. — Kim

Would you let someone scan your eyeball in exchange for some free cryptocurrency? 

Yes, your actual eyeball. This isn’t an audition for season four of Black Mirror. It’s the premise behind OpenAI founder Sam Altman’s new project called World. 

Before you roll your eyes, let me break it down for you.

What’s the deal?

Sam Altman brought AI into everyone’s lives with ChatGPT. The same AI that’s shaking up everything from copywriting to customer service to coding. 

It’s the tech threatening to replace humans in countless jobs. It’s powering deepfakes that can fool your eyes and ears. 

And now? Altman wants to be the one to prove you’re human. 

The irony writes itself.

Altman’s new company, World, just launched in the U.S. after rolling out across several countries. 

Here’s the pitch

One of their futuristic devices called an Orb scans your iris. This biometric ID is meant to verify that you’re a real person, not a bot, something that’s becoming harder to prove online. 

They say this tech could be used to log into websites, access services, use dating apps and even vote without handing over your name, email or phone number. Just your eyeball.

Because obviously, the one thing missing from your retina was a blockchain.

And, yeah, you do get paid for it. Worldcoin (WLD) currently trades at about $1.03 per coin. New users get 16 WLD tokens. Some locations also offer up to 75 WLD monthly. 

What’s the catch?

According to Altman, this is the future of proving you’re human on the internet without forking over your name, phone number or email. You just trade your biometric data. That’s all! Nothing major! Just one-of-a-kind identifiers stored in some database they pinky swear is encrypted, protected and completely fine.

Don’t you know hackers and country adversaries would love to get their hands on this database. I always hoped the government and hackers could split custody of my irises.

No eyes on me

I love innovation. But let’s not forget: The same man who helped unleash the AI revolution now wants to be the gatekeeper for proving you’re still human. 

That’s bold. It’s also a little unsettling.

When a Worldcoin Orb grins up at you like a futuristic Poké Ball promising a couple of crypto coins in exchange for your retinal map, do not go gently into that biometric night.

👁️ Think before you blink. I’m keeping my eyes shut.

🍕 Hungry to take your kitchen up a notch? I got you covered.

• Bake like a pro with a sifter (7% off) for flour, sugar and coffee. 
• Tired hands? Just push the button on this can opener (38% off).
• Stick a pantry organizer (15% off) over your door for instant shelves.
• These pizza containers ($25) are perfectly triangular-shaped.
• Don’t whine, a glass chiller ($50) keeps your wine nice and cool.

🧤 No mess or stress: Snag a pack of, yep, 600 disposable gloves (33% off) for food prep. They’re BPA and latex-free.

🛒 Visit my Amazon store for more of my recommendations.

🚨 Fake health insurance: Scammers are offering “discounted” medical plans that don’t actually cover anything but your steady descent into rage headaches. Red flags? Pressure to act fast or promises of free services that sneak in extra fees. PSA: Look up the provider on the Better Business Bureau to check if an offer is legit.

🏠 Real estate’s shady practice: Some agents are using secret signals to keep commissions high. Sellers used to pay 5% to 6%, split between both agents. But starting Aug. 17, they’ll be banned from discussing commission splits in home listings. The work-around? Hidden clues, like three cookies in a photo to hint at a 3% cut. 

Best day to book a flight? Do it on a Tuesday. Google says it can save you 13% to 20%. Want the cheapest deal? Book about 38 days out for domestic trips or 50 to 100 days for international. And if you can handle a layover, even better. Those flights are usually 25% cheaper than going direct. You and that neck pillow got this.

🚗 Rides for Grandma: This is a great idea! Lyft Silver may be rolling out in your city this week. There’s bigger text in the app for older adults to read, simpler navigation and priority rides with cars that are easy to get in and out of. The best part? Real people answering customer service calls. Open the app > tap You > turn on Lyft Silver to get going.

Watching your life: Meet Van Hutcherson, a 60-year-old from Chicago, who thought he was in great shape. Then his Apple Watch woke him up one morning with high heart rate alerts. He found out he had an atrial flutter that could’ve led to a stroke. Thankfully, he got treatment. Thinking twice about your own health? Here are the latest Apple Watches.

🔥 SharkNinja recall: If you’ve got a Ninja Foodi OP300 Series pressure cooker, stop using it right now! Over 1.8 million units are being recalled because the lid can open while cooking and eject hot food at terminal velocity. These were sold from 2019 through March 2025 (full model list here). You can fill out a recall form to get a free replacement.

💆‍♀️ I’m not saying collagen is a miracle powder, but … I take two scoops a day, and let’s just say my hair and nails aren’t complaining. Collagen gives your bones extra support, helps smooth out those fine lines and adds a little strength where you want it most. Want to try what I use? Use this link for 45% off.* Your future self (and skin) will thank you.

Finding the perfect candidate for an open job can feel like hunting for a needle in a haystack. Enter LinkedIn.

With millions of job seekers at your fingertips, LinkedIn is a treasure trove of skilled folks ready to make a difference. I’ve used LinkedIn to assemble my standout team who help put together this newsletter, my national radio show, our podcast and everything else we do.

LinkedIn’s advanced tools make the hiring process smoother than ever. They even help you put together the ideal job description so you can focus on what matters — growing your business.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Use Shift + click to select multiple browser tabs and move or close them all at once.

🔎 AI + research: Need scientific answers? Consensus is an AI search engine that digs through over 200 million peer-reviewed papers. You get unlimited searches with a free account. Great, if you’re a college student or just curious.

Cut the bloatware: Tired of those preinstalled apps you never asked for? You can’t always remove them, but you can disable them. Just go to Settings > Apps > App Name > Disable. They’ll stop running, updating or draining your battery in the background.

🤐 Siri, zip it: Here’s how to stop Siri from talking out of nowhere. Head to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. Under Siri Requests, toggle off Allow Siri When Locked, so she won’t activate when you don’t want her to. To silence her completely, open Talk & Type to Siri and tap Off.

Lock up your library: Want to keep your guilty pleasure reads private? Add a passcode to your Kindle. From the home screen, tap the three dots (top-right corner), then go to All Settings > Device Options > Device Passcode to set it up. Because not every book is meant to be shared.

💸 Where’s your money going? Subscriptions sneak up on you. … One month it’s a free trial, the next it’s draining your bank account. I use the Rocket Money app to keep tabs on everything I’m paying for. It even cancels unwanted subscriptions with just a tap. Smart, simple and seriously helpful.*

🖖 The answer: B) Bluetooth earpiece. The earpiece in the original Star Trek looked suspiciously like the world’s first wireless headset. Decades later, here we are awkwardly yelling, “Can you hear me now?” into tiny pieces of plastic stuck in our ears.

🙉 What do all Star Trek captains have in common? They all have three ears. A left ear. A right ear. And a final frontier. (You’re totally going to use that one, I know it!)

From Princess Kate’s iPhone flex to Worldcoin’s biometric bribes, we’ve officially reached peak 2025: where royals shoot pro-grade portraits on their phones and tech billionaires want to pay you for pupil pics. Today you also (hopefully) survived pressure-cooker shrapnel, fake insurance scams and Siri’s identity crisis. Plus, you picked up tips to be a tech genius. 

🗂️ A solid Tuesday, honestly, and just another day at the office for the #1 tech newsletter in the United States. Tomorrow, there is a hidden folder on your phone that secretly stashes things you deleted. Until then, charge your dreams like you charge your gadgets. ⚡🌟— Kim

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