It’s a tech wonderland Thursday, friend. Remember when hand sanitizer was the new gold and everyone suddenly became a sourdough expert? Yeah, those early pandemic days. While we were learning to unmute ourselves on Zoom, one household item quietly soared to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list. 

🙋‍♀️ Take a guess what item became a top-selling gadget on Amazon during the early days of the pandemic: A) VR headsets, B) Bidets, C) Webcams or D) Mini projectors. Find the answer at the end! 

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Barry and I were on vacation in the Bahamas, soaking up the sun and enjoying island life until he caught a nasty virus. The next morning, he woke up and said, “I can’t hear out of my right ear.”

Just like that, his hearing was gone.

He saw a doctor on the island who put him on a steroid immediately. Once we got home, he started a series of injections right into his ear to try to restore the hearing. Nothing worked.

🧏🏼 That’s when reality set in 

He’d permanently lost the hearing in one ear.

At first, it was just little things. We avoided our favorite restaurants because they were too noisy. Conversations turned into misunderstandings. I’d start to tell a story, then stop halfway through because it was frustrating for both of us when he couldn’t quite catch the details.

Barry, like a lot of people, didn’t want to get a hearing aid. “They make you look old,” he’d say. And I get it, no one wants to feel like they’re falling apart.

But hearing loss doesn’t just affect one person. It changes how we connect with the people we love. We’ve been married 25 years. I wanted us back.

📱 Tech to the rescue 

I helped him tweak his iPhone when he first lost his hearing.

• I went into Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual > Balance to shift sound to his good ear.
• While there, I turned on LED Flash for Alerts for texts and calls so he wouldn’t miss them.
• I also activated Background Sounds to cut out unwanted chatter.

That really didn’t help much.

So I bought him a new pair of AirPods, and he took a hearing test at home using Apple’s test. Here’s how you can do the same.

1. Connect your AirPods to your iPhone under Settings > Bluetooth.
2. Then, go back to Settings > AirPods (you’ll see your AirPods by name).
3. Under Hearing Health, tap Take a Hearing Test.

Yup, he had mild to moderate hearing loss. Next, I tried the AirPods hearing boost feature, but it did nothing. That was the turning point. Seeing how much he was missing convinced him to try hearing aids.

🙏🏻 What a difference

Now Barry wears his hearing aids every day. The TV isn’t blasting anymore. Just last night, he smiled and said, “I just heard you coming down the stairs!” We can go out to dinner again. And best of all, we talk and laugh without all the “What’d you say?” moments.

If someone you love is struggling with hearing loss, or maybe it’s you, don’t wait. I’ve seen firsthand how hearing loss can sneak into your life and chip away at your relationships, confidence and independence.

Most hearing aids have only one processor. The Horizon IX has two, processing speech and background noise separately for clearer hearing in every environment, from meetings to parties.

They make the entire process easy, discreet and even kind of exciting. You’ll get a free consultation, at-home hearing test and a 45-day no-risk trial with expert support the whole way. No pressure. Just help.

These aren’t your grandpa’s hearing aids. They’re sleek, smart and nearly invisible.

👉 Ready to hear life again? Take the first step right now and see if you qualify for a 45-day risk-free trial. You’ll be glad you did.

👁️ Laser eyes, activated: Chinese scientists made a laser that reads text ⅛ of an inch from 0.85 miles away. Originally for studying stars, it now works on your grocery list from the next neighborhood over. Add shape-recognition AI, and yes, it’s totally spying tech. Meanwhile, you’re looking for your glasses when they’re on your head.

Open-source bombing: Ukraine’s wild daylight drone strike reportedly took out a chunk of Russia’s long-range bombers using open-source ArduPilot software straight from the hobbyist world. The code was originally built in a guy’s basement. Now it’s leveling airfields. Just another casual week for DIY warfare. Who knows what else is lurking around GitHub these days?

🧑‍💻 Online shopping scam: A dad thought he scored a 20TB hard drive for $51 (these are normally around $300) from a flaky site called “Chicntech.” Spoiler: It didn’t work. His son cracked it open and found glued-in metal weights and a chip faking the storage size.

Getting old blows: Not just in candles. Job hunters over 40 say Workday’s hiring AI tool ghosted them, fast. One plaintiff claims they were rejected hundreds of times, often instantly, with no human review. Workday denies their tools actually make hiring decisions, which sounds like Shaggy’s “It Wasn’t Me” by way of HR software. 

🎨 Photoshop is finally on Android: And yes, it’s free (for now). You can grab it on Google Play and mess with layers, masks, selection tools and AI Generative Fill. The fine print: After the beta, it’s $7.99/month.

“Rilly big shoo”: I’m talking about The Ed Sullivan Show that just passed a million YouTube subs. Turns out there’s an endless audience for grainy footage of Elvis pelvis-ing and Beatles mop-shaking. Kids today don’t remember when every performance had 18 backup dancers, no autotune and a ventriloquist, but now they’ll get to experience all the grandeur.

🚨 A sneaky virus could be lurking. It’s better to be safe than sorry, which is why I trust TotalAV. For just $19 for the first year, you get rock-solid antivirus protection on up to five devices. It’s smart, simple and keeps your tech safe without breaking the bank.*

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: YouTube shortcuts: K to pause, J to rewind 10 sec, L to skip forward.

Deal with bullies: Your kid will run into rude or mean people online, especially in games or group chats. Show them how to mute or block the person. On Discord, they just need to right-click the bully’s name or profile and hit Block. Let them know it’s private and their other friends won’t know.

🔒 Lock your computer instantly: Leaving your desk for a few minutes? On Windows, press Windows key + L to lock your screen without closing anything. On Mac, press Control + Command + Q. It’s a good habit to get into and much faster than waiting for screen time-out to kick in.

⌨️ Safari shortcuts: Want to move faster in your browser? Press Command + Up Arrow to jump to the top of a page, or Command + Down Arrow to scroll straight to the bottom. Need to go back or forward? Press Command + [ to go back a page, and Command + ] to move forward again.

📚 Kindle stats: Want to see how much reading you’ve got left? Tap the page number in the bottom-left corner to switch between time left in the chapter, time left in the book or your progress percentage (%). Kindle learns your reading speed, so those time estimates are based on you. Want free Kindle books? Check these out. 

🏋️ You move, you sweat, you rest. I’ll help you with all three.

• Work out anywhere with some resistance bands (10% off).
• These clamps (33% off) keep slippery barbells in place.
• Put your shower stuff in a mesh bag (20% off) that dries fast.
• Unwind with a foot massager (29% off) after a long day.
• This ice pack (20% off) molds to your body for pain relief.

🌧️ Muggy air? Get a dehumidifier (36% off) to pull the damp right out. Bonus: The color-changing light gives a total spa vibe.

🛒 Visit my Amazon store for more of my recommendations.

Answer: B) Bidets. This splashy tool won the crown as Amazon’s unexpected quarantine MVP. Turns out, when the shelves went bare of TP, Americans looked to clean up their act, literally. 

Sales soared over 1,000%, proving once and for all: When push comes to shove, bidets are a blast. Some models sold out completely. TUSHY, one of the leading bidet brands, reported a 10x increase in sales during March 2020.

✌️ You just read the #1 free tech newsletter in the U.S. Your brain’s basically doing push-ups. Tomorrow, we’re diving into AI video sorcery, fresh Mars cam footage and what MrBeast is up to. Until then, stay curious, stay clicky and stay your amazing self. 🫶 — Kim

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