Komando.com

Plug the leaks in your digital life

ChatGPT

Hackers, scammers and snoopers are getting slicker every day. Your gear should, too. I did the digging (so you don’t have to) and found the best tools to outsmart them. Let’s check them out!

🛡️ Guard your cards

RFID blocking cards ($5, 50% off) stop fraud before it even starts. Slip one into your wallet, and forget it’s there. Your ID and financial info stays safe and sound.

Eyes where they shouldn’t be?

Scan your hotel room, Airbnb or sketchy bathroom with a hidden-camera detector ($32, 47% off). Even sniffs out GPS trackers and listening devices.

✈️ Safe family travels

A passport holder ($31, 15% off) with built-in RFID blocking protects your important documents without adding bulk. Comes with a SIM card holder and an ejector pin.

Swipe out snoops

These security rollers ($28, 22% off) cover sensitive details on bills, letters and forms with a swipe. Fast way to secret-proof your mail without a shredder.

✍️ Write safe, write smart

Fraudsters love to “wash” checks and rewrite new amounts and names. Uniball’s gel pens ($13, 5% off) chemically bond with paper, so your autograph can’t be changed.

Sharp, safe and clear

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From stubble to sparkle

A few upgrades can take the edge off your morning routine (literally).

😁 Brighten that smile: Oral-B toothbrush (39% off)

Leave your manual brush in the dust. One charge lasts for days, and it even tells you when you’re brushing too hard.

💎 Shine on, you fancy thing: This ultrasonic cleaner (21% off) blasts away years of grime from jewelry, glasses or even your retainer.

Glow-getter: Olay’s face moisturizer (9% off) has the heavy hitters like hyaluronic acid, niacinamide and peptides. All work to hydrate and smooth.

🪒 Cut above the rest: Fellas, stock up on some Gillette razor refills (6% off, 12-pack). That’s enough cartridges to last almost a year.

Fuzz be gone: These gentle dermaplane razors (20% off) glide effortlessly to reveal smooth, glowing skin. Makeup goes on like silk afterward.

🛒 Running low? Click here to refill your stash and check if your daily drivers are marked down.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

GM’s hands-free future: Are you tired of driving? GM’s 2028 Cadillac Escalade IQ wants to let you fully check out, literally. The next-gen Super Cruise drives itself (on approved highways) with lidar, radar and cameras, and the dash glows turquoise when it’s safe to let auto drive take over. Oh, and Google’s Gemini AI will chat with you, because silence is awkward.

💻 Delete this now: If you see ads or blogs pitching the “Universe Browser” as the fastest and safest one ever, don’t fall for it. Researchers found it secretly routes your data to China, logs keystrokes and installs hidden programs. They probably should have called it “Internet Exploiter.” Millions downloaded it, thinking it was legit. If you’re one of them, I hate to say it, but you need to wipe your system and reinstall the OS. This thing digs in deep.

Ask ChatGPT to fact-check: You can have ChatGPT verify info by asking it to search the web. For example, prompt, “Is this factually correct as of today? Search the web to confirm.” It’ll pull recent sources, summarize what it finds and share links so you can compare answers from different sites.

The used dryer sheet hack

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Got a grimy screen, dusty vent, or smudged keyboard? Don’t stress it. Head to the laundry room for a trick that’ll make you say wow.

Lunatics, start your remotes: Amazon relaunched Luna, its cloud service that streams games over the internet. You’ve got it for free if you have Prime. Sign in on your phones, and play against each other on the TV. It’s finally time to settle the score with your aunt.

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Mirror Android to TV: Sharing your phone screen on a smart TV is easy as long as both are on the same Wi-Fi. On your phone, go to Settings > Connected devices > Smart View, then select your TV name > Full screen > Start now.

💄 Google Meet’s AI makeup is rolling out: You can now add virtual makeup during video calls, with 12 options to choose from like eyeliner, lipstick, blush and more. Go to Backgrounds and effects > Appearance > Makeup to try it out. The best part? The filter moves with your face, so it won’t slide off when you sip your coffee. I tried it and looked marvelous!

Use WhatsApp on your iPad: Yes, it finally works. Download WhatsApp from the App Store, open it and get a QR code. On your phone, go to Settings > Linked devices > Link device and scan the code. Your chats and contacts will sync so you can message or call right from your iPad.

✋ Stop Google Photos auto backup: On Android, you can stop Google Photos from quietly uploading every picture you take. It saves some cloud space and keeps your private (or spicy) photos off the internet. Open Photos, tap your profile icon (top right) > Photos settings > Backup, and toggle it off.

📦 Surprise package season: It’s not your lucky day. USPS says if you get a random package this holiday, don’t celebrate too fast. It’s probably a “brushing” scam, where fake sellers send cheap stuff to your address so they can post bogus “verified buyer” reviews. Basically, you’re an unwitting five-star accomplice.

When suitcase becomes suitchase: If you’re smart like me, you put AirTags inside your luggage. Now, Apple’s letting airlines track your lost luggage with you. Through the “Share Item Location” feature, you can give Delta, United and 30 other airlines a live link to your AirTag. Translation: No more awkwardly pointing at a map, saying, “It’s somewhere in Denver.”

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Switching to dark mode on YouTube desktop is gentler on your eyes and makes videos feel more immersive. Click your profile pic (top right), select Appearance and set it to Dark theme.

🛰️ Starlink’s scam shutdown: After months of heat, SpaceX says it finally disabled over 2,000 Starlink kits in Myanmar that scammers were using for massive fraud and trafficking rings. Local governments raided one site and found dozens of Starlink dishes running cybercrime ops. Wild how crypto and romance scammers had better broadband than most small towns.

The Amazon outage that broke the internet

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Amazon’s cloud crashed and took half the internet with it. Snapchat, Ring, Venmo, even banks went dark. I’ll break down what happens when the web’s backbone fails. Then I talk to one business owner who caught scammers stealing her online brand. Plus, the Louvre heist, a New Jersey “UFO” update, and a smart ChatGPT trick.

Meta’s AI trains on your private photos

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Facebook wants to scan your camera roll. Yes, the pics you never posted. Creepy? Plus, one caller wants to stop his kid from looking at naughty things on the internet. Then I get into Amazon’s robot army, why being mean to AI work, and how to pay less for subscriptions.

AI jobs that pay six figures

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The truth: AI is stealing jobs. It’s also creating better ones. Some AI roles now pay more than $200,000 a year, and you don’t need to be a coder to get in. Dr. Ross Maciejewski, who leads Arizona State University’s School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, says they’re preparing students for a future where people and AI work side by side. Hear about the new careers AI is creating and how to land one.

Stalked by AirTags: how one woman caught her ex

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She kept getting iPhone alerts. Turns out her ex hid four AirTags in her car. Also, a listener calls in with a question about using AI to write legal documents for his real estate biz. Then I dig into Apple’s $3,500 flop, why Tesla truck drivers say they’re getting harassed on the road, and the brutal new work culture taking over startups.

Did someone hack your toilet?

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Kohler’s Dekoda camera snaps onto your toilet to analyze your, let’s call it, daily download. I’d say that’s a little too smart for comfort.