Tired of struggling with your smart TV or streaming stick? Here’s how to use your voice to find shows, control captions, and even locate a lost remote.
📺 RIP Freevee: Amazon’s free streaming service, used by millions, is officially gone. Open the app now, and you’ll be redirected to a site to download Prime Video instead. The silver lining? Some of Freevee’s original shows will still be on Prime, and you won’t need a membership to watch. Cue tiny violin.
🍏 iPadOS 26: The new liquid glass look shows up in places like Control Center, which is now a transparent overlay. It’s in apps like News, where a glass menu bar at the top lets you slide between sections. Don’t like it? Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency.
👨👩👧 Make Netflix profiles for everyone: Netflix recommends shows based on what you watch, so don’t let cartoons mess up your rom-coms. Go to Manage Profiles > Add Profile > name it > Save. FYI: It also makes it easier to track what your kids are watching. Go back to Manage Profiles > their profile > Viewing activity.
⚡ Crypto malware scare: In the biggest supply chain hack in history, hackers hijacked 18 huge npm packages (chalk, debug and others), slipping in code that swapped crypto wallet addresses mid-transaction. Those poisoned packages? Downloaded over a billion times. Developers yanked the infected versions and purged caches in record time. Mischief managed, but it shows how fragile the web’s plumbing really is.
Check this out: Library Extension shows you what’s at over 5,000 libraries while you browse the web. You can borrow books, music or audiobooks without spending a dime. Best part? You don’t need to sign up. Get it on Chrome, Firefox and Edge.
AI hits your TV: Samsung’s 2025 TVs now come with Microsoft’s Copilot built in. I can see the excitement on your face. This animated beige blob can recommend shows, recap episodes and answer random questions. Basically a roommate that watches too much, but rounder, and permanently stuck in your living room. But hey, at least it won’t eat your leftovers.
Your favorite podcast may disappear soon
Podcasting is changing fast. The era of big-budget true crime and long investigative series is fading, replaced by fast talk shows that are cheaper to make and easier to monetize. Here is why your favorite podcast may never return.
🎙️ Narrative podcasts are dead: In the mid-2010s, shows like “Serial” blew up with multi-episode investigations and gripping interviews. Now they’re vanishing (paywall link). Why? They’re too expensive and take too long to make. So if your favorite true crime podcast is no longer updating, you know why.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Some TVs let you watch two shows at once. Go to Settings > Display (or Picture) and look for Multi-View or Picture-in-Picture.
Stop overpaying for subscriptions: I use Rocket Money to track all my recurring payments. It shows everything in one place and makes it easy to cancel the ones I don’t need anymore. The first time I used it, I saved $435! Start saving today!
🏈 Benched: Before you get all excited that Yahoo Sports is launching a free, ad-supported streaming channel about sports, know the fine print. They’re shows about the NFL, NBA, MLB and more. Nope, not the actual games. Let me tell you, there’s such a gap between men’s and women’s sports. The difference is nuts! 🥜
Adult sites suffer big hit
Think fewer people are watching porn online? You’re right, and the reason might surprise you. New data shows that age verification laws cause adult site traffic to plummet. It’s not just teens being locked out. Many adults are also staying away, unwilling to leave a digital trail.
Have you subscribed to The Kim Komando YouTube channel yet? Why not? Tap here to start watching!
🤯 Fake YouTubia: A Wired report found at least 120 YouTube channels cranking out AI-generated celeb drama, like phony talk show fights using still images and robotic voice-overs. One video shows Mark Wahlberg getting roasted on The View. Didn’t happen. This isn’t fake news, it’s full-on delusion theater.
See where your Google account’s signed in: Google shows a list of devices you’ve used in the last 28 days, along with their locations. Notice something suspicious? Sign it out and change your password ASAP. Remember, you might see multiple sessions from the same device, so don’t panic too fast.
🍿 Delete Netflix history: You can remove shows and movies from your watch history to improve recommendations (or hide guilty pleasures 🤭). On PC, go to Your Profile > Viewing activity and click Hide from viewing history next to the title. Also handy if you’re trying to remember something you watched months ago.
3-second tech genius
No skills? No problem. George, your AI host, shows you AI art tools that bring your craziest ideas to life. Plus, secret hacks to supercharge your gadgets … and a surfing cat.
Filter Spotlight search on Mac: Next time you search with Command + Space, add the filter kind: followed by a term. For example: kind:mail invoice only shows results in Mail, kind:pdf invoice finds PDFs, or kind:folder invoice searches a specific folder. Smart.
Customize your Gmail inbox: By default, Gmail shows 1–50 conversations per page. The alternative? Go to Settings (top right) > See all settings > General > Maximum page size. Now pick between 10 and 100, scroll down and hit Save Changes.
This package is dangerous
A mystery box shows up at your door with a free gift. Seems harmless, right? Think again. Here’s how to stay safe.