A woman in New York says her esthetician wore Meta Ray-Ban shades during her bikini wax. Talk about TMI. I also talk to John from Atlanta, who’s scrambling to keep his model train store on track. He needs a new website, stat! Plus: the upcoming iPhone 17, hackers faking Google calls, and drones that chase off wolves.
They buried your opt-out button
Midjourney
This is insane. Like almost cartoon-villain-level shady. Say you’re trying to delete your personal information from some shady data broker’s website that’s selling your data to advertisers, marketing companies, stalkers, coworkers or anyone else with the money.
But when you search for their opt-out page on Google? Nothing pops up on the results page. Did you miss it? Nope.
A new Wired report just exposed more than 30 data broker companies that are deliberately hiding their opt-out pages from Google and Bing. That’s right, the pages that legally allow you to say “no thanks” to having your personal data bought, sold and shared like trading cards are being blocked from search engines on purpose. Wow.
🤑 They collect and sell everything about you
I’m talking about your name, address, phone number, SSN, political affiliation, jobs, purchase history, health data, insurance claims, who you live with and more, a lot more.
Now they’ve taken it a step further. They’ve made it nearly impossible for you to find the one page that lets you opt out. You’d have to go directly to the company’s website and dig through layers of menus, if you can find it at all.
🪄 They know what they’re doing
This isn’t an accident or a technical glitch. It’s a strategy. A move to look compliant while hoping you don’t bother trying. Some of them even use tricky design tactics, like hiding links under layers of legal text or pop-ups you’d never think to click through.
Why? Because the harder they make it to opt out, the more your data stays in their system and the more money they make selling it.
I use Incogni. It’s like sending in the privacy cavalry. You don’t have to hunt down every shady data broker or figure out who’s hiding what. Incogni does it for you automatically, legally and effectively.
They target over 420 people search sites and data brokers, and Deloitte, one of the biggest auditing firms in the world, independently verified their entire process. No other data removal service can say that.
With my exclusive discount, plans start at just $6.39 a month, and you still get access to Incogni’s new Unlimited Plan. You send them links where your info is exposed, and they’ll get it taken down.
Your browser is snitching on you
ChatGPT
You’ve heard me say it a hundred times: Clear your cookies, block third-party trackers, use private browsing. But here’s something new, something creepier.
Now, even after nuking cookies from orbit and going full incognito ninja, websites still know who you are. How? Something called browser fingerprinting.
🤯 Ignorance isn’t feeless: How many times have you gotten a text about not paying for a toll and thought, damn spam? A California woman kept getting texts saying she owed money to The Toll Roads, but she assumed they were fake and ignored them. Turns out they were real. That could have meant big fines if she’d kept driving. Folks, if it sounds important, double-check on the official app or website.
Nearly 60%
Of Google searches ended without a single click in 2024. AI Overviews now hand you the answer right on the results page, no website needed. Add in ChatGPT hitting 700 million weekly users in August with 2.5 billion prompts daily, and yeah, it’s a full-on behavior shift. People aren’t browsing anymore, they’re asking.
Send Chrome pages to your phone: On your computer, open the website you want and click the three-dot menu (top right). Go to Cast, save and share > Create QR Code. A QR code will pop up. On your phone, open the Camera app (or Scan QR code), and the link opens in your mobile browser. Nice.
🌐 Check website permissions: Some sites may have access to your webcam or microphone without you knowing. In Chrome, click the View site information icon left of the address bar, then go to Site settings to review permissions. On Safari, open the Safari menu > Settings for This Website > Permissions to do the same.
🎨 Need stunning photos? I’ve used Dreamstime for years, and for good reason. Whether you’re building a website, designing a presentation or just need the perfect pic for social media, Dreamstime has millions of royalty-free images that won’t break the bank.
🔭 Space on the sidewalk: A group called #popscope is setting up telescopes on city streets and letting people look through them for free. Imagine heading out for ice cream and getting a peek at Saturn’s rings or the moon’s craters. You can volunteer on their website. No group near you? This telescope is a stellar deal (25% off). Such a wonderful idea!
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
🍏 Clear your iPhone’s browsing data: It’s a quick fix for websites not loading or scrubbing private searches. Go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Now choose a Timeframe and tap Clear History. FYI: This logs you out of sites, but your autofill info stays.
Add a website to your iPad Home Screen: In Safari, tap the Share button (top right) and choose Add to Home Screen. Give it a name, hit Done, and it’ll show up as an icon you can move like any app. Much better than digging through bookmarks for your favorites.
Refine your Google search: Looking for results from a specific website? Type something like “site:apple.com” to limit results to that site. Then add your search term in quotes, like “iPhone,” to find pages with that exact word. Share it with the kids, it’s great for narrowing down info fast.
🌐 Set a start page in Chrome: You can make Chrome open your favorite website when you launch it. Go to Settings > On startup > Open a specific page or set of pages > Add a new page. Type in the URL (like https://www.komando.com) and click Add. Next time you open Chrome, it’ll take you straight there. Neat.
🚀 NASA+ is coming to Netflix: Starting this summer, you’ll be able to stream rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks and views of Earth from the ISS right on Netflix. More details and schedules will drop closer to launch. Psst, you can watch NASA+ for free on the agency’s website with no ads.
🤖 Ask for up-to-date answers: ChatGPT can sometimes give outdated info, especially on recent events. Try saying, “Can you search the web and verify with 2025 sources?” If it does, you’ll usually get clickable links. PSA: Double-check the sources, too. If a website looks unfamiliar, give it a quick Google to make sure it’s legit.
🤖 Google’s AI problems: To “help” the publishers it just kneecapped with AI search, Google dropped a new feature: Offerwall. Your website visitors can now pay per article, watch ads or take surveys to get through content gates. Congrats! You’ve unlocked this joke by watching two ads and solving a CAPTCHA shaped like Sundar Pichai’s head.
🍏 iPhone manuals still exist: New iPhones don’t come with printed guides, but you can still find them online. Just go to Apple’s website and look up your model (they’ve got everything from the original iPhone to the latest iPhone 16). You’ll find the user guide, info sheet and even the official repair manual.
Free images: Need clean, professional photos for your website or social media posts? Try Unsplash. It has a huge library of high-res, royalty-free images. Just search a topic like “office” or “game” and download what you need. PSA: Watch out, they’re gonna try to upsell paid photos.
👏 Easy website building that works! Just drag and drop. Framer brings your ideas to life with easy-to-use tools and no coding required. Today it’s 25% off specific plans with my code Kim.
What’s the passkey? You can view and manage them right from your PC. Head to Settings > Accounts > Passkeys to see a list. Use the search bar to filter by app or website name. Don’t need one anymore? Click the three dots next to it, and select Delete passkey.