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AI isn’t optional anymore

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I hope your Monday is starting strong, friend. Funny thing, launching a multibillion-dollar business doesn’t always begin with suits and venture capital meetings. When Airbnb was just a scrappy side hustle with a confusing name, the founders had to get creative to pull together their first seed money. No crypto jackpots. No fancy Kickstarter campaigns. Just good old-fashioned hustle.

🤔 How did the founders of Airbnb raise their first $30,000? A) Selling old furniture on Craigslist, B) Renting out their own apartment, C) Charging for Wi-Fi in coffee shops, or D) Selling cereal boxes? Find the answer at the end along with links to my conversation with one of Airbnb’s cofounders.

🫶🏻 Quick favor: I’m working hard to improve my email deliverability so the big email providers don’t flag me as spam. You can help, just hit “Reply” to this email. That’s it. It makes a bigger difference than you know. Thank you! Now, on to the smarts you need to stay tech ahead and not get left tech behind! — Kim

Wi-Fi slow? It’s probably this

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You pay for high-speed internet, but your current connection is slower than your mom who took nine months to come up with a good joke. Something’s off, and no, it’s not Mercury in retrograde (this time).

Enter: DNS.

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Down to business

📅 New week, same desk, unless you upgrade it with these goodies.

Keep your pens ready to roll with a two-pack of rotating pen holders ($19).
This mini desktop vacuum ($13) sucks up keyboard gunk like a pro.
An adjustable laptop stand (25% off) lifts your screen and your posture.
Print right from your phone with a wireless mini label maker (53% off).
Snag a paper shredder (7% off), so sensitive docs are confetti.
No more juggling cables with this USB-C hub (25% off) that turns one port into five.

😎 Shop my tech picks that are on sale right now!

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

🦉 Don’t be such a dodo: New tech trend. Bird-watchers are trading iPhones for new binoculars that are waterproof and come with a mount. That way, you can snap photos and videos while you watch. No more “I swear it was right there!” moments. Check them out on Amazon ($130).

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

7.3 out of 10

What Lenovo laptops got for repairability, according to PIRG’s annual report, considered an F rating. The catch? They only submitted one model, so they were slapped with a failing grade for not providing enough data. Other brands sent in nine or 10 models. I guess they didn’t read the terms and conditions.

🔐 Locked up, they won’t let me in: Phone thieves are permanently locking users out of their iCloud accounts via Apple’s security features (paywall link). Armed with passcodes, they reset recovery keys, making account access impossible. Welcome to iHell: where you’re stuck screaming your mother’s maiden name when your memories are in the cloud.

Are you tired of watching your cloud expenses skyrocket? It’s time to take control and make your cloud spending work for you. I’ve partnered with Oracle to bring you an exclusive opportunity to optimize your cloud infrastructure and potentially cut your cloud bill by 50% or more.

🍎 Minute details matter: Rick Shearman’s Apple Watch’s SOS feature saved his life after he was swept almost a mile out to sea. He used the emergency feature while treading water. The rescue team scooped him up before it turned into a “Find My Body” sort of mission. PSA: Swim parallel to shore and float, don’t fight.

🔞 Google Messages now blurs unwanted nudes: If someone’s about to send you a spicy pic, you’ll get a heads-up and the option to view it or block the sender. Accidentally sending one? You’ll get a reminder like, “Are you sure you want to send this?” FYI, it’s on by default for kids, but you can double-check under Settings > Protection and Safety.

⚠️ Hackers are changing tactics: Talk to your IT department about this. And if you are the IT department, pay attention. New research shows 30% of cyberattacks are suddenly now coming through network edge devices. That means instead of using flashy malware or phishing email, they’re slipping in through VPNs, firewalls and routers. How? People keep using outdated gear and weak passwords and skipping security updates. Stop that now.

🚭 Parents, watch out for smart vapes! They look like colorful gadgets that play music, run games, take calls and send social media notifications. But they’re actually vapes … with up to 30,000 puffs, and some even give you points for every hit. Yep, it’s nicotine, sweet flavors and gaming all rolled into one. It’s kind of like a Tamagotchi, except instead of you keeping it alive, it’s killing you.

🚐 Uber and Volkswagen are teaming up: They’re launching a robotaxi service in the U.S. with self-driving electric microbuses. First stop? Los Angeles, starting in late 2026. But don’t get too excited just yet. You’ll still see a human behind the wheel until at least 2027. Why? They’ve gotta wait for those permits to clear.

☑️ Badge means business: Is your identity verified on LinkedIn? Your little checkmark is about to get a big upgrade. Adobe just added LinkedIn verification to its new Content Authenticity app. That means when your content pops up with your badge, folks will know it’s really you, not some AI bot. Hiring? Use my link to post a job for free.

🥾 Going hiking? Your map app might send you off a cliff. UK mountain rescue teams were called out last year. Blame bad directions and folks blindly following routes. So, use a proper map, learn a few survival basics and maybe pack a flare just in case. “Recalculating route” shouldn’t mean straight into the abyss.

$50 billion

That’s how much Google Chrome might be worth if Google was forced to sell it off. At least that’s what DuckDuckGo’s CEO estimated at Google’s antitrust trial. (Spoiler: DuckDuckGo will not be bidding.) The DOJ is still deciding how to break up Google’s search monopoly, and selling Chrome is on the table. AI players like OpenAI and Perplexity say they’d be interested.

📧 Google phishing scam: If you get an email saying there’s a legal subpoena tied to your Google account, don’t panic and don’t click. It’ll send you to a fake support page to steal your login info. Google says they’re working on a fix. Imagine getting sued by Fake Google, and losing.

🧠 ChatGPT passed the Turing test: Yep, the big one where a machine tries to convince you it’s human. In a study, people chatted with the new GPT-4.5 for five minutes, and 73% thought it was a real person. The bot was told to act like a slightly awkward, internet-savvy introvert with dry humor. Without that personality prompt, it only fooled 36%.

4

The number of toys your toddler needs to be happy. Yep, no need for a mountain of plushies and plastic cars. A study found that kids given too many playthings got overstimulated and jumped from toy to toy. But with just four? They slowed down, focused and played longer. Oh, and no need to toss everything. Just rotate them.

“KYS” isn’t harmless teen slang: Parents, you might see “kys” or “keys” online and think it’s just another TikTok-ified acronym. But it’s actually short for “kill yourself,” and it’s alarmingly common in teen comment sections and DMs. Some teens use it jokingly (🤨), but it can land with real emotional weight.

🍎 Bad apples: Apple just got a reality check from the National Advertising Division, which told them to cut it with the “available now” marketing for Apple Intelligence. Most of the shiny AI features they hyped aren’t ready. Apple Intelligence is like that friend who says, “I’m on my way” while still in the shower.