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Kim in Tokyo
Yup, that’s me in Tokyo a few months ago!
Tags: Kim, Kim Komando, Komando, Komando.com
Mark your calendar! The best day to buy holiday flights
Attention, travelers: I have good news! Despite a record-setting summer for travel prices, winter isn’t looking so bad — if you know when to book.
Luckily, you have me. I’ve been to 36 countries, and I’m still itching to see the rest of the world. I’ve learned lots of ways to save over the years.
🎤 Listen up: Adobe has a free tool to test if your mic is set correctly for a podcast or video meeting. Try it here. You’ll get pointers on where to sit relative to your mic and whether there’s too much going on in the background. Nice!
💄 All glammed up and no place to go: TikTok is loaded with people complaining that concealer, fake lashes and overlined lips in your passport photo can lead to big delays if you travel bare-faced (paywall link). You confuse both human and tech scanners. Btw, my passport photo is a publicity shot, and I’m happy to report I never get held up.
Identity crisis: You can prime ChatGPT or any other chatbot to answer how you want with one simple phrase: “You are a …” and then fill in that blank with anything — “marketing expert,” “lawyer,” “landlord attorney,” “master gardener,” “personal trainer.” Go ahead, try “Digital Goddess.”
Click and drag: On a computer, you don’t have to go into the settings of your digital calendar tool (like Outlook or Google Calendar) to move an appointment or meeting. Just click it, drag it to the new date or time slot, and you’re all set.
📧 Use Gmail on your Android? If you pay for the Google Workspace plan (or your work does), you can now chat with Google’s AI, Gemini, about your emails. The bot has access to your entire inbox, so it can summarize your emails (“What did Mary want?”) or find specific info for you (“When’s the app design deadline?”). To use it, tap the black star logo in the top-right corner of the app. Coming soon to iPhone, I hope!
✏️ Whiteout: Those white Apple charging cords get so dirty. Here’s a secret for removing the black streaks: Use a pencil eraser. Yep, it’ll buff them right off. Oh, and I finally hung up all my pencil drawings, but I’m afraid it makes my house look kinda sketchy.
The closer: You finally read that article that’s been open in your browser all week. Leave your mouse alone and close the tab with your keyboard. On Windows, use Ctrl + W. On a Mac, it’s Cmd + W.
Quick Android refresh: Hold the power and volume-up buttons simultaneously to do a soft reboot. Think of it as a fast way to end processes and speed up your phone.
🔦 Light it up: Your iPhone’s flashlight has more brightness levels than the default like-the-sun mode. Hold down the flashlight button and drag the slider up or down. Sweet. Btw, you can also say, “Siri, turn on the flashlight” when you need it (and tell her to turn it off, too).