Besides the Car Pro Show and our weekly newsletter, my other favorite radio show and newsletter is Kim Komando’s. We are on many of the same radio stations across America. She does for her listeners and newsletter subscribers exactly what I endeavor to do: Give you useful information to keep you up to date on the latest in cars, only she does it with technology and there is nobody who does it better. Not sure how she puts out a top-notch newsletter seven days a week, but she does.
With her permission, I comb her newsletters each week and curate a list of her tips and advice that I think you'll find relevant and interesting. Here's what I have for you this week!
As shared in Kim Komando's newsletters:
Prison gets takeout: Somewhere a guy is doing time and getting better delivery service than the rest of us. Federal prisons have seen 2,000+ drone incidents at 122 facilities since 2020, dropping drugs, weapons, escape tools, phones and crab legs. Crab legs! One warden called it DoorDash for inmates, which is funny until you remember the menu includes weapons. Prisons are installing netting, using jammers and detection systems and, get this, deploying trained falcons.
The Facebook miracle: A teen with bone cancer secretly logged into his mom’s Facebook account because doctors said he was running out of time. He needed an experimental drug, but it wasn’t approved for kids his age. The post blew up overnight, strangers shared it, doctors noticed and a pharma company stepped in. He got the drug, started treatment and is responding well. Sometimes Facebook is the worst. Sometimes it’s a lifeline.
Hide important files: VeraCrypt is a free tool that lets you create an encrypted vault on your computer or USB drive. Think of it like a password-protected container for anything you want kept private. Unlock it, drag your files in, then lock it again. Anyone who steals your laptop or USB won’t be able to see what’s inside without the password. Works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Deepfake bait buffet: Ever see Oprah selling magical skinny pills in your feed and think, Huh, that seems off? Winfrey has gone public about being on Ozempic shots. Despite being worth $350 million with doctors at her disposal, Kathy Hilton bought weight-loss pills from an AI diet scam social media ad featuring fake Oprah and fake Dr. Oz. She says it wrecked her system. The old internet gave us Nigerian princes. The new internet gives us deepfakes with a digestive agenda.
Your meds monetized: Well, well, well. Meta and TikTok tracking pixels were found inside state-run health care sites where people sign up for Medicaid and check insurance benefits. The crazy part? Whatever you click or type gets piped to advertising networks and data brokers. Your prescription search becomes Mark Zuckerberg’s ad-targeting fodder. The states involved are scrambling to patch this. Until they do, treat any government health portal like a gas station ATM.
3-second tech genius: Save this one before you need it. If you’re in danger and can’t talk, you may be able to text 911 from your phone. Send your address first, then say whether you need police, fire or medical help. Add details but keep it short. Visit text911.info today to see if it works in your area. Not something you want to google during an emergency.
Fake signature trap: Looks like scammers have discovered America’s weakest point: paperwork we don’t read. The BBB warns that fake e-signature emails, made to look like Docusign and friends, are landing in inboxes because everyone signs everything online. Job forms, tax docs, real estate, the sacred PDF buffet. The logos look legit because thieves copy them. One bad click can steal logins, empty accounts or install malware. Type the site in yourself like it’s 2006.
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