Kim Komando’s Tech Tips & Advice: PepsiCo Turns To Autonomous Trucks

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:

3-second tech genius: iPhone keyboards are hiding symbols you probably didn’t know how to find. Tap the 123 number button, then long-press 0 for the degree sign. Weather texts sorted. Long-press the $ currency key for £, € and more. Need a bullet point? Long-press the minus sign. Voilà, dot unlocked.

Surge pricing attention: Real companionship now costs more because fake companionship got too good. Forbes says high-end escorts in Silicon Valley are charging $3,000 to $5,000 an hour, sometimes $6,000, with weekend bookings around $30,000. That’s up from rarely over $1,000 five years ago. The clients? Tech workers swimming in AI jobs and starving for actual eye contact. It’s funny that as AI gets better at faking flirty conversation, real human attention is getting pricier, not cheaper.

Snack truck uprising: Get this. Driverless big rigs (paywall link) are hauling cargo on public highways. PepsiCo is moving snacks across Texas, Arizona and Arkansas in vehicles that steer, brake and merge with no human at the wheel. The truck delivering Doritos doesn’t need a bathroom break. Critics (that’s me) worry about 80,000-pound machines making split-second calls alone. Either way, the future is rolling down the interstate.

Apple Maps’ secret street view: iPhone has its own Street View-style feature called Look Around, and most folks don’t know about it. Open Maps, zoom way in on an area, then tap the binoculars icon at the bottom left. Tap the Look Around preview to move through streets. No binoculars? Your city may not support it yet.

Snap before swipe: You’re standing in Walmart holding sandals like courtroom evidence because the shelf said $22.97 but the checkout scanner says $28.99. That’s what sent one shopper viral after accusing the store of ringing up items at prices higher than posted. Walmart points to possible errors from new digital shelf labels, which are very modern and very annoying. Whatever the cause, the fix is old-school: Take a picture of the shelf’s price, check your receipt and don’t let a barcode pickpocket you.

Fake recovery cops: The phone rings right after you’ve been scammed, and the voice on the other end has good news, the FTC can get your money back. Don’t believe it. The FTC warned fake agents are asking Americans for up-front fees or bank logins to recover losses. Impostor scams cost $3.5B last year, up almost 20%. Real FTC staffers do not demand payment or account access. Hang up, then go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

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