Hey there, ready to get this Monday started, friend?Apple has built its entire brand on privacy. They run ads mocking the competition. So who do you think Apple is secretly partnering with to train a smarter AI Siri?
Google. Yes, that Google. The same company Apple trash-talks in commercials. The mega corporation behind Android. The one that makes its money knowing everything about you.
👯♀️ What do you call it when two rivals who publicly throw punches are quietly holding hands behind the curtain? Is it: A) Rivalship, B) Strategery, C) Coopetition or D) Frenemies? Take a guess. Answer's at the end.
👊 Look at you! You're taking charge of your digital life by opening this email, and that's a win. But here's a bigger one.
Every day in February, one lucky subscriber walks away with a $250 Amazon gift card. If it's you, there's a big red button at the top of that day's email. Click it, claim it, done. Now let's get into the news, tips and tricks that'll save you time, money and a whole lot of headaches.— Kim
📬 Was this forwarded to you? Be the first to know, not the last to hear. Sign up now. It's free!
TODAY'S DEEP DIVE
So sneaky
Image: ChatGPT
⚡ TL;DR (THE SHORT VERSION)
Some resume builders and recruitment platforms put invisible tracking pixels in your resume.
Potential employers see if you applied with their competitors.
You can strip these trackers before sending your resume. I'll show you how.
📖 Read time: 2.5 minutes
Even if you're not job hunting, read this and forward it to someone who is. It's a dirty secret. They need to know their resume might be working against them.
Your resume looks clean. Professional. One page, nicely formatted PDF. You're proud of it. You should be.
Too bad it's spying on you.
Hidden inside that file? A tiny tracking pixel smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. It's tattling on you to every company you apply to. And the kicker? You're the one who put it there.
📍 How you get played
You use a free online resume builder because it's fast and makes your resume look polished. But some of these tools slip a tiny invisible tracker into your PDF before you download it for your use. Remember, if it's free you are the product.
Now say you send that same resume to 10 companies or recruiters. Every time a person or AI agent opens your file, the pixel phones home and logs everything: the exact time, their location, what device they used and how long they looked.
That data doesn't stay private. Some resume builders sell it or share it with other recruiters and applicant tracking systems. So Company A might know you also applied to Company B, C and D, all from the same file you thought was a simple PDF resume.
🎯 Why companies do this
Leverage. If a recruiter knows you're juggling three other offers, they can lowball you. If they see you've opened their job posting 15 times, they smell desperation.
It gets worse. Some companies use this data to ghost you entirely. Too many interviews elsewhere? They assume you'll jump ship and move on to the next candidate.
🛡️ How to strip the trackers
Print to PDF: Open your resume, hit Print, then choose Save as PDF instead of actually printing. This creates a clean copy.
Mac: File > Print > PDF > Save as PDF
Windows: File > Print > Microsoft Print to PDF
Google Docs: File > Download > PDF Document
Use a PDF cleaner: Download Dangerzone (free, open source) and use it on the PDF from a free resume builder. It nukes the hidden data and gives you back a clean file.
Go old-school: Build your resume in Word or Google Docs and export it yourself. Your resume should sell your skills, not spy on your job search.
💡 How would you write "I changed a light bulb" on your resume? Single-handedly managed the successful upgrade and deployment of new environmental illumination system with zero cost overruns and zero safety incidents. (So true, right?)
📤 Know someone job hunting? Forward this now. They need to clean their resume before it tells their next employer way too much. And use the icons below to post this on your social, especially LinkedIn.
DIGITAL LIFE HACK
Hidden Amazon deals
Forget Prime Day! Find incredible, year-round deals on new, used and overstock items by exploring Amazon's secret Resale and Outlet sections.
🎧 Or search "Komando" wherever you get your podcasts. I'm everywhere.
WEB WATERCOOLER
‼️ Scammers have their heads in the cloud: Got an urgent email saying your iCloud or Google Drive is full and your precious photos are about to vanish? A wave of phishing emails is hitting inboxes with fake storage full and payment expired warnings, complete with scary deadlines and knockoff logos. Click the link and you'll land on a scam site hawking useless VPNs or stealing your credentials. When in doubt, log in directly.
So much for billionaire joyrides: Just when I was seriously thinking about it, Blue Origin pulled the plug on its 10-minute New Shepard hops at least for two years. Officially, they're "shifting resources" to their $3.6 billion NASA moon lander. Since 2021, they've launched 98 people including Shatner, Katy Perry, and Bezos himself. The moon called, it pays better.
🔑 Arkansas strikes gold: Turns out the next tech gold rush isn't in Silicon Valley. It's under Arkansas. Scientists found up to 19 million tons of lithium buried in ancient saltwater two miles underground. That's enough to power the world's EV batteries nine times over by 2030. ExxonMobil and others are already drilling, with commercial production expected by 2028. China controls 70% of the global lithium supply. Arkansas: "Hold my sweet tea, darlin'."
Your free VPN is a crime line: That free VPN you downloaded to stay private? It was renting out your internet connection to criminals. Google discovered apps like Galleon VPN and Radish VPN were funneling traffic from 550+ hacking groups through your device. That means their sketchy activity looks like it came from you. If you're using a free VPN, delete it now. ExpressVPN is what I use and trust. Get four extra months free right now.*
🛟 Finally, AI is saving lives: Here's a palate cleanser from all the AI doom and gloom. A massive Swedish trial of over 100,000 women found AI-supported mammograms caught more cancers during screening and reduced aggressive cancer diagnoses by 27% in the following two years. It also slashed radiologist workload by 44% without increasing false positives. So while AI is busy stealing internships and deepfaking anything, at least it's pulling its weight somewhere that actually matters.
THE KIM KOMANDO SHOW
Don't just listen!
Watch as I cover why Google paid $68 million, reveal how one man sold the same two cars over and over and unpack an unhinged corporate revenge plot. Check out the show on my YouTube channel to see how I react to all the stories and calls.
Hot new Amazon release. Get up to 100W charging and 13 ports, including one for triple-screen setups. There's even a detachable hub for traveling. That's so clever!
Image: Anker
✏️ Write this down: Plug in an electric pencil sharpener(50% off, $10) or pop in batteries on the go. The helical blade helps the tips last longer.
Toe-tally worth it: This adjustable memory foam footrest(20% off, $40) boosts posture, eases leg strain and stays put on your floor.
🇺🇲 Always handy: Stock up on a booklet of 20 forever stamps(7% off, $27), so they're always with you. Saves you a last-minute post-office run.
Elevate your game: A computer monitor stand(33% off, $10) raises your screen and frees up space, so you can store your desk gear underneath.
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Want to make a quick copy of a file without overwriting the original? Press Ctrl + Shift + S on Windows or Cmd + Shift + S on Mac. It creates a duplicate with a new name instead of accidentally replacing the existing file. Works in most apps.
Ask AI to help plan your week: Mondays can feel overwhelming. Paste your to-do list, appointments and work hours into a chatbot. Then underneath the info, prompt: Make a Monday-to-Friday plan, spread my tasks out sensibly, add breaks that fit my schedule and flag anything that can wait until next week. Your week got less stressful. Now, make it even better by signing up to get my new AI newsletter, launching soon!
🔕 Mute noisy email threads: We've all been stuck in a reply all chain we don't need. On Gmail on the web, open the message, click the three-dot icon at the top and select Mute. To find it later, search for is:muted. In Apple Mail, select the conversation > Message > Mute. The email stays in your inbox, but the notifications stop.
🔐Tax season warning: A credit freeze does not protect you from tax fraud. Hackers can use your SSN to file a fake return and steal your refund. I use NordProtect to monitor the dark web for threats credit bureaus miss. Don't wait until April to find out you were hit. Get 66% off, that's only $4.74 a month.*
Sign in with an app stack: If you open the same programs every morning on your PC, make them launch automatically. On Windows, go to Settings > Apps > Startup and toggle on the ones you want. Or check each app's settings for Run at startup. On Mac, head to System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Add.
Your phone's new bouncer: When was the last time you answered a call from Unknown on purpose? Exactly. iOS 26 now lets your iPhone play receptionist. When a number you don't recognize calls, Siri picks up, asks who's calling and why, and shows you a live transcript. You decide if they're worth your time or get the boot. With 2 billion robocalls a month, this is the screening we've been waiting for. Turn it on: Settings > Apps > Phone > Screen Unknown Callers > Ask Reason for Calling.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: Sony
🌽 Kernel of truth
See that video above? It's robots stitching up individual kernels on a cob of corn.
Why corn? Because reconnecting blood vessels thinner than a human hair is brutal on human hands. Surgeons do it through a microscope, and one twitch ruins everything.
Sony's new prototype helps. Pen-style controllers, 4K 3D imaging and motion tracking so precise it cancels out hand tremors. It swaps tools automatically in 10 seconds flat. Surgeries that were nearly impossible will become routine.
Fair warning, this one's corny. What did the baby corn ask the mommy corn? Where's pop corn? 🍿
LOGGING OUT …
🔜 Tomorrow: Your bank is paying you 0.01% interest while online banks are offering 10 to 20 times more. So why isn't everyone switching? Because there are trade-offs nobody talks about. Tomorrow, I'm giving you the full picture: the perks, the headaches and the security mistakes that can empty your account. Open that email. And you might even be my next $250 Amazon gift card winner in February's Cash Grab!
🧠 The answer: C) Coopetition. That's the official term for when companies flex rivalry in public but secretly rely on each other. Apple pays Google about $1 billion per year for access to its Gemini AI models, the brains behind Siri's next generation, instead of building everything in-house. But that price tag is tiny compared to the roughly $20 billion+ Google pays Apple annually to be the default search engine on iPhones and iPads.
We're all iWitnesses to this tech history. I'm waiting for the Apple product for pirates. It's going to be called the iPatch. (I'll see myself out now with that!)
You've got more in you than you know. Dig a little deeper today. Thanks for being here with me. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
Companies and products denoted by an asterisk (*) within this publication are paid sponsors or advertisements. As an Amazon Associate, the publisher earns from qualifying purchases. Statements regarding products denoted by a double asterisk (**) have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration; such products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This newsletter is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, medical, or professional advice of any kind. Readers should consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions based on this content. The publisher disclaims all liability for any loss, damage, or injury resulting from the use of or reliance on the information contained herein.
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Keep a civil tongue.