It's Wednesday, friend.Before Netflix was worth $300 billion, before "Netflix and chill" was a thing, two guys in a car pool had one dumb question: Can you mail a DVD without it breaking?
📀 It was 1997. DVDs were new, thin, light and way cheaper to ship than clunky VHS tapes. So Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings bought a used disc, stuck it in a small envelope and mailed it to his buddy Marc Randolph's house. That's it. That was the entire business plan. I've had better-researched impulse buys at Target.
It arrived in one piece. What was that first disc? A) Apollo 13 on DVD, B) A Patsy Cline CD, C) Titanic on DVD or D) An AOL free trial disc. Take a guess. The answer is shipping in at the end.
🚀 Big, big, really big news. Next week, I'm launching a new newsletter called Splash of AI, and I built it for you. One email every Thursday. Five minutes. No jargon, no hype, no "robots are coming for your job" panic. I've been using AI every single day for over three years, and it has changed how I work, how I save money and how I protect my family. Now I'm handing you the playbook. It's free. Click here to sign up before the first issue drops. You're going to want to be in on this from day one. — Kim
Most people use AI chatbots like a search engine and get mediocre results.
The secret: Tell the AI who to be before you ask it anything.
Here's exactly how to do that, with real examples you can steal.
📖 Read time: 2 minutes
The other day, our Associate Producer Lauren was using AI to write podcast titles. I looked over her shoulder and thought, These are generic. The kind of titles you scroll right past.
So I said, "Tell the AI what it is first." She looked at me like, What?
I explained that instead of typing "Write me podcast titles about phone scams," tell AI, "You are a social media expert who develops podcast titles and descriptions from outlines that make people stop scrolling and pay attention."
Then she gave it the outline. Night and day. Suddenly the titles had hooks, urgency and personality. Lauren looked at me like I'd handed her a magic wand.
I hadn't. I told her the one trick that changes everything about AI.
🧠 Give AI a job title
Here's why most people get bad results from ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. They treat it like Google. Type a question, hope for the best. But AI takes on roles. Tell it who to be, and the quality jumps dramatically.
Think of it this way. Shouting, "Write me a headline!" at an empty room gets a random answer. Asking your best copywriter gets something great. AI works the same way.
Try these.
For emails: "You are a professional copywriter who writes concise, persuasive emails that get opened and get responses."
For social media: "You are a social media strategist who creates scroll-stopping posts without sounding like a brand."
For meal planning: "You are a nutritionist who creates simple, budget-friendly weekly meal plans for families with picky eaters."
For cover letters: "You are a career coach who writes cover letters that highlight accomplishments naturally."
For travel: "You are a local travel guide who recommends hidden gems and avoids tourist traps."
The more specific the role, the better the output.
🔒 Make AI remember it
Save those instructions, so you never repeat yourself.
ChatGPT: Click your name > Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions. Paste your role prompt. Every conversation starts with that expertise.
Claude: Tap your name > Settings > Profile and type instructions under personal preferences. Or go to Menu > Projects to create a project with instructions baked in.
Gemini:Menu > Gems > New Gem. Create a custom Gem with your role prompt.
Set up different roles for different tasks. Work emails. Social posts. Recipes. Like hiring specialists who work for free and never call in sick.
Most people will never do this. Now you're not most people.
🗣️ STEAL THIS STAT: Most people use ChatGPT like a search engine and get forgettable results. One sentence changes everything: Tell the AI who to be before you ask it anything. "You are a social media expert who writes scroll-stopping headlines." Try it once, and you'll never go back. GetKim.com
📩 Know someone who keeps saying, "AI doesn't work for me"? It does. They just haven't tried this. Forward it.
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Our guide, When to Retire: A Quick and Easy Planning Guide, walks you through these critical steps. Learn ways to define your goals and align your investment strategy to meet them. If you have $1,000,000 or more saved, download your free guide to start planning for the retirement you've worked for.
Don't vent to your coworker right after a Zoom or Teams call. Your spicy takes and complaints are likely being transcribed and emailed to the entire team.
🎧 Or search "Komando" wherever you get your podcasts. I'm everywhere.
WEB WATERCOOLER
🧰 Claude ate IBM's lunch: Get this. One blog post erased $31 billion from IBM. You read that right. Anthropic published an article about how its AI tool Claude Code can modernize ancient COBOL computer code. IBM's stock crashed 13% in a single day, its worst since 2000. Why? IBM makes a fortune helping banks and governments maintain those old COBOL systems. Investors panicked. IBM stock is down 27% in February. Somewhere, Watson is quietly updating its own résumé.
The chatbot con: Heads up, scammers are using AI chatbots that look like trusted customer service reps to peddle a fake cryptocurrency called Google Coin. The site looks legit. You ask questions, it replies fast, sounds reassuring and walks you step-by-step toward the payment page. Come on, there is no Google Coin. Crypto fraud losses topped $5.6 billion last year, and AI is making these schemes scarier realistic.
🚘 Drove off with the lot: Looks like CarGurus, one of the biggest auto shopping sites in America, popped up on the ShinyHunters dark web leak site. Millions of buyers and sellers use CarGurus, and details are still emerging on exactly what data was accessed. If you've bought, sold or even browsed cars on CarGurus, keep a close eye on your financial accounts and consider a credit freeze before your data gets a test drive.
Apple's blitz: Bloomberg says Apple is dropping "at least five products" starting March 2. The expected lineup: a colorful budget MacBook starting around $599, the iPhone 17e ($599, A19 chip, MagSafe), M5 MacBook Pros, updated iPads and maybe new studio displays. No livestream this time. Supplies are running low on current iPhone SEs and MacBook Airs. That's the signal. Wait.
☢️ FedEx, but nuclear: Ever lose a package and refresh tracking like it's a medical emergency? Imagine that package is a minivan-size nuclear reactor. The U.S. military airlifted one 700 miles on a C-17 cargo plane. First time ever. The Ward 250 micro-reactor flew from California to Utah and can power 5,000 homes or an entire military base. The goal? Portable nuclear power deployed anywhere in the world without depending on a civilian power grid. "Fragile: Handle With Care" doesn't quite cover this one.
DAILY TECH UPDATE
Tesla's driverless gamble
Tesla is celebrating its first production milestone for a car you can't actually drive. Testing in Austin and Buffalo reveals the software is still a frightening work in progress.
This desk goes where you go. The wheels lock, so it stays put when you work. Adjusts from about 28 to 46 inches. Perfect for apartments or dorms where space is tight but your to-do list isn't.
Image: ErGear
🖱️ Sore wrist? A wireless ergonomic mouse(38% off, $25) keeps your hand in a natural upright position. Small upgrade, big difference.
Click in comfort: This mouse pad(36% off, $18) is a top new release on Amazon. I see why. The textured surface feels great, like a little massage.
📄 Shred it, forget it: Bonsaii's compact paper shredder(31% off, $30) crosscuts bills and credit cards, so your info is safe from creeps' eyes.
Read your heart out: Leather heart bookmarks(50% off, $4, six-pack) mark your spot without bent pages. Your paperback will thank you.
Prices and deals were accurate at the time of publication.
DEVICE ADVICE
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: Your Kindle has a secret reading timer. Tap the bottom left corner to see how much time is left in your chapter or the whole book. It learns YOUR reading speed, so the estimate gets smarter the more you read. If the numbers look way off (maybe you fell asleep with it open), tap the search icon, type ;ReadingTimeReset and hit Enter. Fresh start.
🛑 Stop the nighttime buffering: Your internet provider secretly throttles your speed when you're streaming movies. That's your bandwidth. You're paying for it. I use ExpressVPN to hide my online activity. If your ISP can't see what you're watching, they can't slow you down. Get four extra months right now.*
Your Mac desktop is a screenshot graveyard: Every capture piles up there like digital clutter. Fix it in 10 seconds. Press ⌘ + Shift + 5, click Options > Save to > Other Location and pick a new folder. Screenshots go there automatically from now on. Bonus: Right-click your desktop and hit Use Stacks. It groups everything by file type. You'll wonder why you lived like that for so long.
😱 Gemini can write you a song: Describe what you want, like "a country ballad about my dog stealing socks," and it generates a 30-second track. Vocals, lyrics, cover art, the works. Upload a photo of your kid's birthday party, and it'll compose a soundtrack to match. Free for anyone 18 and up. Every track gets an invisible AI watermark baked in. Currently in beta, rolling out to all soon. Until then, use Suno.
That little bar on the side of your Android isn't decorative: Swipe it and a panel of quick-access apps slides out. But here's what most people miss. Go to Settings > Display > Edge panels and customize what's in there. Add a compass, ruler or surface level. Swap the apps. Or kill the whole thing if it's been driving you nuts.
🖱️ Switch windows without clicking a thing: Windows 11 has a hidden setting that brings any app to the front by hovering your mouse over it. No clicking. Just float, and it jumps forward. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Mouse and turn on Activate on hover. There's a slider to control how fast it reacts. You'll know in five seconds if you love it or hate it. No in-between.
WHAT THE TECH?
Image: Vinabot
👻 Rest in pixels
Remember the gossiping portraits in Harry Potter?
Vinabot is an AI frame that turns a photo into a talking digital person. You upload a picture, clone a voice, pick a personality, and suddenly a long gone loved one is chatting back in 40+ languages. It's powered by LAiPIC's digital human tech, basically pixels with improv training, wrapped in tasteful hardware.
It's less picture frame, more emotional support hologram. Just when you thought the afterlife had a "Do not disturb" setting. Grandma's been dead for three years, and she still has opinions about your life choices. Yea, that perm was a bad idea.
LOGGING OUT …
🔜 Tomorrow: A company sold names, addresses and phone numbers of people with Alzheimer's, addictions and disabilities to anyone willing to pay. The fine? $45,000. I'll tell you how to protect your privacy, plus how to lock down your SSN. And make a guess now. How much money does Amazon really make? I'm sure I'm a large part of that! Be sure to check out my email to you tomorrow.
The answer: B) A Patsy Cline CD. Hastings couldn't find a DVD in 1997 (they were that new), so he grabbed a Patsy Cline CD for a few bucks and dropped it in the mail. It arrived at Randolph's house in one piece. That single envelope proved the whole business model.
Netflix launched in 1998 with 925 titles, pretty much every DVD that existed. Their first rental? Beetlejuice. (Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice.)
🎬 Here's the part nobody remembers. The original website let you buy DVDs, not only rent them. Sales were 95% of their early revenue. They killed that side once they realized subscriptions were the future. Smart move. Netflix shipped its last red DVD envelope in September 2023 after mailing over 5 billion discs. From one Patsy Cline CD to 5 billion discs. Not bad for a car pool idea.
Writing this reminds me of my Aunt Patty. Dang, she could belt out "Crazy" like Patsy herself. I miss her. Who's cutting onions around here? Turns out Hastings and Randolph were crazy for trying. And crazy for mailing. Patsy would've approved.
P.S. Did you catch the big news up top? My brand new AI newsletter, Splash of AI, drops next week. One email every Thursday. Five minutes. Zero jargon. Just the stuff that actually saves you time, money and headaches. I built it for you. Click here to sign up for free, so you don't miss issue #1.
Hit a rating below to tell me what you think. Your clicks are how I keep bringing you the good stuff. Takes one second. Easy.
🔋 Energy is currency. Spend it like you mean it. — Kim
Kim Komando • Komando.com • 510+ radio stations • Trusted by millions daily
🏆 THE KIM CHALLENGE:Forward this to ONE person who needs to hear it today. Pick the person who popped into your head while reading. You know who it is.
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.