Hey, thanks for listening to the Kim Commando Show. Here comes our one. All right, you're not going to believe this, but of course you will. A Maryland couple let ChatGPT name their baby. Did you hear about this? No. Yes. Sarah and Steven Winkler, they said they were looking up ChatGPT boy names, and then they came up with the ultimate name. There's no way that this actually went wrong. wrong. Hudson Oakley Winkler. Well, that's fine. Okay. You know, that screams trust funds ski instructor if anything does. With the last name Winkler, it could have been a lot of different directions. There is that. I mean, but think about this in 20 years, Hudson's therapist is going to have a field day. My parents literally asked a robot who I should be. Harry Winkler would have been worse. Yeah, right? I mean, Kim Commando. Yeah. I mean, that's my real name. Still some people, they say, how did you come up with the radio name, Kim Commando? I was born with this sucker. I didn't know it was your real name till like, I don't know, 10 years ago. And I've known you forever. I mean, yeah. How many times do people, they come up to me and they say, oh, I bet you go Commando. Once a day. And then I look at him and go, yeah, I do. And then they don't know how to respond it goes from giggling to just being nervous it's like that awkward silence you want to see uh and on that happy note welcome i am kim commando america's beloved digital goddess here with you the best show the biggest show the most trusted show about all things digital and of course joining me is my co-host andrew babinski who's also the co-host on the morning show in phoenix arizona on 99.9 fm and let me tell you you can find us on over 425 top stations from coast to coast. We're streaming in her favorite radio app. And you can also get The Kim Commando Show as a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Commando with a K, of course. And if you have any questions, if you want to join in on the fun, the Commando hotline's open right now at 1-888-825-5254. But let me tell you a secret. Are you ready? If you go to commando.com, there's a link at the top. And then that's where you can actually schedule a time to speak with me. And also my co-host, Andrew Rabinsky. here with us. And you can also listen to Andrew on 99.9 FM in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Kim. Already then, every single day of my life, I make sure that I know exactly what's happening in the tech space so that this way you too know exactly what's happening in the tech world. Because I don't know if there's ever been a time, Andrew, more than right now, when if you don't know what's happening in the whole consumer tech world, AI world, you're like left behind. I mean, has there ever been a time where this show has been more important than right now? Especially with AI being implemented in everything, every single day. Yeah, it's just nuts. It's changing fast. Let's talk about what seems like it would be a dumb internet meme or nonsense that's spreading like crazy. Grok on X, and Grok is, of course, X's AI name, is happily slapping bikinis on everyone. politicians, celebrities, the president, Elon was laughing about it and everybody was having a good time. But then things went a little crazy. They started including children, but then not just bikinis on kids, but lingerie. No warnings, no blocks, nothing. Listen to this. Between January January 6th and January 7th, Grok created 6,700 of these images per hour. Per hour? Yeah. I thought it was going to be for those two days combined. 85% of all pictures on Grok are now sexualized. That's crazy. But not all of them are children. A large majority are. Oh, that's so gross. The team says that they have, this is their quote, lapses and safeguards. You think? Okay. What was the safeguard? Paper towels that you duct tape to the door to the AI chatbot? Well, you know, Grock does have spicy mode. So you put Grock in spicy mode. But it shouldn't ever cross that line when it comes to minors. Never, ever, ever. Elon hasn't stopped it. Yeah, this is not about free speech. It's about a billionaire deciding that child safety guidelines don't apply to his products. If they wanted to make this stop, they could. I tried to take a picture of my own daughter and turn it into like a color page that she could color in. And it said he couldn't because she was under the age. But you weren't on Grok. No, that was on Chance Upt. Yeah. OK. Elon, call them, see what they're doing and just copy paste. That's it. That's all you need to do. Meanwhile, Las Vegas hosted about 100,000 people this past week that all believe a smart toaster will change your life forever. I'm talking about CES. They used to call it the Consumer Electronics Show. It's the annual spectacle where all these tech companies show off their visions of the future. And we're going to be talking about it throughout the show today. Of course, flying cars, AI, everything, robots that fold laundry, and another smart refrigerator, because we all need that. Oh, absolutely. So, but let's start with something that I actually think is really cool. You know how when you're watching the news or something like that, and you see like they have those big video walls? Yeah. Okay. Those big video walls cost at least $100,000, $150,000, $200,000. So let's say that if you wanted one of those video walls in your house, you wouldn't be able to afford it, right? No. Okay. Plus you have contractors cables. Wait a minute. What if you gave me a raise? And at that point, the raise would solely be based on I can get one of those walls. I would like a raise. I would like a raise too. I think you should be paying me. You always turn it back to yourself. for the privilege of being with me. People would pay big money to sit in your chair. Go ahead. Go back to your thing. I tried to turn this into a positive for me, but of course not. That video wall usually requires contractors, cables, and some guy by the name of Mark is saying, well, that ain't up to code. We need union to cover that. That's right. A company called Displace, they made four 55 or 65-inch TVs that snap together in a single screen, and they just stick to your wall. That means like no mounts, no marks, anything like that. They say the whole thing goes up wirelessly in under 30 minutes. Each panel has a built-in battery, its own controller. You just wave your hand and it can expand. I think this is so cool. Very cool. Okay. $40,000. Okay. I thought you were going to be like, and it's only $3,900. $40,000 is still out of most people's TV budgets. Of course it is, but it's not $125,000. So what happens is that as this tech comes out, of course, the price will go down. Let me tell you something. The difference between $40,000 and $100,000, not much for me. Both unattainable. Well, you know, speaking of TV, Barry asked me last night, hey, what's streaming on the TV? I said dust. He didn't laugh. I bet. Alexa rolled out their own, pardon me, Amazon rolled out Alexa Plus, which is their own version of Chad CPT and Gemini or Claude. But what's kind of cool is you can say, plan a dinner for six, and this is the menu, and then it'll put all the ingredients into your cart. I think that's pretty amazing. But it's got a subscription fee. That's only if you don't already pay for Amazon Prime. Okay. Okay. And a lot of people are freaking out about the new Alexa voice. So first, let's take a listen to what the old Alexa sounds like. Okay. In heavily populated areas, it is much more likely to rain on Saturday than on Monday because of the pollution that builds up over a week of commuter traffic. So you're all familiar with that voice. Okay. Now, here is a new Alexa. Oh. Hey there. Got any spring break ideas? Santa Barbara is great for everyone. It has great upscale shops and oceanfront dining. I found a restaurant downtown I think you like So what do you think Did someone let the dog out today Well here the thing With the old Alexa thing you thought you were talking to a robot Now it sounds like you talking to a human A teenager I get why people would think that they that kind of you know caustic Yes. Well, if you want the old Alexa back, you can just say Alexa and early access. Okay. And now every Echo speaker throughout the country just says. Oh, no. We've got to bleep that out. Is it too late? He'll say, what? Meanwhile, Alexa, play the Kim Commando show. What are you doing? Oh, speaking of TVs, this one might be more attainable for you. Okay. It might be, but you might have to get a side hustle. Is it under $30,000? Well, Samsung unveiled a TV that's 130 inches. That's 11 feet diagonally. My current television is 100 inches. It's 130. This would be so much bigger, and my TV is huge. The picture quality, they say it's incredible. Thousands of tiny red, green, and blue LEDs work independently. It also has this glare-free technology, so if the sun's coming in, you can still see the screen. That's cool. And if you want to put it outside, you can. Now, last year's massive TV from Samsung was 115 inches, and they were selling that for $30,000. So at 130 inches, it'll be $45,000. So we're still in that unattainable range. Yeah, for sure. Finally, if you get an email about a Google Play Store settlement, I don't want you to remove it or delete it. It's real. You could be getting money. Here's what happened. All 50 states sued Google for running Monopoly of the Play Store and overcharging customers. google agreed to settle for 700 and million dollars 700 million dollars okay that's big so if you bought any apps or made any in-app purchases between 2016 and 2023 you get a piece of this massive settlement you don't have to do anything you don't have to fill out a form you don't have to find a receipt the money just will show up automatically in your paypal or venmo account oh okay so think about this how much money are we talking about 700 million dollars Two bucks a person? How did you know? Because I read the story. Oh. Yeah, two bucks. So all that money, you get $2. That's it. Well, watch for that deposit. Yes. But here's what I don't like about this, is that they are going to have scammers who say, hey, you got to get your part of the settlement. Enter all your PayPal information right here. Of course. You told people not to delete that email. It's not worth the $2. No. Delete it. Well, if you want the $2. It's not worth it. But if you say some scammer like from Google.br. Right, exactly. Hey, you know, what's a pirate's favorite settlement amount? A buccaneer. What? And Google's giving you two of them. Don't spend it in the wrong place. No, just go right back to the Google Play Store and get overcharged again. All right, coming up, we have a really important tip about whether or not you should be putting emojis on your kids' faces pictures before you actually post it online. And then where you can get free TV because everybody's tired of all those streaming bills. Oh, and Jeff Bezos got hacked and we've got the tea on that. And we also have the best phone calls ever here on the Kim Commando Show. Hey, if you haven't already, make sure that you join almost a million folks every single day who get my free newsletters by going to getkim.com. Five-star at a five-star rated. You're going to love it. Again, that's getkim.com. So, you know, Andrew, we read about, we hear a lot about Venmo scams. Yeah. And joining us right now, and we're going to start with all of our phone calls, is Brenda in Atlanta, Georgia. And now, Brenda, you have an interesting Venmo scam, I understand. Yes, I do. It happened Christmas Day. I was coming home from an event, and there was a gentleman, young boy, standing in the median, and I thought he was trying to cross the road. So I kept my car a little bit further back, and then he motioned for me to come up. And I rolled down the window and said, I'm sorry, I thought you were trying to cross the road. And he said, no, my coach is having us out here collecting money for our basketball team. so I handed attempted to hand him a five dollar bill and he said no no no the coach doesn't want us to take any money but he wants you to Venmo him and I said well that's not a very good idea and he said please it's just you just two dollars I have to show the coach that I'm really trying so I picked up my phone and I opened Venmo and I said tell me his name I'll Venmo five dollars And that time he reached in my car, grabbed my phone, and starts with a QR code on his phone. And I reached and grabbed his phone out of his hand and said, give me my phone back right now. And he continued messing with my phone and then finally handed it back to me. And I gave him his phone and then I just left. And as soon as I got to my driveway, which was two minutes, I called 911. Sitting in my driveway, I looked at my Venmo, and I couldn't see anything that had happened until I went to transactions. And it shows he had attempted to send $2,000 somewhere. And it just showed a number, but it was not my Venmo account. So the police officer called me and said, we've got the suspect in the back of the police car. Do you want to press charges? And I said, yes, I absolutely do. My Venmo showed that the funds would not be available until December 31st. The next day, I went to my bank and talked to them, showed them what had happened. They said, we probably can't do anything about it, but they called the scam department at the bank. And by Monday, the money was back into my account. But in the meantime, I had changed my password. I had deleted the bank account attached to my Venmo. And I had transferred enough money out of that account that it should have come back insufficient funds. And you know what? Of course, afterwards, I felt so gullible and so. Yeah, but you were just trying to help. You know, I mean, it's Christmas Day. The kid asked for, you know, even just $2. Who would not say no? to $2, right? You know, my kids both did sports, and I know they had to do, you know, collections and sales, you know, what's a couple of dollars? But when he grabbed the phone out of my hand, then I knew this was not good. But it's a shame you can't help kids when they're really legitimately doing something, you know. I got a police report. He's still in jail, and he was 17 years old. You shouldn't have given him his phone back. When you stole his phone, you should have kept it. that did enter my mind but i didn't want to be arrested for fire brenda be like in the pokey on christmas day i know that would not have been good i'm really glad that you called in and took some time because this is this serves as a warning to everybody you know you want to help and that's our nature because we're all good people we want to try to help but we we you can't you know ask for a legitimate source or ask for you know where can I actually go online to authenticate where this is. It's a scam around every corner. It really is. So I'm sure you've seen them online. The celebrities like to do it. They take pictures of themselves with their kids, but they maybe put a heart or a moon emoji on the kid's face. Of course. So that this way they're protecting their child's privacy. But as it turns out, that's completely useless. Why? AI can now remove the emoji stickers and reconstruct the face underneath. How? AI looks at the head shape, the hair, the ears, all, and maybe some other photos, looks at the parents' facial features that try to fill in all the blanks I can even begin to tell you how little that makes sense to me and how it even possible Because it AI Okay fine Just saying I glad you explained it so indefinitely. Because AI knows things because it can look at the parent's facial structure and then interpret that and then can fill in the blanks and then sometimes they just put like a heart above their eyes and their mouth and so they leave the shape of the face. Okay, so do you leave too If I did an emoji that was like 80% of the picture, I might be able to get away with it. Or just don't post pictures of your kids. Okay. Which is an interesting thing because my niece sent me a text that she wanted to send somebody else in the family because she has a five-year-old and a nine-month-old. And she said, you know, does this make sense? Because at some holiday gatherings, some other people in the family, not me, because I know better, posted pictures of her kids. And she's like, I don't want my kids online. Sure. And so she had to delicately tell people like, stop that. Very delicate. Yes. Let's see. Richard in beautiful Augusta, Georgia. You're up next. Hi there, Richard. Hi, Kim. How are you doing on a great day? I am fantastic as always. So tell me, what's going on? Well, I want to tell you that you praise your faithful listeners, but you rarely praise your faithful readers, of which I am one, because I really like your newsletter, or the current. And I read recently that you had some VPN lies that we fall for article, and I read it, and it was very intriguing to me how you use VPN. I'm an avid user of one because I'm married to a digital guy myself, smartest lady in the room often, but she taught programming, computer programming at their college, and she said, we got to get this VPN, and we got to use it. So we do that faithfully. And I have not heard of the ability that you indicated in this article about saving hundreds of dollars on airline tickets and car rentals. Let me explain to you how that works. Actually, it's a story. I'll tell you a story. Andrew knows this story. So I have a friend of mine. She's going to the UK and she wants to rent a car for some reason. I'm like, I don't know why you want to rent a car because they drive on the wrong side of the road, but that's okay okay so she wants to rent a car and she gets uh like it was like twelve hundred dollars to rent a car for four days okay and and i said you know what just for giggles fire up a vpn and tell them that you're actually in london and you want to rent the car so she fires up a vpn says she's in london she wants the car for the same dates the same make and model from the same agency and it was like 400 bucks. Okay. Wow. So you can, you can save some real money by doing this. And what you did there was you went to the town that, or the nearby where you were going to rent the car anyway, and use the VPN as access to that same rental car company. And because as you're coming in from the United States, they know you're a tourist. Okay. And she still says she was, you had a u.s driver's license all that other stuff same credit card everything was the same and so so that's the whole idea now you can also do that sometimes with airfare so like if you're in the united states and you want to book ryan air in europe that's going to cost you more than if you were in say paris and trying to book ryan air or the uk booking ryan ryan air okay so you simply go Go into your VPN and you locate that as you being in that area. Exactly. And then there are also other tricks. So like, let's say you wanted to go to Disney World. Okay. I do. And research says, oh, good for you. Happy day. Is that if you are trying to go to Disney World, that if you're looking for the best prices to get to Orlando, is that you might want to say you are in the UK or you are in Mexico or Brazil because those countries offer better packages to get to Orlando that include the tickets in the hotel rooms. Even if we're flying from Phoenix to Orlando. Exactly. You're just going to change your location. But that's also something else. A friend of mine was going from Paris to Phoenix. And from Paris to Phoenix, I think it was like $1,600. Okay. Okay. And then from Paris to Tucson, it was $800. But what happened was, is that the plane went from Paris to Phoenix and then to Tucson, but he got off in Phoenix. Oh, that's hilarious. So the layover was his destination. Yes, but I understand that the airlines, they only like you to do that a couple of times before they get mad at you. Yeah, then they blacklist you. Yeah, exactly. Hey, so do you want to be on the no fly list? go ahead and follow that advice. I mean, I'm just saying what Miles did. Okay. I haven't personally done that. Yeah. Okay. But it has worked for someone else. Yeah. So what you do is that you open up another tab and you can fire up the VPN and then just try to see, you know, see what the prices may be. Also, I've noticed even here in the United States that, well, I think it's kind of changing now with Phoenix because Phoenix is becoming a major metropolitan area, especially with all the chip plants that are coming here. And we now have, I don't know if you know this, Andrew, we have now daily flights or nonstop flights between Phoenix and Taipei. Oh, of course I knew that. I look at the rates all the time. What is Taipei? I noticed that if I'm trying to book a flight from Phoenix, I may say I'm in San Francisco. Okay. Or I may say I'm in Los Angeles and I'll get a different rate than if I'm actually in Phoenix. Is the only genre where this truly works is travel? I haven't experienced this personally, but I do understand that various websites, including Amazon, that depending upon your zip code and that if you live in a hoity-toity area. Yes. Yes. Have you seen that, Richard? Yes, and I've heard that as well. Yes, I have. Yes, because I'm not in a big metropolitan city. I mean, it's the second biggest city in Georgia, but it's still not giant. That there is a difference. Yes, I understand that is true. Yeah, so that you'll get a higher price than somebody who's living in a lower income area. But you can do your VPN to like Compton? Yeah. Even though you're getting it delivered to Phoenix. To Paradise Valley. That could influence it? Yes, absolutely. A hundred percent. So, you know, of course we talk about VPNs masking your identity. ISPs can't see where you're coming from or what you're browsing or anything like that. but using a VPN also gives you these other perks. That's definitely worth checking out. And I'd be remiss without saying that ExpressVPN is the official VPN of the Kim Commando show. If you go to expressvpn.com slash Kim, you get four extra months free. Thanks for your call today, Richard. Appreciate you getting through. And also as a loyal reader of the newsletter, love that. Now you gotta get the podcast, just saying. All right, here's a number that should scare Hollywood. You ready for this number? Zero. Oh, I'm frightened. Zero. That's how many new original shows cracked the streaming top 10 last year. Oh, my gosh. Oh, and they probably spent hundreds of millions of dollars on that. Yes. So if you are looking for movies and shows and you're tired of paying for all this stuff, here's some places you can go. YouTube. It's now America's most watched streaming service, beating out Amazon Prime and Netflix. Wow. Search free with ads. so you can unlock full-length movies and classics. Tubi, that's T-U-B-I, is next. 50,000 titles from MGM, Lionsgate, and more. And then also Pluto TV is owned by Paramount now. And you get solid picks, hundreds of live channels. I love free. I love free. I don't know. Have you noticed there's not a lot of good stuff streaming lately? We just right now are watching a bunch of cooking shows. Are you? Yeah. So we're just, that's all we're doing. Anything and everything. We watch cooking shows cooking competition shows There barbecue shows Okay so at the Babinski households it all cooking all the time Yeah just like you said there nothing else to watch Yeah there like we have all these different channels like there's nothing to watch. We watched Moulin Rouge the other day. I'm like, this is from 2001. We have more of the show coming up. What do you think, Andrew? More phone calls? That's what we're supposed to do, right? I think so. Kimberly, nice name, love that, in Los Angeles, California. Hello there, Kimberly. Welcome aboard. What's going on with you? Hi, Kim. I have to tell you, first off, I'm a huge fan. I watch your podcast every day, and I listen, I read your newsletter every single day with my coffee. So I'm a huge fan of yours. Thank you. You're welcome. Well, to cut to the chase, a year ago, I was on Facebook, and this guy in the military contacted me, and I usually don't answer. So for some reason, I don't know why I did. and it's gone on for a year that we're texting each other but he started asking for like apple cards and small amounts of money but it's continuing and it's not large amounts it's like under two hundred dollars have you been giving it to him once in a while i do not hardly at all though okay i try not to because i'm so worried it's a scam my family members always tell me it's a scam it's a scam so he but this guy so this guy's in the military what does he do in the military he says he's intelligent that's what he said but and where is he located he's actually in Yemen he says okay is this a romantic relationship or just pen pals kind of pen pals you know okay nothing serious so you just chat with this guy all day long all week long and then every now and then he's like hey can I get a hundred bucks right correct yeah okay Definitely. And so what's he doing in Yemen? He's on an assignment there, and he says he's going to retire soon. Okay. And so have you ever tried to figure out if the guy's legit? Oh, yes. I've investigated. You've taught me that much. Okay. And what are the results back? Well, one picture he sent me with a little girl that he said was his came back with an article saying that this man was killed in a drive-by with his daughter. But then the article says that the daughter's an infant, and the girl was clearly about 13, I'd say. So I don't know if all the information I'm getting is correct. He told me first he lived in Pennsylvania, then in New York State, but his area code on his cell phone is in Ohio. Yeah, but you can get that from anything. We just talked about VPNs. Yeah, and you've got Google Voice. You can pick a phone number. How much totally have you given him? Oh, I'd say maybe $1,500 tops. Okay. And then is he asking for more money now? Yes. And how much? He wants $300 this time. For what purpose? I don't know. I've never asked him or gone into it. So he wants $300. Correct. If he's in Yemen on assignment working military intelligence, I mean, he should have $300. You would think so, yeah. Have you ever videoed him? uh no but he sent me he's actually in jail now for what i don't know in yemen he's in jail in he's a military guy in jail oh come on kimberly what's he gonna do with 300 bucks in yemen jail buy a yemen shank from someone maybe he maybe he needs a new shirt or something i don't know i don't know either okay you know what now you know this is a scam yeah it's gotta be okay you know this. You're smart. You know what? You're smart. You're smarter than this. Yeah. What is it that has you so attracted to him? At least to the communication with him? Just chatting with him. That's it. Okay. Alright. So I don't... Okay. Let's pretend we're sisters. We're sitting around. We're having a cup of coffee. Okay? And you tell me all this. First of all, it'd be kind of weird because we both have the same name. My mother... You know, mothers would not do that. You have the laziest parents. This is Kim one and Kim two. I want to be Kim one. No, I'm Kim one. I was born first. I tell you, you need to cut off all communication with this guy. Yeah. And move on. And then I have to ask you a question. Okay. You got too much time on your hands. You need to figure out something to do. Yeah, I know. I need something to do. I need a hobby. Yeah, she needs a hobby. It's not the guy in Yemen, okay? Maybe go into military intelligence. Maybe he'll end up in jail. In Yemen. Of all places. So, you know, think about this. If you like dogs, go volunteer at a shelter, right? Oh, that's a good idea, yeah. I mean, if you like kids, go volunteer at the children's hospital. And if that dog that you're volunteering for asks you for a Google Play card, do not give it to him. Dogs can't use those. They cannot. Only the dogs in jail in Yemen can use the gift cards. Thanks for your call today, Kimberly. Deborah in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Hi, Deborah. Hi, Kim. How are you? Great. What's going on with you? Well, I was researching text-to-video AI tools, and there are so many of them. I want to use them to create educational materials, and I'm researching and researching about to give up, and I'm listening to your show, and I'm like, why don't I call Kim Commando? It would make so much sense because I hear you helping people. Yeah, I hear you helping people all the time. So the reason I want to use the text-to-video AI is because I want to get these lessons up, and this way I don't have to hire photographers. I don't have to worry about lighting, editing. I know these tools are incredible, and I just don't know which way to go. Well, there's only a couple out there that are worth even trying. The first one is called HeyGen. That's H-E-Y-G-E-N. Okay. You get unlimited videos up to 30 minutes, which is fine. And it's a platform that we've been playing with here that I think has great potential for what you're trying to use it for. Now, if you don't like that platform, try Synthesia. And that's like synthesizer, but Synthesia. Yeah, I've looked at that one. Yeah, I like that one because they have over 70 different AI avatars in like over a hundred different languages. But I think HeyGen is better implementation than Synthesia, but Synthesia has different features. But either way, you know, as you mentioned, creating these videos, these training videos, I want you to remember that we are just at the beginning stages of this too. We're just now figuring out true voice AI cloning. And now we're going to add video with it and have the lips synced up. It's getting there, but it's nowhere as great as it's going to be, say, in about 12 to 18 months. You're going to see a big, big push. But if you're just trying to get it out there right now, it's a good place to start. Again, HeyGen and Synthesia, we have more of the show coming up. I don't know if you heard about this, but Jeff Bezos got hacked. What happened? Yes, Pegasus software, despite being surrounded by security teams, they were trying to get to his business documents, his texting, his email. Pegasus sees everything. It cracks your encrypted signal and WhatsApp messages. It takes over your camera, your mic. It's total surveillance. So how do you get this type of stuff? Sometimes it's a malicious link or a sketchy app, but there are also what's called zero-click attacks. All you have to do is get a text message, and boom, you're infected. Now, there are ways to lock down your phone, and we've got the steps over at commando.com. That's K-O-M-A-N-D-O.com. Thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you next time. Hey, appreciate you being here. That's the end of hour one of the show. And be sure to tell your family members and friends how great it was.
