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Kim Komando Daily Tech Update

Your smart light is spying on you

19 Feb 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What risks do smart bulbs pose to your privacy?

0.031 - 20.757 Kim Komando

That cheap smart bulb in your lamp, it's not just lighting up your living room. Every time you ask it to turn on or off, that bulb is taking notes, like when you wake up or when you're home alone at night. Here's the deal. Most smart lights use a tiny chip to connect to your Wi-Fi. That chip talks to an app that quietly harvests your habits and beans them right back to the manufacturer.

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20.737 - 40.919 Kim Komando

Some cheaper brands then package your life story and sells it to data brokers. So let's lock it out. First, log into your router and create a guest network for your smart stuff. Put every smart bulb, fridge, and toaster on it. It keeps them on their own lane so they can't talk to your laptop, your phone, or your banking apps. And if you do throw away an old bulb, grab a hammer.

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41.199 - 49.748 Kim Komando

Your Wi-Fi password lives on that chip. Don't let your light bulbs be brighter than you are. Learn more at GetChem.com.

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49.728 - 75.516 David

next up a call for my weekend show the kim commando show enjoy uh david in detroit michigan hello there david hi kim what's going on in detroit oh we got a little bit of snow happening but i i want to start by thanking you for what you have given us on this planet you uh you have made technology digestible for all of us who

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76.087 - 82.076 David

who need it but don't necessarily want to pick up the owner's manual and understand it.

82.456 - 83.978 Kim Komando

If you could find the owner's manual.

85.761 - 93.953 Unknown

Right. David, you're already on the show. You don't have to suck up that hard. Thanking her for what she's given to the planet. I love that.

96.597 - 103.647 Kim Komando

I'm going to make that my ringtone. It's going to be a t-shirt. I saved the planet.

Chapter 2: How can you protect your data from smart devices?

104.96 - 106.162 Kim Komando

Forget Elon Musk.

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Chapter 3: What steps should you take to create a guest Wi-Fi network?

106.482 - 115.373 Kim Komando

We don't need to go to Mars. Trademarking Cremato. Thank you, Andrew. That's right. So what's on your mind? Thanks for your kind words. Sure.

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Chapter 4: Why is it important to isolate smart devices from personal networks?

116.174 - 139.313 David

So I was listening to one of your episodes recently, and you were talking with someone about the Kindle Direct Publishing, which inspired me to think. I have a colleague, and we have written a workbook and have been – Printing it, photocopying it, having it shrunk wrap, the hard copy kind of version. What's a workbook about?

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140.054 - 145.724 David

We created a workbook to work with men who are perpetrators of domestic violence.

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Chapter 5: What are effective methods for disposing of old smart bulbs?

146.225 - 147.387 Kim Komando

Oh, wow. Okay.

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147.687 - 174.859 David

That's heavy. So it's a very personal thing, so it's not something that you want sitting in a Google Doc. So we've opted to go with kind of the old tech of printing it on paper. But if there is a platform or a way to do this electronically, kind of the idea of what you were talking about with the Kindle Direct Publishing that would allow somebody to download it,

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175.21 - 194.439 David

and either write in it electronically or they could print it out and write in it with, you know, a pen or a pencil, but also would have some kind of limitations about not sharing it with others. You know, we would want to sell it, and we do sell it when we print it, but that increases the price and makes it very bulky.

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194.76 - 199.609 Kim Komando

Okay, well, let's talk about Kindle. Okay, number one, great platform. Really super easy for you to use.

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Chapter 6: How can you secure your digital life with simple hacks?

200.251 - 222.689 Kim Komando

Just go to Amazon and type in Kindle Direct Publishing. It walks you through exactly how to get your document into the Kindle platform. And then anybody with an Amazon account can buy it and they can download it and it can be on their Kindle. Once it's on their Kindle, they can export it as a PDF and they can print it, they can fill it out or whatever they want to do.

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223.11 - 252.471 Kim Komando

Using Adobe, you could actually make those fields typable, right? So that would be one step of it. There's also a website called Gumroad. Gumroad, like road in the gum. It allows you to sell digital products and interactive PDFs too. So that would be something that you might want to look as well. But of course, everybody has an Amazon account. That's why you definitely want to be on Amazon too.

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252.491 - 258.798 Unknown

But when it comes to sharing it, if someone can download it, and they can print it, then they can scan it and share it.

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258.818 - 282.758 Kim Komando

Yes. mean there there's no way that you're going to prevent somebody from not sharing it okay i mean that's just that's just the nature of digital stuff you know in reality you know especially with how focused this topic is you're not going to have a lot of people hopefully that are sharing it right uh but if they do share it that's one more person that you just helped true

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283.48 - 303.592 Kim Komando

So that's the way I would look at it. I mean, we put out PDFs and Kindles and books and all this other stuff all the time. And I'm just thinking like, hey, that's one more person that gets exposed to the brand. And maybe they might listen to a podcast, get the show, sign up for a newsletter, good things like that.

303.612 - 321.87 Kim Komando

So again, start at Amazon, Kindle, direct publishing, fill out all the forms, get yourself signed up. And if you want to, you can check out Gumroad as well. Hey, want to stay in the tech now without wasting your time? Join nearly a million folks who get my free newsletter, The Current, where you'll see the latest in tech in just five minutes every single day. You're just going to love it.

321.93 - 329.569 Kim Komando

It has a five out of five star rating over on Trustpilot. Sign up right now at getkim.com. That's getkim.com.

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