Kim komando talks about the high-tech life

Now, the downside to smart devices is that they act up. I have a lot of patience with this because I’ve been around it for so long. But my husband will say, “Kim, this doesn’t work.” I come

over and I’m, like, “Oh, just touch this button, this button, this button.” He looks at me and says, “Wait. You went too fast. Go slower.” DO YOU USE A SMART SPEAKER? I have an Amazon Echo

device, so I’ll just say, “Play whatever music.” I have subscriptions to Spotify and Apple Music. I share playlists with my family members, which is kind of cool because then I have some new

music and they have new music. One thing that’s a lot of fun: My husband always says the same thing — “Alexa, what’s the weather today?” I changed it so Alexa answers, “What’s wrong with

you? Look out the window. Can’t you see that it’s a beautiful day in Santa Barbara?” WHAT ARE SOME BIG CONCERNS AMONG YOUR LISTENERS? I’m getting a lot of calls lately from people who are 

caregivers for their parents, and they ask: “Are there any tech solutions I can use with my parents, because they live 500 miles away and putting a camera in their bedroom is not an option?”

Parents want to remain independent, and even at our age, we’re still the child in that relationship. Tech can put your mind at ease — anything from panic buttons to send an alert if a fall

has occurred, to pill containers that notify you when medications are not taken, to GPS sensors for shoes and some that look like jewelry. Also, set up smart speakers so your parents can

call you — or 911 — by using only their voice. DO QUESTIONS ABOUT TECH SOMETIMES BLEED INTO OTHER AREAS OF LIFE? I get questions about Facebook, such as: “There’s this obnoxious person — and

if I say something’s black, then they say in a comment that it’s white.” Social media drama is the worst. The easiest way to deal with it is to block the person, so you no longer see their

posts. You can also create two social media accounts: one for close friends and family, and one for those other people. But whatever you do, when you actually see the person, don’t try to

explain your social media posts and their reactions. That’s usually a no-win situation. WHAT BIG TECHNOLOGY TRENDS DO YOU THINK WERE MOSTLY HYPE? Oh, gosh, there have been so many. I think

the whole thing of buying and selling internet domain names was hype. And now, of course, it’s cryptocurrency. People also are buying NFTs [unique, original digital files called non-fungible

tokens] and thinking they’re going to turn into millions of dollars. I mean, [Twitter cofounder] Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sold for $2.9 million as an NFT. The guy who bought it was

thinking he was going to make $50 million. And when he went to sell it, the highest bid was $280. I think the metaverse [the concept of an expansive virtual world that we can all enter and

leave at will] is hype. I don’t want to put those virtual reality goggles on. I want to go outside. I want to see things. I want to touch somebody. I think that’s a big hype machine right

now. Hype is also creating a perceived necessity to have the latest and greatest device. We all don’t need the new iPhone 13. You know, the iPhone 11 is great. But we _do_ get sucked into

bigger, better, smaller, greater, thinner, less expensive. HOW DO YOU STAY ON TOP OF TRENDS? I find that talking to people is incredibly enlightening — especially when it’s a niece or nephew

or my son and his friends, because you see what they’re doing.