What to know about the biggest password breach yet
Plus: Prime Day tips, best browsers for avoiding scams & what I learned on my trip to Mexico City
Greetings from Mexico City!
The sun is finally shining again after days of rain and clouds—all due to to Hurricane Erik, apparently one of the strongest hurricanes to hit Mexico this early in the season.
But Mexico City isn’t coastal. In fact, it might be the highest-elevation city I’ve ever visited, sitting at over 7,000 feet. For perspective, Denver—aka the Mile High City—is just over 5,000.
I came here for the inaugural Electronics Home show, a new tech trade event. Organizers brought me down to see the first edition up close. It was small, but a meaningful step toward helping global tech companies tap into the growing potential of Latin America.
I didn’t know what to expect from Mexico City—but it’s turned out to be a really fun place to explore. The city is historic and massive, with little shops and restaurants on just about every block. The people are warm and welcoming (many speak English or have someone on staff who does), and the food is excellent.
One heads-up: getting around means dodging bikes, mopeds, and cars—and they don’t always stop for pedestrians.
Also, prices are very reasonable. The most expensive meal I had was $35 U.S.—and that was at what I’d call a tourist trap. And yes, the meal included grasshoppers. I tried one. Honestly? With a little guacamole, it didn’t taste like much—but at least now I can say I’ve done it.
Growing Market, Price-Sensitive Consumers
Mexico is a fast-growing market with more consumers gaining disposable income, which creates real opportunity for global brands. But there’s a catch—price often matters more than quality here.
That means if you’re a premium brand like Mophie, it’s tough to convince someone to pay $50 for a charging cable when they can get one online for $5. And online shopping has only made that challenge worse.
To address this, some companies are focused on educating consumers—explaining that higher prices often mean better quality, longer-lasting products, and fewer risks, like damaging your phone with a cheap cable.
Others are taking a different route—creating sub-brands specifically for this market. These are lower-priced versions of products you might see in the U.S., tailored to meet local price expectations while still offering decent quality.
Don’t get me wrong—Mexico City is a thriving metropolis. There’s even a Rodeo Drive-style street packed with just about every major brand you can think of. I saw both an Apple Store and a Huawei Store—and yes, the Huawei one looks almost exactly like Apple’s.
But beyond the city, this is a vast country with many rural areas, which means there’s still a lot of room for growth. The opportunity here is real—it just requires the right approach.
Check out my full coverage from the Electronics Home show below.
Amazon’s next Prime Day is bigger than ever
Amazon just announced YAPD (Yet Another Prime Day). This one runs for four days—double the length of recent events and four times longer than the original single-day sale back on July 15, 2015, which marked Amazon’s 20th anniversary.
The 2025 edition happens July 8–11, with the usual promises: millions of products on sale, including some of the lowest prices ever on Amazon’s own brands. That means it’s a great time to snag deals on Blink cameras, Ring products, Eero routers, Fire TV sticks, and more.
My best advice for Prime Day: don’t browse aimlessly. Instead, search for things you actually need (or want), add them to your cart now, and keep an eye on prices. This way, you’ll know immediately if something drops in price before or during the event.
I’ve set up a curated page of my favorite products you can shop from below—I’ll be updating it regularly.
Also, watch for limited-time subscription offers on Prime Video channels, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Audible (my account is currently showing 99 cent a month for 3 months!). Amazon usually throws in some excellent free trials or discounts.
One last thing: Prime Day is for Prime members only, but if you’re not one, you might still be eligible for a free 30-day trial.
Giant password hack
You’ve probably seen the headlines about 16 billion passwords being exposed in what’s being called the biggest data breach yet… but here’s what actually matters.
There’s debate over what’s in this trove and whether it’s new or recycled data. Hackers reportedly got much of it by secretly installing malware on users’ computers that logs what you type.
But honestly, it doesn’t matter what’s floating around out there — here’s what you can do to stay safe:
1. Don’t reuse passwords. Avoid weak passwords, and never use the same one across multiple sites. If one gets compromised, they all do.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA). Ideally, use an app like 2FAS instead of text message codes. Either way, 2FA adds a second layer of protection — even if someone knows your password, they can’t log in without that extra code.
3. Use a password manager. These tools can generate and store long, unique passwords (think 14–16 characters) for every account. Just be sure to protect your password manager with a strong master password. (Bitwarden is excellent, free and cross-platform)
You don’t need to panic and change all your passwords for sites like Google, Apple, or Facebook — but make sure those big accounts have strong, unique passwords and 2FA enabled.
Finally, when you hear stories about people getting “hacked,” it’s often because they were tricked into entering their login info — including 2FA codes — on a fake site designed to steal them.
One last tip: If you’re comfortable, you can check whether your old passwords have been exposed. I looked up a few I used to recycle — sure enough, they’ve all been floating around on the dark web.
DuckDuckGo levels up scam protection
DuckDuckGo has added even more protection to its privacy-focused web browser—and I’ve got the testing to prove it.
The browser already includes a built-in Scam Blocker that guards against phishing sites, malware, and common scams—and it’s enabled by default. Now, they’ve expanded that protection to cover fake shopping websites, bogus crypto exchanges, and those shady pop-up messages that say your device is infected or being tracked by the FBI.
Chrome offers similar protection, but DuckDuckGo points out that Google’s system sends more of your browsing data back to its servers. DuckDuckGo says their approach keeps your information private and anonymous.
I wanted to see how well this actually works, so I grabbed a malicious link from a recent spam text and opened it in Chrome, DuckDuckGo, and Safari. Here’s what happened:
Chrome and DuckDuckGo both immediately flagged the site as dangerous and blocked access.
Safari allowed the page to load without any warning.
Brave also failed the test, letting the site open freely.
That’s surprising, considering both Safari and Brave say they use Google’s Safe Browsing filter—just like Chrome. But Chrome seems to offer stronger, real-time protection.
Bottom line: If you’re worried about malicious links, it might be worth switching your iPhone’s default browser away from Safari. No browser is perfect, but it helps to have more aggressive scam detection working in your favor.
Feedbag: How to filter junk Gmail
Diane from Crestwood writes in…
I listened to your broadcast on Saturday, June 14. How can I get rid of my junk Gmail by filtering the word “unsubscribe”? Thank you!
Great question, Diane! Here’s my go-to method for dealing with unwanted emails.
If the message is from a legitimate sender—think Macy’s, Home Depot, Mailchimp, Constant Contact—you can usually click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom safely. But if the email feels scammy, don’t open it. Just delete it. Opening shady emails can trigger more spam because many include tiny tracking pixels that let the sender know you viewed the message. To prevent this, you can also turn off remote image loading in your email settings.
Now for the filter trick: I like having a visual reminder of which emails I can safely unsubscribe from, so I apply a bright red label called Unsubscribe Eligible to anything that contains the word “unsubscribe.” Here’s how to set that up:
In Gmail, tap the search bar, then tap the slider icon on the right (looks like settings).
In the field labeled Has the words, type: unsubscribe
Tap Create filter at the bottom.
Choose Apply the label and create one called Unsubscribe Eligible.
Afterward, go into Labels and give that label a bright color so it stands out.
Now, emails with the word “unsubscribe” will get tagged—making it easy to review, delete, or unsubscribe from them.
Tech Tidbits
YouTube TV deal: If you subscribe to YouTube TV, check your account — some users are getting a $10/month discount for the next 6 months.
New smart glasses: Meta is expanding its popular smart glasses to Oakley frames, now with water resistance, longer battery life, and higher quality video.
Wipe your old computer: The Wall Street Journal has a solid guide on how to safely delete your info before recycling an old computer.
Better iPhone photos: Some of the folks behind Google’s excellent Pixel camera now work at Adobe, and they just launched a new iPhone app called Indigo. It’s designed to take better photos, especially on older iPhones. I’ve been testing it — the photos are darker and more contrasty than the typical “bright everything” smartphone shots, plus you get manual controls.
Gadget of the Week
I always pick up a ton of knowledge when I travel. This time, I’ve got fresh tips on how to prep your phone for international trips — I’ll share those soon.
But I also tested a new gadget: a portable carbon monoxide detector. I’ve used the popular Kidde version in the past, but I really like this new one for several reasons.
First, it’s compact and rechargeable via USB-C. The battery is rated for several days — mine lasted at least four and still showed a full charge.
It also has a digital screen that shows real-time CO levels, air temperature, humidity, and even air quality.
Here’s the crazy part: when I first checked into my hotel room, it showed nearly 30 PPM of CO — when ideally, you want to see zero. I took it outside to compare, and sure enough, the reading dropped. I was a little nervous to sleep in the room that night, but after some research (and since the alarm never went off), I figured the levels were within a safe range. The rest of the week? All zeros.
Anyway, you’ve seen the news reports — it’s probably best to have one of these in your travel bag. It’s now a standard item in mine.
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– Rich
Love this newsletter! I respect your opinions on products more than Best reviews. Keep up the great work. Thanks