Scams aren’t getting more sophisticated because scammers are smarter. They’re getting more effective because life is noisier. People are busy, distracted, overloaded with notifications, and trained to react quickly instead of thinking things through. Scammers exploit that gap. They don’t need advanced hacking skills. They just need to push the right emotional buttons at the right moment.

Every January, people promise themselves big things. New diets. New routines. New lives, apparently starting on a random Monday. Most of those collapse by mid‑January, usually somewhere between a forgotten gym card and a half‑eaten salad.

Last week we talked about buying tech the smart way. Start with why, not what. Buy to solve a problem, not to satisfy a spec sheet or a salesperson. Boxing Day is where that thinking really pays off.

Buying tech for Christmas looks fun on the surface. Bright sales banners, big promises on the box, model numbers that sound impressive, and sales staff trained to upsell you into something you did not plan to buy.

Last time, we talked about why changing your email address is overdue for anyone still relying on Bigpond, Optusnet, iiNet or other ISP-issued inboxes. In this follow-up, we’re looking at the part that worries people most: keeping your existing messages, folders, and years of history.

If you’ve been dragging around an ancient Bigpond, Optusnet, iiNet, or other ISP-issued email address, consider this your intervention. Those accounts were fine back when dial-up tones were socially acceptable, but in 2025 your email should not depend on the health of your internet provider.

Microsoft has spent the last few years loudly insisting you need Windows 11 on a “modern AI PC”. Meanwhile, half the world is still running Windows 10 on perfectly good machines and wondering why they should upgrade to Windows 11, an OS that spent most of its life acting like it wants your personal data more than it wants stability.

You’ve probably heard the buzz: “Now is the perfect time to upgrade to an AI PC.” Major manufacturers are pushing their new Copilot+ models hard. Microsoft wants you on Windows 11. Retailers are dangling “Black Friday deals” like bait. But before you hand over your cash (and your data) – let’s talk honestly about what’s really changing in modern laptops… and whether an “AI PC” is something you actually want.