The modern smartphone is an incredibly useful tool and according to Deloitte, a whopping 89% of Aussies own a smartphone. With most of us using our phones every day, we’re certainly no strangers to mobile apps and the notifications that come with them.

At times, these notifications can be very useful – who among us hasn’t saved face at the last minute thanks to a handy birthday reminder for an acquaintance on Facebook? Other times, not so much. No one really needs a banner on the home screen of their phone to remind them to play more Candy Crush, or that so-and-so or such-and-such has posted on social media.

The hard truth is that most mobile apps on the market today are padding out their notifications with unnecessary information. It’s so prevalent that even satire news website, The Onion, is joking about it. These little pop-ups and badges just aren’t telling us anything important or useful; all they’re doing is trying to get your attention so you open the app again. That’s why it’s a good New Years’ resolution to nip these useless notifications in the bud so you can stay focused on the stuff that matters.

We’ve put together some handy advice on how to trim down your mobile notifications and keep the useful stuff and get rid of the junk!

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Is your home network secure? With the wealth of personal information stored on our computers and other connected devices, it’s important to find out! When it comes to checking the security of your home network, your modem or WiFi router should be your first point of focus. After all, it handles all the data going in and out of your broadband connection, so it’s vital that its settings are in ship-shape.

To help protect your network, we’ve put together a list of the settings you should check whenever you get a new modem or WiFi router up and running.

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We’ve previously covered educational software for children, but what about teenagers? In the digital age, high school can be particularly stressful with a broad curriculum, competitive exams and hours of homework every week. Not to mention all the usual social challenges of being a teenager in general! Fortunately, there are tools out there on the web that can help students get on top of their responsibilities and keep a cool head.

If you have any high school age students in your household or family, then you may find this handy list of apps and online resources useful. Have a read through and see if any are worth passing along the grape vine.

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