After another busy year chock-full of tech news, it’s time to look back at Information Age’s most popular stories of the year — as read by you.
Below is our annual list of the 12 most-read stories over the past 12 months, and this year’s list covers everything from new devices and new laws, to fresh scandals, data breaches, outages, and the continued rise of artificial intelligence.
To prepare yourself for next year, make sure to also read up on the five technology trends you should be watching in 2025.
Without further ado …
Information Age’s 12 most-read stories of 2024:
12. Aussies missing key features in iPhone, Apple Watch updates
When Apple released major updates to its iPhone and Apple Watch software in September, Australian users noticed they were not actually able to use some of the new features.
Even at the time of writing, Apple Watch users still cannot use their devices’ sleep apnoea notifications feature, as it has not been approved by Australia’s health device regulator the Therapeutic Goods Administration — despite being made available in more than 150 other countries.
One commenter on the story said, “Damn this is specifically why I am thinking of buying an [Apple Watch] Ultra 2 to have sleep apnea [sic] detection! I didn't realise it wasn't available here yet! Will probably wait now..."
Australian iPhone users have also been unable to use RCS messaging (Rich Communications Services) — seen as the successor to the aging SMS system — because Australia's major telecommunications providers have not announced support for the feature.
Images: Apple / Supplied
11. Digital ID Bill passes Senate
In March, the federal government’s bill to legislate a national digital identity scheme passed the Senate, including dozens of amendments designed to keep the scheme volutary and protect user privacy.
Our readers shared concerns about the bill’s privacy chops before the bill passed the House of Representatives in May, and the Digital ID Act took effect on 1 December.
After two years, accredited private businesses will be able to apply to join the scheme, which will initialise only be used by government.
10. How to create a digital stat dec for sick or carer’s leave
Since February, Australians have been able to create their own digital statutory declarations (or stat decs) for free, which can often be used in place of a medical certificate if an employee needs to take sick leave or carer’s leave but doesn’t want to spend the time and money going to a doctor.
This popular explainer story walks readers through the process of creating their own digital stat dec using their myGov account and digital ID.
9. xAI's Grok goes wild with deepfakes and nudity
When Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI released a new version of its Grok chatbot on his social media platform X in March, developers gave it the ability to generate images with very few guardrails.
Called “reckless and irresponsible” by some, the release was used to generate deepfakes of politicians, nudity, and images of people using drugs and weapons.
Grok has since been released for free to all X users, after initially only being available to paying subscribers.
Image: RealRusty / X (AI-generated)
8. Former CBA IT manager found guilty of bribery scam
In May, former Commonwealth Bank general manager of Infrastructure Engineering, Jon Waldron, was found guilty of accepting bribes in return for organising IT contracts with the bank.
Waldron was later sentenced to a maximum of six years and eight months in prison for his part in accepting the bribes, while his former colleague Keith Hunter received a sentence reduction for assisting police with Waldron’s prosecution.
7. Migration agent Aussizz has 300GB of data stolen
In April, Australian immigration consultancy Aussizz said it was “responding to a cyber security incident”.
The following month, a ransomware gang claimed to have stolen almost 300GB of data from the company, including countless payslips, visa details, and documents containing passport information.
Aussizz said it had since “directly notified all contactable individuals” who were affected by the incident.
In April, journalist Emily Chantiri explored the possible impacts of artificial intelligence on human reasoning and creativity.
In her feature article, Chantiri spoke with a US university lecturer who had noticed changes in how his students communicated as AI writing tools grew more popular.
Other experts said AI’s true impact was still up in the air, but more research could aid our knowledge of changes to human reasoning, and creative techniques could help to bolster our ability to communicate.
Image: Shutterstock
5. International student visa applications nosedive
In October, new government data showed the number of applications for international student visas had dropped by more than half in the space of a few months.
This was after the federal government announced it would significantly reduce net migration numbers over the coming years.
While its contentious plan has been opposed by the opposition and unable to pass through parliament, the government is expected to use a legal workaround to slow down visa processing for international students after enrolment numbers reach set targets at each university.
4. Canva hikes prices by 300pc as it readies for IPO
In September, Australian-born design platform Canva announced it was hiking its prices as it continued preparations to become a publicly listed company in the US.
Some US users who faced significant price increases said they had never seen such a large jump in price for a digital service, which led some to reconsider their subscriptions.
Photo: Shutterstock
3. ‘Really concerning’ Westpac outage extends into fourth day
There was always going to be a story about a tech outage on this list — but surprisingly, this year’s wasn’t about the global CrowdStrike Blue Screen of Death crash.
Westpac, one of Australia’s largest banks, suffered multiple outages over a period of at least four days in October, which left many customers without access to their money, and led to action from the government’s cyber security experts.
2. Not just kids: Everyone to be age verified for social media
Information Age’s second most-read story of 2024 revolved around the revelation that all Australians will need to have their age checked in order to access social media after the federal government’s ban on under-16s holding social media accounts comes into force, likely in late 2025.
The government is trialling a variety of age assurance technologies with a report on the trial expected mid-year, but digital platforms and privacy advocates have continued to raise concerns about how the ban will be implemented.
1. Apple reduces iPhone 16 prices in Australia
Claiming the top spot this year was news that Apple had reduced the prices of its latest iPhones in Australia — but not in the US — which gained a lot of interest from tech-hungry Aussies.
The maximum drop was only $100 compared to the previous year, but it came after years of gradual price increases.
Alvin Lee, a senior analyst with Australian firm Telsyte, told Information Age that local price reductions for the iPhone 16 were likely influenced by exchange rates, with “some consideration” also given to economic conditions in Australia.
