If I’ve figured this thing out (without reading the manual), you’ve already got your welcome email, so let’s instead dive straight into a look at the sort of content you can expect in your newsletter.

Paid subscribers get a fresh edition every day, Monday to Friday.

“Alarmingly, around seven in 10 kids said they had encountered harmful content, including exposure to misogynistic or hateful material, dangerous online challenges, violent fight videos, and content promoting disordered eating.”

I get their argument that YouTube can be just as harmful as other social media, if not more so, but I think it’ll be sticking around in my house. My kids being only 9 and 7 means it’s still easy to control their viewing, and there’s quite a bit of great educational & appropriate entertainment on YT.

I might need to do an edition on the best YT channels for kids!

How do you find the effect of YouTube on your kids, if they’re allowed it at all?

Fellas, say it ain’t so! This is ground zero stuff for keeping your kids safe, and while a lot of it sucks, it’s not all that hard to get switched on to how it works.

That said, my kids aren’t teens yet, so I can’t argue with this bit: “The study also found that parents of teenagers are far less likely to use parental controls than parents of primary school aged children, those who are 5-12.”

This coincides with the launch of Snapchat’s updated Family Safety Hub, so it’s good to see them focused on this. (Believe it or not, Snapchat is proving popular with today’s younger generation/s.)

If I put together a video on how to use Google Family Link, would you be keen on that?

I’ve got the Ray-Bans and, frankly, they’re pretty bloody good. You can film up to 3 minutes per clip, and the image quality and stabilisation are both surprisingly impressive. These new ones shoot in 3K, so that might prove a compelling upgrade! Details below, eh.

Do you use the RB smart glasses or any other action cameras to chronicle your kids’ adventures?

I’m not sure I’ll ever have a collection, but I recently bought the Palmer and the Elko knives from the James brand and they’re both brilliant. A real premium feel. (Ironically, my bro’s name is James!)

👆 Warning: This can be a $$$ costly obsession!

Are you into knives or any other sort of ‘EDC’ (everyday carry)?

🔗 Yanko: BMW Motorrad and former Aussie fashion brand Deus Ex Machina (everyone’s favourite logo on a cap and t-shirt in 2015) have partnered to develop the DE-02, an electric bike with integrated Marshall speakers and a turntable. Utterly pointless, but immensely cool.

Trivia: Deus Ex Machina was founded by Dare Jennings, the same bloke who started Mambo. Flashback!

🔗 Mattel Creations: [Insert witty BTTF quote] The premium end of the Hot Wheels brand is rolling out another super rad collectible in the form of Doc Brown’s time-travellin’ DeLorean and the GMC delivery van to go with it. (The smoke probably comes separately…)

Priced at A$56 plus shipping, the 1:64 set goes on sale at 2AM AEST on July 24 (9AM in US Pacific Time). I’ll still be in Berlin, so that’s an easy 6PM order for me. Good luck, lads!

Are you a collector of anything like this? If not Hot Wheels (and their crazy expensive options), are you into Lego?

I took my 9YO to see this last week, and – unlike a lot of the live-action remakes Disney has been turning out – it’s quite good. Dreamworks has done a ripper job.

There are also significant enough changes from the animated movie that you won’t get bored, and the kids will love it. Nick Frost is great value, too!

Remember when we were kids, there was that messed-up Toxic Avenger movie, and then a kid-friendly cartoon? Well, Toxie’s back, and it ain’t the cartoon. 😂

I’ve never seen Coogan in a dramatic role, but it seems he’s done a few. I’m also not much of a soccer fan, but I reckon I’ll be pulling up on the couch for this one.

What movies have you enjoyed the most so far in 2025, and what are you looking forward to?

It ain’t free, but if you’re tired of Google filling your search results with trashy sponsored results and SEO-gaming scammers, Kagi is a brilliant alternative if you’re prepared to pay for it.

You can set it as your default search engine, and then control the sorts of results you get – and block the sites you don’t trust. They also have their own browser, Orion, if you’re a Mac or iOS user. (I’m on a Mac but prefer Android for phones.)

What’s coming, you ask? Fellas, what do you want? I’m thinking of things like a forum or community chat, stickers and shirts and caps, tips and advice shared by all of you out there, an audio or video series of some sort… the possibilities, mate, the possibilities!

Cheers,