Tech website EFTM last night held its first-ever awards night in Sydney. The site was founded by tech guru, and Today show tech editor, Trevor Long.
His special guest at the awards was Ray Hadley. The top-rating 2GB morning host kept his promise to guest host at the awards despite a huge day that saw him announce his retirement.
“This is my first unpaid gig,” Hadley joked as he took the EFTM stage. “I’m giving up millions of dollars at 2GB and I’m here for nothing. Setting the agenda for the future, no doubt.”
Long did give Hadley the option of backing out of the commitment though. “Trevor very kindly said, look, don’t worry about coming in,” said Hadley.
Ray Hadley onstage at EFTM Best Awards
“He didn’t know what was going to happen today until last night. I had made arrangements a week ago for me to officially retire on December 13. And I made the announcement today. It’s been a fairly tumultuous day. It’s been busy. But when I make a commitment to a mate like Trevor, I’ll try to honour it. That’s exactly what I’ve done here.”
Hadley said Trevor didn’t give him a brief about what to say. “Apparently it’s the first ever EFTM Awards night. Don’t you people get too excited because I can feel just ripple across the room of reckless excitement.”
Although Hadley was not paid for the gig, he revealed there will be a pay off. Hadley has to surrender his Nine Radio phone and laptop when he leaves the building on December 13. Long will travel to Hadley’s house on December 14 and the tech guru will set him up with new phone and laptop. Perhaps choosing items that won EFTM Awards this year, or maybe choosing suitable tech from the secret EFTM tech warehouse.
Trevor Long with EFTM writers Joshua Dowling, Scott Plowman, and Daniel Tyson
Hadley also joked about the promise of a special phone number.
“I’ll ring Telstra and get you a gold number,” Long told Hadley who replied: “I spoke to someone from Telstra and I asked, what’s a gold number? He said it’s a lot of bullshit, mate. It’s just a phone number.”
After Hadley finished his Award’s night formalities, he hopped into a car and headed for a Paul Murray pre-record for the Thursday night Paul Murray Live show on Sky News.
EFTM launches first magazine
EFTM launches magazine
One of the initiatives that Long introduced for the first EFTM Awards night was an EFTM magazine. He has printed 13,000 copies of the 52-page book and attracted ads from Telstra, Nine, The Gamesmen, Hisense, Kia, Belkin and LG.
The magazine included details of all the winners for the 50 awards.
Helping run the awards night was the Long clan: Wife Amanda with kids Jackson, Victoria and Harrison
Fetch TV and Stan win at EFTM Awards
Two streaming TV platforms were winners at the 2024 EFTM Best Awards.
The winner of Best TV Entertainment was Fetch TV for its Fetch Mini Gen 5. There to accept the award on behalf of the platform was chief executive Dominic Arena and marketing director Sue Brenchley.
Fetch TV’s Dominic Arena and Sue Brenchley with Trevor Long and their EFTM Best Award
Long noted that in a year with competition from Foxtel Group’s Hubbl and Google TV, Fetch has just kept delivering via this smaller unit which still delivers the same great Fetch TV content options.
Taking the prize for Best TV Streaming was Stan. Long noted the Aussie battler shows its possible to compete against a raft of new players coming into the Australian market from the US. He made special mention of Stan’s performance streaming the 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games with a 4K feed. Jason Evans collected the Stan award.
See also: Ray Hadley retires after 4 decades as one of Australia’s most loved broadcasters
All the EFTM Best Award winners
Best Home Security – Arlo Secure
Best TV Picture – LG OLED G4
Best TV Streaming – Stan
Best TV Entertainment – Fetch Mini Gen 5
Best TV Big-Screen – Hisense U7KAU
Best In-Ear Headphones Under $250 – JBL Live Beam 3
Best In-Ear Headphones Over $250 – Sennheiser Momentum TW4
Best Over-Ear Headphones – Sony WH-1000XM4
Best Headphones for Kids – Belkin SoundForm Inspire
Best Audio Wireless Speaker – JBL Authentics
Best Mobile Plan – Optus 7 Day
Best Value Telco – Kogan Mobile
Best NBN Provider – Buddy Telco
Best Roaming – Vodafone
Best Laptop – Macbook Air 15 M3
Best Laptop Gaming – ROG Zephyrus G16
Best Laptop – Student – Asus Vivobook 15.6
Best Laptop Value – MacBook Air M2
Best Small Car – Skoda Kamiq
Best Mid-Sized SUV – Toyota RAV4 Hybrid
Best Family Car – Kia Carnival Hybrid
Best Sports Car – Hyundai IONIQ 5 N
Best Smartphone Camera – Google Pixel 9 Pro
Best Foldable Smartphone – motorola razr 50 ultra
Best Smartphone Under $400 – Moto G85
Best Smartphone Under $700 – Nothing 2a
Best Smartphone Under $1000 – HMD Skyline
Best Smartphone Over $1000 – Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
Best Smartphone – Apple iPhone 16
Best Ute – Toyota HiLux GR Sport
Best Value Ute – Isuzu D-Max X-terrain
Best Robot Lawnmower – Ecovacs Goat G1
Best EV Under $50k – MG4 Essence 64
Best EV Under $80k – BYD SEAL
Best EV Over $80k – Tesla Model 3 Performance
Best EV Family – Kia EV9
Best Gadget – Ember Mug 2
Best Travel Accessory – Belkin BoostCharge Pro 140W
Best Robot Vacuum – Ecovacs T30 Pro
Best Innovation – RayBan Meta Smart Glasses
Best Tech – DJI NEO
Best Car – Kia EV9
Best Lifestyle – EGO Line Trimmer
Blokes Best – Panasonic Multi shave/brush etc
Best TV – Samsung NEO QLED 8K
Best of the Best – Hyundai IONIQ 5 N