TidBITS 2022 Holiday Hiatus—See You in 2023!

It is time to ring out 2022 with our final email issue of TidBITS for the year. We’ll keep an eye on the industry for the rest of the week, covering anything that merits your attention on our website, but I hope nothing will—I encourage everyone to shut down and take a break from the hurly-burly of the tech world.

The next issue of TidBITS will appear on 9 January 2023, when we’ll start another year of helping you keep up with your ever-changing Apple devices and services, work more efficiently and productively, and find delight in the magic of our modern-day technologies.

We’re looking forward to spending time with friends and family over the holidays, particularly with our son Tristan, who is visiting for a few weeks from Vancouver, where he’s in the second year of his PhD program in computer vision at Simon Fraser University. It will be great to move back toward more normal holiday socializing with small groups and pre-gathering antigen tests to ensure everyone stays healthy.

The Yule Mule

Adam and Tonya with an Erie Canal “Yule Mule” in
Fairport, NY, en route to pick up Tristan from his flight to Toronto

Tonya and the Yule Mule

So you can get a full sense of the fabulous mule

The Merry Mice of the Fairport Library

Based on characters from the clearly Mac-inspired children’s book Mouse Paint

Dining in a Snow Globe in Niagara Falls

Luckily, the snow stayed on the outside. And there were blankets.

Niagara Falls Winter Festival of Lights

Sure, it’s cold, but tourists flock like moths to bright lights.

Ugulate Alley: Deer #1

We weren’t expecting large, illuminated ungulates

Ungulate Alley: Moose

What better ungulate than a moose for the Canadian side of the falls?

Ungulate Alley: Deer #2

Another deer, looking alert instead of grazing on LEDs

Ungulate Alley: Buffalo

Gotta have a buffalo to acknowledge the nearby US city

Ungulate Alley: Unicorn

Why not have imaginary ungulates as well?

Ungulate Island

The two-dimensional deer of Ungulate Island
were likely protected by polagators in the moat.

Niagara Falls at Night

More light, Scotty!

American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls at Night

Impressive, but still shorter than our local Taughannock Falls

Horseshoe Falls Closeup on the Way Home

OK, that’s a lot of water!

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Workwise, I’m planning to upgrade my primary Mac, a 2020 27-inch iMac with 5K Retina display, to macOS 13 Ventura. Rather than the standard upgrade process that I recommend for nearly everyone, I’m going to take the time to do a complete rebuild from scratch to eliminate cruft from years of testing vast amounts of software. With luck, that will put an end to several odd behaviors that I’ve been unable to figure out, and I’ll be curious to see which apps and services I need to reinstall right away.

At this time of year, Tonya and I also reflect on what it is we’re doing with TidBITS and why, and how grateful we are to those who make TidBITS possible:

• TidBITS members: Thank you to the 3600+ people who support us through the TidBITS membership program! TidBITS could not survive without you. It means more than we can say that you value our efforts to bring you practical, useful information.
• TidBITS sponsors: We are always grateful to our long-term corporate sponsor TextExpander for their ongoing support (and for giving Josh Centers a new job). We also appreciate the sponsorship support this year from e3 Software, whose DirectMail enables Mac users to create and distribute email newsletters, marketing pieces, and client communications, and from our friends at Rogue Amoeba, whose stable of audio apps set the standard in the Mac world.
• Staff and contributing editors: Tonya and I are always thankful for the highly competent and amiable assistance of Josh Centers, Agen Schmitz, Julio Ojeda-Zapata, Glenn Fleishman, Michael Cohen, Rich Mogull, Jeff Carlson, Jeff Porten, and Lauri Reinhardt. You’re all terrific, and while we try to express our appreciation regularly, you also deserve public acknowledgment. While we’ll miss Josh, his leaving gives us the opportunity to work more with everyone else.
• Guest authors: Funding from TidBITS members enables us to commission outside articles. This year, we particularly appreciate Ivan Drucker and David Shayer, who brought new perspectives and stories to TidBITS. We look forward to more articles from them and others—if you have an article you’d like to write, get in touch!
• Translators: Our gratitude goes out to the diligent volunteers who translate TidBITS into Dutch and Japanese each week and distribute their translations to several thousand people who prefer reading in their native language. (Both teams are always looking for more volunteers, so if you’re looking for a new hobby with warmhearted colleagues, see “New Dutch and Japanese Translators Wanted!” 13 November 2020.)
• The TidBITS community: Our vibrant TidBITS Talk forum has become a fabulous place to bring your Apple questions and contribute answers from your experience and expertise. While our SlackBITS chat group doesn’t see as much traffic, we enjoy having hundreds of TidBITS readers join us to watch and comment on live Apple events.
• Readers like you: Finally, even if you haven’t become a TidBITS member, left a comment, or participated in TidBITS Talk, we very much appreciate that you’ve made the time to read what we write. That’s what’s most important.

Thank you, one and all, and here’s hoping that you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy throughout 2023!