| Hey y'all, it's Austin Carr in Boston. This was the year some gadgets started to play nicely together and respect us more. But first… Today's must-reads: • China tightened oversight of online education
• TSMC kicked off mass production of the next generation of chips
• Elon Musk said changes to Twitter's server architechture were responsible for service disruptions from New York to Tokyo At the end of every year, tech publications love to compile best-of lists, often highlighting a who's who of influential innovators, blockbuster gadgets and big business deals. I generally find these listicles too abstract, overly focused on Silicon Valley personalities or market-moving news. They never seem to capture aspects of technology that improved my day-to-day life in subtle yet indispensable ways. So, for 2022, I've put together a collection of my top five features of the year. Yes, there have been larger and perhaps more inspiring advances, from holy-moly hardware (e.g., Apple Inc.'s M2 chip) to disruptive software (Figma) and scary-smart artificial intelligence (OpenAI Inc.'s ChatGPT). My list is squarely centered on the deceptively simple designs that affect us in such invisible and magical ways that we already take them for granted. They haven't all come about in the last 12 months, but each one cemented its place this year as a feature I can't live without. 1. The new pairingWhen Alphabet Inc.'s Google introduced a new slate of electronics in October, the company showed off the latest iteration of Fast Pair, which enables accessories like earbuds and smartwatches to link instantly with Pixel phones by holding the devices near each other. Critics have rightfully pointed out that it's a blatant copy of Apple's system — and from a consumer's perspective, that's a good thing. The way Apple products often work seamlessly together has long been the gold standard. I hope Google can deliver that same experience for non-Apple devices and make it a plain, vanilla standard. 2. Effortless castingI frequently find myself in awe of Spotify Technology SA's app. Forgive me for highlighting a feature that's been around for nearly a decade, but since so many other apps still can't get this right, it's a wonder I can play Spotify on just about any speaker. Switching outputs on my Wi-Fi network is a cinch — and a vision of life without manufacturer lock-in. I love switching from an Amazon.com Inc. Echo to the iPhone, Xbox or laptop. This approach could and should be possible in any app but is unfortunately rare in this era of walled gardens. Streaming devices and smart-home products would be so much better if they only worked more like Spotify. 3. Design turned on its sideFor its novel web browser Arc, the New York-based startup behind the app did something so obvious that it might not appear radical at first: Instead of having tabs arranged horizontally on top, Arc puts them in a vertical sidebar. Arc isn't the first to try this, but it does it right. The interface takes some getting used to, but it's a reminder that many developers follow conventions instead of challenging them. It turns out the status quo isn't always right. 4. Unhidden privacyHistorically, software makers tended to bury privacy options, presumably so users will share more data and help companies make money. But lately, more developers appear to be putting privacy permissions at the forefront, most notably with Apple forcing apps to make users explicitly opt in or out of tracking. I've noticed smaller but significant privacy tweaks trickling into my most beloved apps. For instance, on previous versions of Instagram, I sometimes accidentally swiped to the app's camera mode. This led to a prompt insisting I enable camera and microphone access on a screen that's almost impossible to escape. Recently, however, Instagram added a comically simple fix: an X in the top-left corner that takes me safely back to my feed without requiring changes to my privacy settings. It may look ridiculous that Instagram didn't have the X before, but even minor alterations like this represent a big step, placing control back in the hands of users. 5. No-hassle notificationsAren't we all so very tired of incessant notifications? They're the new pop-up ads, often selfishly pushing unwanted content and pointless suggestions, a game of whack-a-mole we forever play with our phones or even with Alexa. Apple has made strides to lighten the unnecessary load with its Focus mode, sort of a customizable version of its original do-not-disturb function. It takes some manual classifying, but filtering out notifications between personal and work timeframes gets us just a little bit closer to something we yearn for at this time of year: silence. Do you disagree with these choices? Have other favorite features? Shoot me an email. Eager to hear your feedback! —Austin Carr Enthusiasm for vertical farming is starting to wilt, with some companies shutting down, laying off staff or seeing their stock sink. Investors had poured billions into the space, which promises a way to feed growing populations amid climate change. But it's tough to turn a profit in a complicated and expensive business that requires companies to excel at robotics, software, agricultural science and farm design. Tech founders led a wipeout of billionaires' fortunes in 2022. The $1.4 trillion drop in the wealth of the richest 500 was partly self-inflicted: witness the implosion of FTX and Elon Musk's antics at Twitter. Silicon Valley staff are rushing to unload stakes in private companies as valuations sink. The flood of sellers is making it harder to assess the price of many startups. New York became the first US state to sign a right-to-repair bill. As of July 1 consumers will be able to demand manuals and other information from manufacturers so they can fix their own devices. However, producers won't be required to let people bypass security features, which is sometimes necessary when gear is locked. Programming note: We're taking a day off for New Year's. See you on Tuesday. | 
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