It's New Year's Eve, and we're celebrating by looking toward the future, the present and the past in our last newsletter of the year.

• The future: We might finally see Apple's AR/VR headset in 2022.

• The present: We're at peak COVID-19, and if you haven't yet enabled exposure notifications on your iPhone, you really should.

• The past: It's Peanuts time again on Apple TV+! (Actually, this isn't actually the past: It's a new Peanuts holiday special, titled Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne.)

Yes, it's a little bit of a hot mess, but did you expect 2021 to go out any other way?

Happy New Year (and here's to 2022)!

– Lewis Wallace, managing editor

What to expect from Apple’s AR/VR headset in 2022 — www.cultofmac.com

Apple might break into a new product category in 2022. The company reportedly will unveil its long-rumored virtual reality and augmented reality headset.

'Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne' appeals to 'Peanuts' fans old and new [Review] — www.cultofmac.com

In this brand-new New Year's Eve special, Lucy is having a party but everything is going wrong. It’s her fault but she blames everyone else. So the gang has to come together to save the day.

New Year’s sale slashes 15% off of everything from charging hubs to AirPods cases — www.cultofmac.com

In a festive New Year’s promotion, Elago is offering every accessory in the Cult of Mac Store — hundreds of items, all in one place — at 15% off through January 7. No matter what Apple products you may have received as gifts over the holidays, there’s something for you in the sale.

How to turn on COVID-19 exposure notifications on iPhone — www.cultofmac.com

With the omicron variant fueling lightning-fast spread of COVID-19, it’s a good time for iPhone owners to take advantage of a clever feature built into iOS.

New M1 MacBook Pro gives 2019 iMac the boot [Setups] — www.cultofmac.com

The new M1 Macs are impressive — especially the newest of the new, the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBooks. They’re so impressive, we see them replacing even late-model desktop Macs that have years of impressive life left in them.

Tweet o' the day

One more thing ...

"I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life." – Steve Jobs on new beginnings