Perhin Madoc Gamgins

I generally follow Mac Rumors for detailed coverage of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC). Based on rumors earlier this month, I was not expecting anything particularly notable at this year’s WWDC – and that turned out to be true. I don’t need new features anyway; I’d be happy if Apple simply fixed broken things. Nonetheless, there was an avalanche of small features and changes that will be either useful or annoying and generally balance out as zero net gain. Apple isn’t the company it was twenty years ago.

It did take me quite a while to read through all the WWDC 2025 posts at Mac Rumors. Definitely worth reading if you live in the Apple ecosystem.

As I expected, Frieren, my recently retired 2017 iMac Pro, is excluded from the list of computers that can run the next major version of macOS – macOS 26 Tahoe. (See: macOS Tahoe Compatibility) I upgraded my Macintosh just in time. (Mac Migration Assistant doesn’t work properly if old and new Macs are not on the same version of macOS.) Still, the iMac Pro had a decent, 8-year run. (Mine was over 7 years old when it was retired.)

With my computer and photography budgets for 2025 getting blown out of the water, I’ve looked to cut back in other areas. I had originally planned to use my Electrify America credits (like 700 free kWh remaining) before they expire in August to take a road trip to SF – but I killed that idea.

One big unknown in the 2025 budget was what I might end up spending if TWICE went on tour this year. My budget let out a sigh of relief when the group recently announced the schedule for their THIS IS FOR World Tour, Part 1. Part 1 allocates the last half of 2025 for stops across Asia and Australia. This means that Part 2, for the Americas and Europe, won’t be until 2026. I kind of expected this as major U.S. stadiums are dedicated to American football in the fall and winter. For 2026, I’ll budget for one or two visits to concert cities in the U.S.

Coco from Witch Hat Atelier 1/8 scale figurine by Kotobukiya

Yesterday my Coco Figurine from Witch Hat Atelier arrived from CDJapan. I’m glad Kotobukiya issued a re-release of this sculpture as I had missed it the first time around. The sculpture is about 8.5" tall and is nicely detailed. I’m pretty happy to have this in my collection.