Grafana Tempo 1.3 introduces several new features, including the ability to search the backend datastore, which will soon be available in Grafana Cloud Traces. The update also includes improvements such as auto-forget compactors to address issues related to unhealthy states in the hash ring, better protection from large traces with configurable size limits, and minor breaking changes like the removal of the `Push` GRPC endpoint from ingesters and a port change for the OTel GRPC. The release aims to enhance operational efficiency by using serverless technologies to improve search speed and includes plans for future improvements in backend trace formats to support more efficient search and tag-based queries. Users are encouraged to join community calls and participate in forums for the latest updates and support, with the option to start using Tempo through Grafana Cloud, which offers a free tier for new users.