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   OS X 10.10 Yosemite Arrives, iOS 8.1 and Apple Pay Due Monday

   Josh Centers

   After months of testing since its developer release at the World Wide
   Developer's Conference in June 2014, Apple has now released OS X 10.10
   Yosemite. (If you haven't been paying attention, you can read about its
   major new features in our initial coverage in '[1]Apple Unveils iOS 8
   and OS X Yosemite at WWDC,' 2 June 2014). Yosemite is available for
   free in the [2]Mac App Store as a 5.16 GB download. Refer to [3]Apple's
   system requirements to see if your Mac can run Yosemite (most will),
   and if it will support all of Yosemite's new features (many older Macs
   won't, due to Continuity's need for Bluetooth 4.0).

   The most noticeable change in Yosemite is a new visual design that
   takes its cues from iOS. It also brings compatibility with Apple's new
   iCloud Drive service and offers a slew of Continuity features to make
   working between Apple devices easier.

   As always, we recommend waiting a few days before updating to see if
   any major issues develop. In the meantime, we recommend checking out
   Joe Kissell's '[4]Take Control of Upgrading to Yosemite' and Scholle
   McFarland's '[5]Yosemite: A Take Control Crash Course.' We're working
   in the final details that couldn't be known until release into both and
   anticipate that they'll be available later today ' we'll write more
   about them separately once they're done.

   Following Yosemite will be iOS 8.1 and the launch of Apple Pay, on 20
   October 2014.

   With [6]iOS 8.1, Apple seeks to remedy common user complaints, most
   notably by bringing back the Camera Roll in the Photos app. The update
   will also open up the beta of iCloud Photo Library to all. iCloud Photo
   Library allows you to sync all of your photos and videos between your
   Apple devices (as long as they're running iOS 8.1, Yosemite, or Apple
   TV 7.0 or later). However, the Mac version of Photos, which will bring
   iCloud Photo Library support, won't be available until early 2015, so
   access via the Mac will be limited to iCloud's Web interface until
   then.

   iOS 8.1 also brings [7]Apple Pay support to the iPhone 6, iPhone 6
   Plus, and the new iPad models, although support is currently limited to
   the United States (for details, see '[8]Apple Pay Aims to Disrupt
   Payment Industry,' 9 September 2014. Since the initial announcement
   last month, Apple has signed up 500 more banks to the program, in
   addition to credit card companies American Express, MasterCard, and
   Visa. You will be able to use Apple Pay at a growing number of major
   retailers, such as American Eagle, Foot Locker, Macy's, McDonald's,
   Office Depot, Panera Bread, Subway, Walgreens, and Whole Foods.

   If you want help with iOS 8, we hope to have it soon, in the form of my
   '[9]iOS 8: A Take Control Crash Course.' You can pre-order now, and
   we're working hard to integrate details about features that weren't
   fully operational before the release of Yosemite, along with the
   forthcoming changes in iOS 8.1.

References

   1. http://tidbits.com/article/14804
   2. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-x-yosemite/id915041082?mt=12&at=10l5PW
   3. https://www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade/
   4. http://tid.bl.it/tco-yosemite-upgrading-tidbits
   5. http://tid.bl.it/yosemite-crash-course-tidbits
   6. http://www.apple.com/ios/
   7. http://www.apple.com/apple-pay/
   8. http://tidbits.com/article/15056
   9. http://tid.bl.it/ios-8-crash-course-tidbits

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