CultCast #150 - Wham Rappin'

This week: the iPad Air 2 reviews are in, and not everyone’s in love; Cult of Mac spends a day with Apple Pay; Yosemite and iOS 8.1 Continuity blows. our. minds; a potential cure for the painful #6PlusPinch; some welcome changes rumored for Beats Music; and we wrap with our favorite movie trilogies of all time in an all-new Get To Know Your Cultist.

Thanks to Lynda.com for sponsoring this episode!  Lynda now has over 3000 high quality video courses taught by instructors who are experts in their filed. Lynda.com will help you master virtually any application, whether you’re a beginner, novice or, pro, all on your own time and at your own pace.  Learn all you want for free for 7 day with a free trial.  Try it now at Lynda.com/CultCast 

 

And Smile Software. TextExpander touch 3 for iOS saves you time and effort by expanding your short abbreviations into full blocks of texts, code and more. Plus now includes a custom keyboard so you can use your abbreviations in any iOS app, including Mail and iMessage. See it in action at smilesoftware.com/cultcast

We also want to give Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com  a huge thanks for all the great music you hear on today's show. 

 

Links to this week's stories

Early reviews of latest iPads praise new hardware, but wish for more 

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300493/ipad-air-2-ipad-mini-3-review-roundup/#6pJpRhGHdP6q3Lhi.99

• Malt Wossberg "They are, in most respects, the best iPads ever made. But for average users, they represent only a modest evolutionary improvement over last year’s models, not the kind of big change that the first iPad Air or the Retina display iPad mini did last year.”
• The Verge called the iPad Air 2 “a monumental achievement in the field of iterative improvement,” 

Cult of Mac’s day with Apple Pay
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300229/cult-macs-day-apple-pay/#rsLHeQbEOR3TDLzL.99

• Leander will be shopping around San Francisco. Alex is testing Apple Pay in the backwoods of Kentucky. Buster sputterered around Phoenix in search of a burrito shop with Apple Pay

Everything you can buy with Apple Pay starting today - buster
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300227/thing-can-buy-apple-pay-starting-today/#a7GRq10844WDRRFe.99

Continuity features we love

• Sms relay
• Call relay
• Hotspot
• iCloud Photo Library

New iOS 8.1 features you need to know
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300128/new-goodies-youre-getting-ios-8-1-today/#96Ar48bKpjTH5YfI.99

This store will enlarge your pockets to fit your new iPhone 6
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300208/store-will-enlarge-pockets-fit-new-iphone-6/#FeQi21lFPLLXYmyi.99

Apple and GT Advanced Technologies amicably part ways
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300481/apple-gt-advanced-technologies-amicably-part-ways/#PlKmvR6sp1hR6wrZ.99

• GT Advanced Technologies and Apple have reached an agreement that will see the two companies amicably parting ways,
• GTAT filed for bankruptcy and that it would work to preserve the sapphire plant in Arizona and the jobs it created, but lawyers for GTAT say the deal allows it to wind down operations at the plant and pay incentives to employees

Apple aiming for $5 Beats Music streaming subscriptions - luke
Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/300223/apple-aiming-5-beats-music-streaming-subscriptions/#2AUmM0ZTzLIw5kQQ.99

• Having helped pioneer the concept of the $0.99 music track on iTunes, Apple is now trying to bring down the price of streaming music.
• According to a new report published by Re/code, Apple is pushing music labels for extensive price cuts that would bring the cost of a Beats Music subscription from its current $10 price point all the way down to $5.

Learn our favorite movie trilogies of all time in our new Get To Know Your Cultist!