retro

The 2008 MacBook is better than your modern MacBook in many, many ways [Review]

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macbook review ports
Look and weep, modern MacBook owners.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

This is Apple’s 2008 aluminum unibody MacBook, model A1278. It replaced the white polycarbonate MacBook, but was itself replaced by, or rather rebranded as, the MacBook Pro, which was more or less the same computer1.

Apple introduced this magnificent MacBook on October 14, 2008, and produced them until June 8, 2009. And it was one of Apple’s best notebooks ever. It had a fantastic keyboard, and many comfy extras that today’s skinny MacBook owners can only dream about, from a battery indicator light to an almost hot-swappable hard drive (or SSD).

It’s so good that it’s still viable today as a daily driver, with the added bonus that its weight will help keep you fit during lockdown. How do I know? Because I have one right here, and I use it for music recording and production. I’m also using it to write this article. I thought, as my last post for Cult of Mac, that I’d review the 2008 unibody MacBook as if it were new. Let’s go.

DAW Cassette makes your music sound like it was recorded on tape

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daw cassette
You wouldn't leave your iPhone in the sun like this.
Photo: Jure Cuhalev/Flickr CC

There’s little that’s more hipster than an audio cassette. Its sound is far from perfect, it’s impractical, and — most important of all — it is easy to see that you’re using one. But that doesn’t mean that tapes were all bad. Lo-fi cassette decks actually add some rather pleasant audio artifacts to audio.

So what? Well, now you don’t need to lug around a Walkman and a bag of tapes to enjoy the retro sound of audio cassettes, because there’s a) an iOS audio plugin and b) a website that will tape-ify any track you like.

Vintage news video shows Apple leaks aren’t a new phenomenon

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Security
I wish every Apple leak was presented like this.
Photo: KGO/Fast Company

It’s easy to think that the constant leaks about upcoming Apple products started during the age of Cupertino-obsessed blogs like, well, the one you’re reading right now.

However, a recently digitized news report from February 1988 — concerning a rumored “Macintosh Portable” — is a reminder that Apple leaks have been around for a long time. Check out the vintage report, from a San Francisco news station, below.

Watch new Star Wars trailer re-created on an Apple IIc

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Star Wars on Apple IIc
You've never seen a Star Wars trailer like this.
Photo: Pinot Ichwandardi/Instagram

Apple’s retro IIc computer that was released in 1984 has been obsolete for 30 years, but an NYC-based illustrator has just proven that it is still capable of creating amazing stuff, if you’re willing to put in the time.

Animator Wahyu Ichwandardi unveiled his Apple IIc masterpiece on Twitter by re-creating the latest Star Wars: The Last Jedi trailer in using software from the early 80’s.

Prepare to be blown away:

BitCam brings Mac OS 6-style retro photography to iPhone

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BitCam on iPhone.
Screenshots: Iconfactory

Remember those awesome pictures you used to take on your Game Boy Camera? Now you can snap them on your iPhone, thanks to BitCam.

Created by Iconfactory to celebrate its 20th anniversary, BitCam brings retro photography from the ’90s back to life. It even has an 8-bit interface inspired by Apple’s early Mac OS operating system.

iOS arcade shooter has a heart on for you this V-Day

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ios-arcade-shooter-has-a-heart-on-for-you-this-v-day-image-cultofandroidcomwp-contentuploads201602polyblast-jpg
Blast aliens for love.
Photo: Stephen Smith/Cult of Mac

Looking to play a fast-paced, arcade-inspired video game on your iPhone or iPad? Polyblast, like a modern mashup of retro arcade favorites Space Invaders, Missile Command and Tetris, has just gotten a Valentine’s Day update, making this simple yet addictive little shooter a fantastic choice for your day of love.

If you love simple arcade-style shooters, Polyblast will keep you well-sated with solid gameplay mechanics, a delightful visual style, and a soundtrack that’ll take anyone from the era of quarter-gobbling standup cabinets back to their alien-blasting youth.

Check out the video below for a quick look at the game in action.

Here’s Mac OS 7.5.5 running on an iPad Air 2

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An iPad Air 2, running Mac OS 7.5.5
An iPad Air 2, running Mac OS 7.5.5
Screenshot: Cult of Mac

Since it was first released, people keep asking when the iPad will be able to run OS X, and while iOS keeps on becoming more like OS X with every passing version, you still can’t run Mac apps on your iPad… right?

Not quite. Technically, it’s possible to run Mac apps on your iPad Air 2. But prepare for it to be sloooooooow, and don’t expect El Capitan, Yosemite, or even Snow Leopard compatibility. This technique tops out with Mac OS 7.5.5, which was first released 19 years ago.

Futuristic alarm clock wears a retro face

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Snooze with a wave of your hand.
Snooze with a wave of your hand.
Photo: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac

Best List: Retro Alarm Clock Radio by Electrohome

Experts say you need to minimize distraction from your smartphones and tablets at night, so I’ve started leaving my iPhone charging in the kitchen. Instead, I now wake up to NPR thanks to this gorgeously retro alarm clock radio from Electrohome.

It’s got everything you need to get you up at the right time, plus a host of features that make it the only alarm clock you’ll ever need.

The retro backstory behind Apple’s holiday TV ad

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Apple went back to basics to make their touching ad. Photo: Apple
Apple went back to basics to make their touching ad. Photo: Apple

Apple just posted a video on its YouTube channel to explain how they made the most recent TV ad for the holidays, “The Song.”

In the ad, a young woman uses GarageBand to sing a duet with her grandmother’s recording from the past. It’s a touching video that strikes a sentimental chord for many of us with grandparents who came of age back in the 1940s, as well as audio geeks who might remember the technology back then to create records: the audio booth.

Check out the video below for the full story from Apple, including the cool fact that they made an actual record using one of these old audio booths, The Voice-o-graph, for the young woman to sing along with.

8-bit Miyazaki tribute film will fill you with nostalgia

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It's rainy out there for neighbors. Screengrab: Pablo Fernandez Eyre
It's rainy out there for neighbors. Screengrab: Pablo Fernandez Eyre

My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle. Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service. Chances are you’re thinking of these lovely, peaceful, wonderful animated films right now.

And these are just a few of the fantastic and bewitching animated films that Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have made together over the past couple of decades. Now, however, Miyazaki has retired after making one final, autobiographical film, The Wind Rises. Studio Ghibli has put its film-making on hold, as well, citing restructuring.

Independent filmmaker Pablo Fernandez Eyre was a little sad when he heard the news.

“I decided to make a tribute to show my love for movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away,” he told Cult of Mac in an email. Check out his moving 8-bit piece below.

Experience the proto-internet running on an Apple IIgs in your web browser

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Back when the Apple IIgs was released in 1986, the Internet as we know it didn’t really exist. Instead, we had electronic bulletin boards, or BBSes: simple ASCII portals for email, games, file downloads, chatting, and — yes — even porn, that we all dialed into over phone lines.

Weren’t around to experience this for yourself? Don’t worry about it. You can now experience all the analog splendor of an old-school BBS for yourself, thanks to Level 29. And even better, it all runs in a web browser.

Retrotastic Pippin portable takes its place in mythical Apple pantheon

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This portable Pippin design is just one of the faux Apple products in Mike Donovan's portfolio of vintage reveries. Images: Mike Donovan
This portable Pippin design is just one of the faux Apple products in Mike Donovan's portfolio of retro reveries. Images: Mike Donovan

Imagine a world in which an Apple portable called Pippin rules the video game industry. Nintendo and Sony are nothing more than petrified corpses after a surprise attack from Cupertino vaporizes their platforms with a portable device so simple, so magical, that Michael Spindler would have let John Sculley waterboard him with Pepsi to make it a reality.

That’s the world imagined by Mike Donovan, a New York City designer who draws faux prototypes of everything from retro iPads to iPhones based on the iMac G3. His retrotastic mockup of the gaming gadget that never was, which he shared exclusively with Cult of Mac, takes the concept of Apple’s failed Pippin video game platform to its logical, period-appropriate extension.

“We’re inundated with new tech choices at almost every turn but there is something so alluring about the fun and simplicity of those early ’80s and ’90s gadgets,” Donovan told Cult of Mac. “Plus, who doesn’t love a good throwback?”

Grace Encore, The Wi-Fi Speaker From the ’80s

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Black-ash finish? Check. Big four-inch woofer? Check. Plenty of knobs and dials and even a built-in screen? Check, check, check! If you were to glance sideways at the Grace Encore (GDI-IRC7500) Stereo System whilst simultaneously taking some experimental military drug that altered your perception of time, you’d think that the Encore was from the 1980s.

ZX Spectrum Bluetooth Keyboard For iPad

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For nerds of a certain age (my age), the Sinclair ZX Spectrum was our first home computer/games console/escape from the nightmare world of normal humans. And now this iconic machine is set to be reborn in its home country of Great Britain, only now it’ll be a Bluetooth accessory for your iPad.

The iRecorder, An iPhone Speaker Styled Like a 1980s Cassette Player

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irecorder

Remember back when a button was a button, and not a skeuomorphic touch-screen fake complete with drop shadows and gradients? Me too. Back in the 1980s and beyond, kids had tougher fingers thanks to all the button-pushing that went on, not like the kids of today with their weak twiglets which threaten to snap if they squeeze their in–0line remote’s play/pause “button” too hard.

Which is my way of saying that you can keep your pathetic modern-day children from playing any music by simply loading your iPhone into this retro-tastic iRecorder.

The Beautiful Dodocase Folio Packs Papaer And Pen Along With Your iPad Mini

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Buying an iPad case on the eve of an Apple iPad event is probably not the smartest thing to do, but if any case can tempt me it’s this gorgeous Folio from Dodocase. At the very least, it’s got me hoping that any new iPad minis have the exact same dimensions as the current one. In short, the Folio looks to be the perfect marriage of old and new tech.