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.

Apple designed a workable system to let people edit text messages after they send them. But now we have to hope it’ll be implemented.

This is potentially great news for everyone who ever wished they could fix an embarrassing text.

Warren Buffett may be one of the shrewdest financial minds of our time, but don’t expect him to be able to use an iPhone. Despite receiving a personal lesson from Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“I went out to California, and Tim Cook very patiently spent hours trying to move me up to the level of the average two-year-old,” Buffett told Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer. “And didn’t quite make it.”

iPadOS 13 introduced native support for opening multiple windows of the same app side by side. Now, seven months after iPadOS 13.1 officially shipped to users, Microsoft has started beta-testing the ability for iPad users to do this on Word and PowerPoint for iPad.

Microsoft shared the news in a blog post detailing how users can “take advantage” of the new (for Microsoft) feature. Here’s how you do it:

Pricing on Apple’s expected 5G-ready iPhones will remain mostly the same, even though they are predicted to include OLED screens, according to a new report.

Front Page Tech analyst Jon Prosser tweeted Thursday base pricing on what Cult of Mac has reported as four new iPhone 12 models coming later this year.

Many of us have been learning the hard way just how lacking our sanitary standards are. We should be trying to keep germs at bay no matter what, but sanitation proves especially essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. To make that daunting task easier, we rounded up four tools for keeping devices, homes, offices and everyday items free of microbes.

A group of app developers have set up a new lobbyist association called the App Coalition. This independent group will lobby Congress regarding issues relating to app developers.

A Bloomberg report, published Wednesday, notes that nine mobile app developers have banded together for the new organization. The new lobbying group is distinct from the App Association, already sponsored by Apple, Microsoft, and others.

Global smartphone production could see a record fall of up to 16.5 percent in the second quarter of this year thanks in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new research report.

Another day, another crazy deal on Apple products from Woot. This time it has 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019) units, refurbished by Apple, available at hundreds off their usual prices. You can get yours for as little as $899.99!

This sale is good for today only, so enjoy it while you can.

What could be better than a mobile app that lets you play masses of games, like an old-school arcade squeezed onto your iPhone? A mobile app that lets you play masses of games and make your own new ones.

That’s what Swedish developer Martin Magni created with Fancade, a new iOS app launching Thursday. It offers a huge collection of mini-games, all created using the app itself, along with a drag-and-drop game-maker that lets you create your own.

According to a new report from Digitimes Research, global tablet shipments will climb 45.5% sequentially and 9.9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2020, reflecting the recovery of China’s supply chain and backed-up demand for tablets for e-learning.

Apple, which retained its position as the world’s no. 1 tablet maker in early 2020, is reported to “significantly increase” iPad orders for Q2.

Social video app TikTok isn’t just a big hit on iOS. According to new data published Wednesday by app analytics platform Sensor Tower, it’s an unprecedented hit — having enjoyed the best quarter of any app ever.

The firm says that TikTok has now been downloaded more than 2 billion times globally across both the App Store and Google Play Store. This comes just five months after it passed the 1.5 billion downloads milestone.

Chipmaker Qualcomm said Wednesday it expects the smartphone industry to ship 30% fewer mobile phones in the second quarter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but predicted the demand for 5G smartphones will accelerate from the second half of 2020 into the new year.

As a provider of modem chips to Apple, the predictions give further evidence that the Cupertino-based high-tech giant is on track to release it’s first 5G-ready iPhone lineup later this year simply based on Qualcomm’s estimates of product demand.

The popular utility CleanMyMac debuted way back in 2008, but MacPaw is finally bringing it to the Mac App Store all these years later. This will make it easier to find, buy and install.

The developer admits it did only direct sales of this product for business reasons. But the App Store version will also lack some features of the version sold on the MacPaw website for technical reasons.

A Group FaceTime feature some people find irritating can be disabled in the upcoming iOS version. Currently, the tile showing the face of the person speaking gets larger, pushing everyone else aside. The iOS 13.5 beta introduced Wednesday gives users the option to turn this off.

This MDM post is brought to you by Hexnode.

Does your organization use Apple devices? If so, you’ve nailed the first step. It’s a well-known fact that the Cupertino folks deal a better hand than Android when it comes to enterprise security. You’ve started off strong by equipping your employees with the best in class Apple devices. But to win the round, you need to know how to make the best out of your cards. And that’s exactly what Hexnode is here for. 

Unlocking your iPhone while wearing a protective mask might get a little quicker in iOS 13.5. Apple released a new beta of this upcoming version Wednesday, and it includes a neat trick that skips Face ID to immediately ask for a passcode if it detects the user is wearing a mask.

The Video Electronics Standards Association announced Wednesday the release of version 2.0 of the DisplayPort Alternate Mode standard that will support future compatible products with video data speeds up to 80 Gigabits per second and 16K displays up to 60Hz refresh rate.

The interface standard, which is part of USB-C connectors on Apple’s current Mac product line, is primarily used to connect a video source to a device like a flat-screen display, but can also carry audio, USB, and other forms of data.

Music streaming service Pandora updated its Apple Watch app Wednesday with the addition of Siri support, letting users request music, stations and podcasts verbally.

As of yesterday, Apple Maps can now show you local COVID-19 testing stations, so you can find the nearest one and get yourself checked out. It’s really easy to do, but it does require a search to activate the new map layer.

Here’s how to find a COVID-19 test near you. Note: This currently only works in the United States.

The third beta of iOS 13.5 released on Wednesday gives developers their first look at the coronavirus contact-tracing tool that Apple is creating in cooperation with Google.

iPadOS 13.5 Developer Beta 3 was also debuted today, along with the initial beta of Xcode 11.5.

Oak Felder writes and produces music for some of today’s top artists. In a new Apple video, he talks about the importance of technology that makes it easy to turn musical ideas into reality.

Watch it now:

Our awesome prices on some of the best Elkson accessories for Apple Watch and AirPods are now even better. You can save up to 40% on bands and cases, but you’ll need to act fast — this sale ends this week!

Apple reports its fiscal second-quarter earnings results Thursday afternoon, and chances are good that Cupertino will be glad to see the first three months of 2020 fade into history.

Having said that, things might not be as bad as many expect due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Oh, there won’t be any record-breaking figures, but there are some pretty good indicators that the news won’t be all doom and gloom.

As is always the case, though, the devil will be in the details. Apple’s conference call after issuing its Q2 2020 earnings report will be even more interesting than the numbers themselves.

To lend a helping hand during coronavirus lockdown, Google Wednesday announced that it will be making its premium videoconferencing service Google Meet free to users starting in the next few weeks.

Google Meet is the business-oriented version of Google Hangouts. It supports up to 100 callers with no time limits on conversations, making it a good enterprise-focused video chat tool. While normally Google Meet comes with a price tag attached, it’s now free to all Google users through September 30.