After unveiling its updated iPhone 5 BookBook case, Twelve South has announced BookBook for iPad mini, Apple’s smaller tablet. The case sells for $70 and is available now online.

Weighing 7.5 ounces, this newest BookBook is made with genuine leather and there are dual zippers on the top and bottom to allow full access to ports. The case comes in three colors: Vintage Brown, Classic Black and Vibrant Red.

I present a lot of talks these days, and wanting to make sure they sound right is of paramount importance. Having the ability to have your computer read your work talk back to you in a situation like that is a valuable thing. That’s why today’s offer from Cult of Mac Deals is such a winner in my books…and not just because it’s free!

Narrator is an awesome app that can help you make sure what you’ve written is what you want conveyed – and we’re offering it to you for free for a very limited time!

One of the better Yuletide traditions is the venerable holiday Advent Calendar, in which each day of December leading up to Christmas is marked off on a special calendar by opening its corresponding door to find a small gift, toy or chocolate squirreled away inside.

This year, we here at Cult of Mac decided we wanted to give our readers their very own Apple-themed advent calendar, filled with the year’s best apps, gadgets, stories and other curios. So each day in December, we’re going to lovingly peel back the door on the Cult of Mac 2012 Advent Calendar to reveal another delicious morsel, something really special that came out this year that we think every one of you should enjoy.

It’s Day 13! Time to get your tower defense on with Fieldrunners 2.

I’d say the single most annoying part of my mobile experience is when I accidentally click on a strategically placed ad. Most of the time, ads are placed in close proximity to where a user needs to touch in order to scroll or advance — not to mention there’s little screen real estate to begin with. Thankfully, and surprisingly, Google has been working on making accidental clicks a thing of the past.

Despite Tim Cook’s revelation that he uses the iPad’s virtual keyboard most of the time, anyone who writes for a living will still be using an external keyboard. And today’s test subject is the Brydge+, a $220 Bluetooth keyboard which does its best to turn your iPad into a tiny notebook.

We’ve been waiting for someone to make a great iOS Gmail app ever since the Sparrow team was bought by Google this year. Sparrow is still great, and the Gmail app has gotten better, but the experience of  using email on a smartphone still feels unnatural and archaic.

A few apps have tried and failed to change mobile email, but app development company Orchestra thinks they have the right answer with their new app Mailbox. Blending an email inbox with a Clear-styled to-do list, Mailbox provides a modernized take on mobile email that is simply beautiful.

Here’s what the app looks like in action:

Year in review lists are usually pretty exhausting, but with millions of apps to choose from in the App Store there’s a pretty good chance you missed some great new apps that came out in 2012. Apple just unveiled their App Store Best of 2012 page and it’s packed with goodies.

The App Store Best of 2012 is divided into numerous categories of apps so everyone will find something they enjoy. Apple didn’t stop with just the App Store though. The Best of 2012 list also includes selections from Music, Movies, TV Shows, Books, and even Podcast.

You can check out all the goodies right here.

Tweetbot is our favorite Twitter client for Mac. We love it so much, we’ve even included it in our Cult of Mac Advent Calendar. Even though the app is a bit costly at $19.99, it’s worth every penny because of the love and dedication poured into the app from the Tapbots team.

The latest version of Tweetbot for Mac was just released on the Mac App Store and it’s full of new features. The update includes some new global hot keys, better notifications, along with numerous other features and bug fixes.

Here are the full release notes on everything that’s new in Tweetbot for Mac 1.1:

App making is competitive as ever and it’s only going to get more so. Apps are an awesome opportunity for entrepreneurs to turn an idea into a profitable product with little monetary investment. The problem is, everyone knows this and is trying to get their piece of the pie.

With that in mind, The Mobile App Design Starter Kit is exactly what any independent app creator needs to get ahead of the game.

There are a lot of great ideas hidden behind terribly designed apps. We all know the typical reasons for poor design – pricey professional designer prices, lack of themes, or mobile app design just being difficult in general – but what this Cult of Mac deal offers is a comprehensive kit that includes everything you need to give your app a snazzy design that will make it stick out among the competition for only $57.

Android has been dominating the iPhone in terms of market share, but if consumers decide to buy what they really want right now the two platforms’ roles might be reversed. In a new survey, Apple analyst Gene Munster found that 53% of smartphone buyers plan to buy an iPhone 5.

Whether those prospective iPhone 5 owners actually go out and buy the iPhone 5 is a whole other story, but Munster says that interest in the iPhone 5 is growing despite the Maps app fiasco.

It’s that time of year again, time to look back at a year of new apps and highlight the ones we liked the most.

So we’d like some help from you, gorgeous Cult of Mac readers – who are all looking particularly good today, might I add? We need to draw up a shortlist of candidates, apps that made a splash on your home screens during the last 12 months.

Which ones delighted you? Which ones entertained you? Which ones left you giggling like a little kid? What about the free apps you wished you could pay for? Or the paid-for apps that you thought were ridiculously cheap? Which were the apps you rushed to tell your friends about, because you were so excited?

Help us out – post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments. Next week we’ll round up your suggestions, mix in a few of our own, and run a poll in which you can vote and decide the winner.

Thanks folks! We’re looking forward to seeing your recommendations.

Are you a big Angry Birds fan? Rovio’s media onslaught is set to hit the big screen, with a 3D CGI feature film produced by Despicable Me and Ice Age alum John Cohen helming. Yay?

Readdle has today updated its popular PDF Expert app for iPad to introduce a number of new features that include Google Drive syncing, integration with the PDF Converter app, faster PDF rendering, and more. It also promises “dozens” of other improvements, and it’s available to download from the App Store now.

A U.S. court has today ruled that Apple’s iPhone infringes three patents owned by MobileMedia Ideas, a so-called “patent troll” jointly owned by Nokia, Sony, and Denver-based MPEG LA.

Xiaojie Li, a 44-year-old woman living in Newton, Massachusetts, was pinned to the ground and tasered by police on Tuesday when she attempted to buy a few too many iPhones from her local Apple store. Li says she was buying the devices on behalf of relatives in China, and she was carrying $16,000 in cash when police arrested her.

As is typical of Verizon every holiday season, they have gone ahead and updated their return policy to reflect an extended period for holiday purchases. Any new device purchased from Verizon between November 22 and December 25, 2012 may be returned or exchanged through January 15, 2013.

Hey, thanks Apple! Order online right now from the U.S. official Apple Storeand you get free 2-3 day shipping. Usually, Apple only offers free shipping if you spend more $50. That will make it a little easier to get a last minute stocking stuffer for your loved ones, don’t you think? Source: Apple Store

Every now and then – less often these days – you hear about an app that’s really new, genuinely new. It does something you’ve not seen done before. It’s a whole new idea. Foldify is one those apps: it’s fun for kids and grown-ups alike, it’s reasonably-priced, and above all it smacks of genius.

If you need something with more oomph for managing your photos than iPhoto but don’t really care for Aperture, good news: Adobe has updated Photoshop Lightroom to version 4.3, not just fixing a ton of bugs, but adding Retina support for MacBook Pros and adding support for twenty new digital cameras.

Amazon has updated its Instant Video app for iOS today, introducing support for the iPhone and iPod touch. The service has been available on iPad since August, but this is the first time it has come to smaller iOS devices, giving Amazon Prime subscribers more than 30,000 free videos in their pockets.

Apple could be looking to switch its graphics cards supplier from NVIDIA back to AMD for the iMac. The Cupertino company began using NVIDIA solutions for its latest all-in-one, which started shipping late last month, but a job listing on its website suggests it could already be preparing to switch back. Apple is looking for a Hardware Systems Electrical Engineer with experience in AMD graphics processing units (GPU).

I’m sure you’re like me and get tons of email from people you don’t necessarily want email from. While OS X Mail has the new VIP feature to group important contacts into one mailbox, what about all those emails from contacts you feel are less than important, but might want to keep around, just in case.

There is a way to sort all those emails from non-important contacts, using Smart Groups in the Contacts App as well as a Smart Mailbox in Mail app. Here’s how.

Google released an official Google Maps app for the iPhone on Wednesday evening — I’m sure you’ve already downloaded it to your device — and as you might expect, it’s already incredibly popular. Users have since been rushing to reclaim the mapping service that Apple booted out of iOS with its latest iOS 6 update, helping Google Maps rocket to the top of the App Store’s free chart in just seven hours. It has knocked Apple’s own 12 Days of Christmas app down to second place.

Three months after the release of iOS 6 and the subsequent PR disaster that was Apple’s renewed (and Google-less) Maps app, Google has got a replacement back into the App Store. It’s slick, speedy and, most importantly, a good deal more accurate than Apple’s data. Thank goodness for that.

Samsung might be Apple’s biggest rival, but it’s clear to see the Korean company loves its work. It’s been trying to make its Android smartphones more like the iPhone for many years — that’s hard to deny, no matter whose side you’re on — and it’s spawned retail stores, tablets, and even charging adapters that are remarkably similar to those form the Cupertino company.

Even Samsung’s executives can’t fight their love of Mac and iOS devices. One, Young Sohn, a chief strategy officer, admits to using a Mac, iPhone, and iPad at home, and praises Apple’s unique ecosystem.