This time on The CultCast: rumored new EarPods take your pulse and more; updated Macbook Airs get faster and cheaper; a leaked “iPhone 6” case indicates an iPod-inspired design; Google takes on Office with new iOS apps for Drive; we ponder the state of the iPod; and we pitch our favorite tech and apps then vote on which is best… it’s an all new Faves N Raves!

Have a few chuckles while we catch you up on each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the audio adventure begin!

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Click on for the show notes.

If you’re looking to get away from it all, you might want to check out this game. …and then it rained is an arcade game full of sound, rain, and colors, and it’s the perfect game for a quiet few minutes away from the hectic pace of your life.

With true zen-like minimalism, there are just a few simple mechanics at work here, but it may just be the best game you play all week.

Check out the video below to see how it plays.

For the second time in around one month, a major flaw has been found in popular open-source security software. The hole, which exists in the login tools OAuth and OpenID, affects many websites including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Yahoo, GitHub and others.

The flaw was discovered by Wang Jing, a Ph.D student at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Jing notes that the serious “Covert Redirect” flaw can act as a login popup based on an affected site’s domain. Exploited by an attacker, affected sites may result in users losing control of their login information and personal data — including email addresses, birth dates, and contact lists.

Style My Floor is a decorating app that lets you sample an assortment of different hardwood materials and styles. And even cooler, you can request a “Quick Key” that’ll let you see how different floors will look in your house. You just print out a PDF, lay it in a corner, and then point your iPhone or iPad camera at it. Magic does the rest.

Or technology. Probably that.

Either way, it hits my “easily impressed” button.

Source:Style My Floor – Free | QuickStep Flooring

When you first start playing Hill Runner, it seems impossible. And then after a few dozen dismal failures, you have a really good run and restore your faith in yourself. And then you’ll mess up the next try immediately.

It’s a glass case of emotion, this game.

But it’s very simple, and it’s free, and it’ll offer some distraction and charm for a few minutes if that’s all you’re looking for.

New game Mutants: Genetic Gladiators aims to be your go-to when you want to battle it out with comic book-style monsters that you mutate and create yourself.

The game, from French publisher Kojobo, originated on Facebook, gathering almost 6 million players with a turn-based arena battling scheme that mixes role-playing level-up mechanics with an interesting combat system that uses various monster “genes” to add to the strategy. You’ll choose three mutant gladiators for your battle team, and then pit them against other teams — both AI-controlled and actual other players — for ultimate supremacy.

Check out the launch trailer below for some hot comic-book creature battling action.

Two coders who’ve never met sat in their respective man caves 1,400 miles apart making a game that proves once and for all that whiz-bang graphics aren’t necessary when it comes to building a hit.

Called A Dark Room, their “minimalist text adventure” has stormed the App Store — averaging 10,000 downloads a day (at $0.99 a pop) and currently holding the No. 1 position for paid iPhone games (see our review here).

Here’s how Michael Townsend and Amir Rajan created an indie iOS game with no graphics that became the most unlikely success of the year.

Of all the many,many, many manga takes on Steve Jobs we’ve inexplicably seen in recent years, this one is by far the weirdest.

Depicting Apple’s late founder as, um, an attractive young lady with a come-hither stare, the gender-switched CEO is gracing T-shirts across Japan.

Originally created as the central character of Chocolate Apple, an unusual manga biography tribute from the illustrator of IS <Infinite Stratos> and the Xenosaga series, the mascot now seems to have taken on a life of his/her own, as a fashionista of sorts.

Somehow I suspect that when Apple began considering entering the wearables market, this was the last thing on anyone’s mind.

Apple has launched a new section of its iOS App Store, offering a roundup of the past month’s best mobile apps as selected by an Apple editorial team.

The “Best of April” selection is split into two categories: “Great Games” and “Amazing Apps.” These include titles such as Monument Valley, Fantastical for iPad, Duolingo, and Hitman GO.

Since the glory days of Neo-Geo, I’ve been a massive fan of Metal Slug: the run and gun series of video games that sees you blast the living heck out of everything from enemy soldiers to undead zombies and giant crab monsters.

Now a new iOS game set in the Metal Slug universe, called Metal Slug Defense, has been released — and it actually looks pretty good.

Unlike recent abominations like RollerCoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, which are the nostalgic equivalent of being forced to burn your favorite childhood toy while your first girlfriend points and laughs at you, this game has taken the superb pixel art, animations and manic destruction that fans loved about the Metal Slug series and turned it into an entertaining iPhone experience.