VMWare announced the newest version of VMWare Fusion, its Mac virtualization product, this week. In doing so it also launched its first business or enterprise version of the popular tool for running Windows and other operating systems on Mac workstations. Dubbed Fusion Professional, the new solution has a range of features that are likely to appeal to IT professionals in both business and education.

In a somewhat ironic move, the U.S. government has entered into an ebook deal with Apple that will see a range of government reports, documents, and ebooks published in Apple’s iBookstore. The partnership, which was announced earlier this week, coincides with the Department of Justice’s latest legal filings in its anti-trust suit against Apple.

The deal with the Government Printing Office (GPO) will make a wide swath of documents and ebooks available through the iBookstore. While some government documents are available for free, a number of documents and full-length ebooks are not.

We love Readdle’s productivity apps here at Cult of Mac, especially when they’re going cheap. The company is currently holding a Back to School campaign that sees a number of iOS apps that “are indispensable for studying” reduced. Those included are ReaddleDocs for iPhone, ReaddleDocs for iPad, and Remarks.

One of the 200 new features touted by Apple for OS X Mountain Lion is a boon to those of us who have to type the same text string or phrase over and over, including email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and the like. It’s also a great way for people with motor disabilities to be able to type at a much faster rate than otherwise. Here’s how to set it up.

It’s foolish to put too much stock in “leaked” images of third-party cases when it comes to predicting what the next Apple device is going to look like, but these iPad mini cases found in China really do look like the real thing: these aren’t just made for a shrunk-down-to-seven-inches iPad, but for a new tablet that is more like a big iPhone when it comes to its bezel design.

Other interesting details of these cases include a rear camera, no LED flash, a front facing Facetime camera, a smalller dock connector, and volume rockers on the right side of the device. Gizchina, where these pictures originate, speculate that a hole in the center of the case is meant to attach a “lanyard,” but that’s just silly: Apple wouldn’t ship a product with a laynard. That’s a hole for a microphone, same as you’ll find in the current iPad.

More images below. What do you think?

U.K. retailer PC World has made some incredible reductions to Apple’s last-generation Macs, with prices starting at just £379 (about $670) for a refurbished Mac mini. It also has MacBook Airs starting at £499 (about $790), and MacBook Pros starting at £649 (about $1,028) — that’s £350 (about $554) off the original price tag.

Adobe updated their cloud-based photo management app, Revel, to version 1.5 across both Mac and iOS apps. The new version includes the ability to sort photos into albums, share private web albums on the Adobe Revel website, and add captions to photos. Along with an updated user interface and new photo themes, you can use your Facebook ID to sign up for a Revel account.

Curious about who, exactly, is behind the growing number of TV ads for and against this or that political candidate, this or that political issue? Well, wonder no longer, as the developers behind Super PAC App bring Shazam-like audio recognition technology to the political advertisement space.

We I first wrote about the R*Case, I remarked with typical hyperbolic overstatement that it “looks very useful.” Well, the kind folks at TouchNS sent one (or actually four, along with a bunch of really bad styluses) for review, and it turns out I was right. In fact, it is now my favorite iPad skin.

Three months ago, we first heard that Facebook — probably the slowest and lousiest app many people have on their smartphones — was going to get a blistering fast speed update. Now it’s finally here. And yep, it’s much faster… finally a Facebook app that isn’t absolutely crummy.