On The CultCast, our listeners ask us all the time whether they should go for the Macbook Pro or the Macbook Air. I say be a real Apple fan — get both. But if that’s not an option, we’ll tell you when which model makes more sense than the other, and which Macbook will be right for you on our latest episode.

And then, Faves and Raves! The fun but poorly-named segment where we pitch our favorite apps and gear then vote on which is best.

Don’t miss this stupendous new episode of The CultCast. Subscribe now on iTunes, or stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s new Podcasts App.

Show notes below!

If you’ve been watching the App Store, you may have noticed iTranslate Voice, a translation tool that looks a lot like Siri, rise to the top. iTranslate Voice does just what you’d expect: you speak into your phone, and it magically outputs what you’ve said into the language of your choice.

Starting today, iTranslate Voice is now available on the iPad as well.

As you’ve likely heard, Google recently acquired Sparrow, the popular email app for both the Mac and iPhone. Along with the acquisition, Google made it clear that no further updates or changes would be pushed to the Mac and iPhone, and that the Sparrow team will be merging with the Gmail team.

People never like change, though, and the Google-Sparrow acquisition is no exception. Within just days of the announcement, a petition to keep Sparrow alive has popped up on the web.

Apple’s earnings call is set for 2pm PST today, where Tim Cook and the gang will talk all about sales figures for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Even though the Mac has enjoyed great sales numbers over the past few years while all other PC makers are experiencing a decline, the Mac isn’t growing as steadily as it once had. Is the iPad to blame?

What have you noticed among you and your friends? Are you considering abandoning the Mac altogether in favor of the convenience of the iPad? We want to hear from you on whether you think the iPad is already replacing desktop computers for novice PC users.

CLICK HERE TO TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN OUR FORUM THREAD

Among Mountain Lion’s more than 200 new features are many that have distinct appeal for business users. AirPlay Mirroring, the ability to share items with colleagues, secure and unified messaging across Macs and iOS devices, one-step encryption of hard drives and flash drives, Reminders, Notification Center, VIP prioritization in Mail, and dictation are just handful of the Mountain Lion features that are poised to become great business and education tools.

With so many great features, IT departments big and small are likely to hear requests for Mountain Lion from employees, managers, educators, and even students. While Mountain Lion may be an easy and painless upgrade for consumers, any major OS upgrade poses challenges and concerns for technology professionals and Mountain Lion is no different. In this guide, we’ll show you how to prepare for Mountain Lion, test it for compatibility issues, and plan a successful roll out.

(Editor’s Note: This post has been stickied to the top of the front page. There may be more recent news posts below it.)

As writers at Cult of Mac, we have one of the coolest jobs on the planet. We get to sit at home, in our  underwear, and talk about Apple and new technology all day. It’s an awesome privilege that we truly enjoy, but there’s been something missing on Cult of Mac over the last few years.

We have some amazingly passionate readers that love Apple just as much, or more, than we do. We’re lucky to have readers with great insights on the latest Apple news who are also creative and eager to share. You guys ARE The Cult of Mac, and we haven’t been great at providing a platform for you to gather, interact, and share everything you know and love about Apple. But we’re ready to change all that.

Today, Cult of Mac is proud to announce that we’re launching our new forums and they’re made just for you. A place where Apple fans across the globe can come hangout to meet other Apple fans and share their creative insights into all things Apple.

The App Store has had its fair share of apps and games that attempt to replicate a hit title that isn’t available on iOS — like the numerous Super Mario clones we’ve seen over the years. But MineKart 64 is a little different. It takes not just one, but two hit titles — Minecraft and Mario Kart — and fuses them together.

It’s literally Minecraft kart racing — what could be more enjoyable than that?

Only it’s not that at all. It’s actually a complete scam that you should avoid at all costs.

I’ve been a Viber user for sometime now, but I’ve always been frustrated with its lack of support for group messaging — something I believe every messaging app should do from day one. Thankfully, this is one of the features introduced in Viber’s latest update, available on Android and iOS today.

According to a new survey from Appcelerator, a mobile analytics and development company, developers for mobile platforms are moving to the enterprise market. When asked to choose one mobile operating system is best for the enterprise market in this year’s survey, the majority picked iOS (53 percent) over Android (38 percent). This is in marked contrast to last year’s survey, in which the platforms tied at 44 percent.

At a settlement conference last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook and executives from Samsung Electronic disagreed on the value of the opposing parties’ patents. The two world’s largest companies of consumer electronics continue to disagree as the trial here in the US looms ahead, scheduled for July 30 in San Jose, California. According to a report by wire Reuters, Cook participated in mediation with Samsung’s Vice Chairman Choi Gee-sung and mobile chief Shin Jong-Kyun last Monday in the San Francisco area to potentially resolve the dispute ahead of trial.

As if.