With iOS 6, Apple is looking to replace Google Maps with their own Cupertino solution that also provides 3-D maps of cities across the globe. Google isn’t going down without a fight though, so they just updated their Google Earth app for iOS to include 3-D maps before people get comfy with Apple’s Flyover solution in iOS 6.

It’s hard to believe that it was just a little more than a year ago that Apple released OS X Lion. Only twelve months later, and we’re now staring right down the maw of Apple’s ninth major release of Mac OS X: Mountain Lion.

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion signifies a new approach on Apple’s part towards OS X updates: instead of going years between major releases, Cupertino is trying to take the rapid release approach that has worked so well for them with iOS and apply it to the Mac.

Mountain Lion, then, feels in many ways less like OS X 10.8 than OS X 10.7.5: a smaller, more tightly focused update continuing what OS X Lion started, taking iOS’s best ideas and bringing them to Mac.

Thanks to major breakthrough features like iCloud syncing, Notification Center, Sharing, AirPlay Mirroring and more, there’s less of a distinction in Mountain Lion between the Mac and iOS than ever. But is that a good thing, and how will it change the way you use your Mac?

As you probably know already, Mountain Lion was released this morning, and we at Cult of Mac have been digging through the beta versions for months. There are some subtle and hidden things in Mountain Lion you may not notice, like the fact that Apple has actually included a stealthy “do not disturb” setting for Notification Center. You can mute all notifications from bugging you for a day at a time by flipping a switch that sneakily sits at the very top of the Notification Center window.

A friendly reminder for those of you downloading Mountain Lion: Facebook integration will not be added until this fall. Apple has said that Facebook in OS X “will be available in an upcoming software update to Mountain Lion.” If you’ve been following the news, you know this already, but we thought it was worth reiterating today.

While we don’t know for sure why it’s taking longer to add Facebook to the mix, our gut tells us Apple’s deal with Facebook got a little more complicated than both parties expected. Facebook in Mountain Lion is currently being tested by developers. So it’s coming, but not right out of the gate.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer presented the results of the company’s spring 2012 quarter. The quarter included extensive growth for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac product lines though iPod sales declined 10% from the same quarter a year ago.

Here are the financial numbers delivered during the call.

Back in June, Cult of Mac reported that Apple was set to introduce a new requirement for iOS apps that meant every single one had to ship with an icon measuring a whopping 1024×1024 pixels for Retina display devices. Developers are now reporting that the same requirement has been applied to Mac apps being sold through the Mac App Store, and that they cannot physically upload their apps without them.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson responded today to the recent rumor that the telecommunications company is planning to charge customers for data used in FaceTime calls over 3G. The feature was announced for iOS 6 in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco.

Asked about the rumor at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Stephenson acknowledged the rumor, but then also said it’s “too early to talk about pricing,” which may in fact be executive-speak for, “we won’t tell you how much we’re gonna charge.”

When Apple unveiled iOS 6 and released the first beta at WWDC back in June, it quickly became apparent that a number of new features wouldn’t be supported on older devices like the iPhone 3GS, and Apple mentioned these restrictions in the fine print of its iOS 6 preview page.

In the iOS 6 beta 3 release, however, shared Photo Streams and VIP mail — two of the features that are unsupported on older devices — are now supported on the iPhone 3GS.

Apple has released its third version of the iOS 6 beta to registered developers in the iOS Dev Center. iOS 6 beta 2 was seeded to developers three weeks ago after Apple unveiled the original iOS 6 beta at WWDC.

Beta 3 is available as an over-the-air update for developers running iOS 6 already. Apple is expected to release iOS 6 to the public this fall alongside the new iPhone.

The shipping delay for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display has decreased for customers in the United States the first time since the notebook made its debut on June 11. What was once a 3-4 week wait has now decreased to 2-3 weeks.