Apple has lowered the estimated delivery times on its new iPad 2 tablet to two to three weeks on itswebsitein a number of different regions, suggesting the Cupertino-based company has begun to overcome supply issues and is ready to start fulfilling orders as soon as possible. Originally slated for a four to five week delivery when the devicefirst launchedin the U.S, the iPad 2 was first reduced to a three to four week wait as Apple prepared for the worldwide launch of the device, making it available in an additional 25 countries....

On January 14, Apple placed acounter on its website, counting up to the ten billionth app download, today that milestonehas been passed. We don’t know who the lucky winner is just yet, Apple asks us to return to the page “later” to see who has won. As part of its promotion, Apple wanted to reward its customers, so it offered a prize to the person who downloaded the 10 billionth app – a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card that can redeemed on Apple’s App Store but also to buy Macbooks, iPads, iPhones and iPods....

Apple has today released two new EFI firmware updates for Macbook Pro and Mac mini models, fixing some Lion issues and prepping the devices for the new $999Apple Thunderbolt Display. Notable is the fact that the Macbook Pro update appears to add the Lion Internet Recovery feature that it had previously lacked. The Macbook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.2 fixes Thunderbolt Display compatibility problems with early 2011 models and enables Lion Recovery over an internet connection....

It’s not common for a large corporation to get behind a controversial social cause, but Apple — who is known for extending the benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples to gay couples — has contributed a video to theIt Gets Better Project, featuring interview snippets with dozens ofApple’sLGBT employees. The It Gets Better Project aims to show young people that, despite constant bullying in school, their lives will get better as they grow up and become part of a world that is more accepting of the gay and transgender all the time....

With us just weeks away from the iPhone 5 being announced, sources have said that Apple’s next-generation smartphone will sport a ‘fairly different design’, according to a source speaking toThe New York Times‘ Nick Bilton. Another source, also an unnamed Apple employee, has given the publication a few more details about the upcoming device. For one, the design might not be all that different from the leaked Case-Mate designs that have been flying around the net earlier today in what appears to be apublicity stuntby the case maker....