Rumors continue to swirl about the iPad 3 launch following yesterday's claims that Apple will be holding a media event during the first week of March for the introduction. The Next Web now reports that Apple is currently said to be in "crunch mode" as it works to finalize its plans for the event.

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Apple today released a series of three EFI firmware updates bringing Lion Internet Recovery to the company's Late 2010 MacBook Air, Mid-2010 iMac, and Early 2010 MacBook Pro. Available firmware updates include: - MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.3 (2.98 MB): This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on MacBook Air (Late 2010) models and addresses an issue where the system could restart if the power button is pressed immediately after waking from deep sleep. - iMac EFI Update 1.8 (3.02 MB): This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection on iMac (Mid 2010) models

Following yesterday's release of OS X 10.7.3 , a number of users in our forums and at Apple's discussion forums began reporting issues with the update. The most serious of these issues seems to be widespread crashing of apps generally accompanied by an artwork error in the crash notice window in which the window's buttons are replaced with graphics showing "CUI" and question marks. In general, users have found that applying the combo version of the OS X 10.7.3 update rather than the standard delta version typically offered via Software Update will fix the issues.

The Commercial Times relays a report from Daiwa Securities that the iPhone 5 is expected to launch at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) to be held in June 2012.

Research firm IDC today released its estimates of global mobile phone sales for the fourth quarter of and full-year 2011, finding Apple moving past LG to claim third place in the rankings for the first time.

MacRumors reader Tony Hart notes on his blog that after emailing Apple CEO Tim Cook with his thoughts on the company's selection of Dixons CEO John Browett as the next head of retail , he received a personal response in which Cook noted that Browett was "the best by far" among the candidates he talked with about the position.

Verizon and other carriers have been talking for some time about the idea of shared data plans that would allow users to draw from a single monthly allotment of cellular data for multiple mobile devices, much the same way family plans can share minutes among their phones. While European carriers have led the way in allowing users with both an iPhone and iPad to share a single bucket of data, Verizon and AT&T have indicated they are working on similar workings with Verizon indicating early last month that such plans were likely to launch in 2012. Engadget now reports that Verizon appears to be continuing to make progress on shared data plans, with the offerings now showing up in employee training materials.

Contrary to some reports , Apple CEO Tim Cook said today that the company hadn't seen any slowdown in iPad sales following the introduction of the much-hyped Kindle Fire tablet. When asked by an analyst during today's quarterly earnings call about the impact on the iPad from lower priced tablets, Cook noted that the company sold a record 15.4 million iPads and that Apple doesn't consider "limited function tablets and e-readers to be in the same category as the iPad". A big reason for the iPads success, Cook believes, is that the ecosystem for the iPad is "in a class by itself".

Not long ago we published a story about Raspberry Pi, a $35 Linux-based single board computer that is still in development. Now, a Model B version of the device is being demoed and it shows off the small computer’s AirPlay streaming capabilities. The video shows one of Raspberry Pi’s developers using an iPad to stream a video clip to the Raspberry Pi Model B device using AirPlay without a hitch.