As you probably know, Apple decided to remove FireWire support of the latest MacBooks, and most users weren't exactly happy with that decision. While I won't say anyhing related to that decision now, today I will have to ask one simple question: will Apple move to USB 3 as soon as possible, or not?

The reason for asking this question is pretty simple - according to the information we all have at hand right now, the next-gen USB standard should become available for commercial applications in 2010, and Apple should be one of the first companies to embrace it. Why? First, because people missing FireWire may not be happy with USB 2.0, and second...

...just think about the USB 3 specifications: speeds up to 4.8 Gbit/s (600 MB/s), as well as a powering system which intelligently cuts power when your USB 3 device is idle! Pretty cool, don't you agree?

Since the USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced the completion of the USB 3.0 specification and the USB 3 release is, practically, a part of the past, but if you're one of those working in a company that's going to mess with this new technology, you may want to take a look at the specification and adopter agreement, both available here. After all, there's still enough time left until USB 3.0 arrives in consumers' hands, but you wouldn't like to miss the USB 3 train, would you?

Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, ST-NXP Wireless and Texas Instruments worked together to develop USB 3.0, and now - as I was saying earlier - is only a matter of time until the first USB 3 devices will hit the market. While most of them will be large flash drives and external hard disks, I think the iPod would put to good use a data interface about 10 times faster than USB 2.0...

As I said a few times before, I currently have a cheap Nokia phone, some 1xxx model. Since I got it, I dropped it on concrete at least two times, and a few times as many on the carpet, or following the desk-computer case-floor path. So far, no cracks, only a few scratches, but those were caused by some keys inside a bag, and not by those falls I mentioned above. No, I didn't purchase any titanium case, and since I am not even using some plastic or leather case to protect it, this makes me wonder almost daily "Why so many iPhone 3G case problems?" without too many chances for a good answer.

Anyway, although we won't get an answer to the question above today, it is amazing to know that Apple has been sued because the various iPhone 3G problems has more times than any other smartphone manufacturer on the planet - at least according to IntoMobile, and I have no reason to say they are not right...

One of the last iPhone 3G lawsuits was filed in New York district court by Nassau County resident Avi Koschitzki, charging Apple and AT&T of misleading potential customers as to the speed of the iPhone 3G internet connection, but unlike similar lawsuits, this one also approaches the iPhone 3G case problems:"Although Apple was and is aware that the iPhones were and are defective, and that consumers have experienced repeated instances of cracked housing, Apple has nevertheless allowed the defectively designed iPhones to be sold to the public."

These being said, remains to be seen what's going to happen next, but I don't think Apple will turn to carbon fiber or another "more serious" material for manufacturing the iPhone 3G cases. After all, what would happen with all those iPhone protective cases manufacturers, if people won't ever need to buy them? Heh, just kidding... or maybe not.

If you ask me, I think those problems encountered by a lot of people having those older plastic case MacBooks are pretty serious, especially since - from what I've heard - Apple decided to take out of the warranty replaceable parts list that part of the case that usually ended up with a bunch of cracks on it, even when the notebook saw very light use(not in the US, anyway, but in some European countries). That's just an opening to the real problem we're going to talk about today, the iPhone 2.2 firmware and its own problems...

...because if there's something worse than hardware issues, that's a software-driven headache, believe me! What kind of issues? Well, if you're one of those iPhone owners who wouldn't jailbreak it in a million years, then you can move on to the next article, since we're going to talk about what those guys in charge with "The unofficial, official blog of the "iphone-dev team"." are saying about the iPhone 2.2 firmware and potential problems.

Here's the warning: "Installing ‘2.2’ straight away on the iPhone 3G using the iTunes auto-updater could affect your chances of any software unlock in the near future (should one be found and released), so when you see an update in iTunes await our instructions first!"

If this needs to be said again, let's say it - if you want to jailbreak the iPhone or iPhone 3G you got, I have no problem with that, but be sure to remember that, once you do that, you should also avoid updating your firmware as soon as Apple releases a new version, because you may end up with a not-so-unlocked iPhone for a few days...or even longer!

Well, that's all, folks! ...and remember - "Please don’t blindly install the update and then complain about it later ;-)," as the "iPhone-dev team" said.

If I think about a bit, I wouldn't buy the latest iPod Nano in a million years, despite those cool cases & accessories available for it, because with only a little extra cash, you can get the Touch, or something from Apple's competitors - I won't give any names here, sorry. Anyway, for those of you who got it already, I have some good news - your new iPod Nano 4G is going to get even better, without forcing you to pay a single cent - all you have to do is apply the latest iPod Nano update and bring the software up to version 1.0.3!

Here's what Apple says you'll get with this latest iPod Nano update:

- Support for Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic (yeah, the ones we've been waiting for)
- Support for Apple Earphones with Remote and Mic
- Fixed instability issues when using Nike + iPod Sport Kit
- Added a setting to turn off Cover Flow when rotating iPod nano and a Cover Flow menu item under the Music menu
- When Shuffle setting is set to Songs, pressing play on a song in saved Genius playlist will now follow the Shuffle setting
- After playing a slideshow with TV out, Cover Flow album art is no longer distorted
- Waking iPod nano after hibernating no longer distorts photos
- Other minor bug fixes

To download this update, simply dock your iPod Nano (4th Generation, of course!) with iTunes, select your iPod under Devices, and then choos "Check for Update." That's all!

...or not, that is the question! I think iSearch would be a good name, but the domain name is already taken, so this option will probably go out. Anyway, it's not about the name, but the need - do we need another search engine? I think the answer to that is a positive one, and it seems I am not the only one, since Apple Search may be a few steps closer to reality than most people would think.

According to a report published by TechCrunch, Apple is working "on a search engine of some sort." Now, the question remaining is "what kind of search engine?," and I must confess this is a rather challenging question, but I think they will go for the mobile search market. After all, a few months ago, reports were claiming that most searches performed from mobiles were coming from iPhones, so Apple Search for mobiles makes sense.

While the report mentioned says "If Apple were building a search engine, they’d be hiring search experts and engineers. We’ve talked to a ton of them at all the big companies, and while some of them heard the same rumors, none have lost search employees to Apple, or heard of any specific hirings," I think they are missing something. Spotlight IS a search engine already, only that it's stuck inside Mac OS X. I don't know too much about it, but I don't think that turning it into a mobile search engine would be that hard.

Obviously, I am no programmer, and since my knowledge related to the innards of the Mac OS X is rather limited, I am asking those of you who have a better view of the problem - is it possible for Apple to turn Spotlight into a mobile Apple Search without making too much noise, and catch all the competitors by surprise?