Last week’s weekly wrap-up was a busy one, with iPhone 3.0 on the horizon along with a new 3rd-generation iPod shuffle. A week later, we’ve learned much more about iPhone 3.0 and it’s new features the public will get their hands on come June. This week was another exciting one in Apple dimensions - so let’s dig in:

iPhone 3.0 preview

On March 17th, Apple demonstrated a live preview of what to expect when Firmware 3.0 is released to the public next June. Among all the features mentioned, copy-and-paste was the one update that stood out from the rest. It’s a feature that shoud have been around since the beginning, but at least it’s finally here. Up until now, jailbroken utilities such as Clippy have sufficed.

Many updates and changes were made to the YouTube application including the ability to sign in with your YouTube account. After doing so, you can now comment on, rate or report videos. You can also watch videos from other YouTube users that you are subscribed to.

Firmware 3.0 will be released June 2009 - free for iPhone, $9.95 for iPod touch. It’s compatible with both generations of the iPhone and iPod touch, but the original iPod touch seems to be left in the dust as many features require a speaker or other hardware that the device lacks.

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The YouTube application has seen a makeover with the release of Firmware 3.0. You can now sign into the application using your YouTube account. Once signed in, you can view your subscribed videos and rate, report or comment on videos. Another key update is the ability to see the full details about every video instead of occasionally being cut off with “…” at the end of the description.

Up until now, many users have had to use the mobile YouTube website through Safari to suffice, but come June 2009 you will no longer have to do so. All the regular mobile YouTube features will be found right in the YouTube application.

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The word “podium” was first used in the year 1743. Apparently, Apple thinks it belongs to them. Apple issued a cease and desist letter to Pivotal, mainly because of the use of the word “pod” in their iPhone stand, named Podium. Continue reading for an excerpt of the cease-and-desist letter and what Pivotal had to say in return.

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Kicking off at 12:45pm ET, Hack the iPod touch along with iPod touch Fans will be providing live coverage of the iPhone OS 3.0 preview. Apple will be providing an “advanced preview” of iPhone OS 3.0 in Cupertino, California beginning at 1pm ET (10am PT).

According to Kevin Rose,  co-founder of Digg, copy-and-paste is coming to Firmware 3.0. Kevin’s last rumor was accurate, when he posted the first images of what would become the new 4th-generation iPod nano. Rose claims that the copy-and-paste feature will be similar to the magnifying glass that appears when you tap text. He claims that, using two fingers, you will be able to copy or cut text.

Apple will be demonstrating a live “advanced preview” of iPhone 3.0 tomorrow, March 17th, at 1pm ET. While you wait, you can watch Kevin Rose as he announced this rumor. There is some offensive language used in this video, so be advised.

I’m trying to sproose HTiT up a little bit, and I’ve come up with a few ideas that I’d like to run past you all.

In the past, we’ve done iPod Touch accessory reviews (for the 1G and 2G), App reviews, App giveaways and Macbook accessories. These have been moderately successful, in the sense that people who read our reviews enjoy them, and consider buying the product afterwards - Great Success!

We’ve also done external-site features to help assist our write ups here: HTiT’s YouTube channel (video reviews), the iPTF Podcast (news of the week).

But I’d like to run a few prospects for the future that I had in mind:

• Hack The iPod Touch Twitter. Bringing you up to date snippets of HTiT and news.
• Mac OS X app reviews.

Of course - This is an iPhone/iPod Touch based news site - Hence the name - But if we could branch away from the norm slightly, and have a mixture of iPhone/iPod/Mac stories/reviews/accessories - I think we’d reach out to a whole lot more people.

So if you don’t mind, I’d love your feedback on the situation - How you think HTiT is run? How could it be improved? What do you want to know about? Please take into account my Mac OS X app idea, and Twitter idea too, and see if that appeals to you - But also give us some of YOUR ideas. Coz you’re who we’re writing for!

Leave a comment or contact our email address.

After a week or so’s worth of entries, I’ve stuck everything into a random generator and chosen the winner of the Tweetie app!

The winner’s name is announced after the break:

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The last few weeks have been busy ones for both Apple and iPod touch Fans alike. Hack the iPod touch is going back in time to recap on what you may have missed.

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If, like me, you scour the App Store for applications that would be useful in your life, you’d know by now that the competition for Twitter applications is a competitive business!

I’ve gone through Twitterific, Twinkle, a load of other free apps - But I think I’ve finally found the perfect app for your Tweeting needs…

Developed by the company “AteBits,” this app has had a lot of raving reviews lately, and Apple have realised this too!

Read more across the break to read my review, see some screenies and be in with a chance of winning a copy of the app!

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Face it: giveaways are great. While you may not win all the time, winning the odd one is exciting - especially when you’ve got a chance at winning an iPod. The folks over at Turning Point, a debt settlement company, are giving away an iPod shuffle each Tuesday until March 3rd. And believe it or not, I’m entering this contest right now. No, I’m not filling out a form. I’m not filling out a survey or doing a promotion. In fact, you’re reading my entry as we speak. That’s because to enter the contest you need to write up a blog post or another blurb of some sort about their iPod giveaway.

Update: Well, it turns out that I’m not eligible after all as their rules state that you must be a US resident. That’s too bad for Canadians like myself. Take this into consideration when you’re entering!

Last night’s episode of Family Guy, called “Ocean’s Three and a Half”, put Microsoft’s Zune player out to dry. Carter Pewterschmidt, Lois’ father, asks Bill Gates for some help with his Zune. Then comes the quick jab at the Zune Player as Carter reveals that the Zune is in fact an iPod, “like the rest of the world” has.

Take a look at the scene from last night’s episode:

[via tuaw]

TweetContest resumes today with a unique prize: a LapMonster. Designed by Muppet Maker, LapMonsters are laptop bags with one major difference: they’re furry. Based off of Jim Henson’s Muppets, you choose from 6 different laptop bags that resemble different Muppets.

Entering TweetContest is simple and only requires that you have a Twitter account. Weekdays at 4:44pm ET, TweetContest will ask a question on their Twitter feed. To win, you must be the correct user to reply back with the correct answer. For example, the last TweetContest required that you be the 10th user to send a reply with the correct answer. It ended up being @econoar, congratulations!