We're just about a week away from the Orange iPhone launch, and if you folks across the pond were wondering what the deal was going to cost you, you now have your answer thanks to a dizzying but thoroughly helpful series of tables that lay out the costs of the phones, plans, and the various accoutrement to be included. Those willing to sign up for 24 months can get an 8GB iPhone 3G for free for a minimum of £29.36 ($48) per month, but step up to the £122.34 ($200) monthly plan with unlimited everything and you'll get a 32GB 3GS gratis. Meanwhile, on a pay as you go plan that same 8GB 3G will cost you £343 ($561), while the 32GB 3GS is a rather more painful £539 ($881 -- haven't you figured out the conversion rate yet?). You know what that means: contract ahoy.

That iPhone OS 3.0 jailbreak we saw the iPhone Dev-Team pull off earlier this week? It's out now, or at least, part of it is. Pwnage Tool is now flooding torrents, but there's lots of caveats here. Most importantly, this isn't Ultrasn0w, which means if you're wanting to use your toy on T-Mobile or another unofficial carrier, be patient -- it's also worth noting that the jailbreak doesn't jibe with yellowsn0w, so those who rely on it should stay away for the time being. No compatibility with the 3G S, or at least, it probably hasn't been tested... we wouldn't recommend anyone setting the precedent here. You'll need Mac OS X to run it, with QuickPwn for Mac and Windows coming further down the line. Ultrasn0w is also due out at some indeterminate future, so that all said, if you're just needing right now a jailbroken device with spotlight functionality, hit up the read link for all the pertinent details. It should goes without saying, but they're might a few negative side effects to it, and one of the big ones we heard is that YouTube might be fubar'd at the moment.

Read - trois, drei, три, három! (Pwnage Tool released)
Read - No YouTube On Jailbroken iPhone 3.0?

It's pretty much the eve of Apple's big WWDC press conference, and Daring Fireball's John Gruber is back at the eleventh hour to chime in some more on his previous (and perhaps well-informed) iPhone predictions. He sticks to his previous wagers -- twice the CPU speed, twice the RAM, a heavy emphasis on a new video camera (no word on if there's an additional front-facing one), and $199 / $299 for the 16GB and 32GB models, respectively -- but additionally chimes in that the new device's codename is... drumroll, please... the iPhone 3GS, which he surmises is probably going to be the final product name, as well. Kind of a yawner, if you ask us, but it'd sell like gangbusters no matter what it was called. As for that lowered-tiered iPhone, he's expecting it to be the current 3G model with a price drop to $99. Also on the table is iPhone tethering, which we already know was built into OS 3.0, likely for a fee chosen by each carrier. Teasing farther into the future, he suggests "Marble," codename for an OS X visual overhaul, and the tablet are very much real projects but that there's little to no chance it'll be at WWDC. No clue what the "S" stands for (speed, perhaps?), but at this point we're pretty much counting the minutes to tomrorow's keynote, and our clocks can't tick much faster.

John Gruber over at Daring Fireball has a pretty good track record when it comes to Apple rumors -- remember his spot-on predictions for the unibody MacBook Pro? -- so when he's got a thing or two to say about all the next-gen iPhone chatter, we listen. While not making any promises, he does say he'd wager quite a bit on a new model coming to WWDC, with about twice the CPU horsepower (and possibly twice the RAM, too) as the current model. He also adds some credence to all that talk of video recording, but makes no mention of potential background apps and plays down any surprise tablet or "iPhone mini" cameos. He goes on to add release date would be sometime in July in 16GB and 32GB varieties. We can't say we're willing to bet against him, but that doesn't mean we'll take his word as gospel. We can safely say, however, that we're anxiously waiting to see what kind of shenanigans Schiller has in store for next month.

It's hard to call two incidents of some occurrence around the world a trend, but, when those incidents both involve an electrical device catching fire spontaneously, it creates a situation that's hard to ignore -- especially when that device is the iPhone. On Saturday, Italian blogger Tim Colbourne was charging his 3G handset and, after three hours, it sparked and caught fire at the base. Tim did a little investigation and found a case of a Swedish handset doing the same thing back in 2008, making us a little concerned that there could be more melted chargers out there. Apple replaced that earlier phone after something of a fight, and while we're hoping they'll be a little friendlier here, we're also hoping this gives Cupertino another bit of incentive to go ahead and switch over to micro-USB already. All the cool kids are doing it, and you don't see their cables catching fire -- usually.

[Via Cult of Mac]