Pioneer won't relesed a f/w to enable the 106 to burn at 8x - because that defeats the purpose of their new drive, the 107. At the end of the day, they want people to buy the new kit - if they released an 8x f/w, people would get back to buying the 106 and leave Pioneer with a huge hole in their pockets through lost development cost and promotion etc... as people would be back to buying their old drives - not what they want.
I also feel that they will launch an individual DVD9 burner, and whilst the 106 may be able to be upgraded to burn them, Pioneer won't, especially if this is the case.
The only way, IMHO, that these two things will come to light on a 106 is if someone hacks a f/w for it. Then again, I could be wrong
, but I doubt it, as I know Pioneer and their money grabbing tendencies!