I think i saw some trick to make maven use latest version.
Yes, there are special version numbers to handle this:
When you depend on a plugin or a dependency, you can use the a version value of LATEST or RELEASE. LATEST refers to the latest released or snapshot version of a particular artifact, the most recently deployed artifact in a particular repository. RELEASE refers to the last non-snapshot release in the repository.
(Excerpt from Maven, the definitive guide)
PS: although the book also mentions this as a "not-so-best" practice...
