Developing for iPhone with Java and XMLVM
Coke and Code blogger Kevin Glass describes a roundabout means of using Java to create iPhone applications in Portable Game Code - Applet / Android / IPhone - Part 1. "I like Java, I find it very productive. I don't particularly want to alot of work in Obj-C. One code base is better for me, one set of bugs to fix. Being able to test the same code an applet, before having to go to my Mac and IPhone is better. Enter XMLVM, it's a tool that converts from Java byte code into an XML document, and then translates this into other languages - one of these being Obj-C. Ok, it's not really as simple as that but I'll describe the details in the next post."
  (Jul 03, 2009)

Java for Mac OS X Updates for 10.4, 10.5
Now available via Software Update and Apple's download page, the Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4 and Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 9 promise "delivers improved reliability, security and compatibility for J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2", and for Java SE 6 on 64-bit Intel Macs running Leopard. Apple's statement does not detail the security fixes, but a Mac Rumors article claims that the updates "address several vulnerabilities that could allow maliciously crafted Java applets to gain elevated privileges leading to arbitrary code execution," specifically citing Landon Fuller's public proof of concept exploit.
  (Jun 15, 2009)

New Mac Java plug-in for Safari, Firefox coming?
Kirill Grouchnikov's Swing Links of the Week for November 30 makes an interesting reference to Bug 6761033 in Sun's Bug Database. "Use NPAPI for Mac OS X port of new Java Plug-In", indicated as "delivered" for 6u12(b01), refers to a new "prototype of the new Java Plug-In for Mac OS X" that uses Cocoa, making it compatible with Safari but not Firefox. The evaluation suggests Sun "collaborated with Apple to redo the Mac OS X port of the new Java Plug-In as an NPAPI and NPRuntime plugin", and now works with Safari 3.1 and nightly builds of Firefox. While it's listed as delivered for "6u12" -- update 10 and beyond have yet to appear on the Mac of course -- the bug reasserts that "We do not officially support the Mac platform so it is not feasible to write a positive test case for these changes."

Rococoa
Offering a new route to using Cocoa classes in Mac Java applications, the new Rococoa project, "is a generic Java binding to the Mac Objective-C object system. It allows the creation and use of Objective-C objects in Java, and the implementation of Objective-C interfaces in Java." Using JNA to quickly wrap Objective-C calls, the project initially started as a QTKit wrapper to expose QuickTime functionality, Rococoa examples of which are provided on a QuickTime page. Fair warning from the project owner, though: "Rococoa is very much work in progress. Much is subject to change. A lot isn't good enough not to change. But given the recent deprecation of the Java-Cocoa bridge, it's the best I've got. Just mind your head. And please give feedback."

Quaqua Look and Feel 4.1
The Quaqua Look and Feel project for Mac OS X has released version 4.1. "The Quaqua Look and Feel is a user interface library for Java applications which wish to closely adhere to the Apple Human Interface Guidelines for Mac OS X," automatically switching between appropriate looks for the Tiger, Panther, and Jaguar versions of OS X, and providing Swing implementations of NSBrowser and NSSheet. "Version 4.1 includes a FileChooserUI which roughly simulates the native file dialogs in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Except for panel backgrounds and frame borders, Quaqua still uses the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger design."