Sun Microsystems is known for many things, but it is probably best known for Java. The promise of Java is that programmers can write an application once and run it on any machine, or device, that has a Java Virtual Machine (a virtual environment that runs on a computer which includes the Java runtime, so that the Java code can run).

That's the promise of Java, sadly, the reality isn't always the same. Java Virtual Machines on different platforms often require special code (which kind of defeats the purpose) and most damning of all (especially on the Mac) is that Java has its own library of UI elements. Unless a Java programmer goes out of their way to make sure their app looks like a native app, it often has an unmistakable 'Java look' to it.

Sun now wants you to have all that Java fun on the iPhone. Shortly after the launch of the iPhone SDK, Sun started looking into the possibility of making a Java VM for the iPhone. After some investigating, they are sure that Java ME (that's the version of Java optimized for mobile devices) on the iPhone is possible and Sun wants to bring it to you. I'm sure there are many Java developers out there are very happy to hear this news.

Thanks, TJ.

At 15¢ per gig, Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Solution) is rapidly becoming an online storage standard, with companies like 37Signals and SmugMug storing information adding up to terabytes. On a slightly smaller scale, I transfer a few gigs on S3 every month, both to and from my Mac and server-to-server, and my bill is usually under $10. I'm always on the lookout for new ways to take advantage of this inexpensive yet massive storage system.

Several Mac applications have already added S3 support, including Transmit, Interarchy and Forklift. That's a cool step for such applications because it integrates your various file transferring tools (FTP, SFTP, S3, etc.) into one app, which I would love... if it worked reliably. But the only application I've consistently had luck with – as in not constantly crashing – is JungleDisk, which uses a webDAV system for filestorage that allows an S3 bucket (a subsection, or folder, in your S3 account) to be mounted as a local filesystem, but makes the filesystem on the web inaccessible to other programs. And you can't make files public outside of your local network. I've generally resorted to S3Fox - a very capable Firefox addon - and a command-line ruby script called s3sync.

However, I also discovered the JetS3t Java toolkit today. In addition to the toolkit, the JetS3t download also includes an application suite. Of primary interest to me was the Cockpit application, which provides an S3 browser with upload and download capabilities, as well as ACL control. There are also apps for setting up gateways and providing a secure, distributable client.

I'd like to begin by saying that I loathe Java applications on a Mac, not least because they're ugly. But Cockpit is one of the fastest S3 browsers I've ever used. Looking past the fact that you have to launch it from the command line (yes, you can fix that), it has no integration with other Mac apps, and its underwhelming aesthetics, I have to admit that it really does get the job done. It even has little extras, like the ability to generate Torrent URLs or a temporary URL that which allows people to download a file for a specified period of time. It probably won't replace my current tools, but it was worth a trip to the dark (Java) side. I hope it inspires some Cocoa browsers that are faster, more flexible and more stable than what we've got.

What's next for the iPhone? TUAW hasn't a clue, but we've got ideas. Kooky ideas, like Chris Pirillo buys an iPhone, loves it, and rants about his errant ways and logical fallacies. We've got some pretty obvious ideas too, like someday iPhone will probably support Java-- maybe. More likely than the Pirillo scenario anyway.

But if any of these or 22 other things come to pass, TUAW has you covered. We've created the iPhone "What's Next" bingo card for your long-term bingo playing needs. It may take years before Flash is on the iPhone, or the Pope gets one, but when they do you'll be ready with a penny or something to mark it down. Enjoy!

thanks to David Chartier and Dave Caolo for your help!

The Beeb is reporting that hundreds of episodes of "programmes" will be released for download via the Zudeo service, based on P2P client Azureus. The videos will be available in HD and will be DRM'ed, exact rights and pricing to be announced. This is certainly big news for fans of Brit TV who don't have... you know... cable.

Seriously, though, HD via P2P is a big deal, especially from such an august content horde as the BBC. The presence of a Mac client (Azureus is Java-based) is also good news, although it remains to be seen if the actual videos will play for us. Will P2P challenge the video dominance of the iTunes Music Store?

[via Digg]

For your downloading pleasure, Apple presents Security Update 2006-008 (PPC and UB). Both weigh in at under 2MB and require Mac OS X 10.4.8 (client or server). You can grab this patch from Apple's downloads page or from Software Update.

According to Apple, this patch "improves the security of Quartz Composer and QuickTime for Java." Specifically, it patches a vulnerability that may lead to "information disclosure" when visiting a malicious website (aka phishing site). Complete details on the flaw can be found in Apple's Kbase.

Mike and I were curious about why there's both a PPC and a UB version. Seems redundant since UB means it works on both PPC and Intel. Turns out it's not truly "universal." As Mike noticed first, the System Requirements state that it's Universal for 10.4.8 Server, but 10.48 Client is Intel-only. Hence the standalone PPC-only download (which can be used on client or server.) Would still be nice to streamline this a bit more.

Faithful guinea pigs, please report your experience with this update below!

NeoOffice, everyone's favorite implementation of OpenOffice in java, has released a v.2 beta of their suite with a new and improved Aqua-friendly interface. This new version is based on a recent version of OpenOffice (2.0.3), which includes apps for word processing, databases, spreadsheets, drawing and presenting. NeoOffice, however, offers advantages over running OpenOffice on Mac OS X because it doesn't need the X11 Unix environment to run. Moreover, NeoOffice can integrate with the Finder and Mail, which was probably one of the winning attributes that warranted the 'Aqua' addition to the name.

The Early Access Program is, in my opinion, a really cool and clever way to bring in some money for the project's hard work (after all, this entire project is made up of volunteers, and somebody's gotta pay the bills). From now until the 14th of August, users can download a copy of 2.0 Aqua for a mere $25. From August 15th through 29th, the price drops to $10. After that, it goes back to free like it's always been. NeoOffice is also selling Early Access subscriptions for $60, which will offer (what else) early access privileges throughout the course of NeoOffice 2.x releases.

I personally haven't tried a copy yet (I already - unfortunately - sunk money into Office 2004), but I'm willing to bet with some of the java benchmarks we've seen on Intel Macs, this suite will run pretty well if you have Intel inside. This sounds like a good a case as any to grab a copy early and help support a great project.

[via MacNN]

Hot on the heels of Firefox releasing a 1.5.0.3 security update, Camino has been bumped to 1.0.1 with mostly security and bug fixes which include:

• Fixed several critical security issues, including those fixed in version 1.8.0.3 of the Mozilla Gecko rendering engine.
• Upgraded the bundled Java Embedding Plugin (http://javaplugin.sf.net) to version 0.9.5 d
• Improved ad-blocking, especially of German ads
• Enabled the opening of local SVG files
• Fixed an issue where Camino on Intel-based Macs was unable to read Keychain entries stored by Camino on PowerPC-based Macs

As always, you can snag a copy from CaminoBrowser.org.

Available in a Software Update near you (if you're using Tiger) is Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Release 4, which "improves reliability and addresses issues found in earlier releases of J2SE 5.0 for Mac OS X." This update also brings compatibility with Sun's Java 2 Platform Standard Edition, version 5.0 (1.5.0_06).

See this Apple Support document for more information.

[via Macsimum News]

What's a big news day without a little bit of a hardware smack down? Call me crazy, but I just found this Gear Live site through diggdot.us, and these guys posted a video podcast in a variety of formats of a MacBook Pro with a (comparatively) measly 1 GB RAM making mince meat out of a Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5 with 4 GB RAM in a Java compile test.

While it isn't a comprehensive rundown of a variety of tasks and apps these two systems can run, it's still pretty impressive to see how well this next generation hardware can perform.