Apple is usually very strong on consistent branding, but seems to have made a rare slip with the new iPhone.

One example of the company's attention to detail comes from the time Apple subsidiary Claris (now Filemaker) originally set up shop in Australia. I remember being told by one of the first employees (possibly the first) that a can of printing ink was sent from the US to ensure that business cards and other stationery carried exactly the right shade of blue.

But there's been an unusual lapse when it comes to the iPhone 3G S - or is that the iPhone 3GS?

Some of Apple's iPhone collateral refers to the 3G S, and other examples squish it up as 3GS.

Steve Jobs' personal attention to detail is the stuff of legend. If this is the only thing he has to complain about on his return from a medical leave of absence, other Apple executives and managers will probably heave a communal sigh of relief.

But perhaps there has been a Jobs-driven change of mind. There are reports that the Apple CEO has returned to work, and there is some indication that "3GS" started appearing after he was seen at the Cupertino campus.

Back in May, I mentioned that Mac OS X 10.5.7 failed to include a Java update to fix a long-standing security issue that could be exploited across platforms using Java alone.

This week, Apple released Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4 and Java for Mac OS X 10.4 Update 9 which address this and other vulnerabilities in Java 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6.

While most of the issues apply to Java in general, there were also an unspecified number of Mac OS X specific fixes. They relate to Aqua Look and Feel for Java, and only apply to Java 1.5 on Mac OS X 10.5. The fix was achieved by denying access to Aqua Look and Feel internals by untrusted applets.

As usual, some users are reporting installation problems. One workaround is said to be to restart immediately before running Software Update to download and install the new version of Java (without launching any other programs).

If the updater really can't work properly if certain applications or processes are running, shouldn't it make sure they aren't before it proceeds?

Anyway, I promise next week's topic will be something other than security or updates unless something really significant happens in either of those areas.

Three major software providers for the Mac have released updates that provide protection against security vulnerabilities.

Let's start with Apple.

Safari 4.0 is out, and whether or not you like the changes you should think seriously about installing it.

The reason is that not all of the 50-odd security fixes relate only to the beta version. At least two of the patches address issues that are present in Safari 3.x.

Security researcher Chris Evans has provided proof of concept exploits for a pair of XML vulnerabilities in Safari 3 that have been fixed in version 4.

Given that they allow remote servers to grab the contents of a local file or to steal sensitive information (eg details of your Gmail inbox) from another server that you're connected to, this seems like a fairly serious issue to me.

(Shortly after last week's post appeared, Apple pushed out updates for iMovie 8, iLife Support 9, iPhoto 8 and iDVD 7, plus Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.6. There doesn't seem to be any security content, but those compatibility and stability fixes are sufficient reason for me.)

Next there's Microsoft.

Updates to Office 2004 and 2008 provide protection against vulnerabilities in Word, Excel and PowerPoint that might allow maliciously crafted documents to trigger remote code execution.

The PowerPoint fix is the one that we've been waiting for since last month, when an update for Office for Windows was released.

Microsoft rates all three issues as "important" in Office for Mac.

As we've come to expect, the 2008 update is substantially bigger (268M) than its counterpart for 2004 (59M).

Rounding out the trinity is Adobe.

The company has released the first of its quarterly updates for Acrobat and Reader, with fixes for 13 issues that may allow remote code execution.

The easiest way to download and install the updates is to use Software Update, Microsoft AutoUpdate and Check for Updates in Adobe Reader.

If you need to apply them to more than one Mac, download the standalone updaters from the companies' web sites (Apple, Microsoft and Adobe).

If you don't use video content prepared with Apple's ProRes codec and you're not rushing to upgrade iTunes to version 8.2 (because you don't have an iPhone), you might be tempted to delay installing QuickTime 7.6.2.

But 7.6.2 also contains fixes for eight security flaws that could be exploited using various types of malformed files.

The handling of Sorensen 3 video, FLC (Autodesk) animation, and PICT, JPEG2000 and (Photoshop) PSD images all had flaws that could be lead to arbitrary code execution (a Bad Thing) just by opening a malicious file.

Messing with various 'atoms' within movie files could also be used to similar ends.

Let's face it, fooling someone into opening a web page containing such a malicious file isn't particularly difficult. That's exactly the scenario used by Charlie Miller to win a MacBook and $5000 in the Pwn2Own contest at the CanSecWest conference earlier this year. (Apple credits Miller for reporting the JPEG2000 vulnerability.)

And experience shows that if someone 'accidentally' receives an email that seems to be intended for someone else, there's a fair chance they'll be tempted to take a peek at an attached document. And if that contains a 'poisoned' image...

As for iTunes, you probably should update even if you don't own an iPhone. There's a security fix that improves checking when opening itms: URLs. Previously, there was potential to cause arbitrary code execution with a maliciously crafted link.

One other minor change I've noticed is that after syncing with an iPod, iTunes now reminds you to eject the device before unplugging it.

Anyway, I'd suggest you run Software Update (or download the updaters from Support Downloads) and get up to date.

Psystar caused a splash when it started selling its line of Intel-based PCs with Mac OS X preinstalled as an option.

Not surprisingly, Apple took the company to court, claiming - among other things - copyright infringement, trademark infringement and breach of contract.

Psystar countersued, but before the main case has been heard the 'cloner' has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (as I understand it, a legal arrangement that allows an insolvent company to continue trading subject to court oversight while it reorganises its affairs).

One benefit of Chapter 11 is that any litigation against the business concerned is automatically placed on hold.

According to court papers (as posted by ZDNet), Psystar owes more than $US250,000 to unsecured creditors, including founder Rudy Pedraza (owed $US120,000) and Carr & Farrell, the law firm representing the company in the Apple case (owed more than $US88,000).

Since it became known that Apple alleged the involvement of John Does (unknown defendants) in Psystar's activities there has been speculation that the company was being backed by a large computer vendor interested in selling PCs with Mac OS X. The idea is that Psystar was being used as a stalking horse to establish whether the courts would uphold Apple's licensing terms.

There has also been speculation that Psystar's predicament is the result of that backer (or those backers, if there are in fact more than one) pulling out, but in the court filing the company blames the current economic conditions and says it intends to emerge from Chapter 11 with a well thought out and more profitable business plan to implement its "valuable intellectual property".