iSync plugins, nova media’s shareware iSync extension package for Mac OS X and all-around useful utility that provides access to dozens of cell phones and handsets, received a small update over the weekend. Version 7.1.2.5, a 5.4 megabyte download, adds support for the following cell phone models:

- Nokia N97
- Nokia N97 mini

iSync 7.1.2.5 retails for US$9.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.4.11 (under Mac OS X 10.4), Mac OS X 10.5.8 (under Mac OS X 10.5) and Mac OS X 10.6.2 (under Mac OS X 10.6) to install and run.

Handbrake, Eric Petit’s incredibly useful open-source DVD ripping/conversion utility, has been updated to version 0.9.4.

The new version, which can be found here, boasts the following fixes and changes:

- Improves speed, size and quality with official notes available here.

HandBrake 0.9.4 is available for free and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

On Tuesday, shareware developer Maintain released version 4.6.1 of Cocktail (Snow Leopard Edition), Cocktail, the popular shareware utility program that allows for additional Mac OS X system tests.

The new version, a 2.0 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Addresses an issue in which Cocktail may unexpectedly quit while clearing Mac OS X 10.6.2 system caches.
- Added Mac OS X 10.6.2 compatibility.

Cocktail 4.6.1 retails for a US$14.95 shareware registration fee and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to run.

Video Lan Client, the nigh-indispensable open source media player for multiple audio and video formats (MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Divx, ogg, etc.), was updated to version 1.0.3 over the weekend. The new version, a 41 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

Video outputs:
- Fixed video quality when resizing the video on Windows Vista and 7, due to regressions in most popular drivers.
- New deinterlacers modules based on yadif and yadif(x2) algorithms.

Decoders:
- Windows version supports now natively the WMA Professional codec, as it didn’t work in the packaged version of 1.0.2.
- Fixed downmixing of particual 4.0 AC-3 audio tracks.

Encoders:
- x264 has profile-limitter, like: #transcode{vcodec=h264,venc=x264{profile=baseline,level=12}..}.

Input:
- Update for appletrailers lua script.
- Fixes on the RAR stream filter.
- Fix for E-AC3 in ATSC/TS streams.
- Various fixes for v4l and v4l2.
- Fixed a crash in mjpeg demuxer.

Service discovery:
- New udev module for linux.

Qt4 interface:
- Fixes on the playlist and the stream output panels.

Translations:
- French, Galician, Korean, Polish, Russian, Romanian, Slovak and Ukrainian updates.

VLC 1.0.3 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run and is available as a free download.

Virtualization software maker Parallels released Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3848 on Monday. The new version, which can be downloaded from here (courtesy of VersionTracker), contains Windows 7 support.

Parallels Desktop for Mac 4.0 retails for US$79.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run.

It’s not terribly exciting, but it’s been long-anticipated and may just be useful.

After, oh, several years of treating the Mac OS X platform like a second class citizen and letting third party outfits pick up the slack on syncing, Research In Motion has finally released version 1.0.0 of its BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac software. The application, a 26.7 megabyte download, allows Mac users to sync data from Mac applications like iCal, Address Book, Microsoft Entourage and others, as well as add and remove applications, schedule automatic backups, encrypt backup files and install software updates for their BlackBerry smartphones.

The application also integrates BlackBerry Media Sync, enabling Mac users to sync their iTunes music collections.

BlackBerry Desktop Manager 1.0.0 is available as a free download and requires Mac OS X 10.5, iTunes 7.2 or later and BlackBerry Device Software 4.2 or later to install and run.

Video Lan Client, the nigh-indispensable open source media player for multiple audio and video formats (MPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, Divx, ogg, etc.), was updated to version 1.0.2 on Tuesday. The new version, a 43 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Assorted bug fixes.
- Support for SSA decoding.
- Support for v4l2.
- Mac OS X interface changes.
- OGG/theora support changes.
- X264 modules and security issue changes.
- Introduces the port to 64 bits for Mac OS platform and 2 new languages (Kazakh and Croatian).

VLC 1.0.2 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later to install and run and is available as a free download.

On Thursday, Adobe released Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.5, the newest version of its professional-grade image editing program and Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit processing under Mac OS X 10.5.
The new version, a 67 megabyte download (courtesy of VersionTracker), adds the following fixes and changes:
- Additional camera support for several new camera models including the Nikon D3000 and Olympus E-P1.
- Includes several corrections for issues introduced by previous Lightroom 2 releases.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.5 retails for US$299 and requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later to install and run.
If you’ve tried the new version, let us know what you think of it over in the comments or forums.

Late Thursday, Apple released an update to Java for Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”). Apple Java for OS X 10.5 Update 5, a 161.3 megabyte download, includes fixes from all previous updates and brings with it improved reliability, security, and compatibility for the cross-platform technology.

According to Macworld, the update patches many Java-related security vulnerabilities, including some which allow untrusted Java applets to obtain elevated privileges via a Web page and potentially execute arbitrary code. There’s also a patch for Java Web Start that prevents a buffer overflow from quitting an application or executing arbitrary code.

The security patches in this fix were released by Java-maker Sun Microsystems in early August, marking an improvement in turnaround time for Apple. In the past, the company has lagged at rolling out fixes for Java, such as this past June, when Apple finally issued an update for a bug that Sun had patched over six months prior. Per Computerworld, the’s update does not fold in Sun’s most recent patch of August 11, which plugs further security holes.

The update requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later to install and run and can also be snagged and installed via Mac OS X’s Software update feature.

Virtualization software maker Parallels released Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3846 on Monday. The new version, which can be downloaded from here (courtesy of VersionTracker), contains the following fixes and changes:

Improvements:
* Improved 3D graphics in Windows virtual machines.
* Problems with Palm synchronization in Windows virtual machines — fixed.
* Random disconnection of USB 1.1 devices in Linux virtual machines — fixed.
* Invisibility of the text mouse pointer on black background in Windows virtual machines — fixed.
* Problems with SMB shares in native Windows Boot Camp installations that have Parallels Tools installed — fixed.
* Problems with Shared Networking on Snow Leopard host computers — fixed.

Improvements:
* General performance improvements.
* Improved USB support (performance, USB1.1 compatibility fixes).
* Better performance of Suspend/Resume operations.
* Improved hard disk performance for virtual machines converted from Parallels Desktop 2.5 and 3.0.
* Memory leak in Parallels Desktop GUI that might happen after 1-2 days of work — fixed.
* Accidental crash in Redhat Linux 5.2 Server x86_64 during installation — fixed.
* Problems with connecting Palm handheld devices via USB — fixed.
* Improved sound playback via USB devices.
* Empty keyboard remapping in the clean PD4 installation — fixed.
* Networking issues when the Mac network location changes — fixed.
* Timezone and daylight saving time were not synchronized in the virtual machine with time synchronization enabled — fixed.

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