This sort of came out of left field, but if you’re running Mac OS X 10.6, you should probably install it.

Late Friday, Apple released Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 12, a Java update for its Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) operating system.

The update, a 72.8 megabyte download, offers the following fixes and changes:

- Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 12 delivers improved security, reliability, and compatibility by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_39.

As always, the update can also be located and installed via the built-in “Software Update” feature in Mac OS X.

The Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 11 fix requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.6.8 or later to install.

If you’ve tried the updates and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

An update’s an update.

Late Wednesday, Google released version 24.0.1312.57 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 46.8 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Mac: r177690 Fix renderer crashes when using certain IMEs. (Issue 152566)

- Mac: r178517 Fix microphone input dropout with Pepper Flash. (Issue 168859)

- Chrome Frame: r178591 Fix renderer exiting in certain cases when opening a new Window from Chrome Frame. (Issue 171877)

Google Chrome 24.0.1312.57 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

Late Thursday, Opera Software released version 12.13.1734 of its web browser. The new version, a 20.3 megabyte download via MacUpdate, boasts the following fixes and changes:

General and User Interface:
- Fixed an issue where Opera gets internal communication errors on Facebook.

- Fixed an issue where no webpages load on startup, if Opera is disconnected from the Internet.

- Fixed an issue where images will not load after back navigation, when a site uses the HTML5 history API (deviantart.com).

Linux and Windows:
- A new stand-alone update-checker, as part of a planned upgrade of the auto-update system.

Windows:
- Improved protection against hijacking of the default search, including a one-time reset.

Security:
- Fixed an issue where DOM events manipulation might be used to execute arbitrary code, as reported by Arthur Gerkis; see our advisory.

- Fixed an issue where use of SVG clipPaths could allow execution of arbitrary code, as reported by anonymous via the iSIGHT Partners GVP Program; see our advisory.

- Fixed a low severity security issue; details will be disclosed at a later date.

- Fixed an issue where CORS requests could omit the preflight request, as reported by webpentest; see our advisory.

Opera 12.13.1734 is available for free and requires an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later to install and run.

Late Tuesday, Microsoft released its Microsoft Office 2011 14.3.0 update. The update, a 106.8 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:

- Meeting invitation times are displayed inaccurately in Outlook. Fixes an issue that causes meeting invitation times from non-Exchange calendar servers to be off by one hour during certain times of the year.

- Slides in collapsed sections cover other slides in Slide Sorter view in PowerPoint.

- Fixes a display issue that involves collapsed sections in Slide Sorter view.

- Hash tags (#) in hyperlinks aren’t saved correctly in PowerPoint. Fixes an issue in which hyperlinks that contain hash tags (#) aren’t saved correctly.

- Crash occurs when you use Paste Special with a partial table in PowerPoint. Fixes an issue that causes PowerPoint to crash when you use the Paste Special option to copy and paste part of a table.

- RTF text that’s saved in PowerPoint for Windows can’t be pasted into PowerPoint. Fixes an issue in which RTF text that’s saved in PowerPoint for Windows can’t be copied and pasted into PowerPoint for Mac.

Microsoft Office 2011 14.3.0 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the update and have anything to report back, let us know.

If you were wondering when Office 2013 would find its way to the Mac, it’s on its way come February 27th.

And in a subscription model.

Per CNET, after existing in preview form since last summer, Office 2013, the next version of Microsoft’s productivity software, is now available for download.

The company has begun offering users Office Home and Student 2013 with all the familiar apps like Word and Excel for a one-time fee of US$139. Since this stand-alone package won’t entitle you to any subsequent upgrades, Microsoft is also offering a more complete subscription model for US$99 per year that delivers the various updates over the coming months and years.

The package offers the following:
- The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.

- One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and Office on Demand available from any Internet-connected PC.

- An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account.

- 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world.

- Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology.

Microsoft also announced today the cloud-connected Microsoft Office Home and Business, though you won’t be able to snatch it up until February 27. You can get it for a one-time fee of US$219 or as a subscription for US$150 per year.

And along with the new software, Microsoft’s Office.com Web site has received a refresh in both look and functionality. The Web site lets you manage your account, set up and check the status of your subscription, and download the Office software to your computer.

Office 365 Home Premium for the Mac requires the following specs to install and run:
-1 GHz or faster x86 or 64-bit processor with SSE2 instruction set (PC); Intel processor (Mac).

-1 GB RAM (32-bit or Mac) /2 GB RAM (64-bit).

-3.0 GB of available disk space (PC); 2.5 GB HFS+ hard disk format (Mac).

-1024×576 or higher resolution monitor.

- Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 2008 R2 with .NET 3.5 or later (PC); Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later (Mac).

- Graphics hardware acceleration requires DirectX10 graphics card with 1024 x 576 resolution.

- Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, 9, or 10; Mozilla Firefox 10.x or later; Apple Safari 5; or Google Chrome 17.x.

A full 30 day trial can be found and downloaded from here.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

OnyX, Titanium Software’s popular freeware multifunction utility for Mac OS X, has been updated to version 2.6.7. The new version, a 16.9 megabyte download via MacUpdate, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Bug while updating corrected.

- Bug while creating the locate database corrected.

- Bug with the Chinese version corrected.

- Checking the SMART Status improved.

- Checking the volume improved.

- Progress bar more accurate.

- New replacement icon.

- Some minor bugs corrected.

OnyX 2.6.7 requires an Intel-based processor and OS X 10.8 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, please let us know in the comments.

At this stage, the release has to be somewhat close…

Per AppleInsider, Apple on Thursday issued the eighth beta of OS X 10.8.3, the forthcoming maintenance update for Mountain Lion, with minor changes made to Wi-Fi assets

The latest pre-release build, designated as “12D58,” was seeded to developers just over a week after Apple sent out the previous beta of OS X Mountain Lion. Any changes that may have been made to the software from its previous release are unknown.

As with earlier releases, the latest 12D58 build asks developers to focus their energies toward testing AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.

Since December, developers have been able to receive update notifications through Software Update and download beta builds directly from the Mac App Store by using the new “OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.”

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

CrossOver, the popular virtualization program from CodeWeavers, has been updated to version 12.1. The new version, a 75.7 megabyte download, is available as a demo, offers the following fixes and changes:

WHAT’S NEW:
- We have fixed a bug where certain users who chose “Register for all users of this computer” during CrossOver’s registration would receive an error claiming their bottle had “expired” and could not be used, despite the user having a valid CrossOver license.

- We have added a preference setting allowing the user to control what CrossOver does with an unknown Windows .exe file when it is launched. Using this preference, the user can tell CrossOver either to treat the unknown .exe file as an application installer, or to simply run it.

- CrossOver will now auto-update CrossTie files if the user has permitted auto-updates of CrossOver itself via Sparkle.

- Fixed a bug where automatic updates via Sparkle would fail for some users on Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

- Fixed a bug which caused several games to fail when running in fullscreen mode.

- Games which should be improved include StarCraft, Fallout, and, we hope, many others.

- Fixed a bug which prevented some users from logging into World of Tanks servers.

- CrossOver no longer ships Wine-Mono, an open-source replacement for .Net, by default. We had started doing this for CrossOver 12 but the large increase in download size and disk space usage proved too much. CrossOver can still download and install Wine-Mono as-needed.

- We have fixed a bug which caused CrossOver to print unnecessary error messages when launching Windows applications, complaining that certain icon files could not be found.

- New translations for Polish & Chinese (China), and a partial translation for Italian.

Application Support:
- Fixed connection errors with Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 when connecting to hosted Exchange servers.

- Fixed a bug which caused adding a table of contents to a Microsoft Word document to fail.

- Fixed an issue where Quicken failed to download WebConnect and QFX files.

- Fixed an issue where Quicken crashed viewing investment details.

- Fixed an issue where Quicken crashed when expanding columns in reports.

- Fixed a bug which caused clicking on a promotional offer in Quicken to crash.

- Fixed some connection failures with Quicken 2011.

- Fixed an issue where rotated text was garbled in PowerPoint 2010.

- Fixed a bug selecting shapes in Visio 2010.

- Fixed a crash on launch in HCFA-1500.

CrossOver 12.1 retails for US$59.95 and requires Mac OS X 10.6 and or later and an Intel-based Mac to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

You can’t knock a decent web browser update.

Late Tuesday, Google released version 24.0.1312.56 of its Chrome web browser. The update, a 46.8 megabyte download, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Fixed performance of mouse wheel scrolling. [Issue: 160122]

- Fixed visited links regression. [Issue: 160025]

Google Chrome 24.0.1312.56 requires an Intel-based Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or later to install and run. If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback to offer, please let us know in the comments.

OnyX, Titanium Software’s popular freeware multifunction utility for Mac OS X, has been updated to version 2.6.6. The new version, a 16.9 megabyte download via MacUpdate, adds the following fixes and changes:
- Launching speed now slightly faster.

- Bug corrected with the dates of running scripts.

- Removed the iCal Debug menu option.

- Bug corrected when displaying the Help of some translations.

- Localizations improved.

- Deleting the Fonts improved.

- Deleting the Internet Cache improved.

- New Info > Protect panel.

- New version of sqlite3.

- Code optimized.

OnyX 2.6.6 requires an Intel-based processor and OS X 10.8 or later to install and run.

If you’ve tried the new version and have any feedback, please let us know in the comments.