Raspberry Pi now packs 512MB RAM

The educational and hobbyist gizmo du jour adds extra memory, but doesn't hike the price

The Raspberry Pi model B -- a cheap, customizable Linux computer the size of a pack of cigarettes -- now boasts 512MB of RAM, for the same price as before, according to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

MORE RASPBERRY PI: Google's Android 4.0 being ported to $25 Raspberry Pi PC

The model B, which costs $35 plus shipping, used to have 256MB of RAM, but founder and trustee Eben Upton said in an official blog post that the foundation was consistently receiving requests for more.

"One of the most common suggestions we've heard since launch is that we should produce a more expensive 'Model C' version of Raspberry Pi with extra RAM. This would be useful for people who want to use the Pi as a general-purpose computer, with multiple large applications running concurrently, and would enable some interesting embedded use cases (particularly using Java) which are slightly too heavyweight to fit comfortably in 256MB," he wrote.

However, given that the foundation was unwilling to go above its $35 price point, Upton said, the decision was made to simply double the device's RAM without charging the consumer. Users with an outstanding order for a 256MB model should receive a 512MB model instead, he noted, and the foundation has released a firmware upgrade to allow access to the additional memory.

Given the Raspberry Pi Foundation's mission to promote hobbyist programming and increase educational opportunities for budding programmers, it's not necessarily a surprise to see the price remain the same despite the extra capacity. If the gadget was a commercial venture, a more-expensive "C" model -- as outlined by Upton -- would be the more likely outcome.

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CompTIA Lifetime Certification Change Creates Controversy

CompTIA faces backlash from technology certification holders after informing those with supposedly lifetime A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications that they would have to retroactively pay for renewals. CompTIA has since retracted the changes for anyone who receives one of those certifications in 2010, but come 2011 the renewal process will be in place.

In December, the Computing Technology Industry Association decided lifetime A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications were going to retroactively require renewal every three years. The response from the IT community was particularly thorny, and rightfully so. Why the changes? According to Ars Technica, CompTIA was getting its accreditation process evaluated by several larger accreditation organizations, including ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and ANSI (American National Standards Institute), which were helping evolve requirements.

It's not uncommon for many certifications to require renewal, but you certainly affect a lot of people when you ask them to pay to continue something they were told would last as long as they did. Lifetime is lifetime, people said. Many comments about CompTIA were negative, though the organization has taken down its original post that received a harsh response. Here's one reaction (from Phillyman's Blog):

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"According to Wikipedia, over 800,000 people are A+ certified! So you just expect 800,000 people to hand over $220 every 3 years??? Before you pulled this little stunt of yours, I had planned on getting the following certifications... Network+ ($220), Linux+ ($220), Security+ ($240). Do you know how many CompTIA certifications I plan on getting now? ZERO!!!!!"

CompTIA appears to have been listening to the uproar and has changed its tune for certifications earned in 2010 or earlier, but after this year, these lifetime certifications will need to be renewed every three years. Here are the latest details from Ars Technica, which led the reporting on the controversy:

"Holders [from 2011 and beyond] who wish to maintain their certification will then have to pay an annual fee to CompTIA of $25 or $49 and will need to rack up sufficient continuing education credits to renew their certs.

The initial decision to retroactively invalidate certifications generated considerable anger among cert holders, which we described in today's story on the fiasco. An hour after our original report went live, CompTIA contacted us with news about the change.

CompTIA president Todd Thibodeaux, announcing the policy change, said, "We do not wish to disenfranchise any of the individuals who have supported our certification program. The right thing to do is honor our past commitment to those certified under our original 'certified for life' policy."

Top 10 cloud jobs

Dice.com, the popular tech-focused job site, posts upwards of 3,800 cloud-related job listings on any given day. Researchers there crunched the numbers to come up with a list of the top 10 most available jobs in the cloud. These job descriptions and credentials were compiled using multiple job listings in each category.

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Cloud architect
Job description: Spearhead the development and implementation of cloud-based initiatives to ensure that systems are scalable, reliable, secure, supportable, and achieve business and IT performance and budgetary objectives.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science or engineering; 10+ years experience in large-scale, multi-platform networks; expert in Shell, VBScript, Perl or Python; expert knowledge of Linux and Windows; significant experience designing, installing and administrating virtualized environments.

Requested credentials: Experience working with public cloud providers; expert understanding of firewall and load balancing concepts; prior work creating PCI-compliant solutions.

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Cloud software engineer
Job description: Responsible for design and development of distributed software modules that integrate with cloud service providers.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science or engineering; 2+ years professional experience in software development; work experience with ETL (Extract-Transform-Load) tools and techniques; work experience with system configuration and deployment automation technologies; hands-on programming experience on a Linux/Unix operating system; excellent understanding of at least one compiled-code language.

Requested credentials: Experience in deploying software to cloud computing infrastructure; experience in SOA technologies; ability to provide accurate ETA for software modules.

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Cloud sales: cloud sales executive, cloud sales representative, cloud sales consultant, cloud sales manager

Job description: Develop and grow a book of outsourced cloud business with C-level professionals in midsize and enterprise-level customers.

Required credentials: Bachelor's degree in business administration and 5-10 years business experience in client-facing roles, with some of that spent in outsourcing or systems integration; highly effective communication skills; strong understanding and successful experience in building strategic and/or developmental partnerships at the C-level within midsize and large corporations; demonstrated consistent quota attainment in selling infrastructure, IT, cloud and security services.

Requested credentials: Ability to travel more than 50% of the time on the job.

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Cloud engineer

Job description: Plan and conduct technical tasks associated with the implementation and maintenance of internal enterprise-shared virtualization infrastructure.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science; 5+ years of implementation experience with highly virtualized shared infrastructure, platforms or applications architecture at a large enterprise or service provider.

Requested credentials: Vendor-specific virtualization certification such as VMware Certified Professional.

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Cloud services developer

Job description: Design and build the multi-platform customer-facing tools -- such as sales interfaces and management portals -- that serve as the gateway into how end users consume the underlying cloud services.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science or computer engineering; 5 years of experience with cloud architecture and design; 5 years of experience architecting and deploying Web services on SOA platforms (examples: Amazon EC2, Heroku, Azure, Rackspace); 5 years of experience with PHP Python, Java, or C++ with software development methodologies like Agile.

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Cloud systems administrator

Job description: Configure and maintain the systems that comprise the underlying cloud platform. Troubleshoot when problems arise and plan for future cloud capacity requirements.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science or computer engineering; 3 years of experience in operating system administration; 3 years of experience in supporting enterprise-level platform installations; strong Linux command-line skills; experience in performance monitoring and capacity planning for enterprise platforms.

Requested credentials: Knowledge of cloud-based development.

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Cloud consultant

Job description: Conduct technical studies and evaluations of business area requirements and recommends to IT management appropriate cloud technology options.

Required credentials: At least 8 years of related IT consulting experience; outstanding understanding of cloud technologies available and vendors providing cloud services; top-notch communication skills.

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Cloud systems engineer

Job description: Build the virtual systems that support the cloud implementation.

Required credentials: B.S. in computer science, information technology or related technical degree; 5-10 years of systems engineering experience, holistic understanding of the Internet and hosting from the network layer up through the application layer; experience in a 24x7 hosting environment.

Requested credentials: Experience with monitoring tools, scripting, configuration management, clustering, Drupal and Internet security.

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Cloud network engineer

Job description: Perform the implementation, operational support, maintenance and optimization of network hardware, software and communication links of the cloud infrastructure.

Required credentials: Related degree in computer science ; 4 years' in-depth network engineering experience; proven deep understanding of TCP/IP, Subnetting, DNS, DHCP, NAT and routing; strong knowledge of Layer 2 network protocols; strong knowledge of Layer 3 IP routing; proven scripting abilities in one or more language -- Perl, Shell or Python.

Requested credentials: Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)/Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification.

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Cloud product manager

Job description: Perform product planning for cloud-based offerings including creating product concept and strategy documents, creating requirements specifications, identifying product positioning and enabling the sales processes (licensing, pricing, packaging, benefits, etc.).

Required credentials: Bachelor's degree in business or computer sciences or equivalent work experience; minimum of 3 years of experience working with a software development company that deploys its offerings using a SaaS or cloud-based model; very strong communication skills.

Requested credentials: Advanced degree in business or computer sciences.

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Microsoft Confirms Security Breach In IE 9, Earlier Versions

Microsoft is warning Internet Explorer users that a vulnerability has been discovered in the Web browser that could corrupt a PC's memory and allow hackers to execute malicious code.

Microsoft said the security risks apply to Internet Explorer 9 and earlier versions but will not affect Internet Explorer 10 on the Windows 8 preview release. A security patch is in the works, but Microsoft didn't specify whether it would be available as soon as possible or be rolled into its October release of monthly security updates.

"On completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to protect our customers, which may include providing a solution through our monthly security update release process, or an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs," Microsoft wrote on its Security TechCenter website.

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The Redmond, Wash., software giant said it has received reports of "only a small number of targeted attacks" but is encouraging IE users to enable firewalls, apply the most recent software updates, and install antivirus software to help minimize the risk of attack.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security was one of the first to warn users of the breach, saying Internet Explorer's "weak point is already being used for targeted attacks." The agency also warned that the malicious code enabling the breach is available openly online, meaning attacks could happen quickly and become more widespread.

The Federal Office for Information Security also urged current IE users, especially those running a Windows XP or Windows 7 operating system, to use alternative Web browsers until a patch is available.

The agency said hackers will most likely try to lure IE users to an infected website, at which point they can seize control and compromise users' PCs.

Human error causes most security breaches

tudy respondents blames only 8 percent of breaches on strictly technical failures3


Human error, not technology, is the most significant cause of IT security breaches, according to a security survey released by the Computing Technology Industry Association Tuesday.

The survey, "Committing to Security: A CompTIA Analysis of IT Security and the Workforce," suggests more training and certification of IT workers will help the U.S. protect itself against cyber threats. In more than 63 percent of security breaches identified by the survey's respondents, human error was the major cause. Respondents blamed only 8 percent of security breaches on purely technical failures.

Brian McCarthy, CompTIA’s chief operating officer, called the results "staggering" in a press release statement. He noted that a majority of survey respondents said that most of their IT workers didn't have security training.

"It's not about the technology, but it's all about the people," McCarthy said at a press conference Tuesday. "Yes, technology plays a critical role, but unless you have the right people behind the wheel, and their knowledge levels are correct, you'll have some real challenges."

CompTIA, a trade association that offers technology certifications, said the survey's results showed the need for more security training and certification.

Among the results of the survey, conducted by NFO Prognostics, of 638 respondents from the public and private sectors:

-- Thirty-one percent had experienced from one to three major security breaches, causing real harm, in the last six months. Another 4 percent of respondents said they had between four and nine major security breaches in the previous six months, and another 3 percent said they had 10 or more major security breaches in six months.

-- Twenty-two percent said none of their IT employees have received security-related training; 69 percent have fewer than 25 percent of their IT staffs trained in security ; and only 11 percent said all of their IT employees have security training.

-- Ninety-six percent would recommend security training for their IT staff.

-- Seventy-three percent would recommend more comprehensive security certifications for their IT staff.

-- Sixty-six percent believe that staff training or certification have improved their IT security, through increased awareness and proactive risk identification.

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"Frankly, we’re surprised no one's picked up on this before," McCarthy said in the press release. "The connection between having more IT security training and making our IT networks more secure seems so obvious, yet it’s been largely overlooked. It’s just common sense."

Robert Kramer, vice president of global public policy for CompTIA, noted that more than 90 percent of the organizations responding said they use antivirus technologies and firewalls/proxy servers, but only 19 percent required previous security experience for their IT workers and 23 percent required security training.

"Although the problem is something that focuses on human error, the solutions you would expect are not forthcoming," Kramer added.

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The survey also showed that 17 percent of organizations responding took no measures to monitor their general security performance over time. Sixty percent had some kind of security awareness program in place, and 53 percent employed security audits or penetration testing.

Seventy-five percent of respondents spent 10 percent or less of their IT budgets on security, including 12 percent of respondents who spent nothing, and 77 percent of the respondents said their organizations spent less than 5 percent of their IT security budgets on training or certification.

"There's an intent to measure improvements, but there are no metrics attached to that intent," said Kramer, citing the need for certification.

Donald "Andy" Purdy, a senior advisor with the White House's cybersecurity staff, said the CompTIA study presents some opportunities for the U.S. to improve cybersecurity. "Certification and training of IT professionals is a critical linchpin in making our nation more secure," he said at the CompTIA press conference.

The survey of government, IT, finance and other industries was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2002.

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Oracle close to phasing out Flash support portal

Remaining users of the heavily criticized Flash version will soon get to try out a new HTML edition

IDG News Service - Oracle may soon fully transition away from the much-maligned, Flash-based version of its support portal over to a new HTML edition next week, according to an official blog post on Thursday.

Next Friday, July 13, the vendor will upgrade the HTML version of My Oracle Support "with additional functionality that will allow those users remaining on the Flash-based user interface to switch over to the HTML version," the post states. "Our goal is to provide a single-online support portal so that all My Oracle Support users can benefit from the same features and functionality."

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Until that time, Oracle on Demand, CRM on Demand, Taleo and Configuration Manager users should keep using the Flash site, according to the post.

The HTML version offers a number of advantages, including a "streamlined, three-step process" for logging trouble tickets, improved personalization capabilities, and a "single, consistent workflow for both software and hardware incidents," Oracle said in the post.

With the switch to HTML5, Oracle is dropping support for Internet Explorer 6, the post adds.

Oracle first rolled out a Flash version of the portal in 2009, replacing the long-time Metalink site. This quickly spawned a backlash from some users, who complained of bugginess, poor performance and also questioned why Oracle would use Flash, since the platform's use is restricted within many corporate IT departments.

The company soon made a partial concession, announcing that an HTML option would be restored.

In January, Oracle rolled out a new version of the HTML site built with its ADF (Application Development Framework) toolset. The update coming next week is also built with ADF, which underpins Oracle's next-generation Fusion Applications as well.

Oracle had previously said that the HTML version eventually will entirely replace the Flash edition of the support site, but it wasn't immediately clear on Thursday how soon that final move would be made.

Oracle has been placing greater emphasis on support services of late, particularly for its "engineered systems" such as Exadata and Exalogic. Last month, co-president Mark Hurd unveiled a new set of Platinum services for those products and a number of others.

The services, which are provided at no additional charge on top of a customer's existing support agreement, include features such as five-minute response times for Severity 1 issues and 24/7 fault monitoring.

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Microsoft Excel 2003

Most of the major improvements in Microsoft Excel 2003 involve workgroup functions, but there are a few enhancements that may tempt individual users to upgrade.

The key new Excel enhancement—XML, IRM (information rights management), and SharePoint aside—is its new List feature. This addresses some of the problems traditionally associated with lists—including the fact that the SUM function didn't work as you might expect on filtered lists. Once you've created an Excel 2003 list by clicking on Data | List | Create List, it's surrounded with a blue border showing clearly where it begins and ends. The last row in the list contains a single asterisk, much as you'd see in an Access table. Entering data in any cell in that row (within the list) inserts a new row in the list.

Every column has the AutoFilter enabled by default, which lets you quickly filter and sort the list. Totaling a column is as easy as clicking the Toggle Total Row button on the new List toolbar and choosing one of a range of functions for each column, such as Sum, Count, Average, Max, or Min. Excel lists can be published to a SharePoint site, keeping the local and server copies in sync if required.

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There is a new Compare Worksheets feature, which you use by opening two workbooks and then choosing the Compare Side by Side option from the Window menu. Excel stacks the sheets vertically and, like Word, synchronizes them so moving around in one worksheet scrolls the other, letting you compare their contents easily.

A range of statistical functions—VAR, STDEV, STDEVP, DVAR, FORECAST, SLOPE, INTERCEPT, PEARSON, RSQ, STEYX, and others—have been fixed by changing how they are calculated, to reduce the likelihood they will return incorrect answers. In earlier versions, these functions were known to fail, because of the rounding required where large numbers were involved.

Other changes include a new Date Smart Tag, which lets you schedule a meeting or display your Outlook Calendar. And a new Person Name Smart Tag lets you get data from an Outlook contact you've recently e-mailed. As with Word, Excel users can remove personal data from a workbook before saving it— although the option is disabled by default. To enable it, choose Tools | Options | Security.