In April 2004 I wrote my first article on the topic of virtualization security. I was trying to bring attention to the security aspects of this "new" technology that was getting quite a bit of hype at the time. The hope was that this time security would not be an afterthought, that we would reverse the equine-escape/egress-closure sequence. The naiveté of youth!
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Once again, the answer surprised us (though perhaps it shouldn't). Only 9.6% of participants are deploying any security tools specially designed to deal with virtualization. Another 21.2% expect to do so within the next three years. A whopping 69.3%, though, have no plans at all to do anything specifically aimed at securing their virtual environments.

Virtualization security: So far nothing

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors Corp. will run out of cash long before the end of the first quarter if it doesn't get the second installment of government loan money that was due Jan. 16, the company's chief operating officer said Tuesday night.

Fritz Henderson told the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit that the company has said the money is critically needed to pay its bills, and it expects to get the second installment soon. He attributed the delay in receiving the second installment of $5.4 billion to the Treasury Department's workload and the change in administrations.

"If we don't get our second installment of the funding we'll run out of cash, it's that's simple," he said. "We've been finalizing what we need to do. We anticipate receiving it. But it's critical that we receive it."

GM official says cash could run out by March 31

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- China’s economy overtook Germany’s to become the third-largest in 2007. Japan may be next to be leapfrogged, if China can sort out its relationship with the U.S.
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At least $650 billion of China’s $1.9 trillion of reserves are in U.S. Treasuries. A move to sell those assets would boost interest rates and further damage China’s export industries. Mutually assured economic destruction limits options and leverage in Washington and Beijing. President Barack Obama should act fast to hold this arrangement together.
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The U.S. and China should do the global economy a favor and formalize the G-2 process.
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The U.S. economy is worth $14 trillion, while China’s is worth $3.3 trillion. The G-7 was yesterday. The G-2 is today and tomorrow. It’s time for folks in Washington and Beijing to stop pointing fingers and get to work.

A $17 Trillion Alliance Can Save World

Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans to launch a satellite in two days to measure greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere as nations seek better data on the evolution of global warming.

The Greenhouse-Gases Observing Satellite, or Gosat, will be lofted from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan shortly after noon local time on Jan. 22, the agency said today in a statement on its Web site.

Scientists are increasingly called upon by governments to predict the effects of global warming, such as higher sea levels caused by polar ice melting and ocean water expanding as it warms. Climate models suggest oceans will rise at significantly higher rates this century than in the last, according to study released last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Japan to Launch Satellite to Measure Global Warming

He has done a terrible job. I am glad he is gone.

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Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Christopher Cox stepped down as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, leaving behind a demoralized agency that failed to spot Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud and had its role diminished by the collapse of Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

His resignation took effect at noon today in Washington, agency spokesman John Nester said. During Cox’s 3 1/2-year tenure, the SEC has been criticized by lawmakers, investors and its own inspector general as lacking aggressiveness and being deferential to Wall Street banks. President Barack Obama, a Democrat, picked Mary Schapiro, the head of the U.S. brokerage industry’s self-regulator, to succeed the Republican Cox.

Under Cox, who was offered the SEC job by Vice President Dick Cheney, public fights among Democratic and Republican commissioners stopped and enforcement penalties declined.

Cox Quits at SEC, Leaving Schapiro to Restore Clout

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Bank of America Corp. needs more than $80 billion in new common equity capital to support the huge amount of assets on its balance sheet, an analyst said Tuesday.

The bank probably needs to maintain a tangible equity ratio of 6% to 9%, he said. "It would take over $80 billion of new common equity to reach even the low end of the range, and we believe Bank of America simply is not generating sufficient capital internally in this environment to put a dent in this size capital hole."

B. of A. needs more than $80 billion

Boeing (BA, news, msgs), beset by repeated snarls that have delayed commercial deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner into early 2010, is rethinking the global outsourcing model that critics say has caused much of the nearly two-year holdup. The company is making plans to bring more work back in-house.

Frustrated by production and design snafus that Boeing engineers say have led the company repeatedly to send staffers out to suppliers to iron out difficulties, the company's top executives are suggesting they will rely less on their outside suppliers.
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While the forthcoming version of the Dreamliner, the 787-8, may be affected by the plans over time, efforts to scale back on outsourcing are expected to be more aggressive on future versions of the plane, especially the 787-9, scheduled for delivery in 2012.

Big changes for Boeing's Dreamliner

You know this will be just excellent coverage. not. :)

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Amber Ettinger, better known as "Obama Girl," has teamed up with Stickam for coverage of the presidential inauguration. Live coverage will be streamed live Monday at 8 p.m. EST from InauguralFest, and viewers will be able to see what she is doing all day at the inauguration starting at 10 a.m. EST Tuesday.

'Obama Girl' partners with Stickam for inauguration

DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) - The parent company of Irish beer icon Guinness announced Monday it may change or abandon plans to reform production in Ireland and open a new state-of-the-art brewery because of the struggling global economy.
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Diageo had planned by 2013 to cut Guinness' brewing staff in Ireland by more than half, shut two breweries in the towns of Dundalk and Kilkenny, and reduce Guinness production at its Dublin brewery, one of Ireland's premier tourist attractions with a heritage dating back to 1759.
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Diageo's major brewing competitor in Ireland, Heineken NV of the Netherlands, last month announced it was closing a brewery that for 210 years has produced Beamish, a local competitor to Guinness, in the southwest Irish city of Cork.

Plans for shake-up of Guinness brewing put on hold

The master lease agreements that apply to airlines at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport do not expire until September 2010, but talks between the sides have already heated up.

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest carrier, and discount carrier AirTran Airways, a unit of Orlando, Fla.-based AirTran Holdings Inc., say that if their costs are too high they may be forced to move some connecting flights to other airports.

Airlines threaten to move flights from Atlanta