By John Ribeiro
November 20, 2008

Yahoo rolled out a beta version of its new Glue search concept for the first time in the U.S. late Wednesday. The Internet search method aggregates text, images and video results on a single results page. The Glue Page Beta was first tested by Yahoo in India in May. Glue page results are displayed alongside the usual Yahoo India search results.

In the U.S., however, the Yahoo Glue beta is being tested as a stand-alone experience that is not accessed via Yahoo Search, a spokeswoman for the company said. "This iteration of the beta is centered around gathering insights about how people use topic pages focused purely on helping people discover information and browse through images, videos, articles, etc.," she added.

In a post on the Yahoo Search blog, Julie Demsey of Yahoo Glue product management said that Yahoo is starting with a limited set of topics, pulling together content from the best places on the Web onto one Yahoo Glue page. The company plans to add more topics later. The pages are built using an algorithm that automatically places the most relevant modules on a page, giving users a visually rich, diverse page about the topic they are interested in, the post added.

By Egan Orion
20 November 2008, 2:19 PM

MORE SMALLISH desktop PCs are tipping up led by Taiwan's Micro-Star International (MSI) and the UK's Novatech. In the same class as the ASUS Eee desktop PC, these 'nettop' systems combine low-power CPUs and small but adequate memory and storage sizes with full-sized keyboards and LCD screens, and... affordable prices.

MSI markets its MSI Wind netbooks and manufactures the Eeetop for ASUStek but has also announced its own nettop line it calls the MSI Wind Neton series. The MSI Neton will come in three categories, each with at least two models – one with a single-core Intel Atom processor and a second loaded up with a dual-core Intel Atom CPU. The single-core chipped Netons will be preloaded with Windows XP while the systems with dual-core processors will come with Windows Vista.

The top of the line MSI Neton M22 will have a 22" 1920x1080 touch-screen LCD display, TV-card, Blu-ray player and remote control included, and will retail for about $800. The M16 will have a 15.6" 1366x768 touch-screen LCD display and sell for about $500, whilst the M19 will have an 18.5" 1366x768 screen and cost around $400. Both the M16 and M19 models will have a TV-card installed, but will have no Blu-ray player or remote control.

No specifications regarding MSI Neton memory and storage sizes have been released yet. Novatech is selling a similar nettop system right now, it says. The Novatech Ion PC has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of memory, a DVD-RW/CD-R burner, 5.1 sound, integrated Intel DirectX 9 graphics, and comes preloaded with Windows XP.

by Christopher Dawson
November 19th, 2008 @ 10:38 pm

Every week, more and more bits of malware seem to be making their way past commercial anti-virus, firewall anti-virus, and ISP anti-virus software. New patches and downloads abound, and I’ve still re-imaged 3 computers in the last 2 weeks due to massive infestations.

This is to say nothing of the home computers about which my users are complaining (I feel like getting one of those ThinkGeek T-shirts that tells people, “No, I won’t fix your computer.”) I’m well aware that if Linux or Mac had greater marketshare, then they would be far more vulnerable to malware attacks. That being said, right now, none of the computers in my house (four of them, all Mac or Ubuntu) have had even a blip of malware.

My students who have switched over to Linux? No problems. Teachers with Macs at home? No worries. Schools with Macs in them? Not a single issue. You don’t notice people reimaging their MacBooks because of a trojan. There are plenty of reasons to use Windows PCs. Games, proprietary Windows-only software, generally low acquisition costs; the usual arguments apply.

However, as I have to turn more of my attention to ensuring that my Windows PCs stay malware free and I watch my *nix computers hum along happily, I’m struggling to see a good reason to stick with the Windows platform. Right now, I have a significant investment in a Windows back office. In just over a year, though, all of that equipment will go off lease and I’ll be refreshing a lot of Windows servers and PCs.

by Brooke Crothers
November 20, 2008 12:30 AM PST

Samsung on Wednesday night said it has begun mass-producing 256GB solid-state drives. This size tops the largest-capacity SSDs found in laptops today. Samsung currently offers 64GB and 128GB SSDs for laptops. The new 256GB drives are faster too, the company claims, more than doubling the performance rate of Samsung 64GB and 128GB SSDs.

The drives combine sequential read rates of 220 megabytes per second, with sequential write rates of 200MBps. "This sharply narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10 percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 (percent) and 70 percent for other SSDs," the company said. Samsung did not mention random write performance, however. Despite being generally faster than hard-disk drives (particularly at reading data), solid-state drives fall short of hard disks when they randomly write data.

Random writes are generally considered to be the Achilles' heel of solid-state drives. Getting this 256GB SSD in a notebook "is analogous to having a 15,000-(revolutions-per-minute) drive, without all of its size, noise, power, and heating drawbacks," Jim Elliott, vice president of memory marketing at Samsung Semiconductor, said in a statement.

The 256GB SSD boosts data transfer when large multimedia files are simultaneously read and stored. "It can store 25 high-definition movies in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7,200rpm hard disk drive (HDD), which takes about 70 minutes," the company said in a statement. The drive's performance is derived from a new single-platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash, and special drive firmware developed by Samsung.

By Ryan Paul
November 20, 2008 - 07:55AM CT

IBM has announced plans to buy California virtualization company Transitive for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is part of IBM's strategy for boosting demand for its RISC-based Power systems.

Transitive was launched in the 90s by computer scientists from Manchester University, who aimed to take their virtualization research out of the lab and put it to use in industry. Their software—which is called QuickTransit—dynamically translates native code between architectures, enabling applications compiled for one processor to be run on another without any modification.

Apple became the first licensee of QuickTransit and used the technology to build Rosetta, a translation system that allowed users of Intel Macs to seamlessly run legacy PowerPC applications. IBM intends to use QuickTransit to help customers move software in the opposite direction—consolidating their Linux-based x86 applications onto Power servers. It's part of IBM's aggressive campaign to push Power migrations in the enterprise computing market.

According to Big Blue, putting Power in your data center will reduce expenses. "IBM is focused on helping customers achieve the most pressing goals of today's environment, reducing costs, streamlining infrastructures, and quickly integrating the merging entities," IBM spokesperson Richard Bause told NewsFactor.

Publisher's Description:

Process Lasso improves system performance, responsiveness, and stability during high loads through dynamic adjustments to process priority classes. It can also automatically terminate undesired processes, apply default priorities and CPU affinities to processes, limit the number of instances a process can have, and log all processes. It is not a task manager replacement, but does have task manager like capabilities to compliment its primary functions.

Process Lasso has the following other editions available: Process Lasso (x64).

Latest Changes:

* Fix.GUI/Core: Fixed issue where the core engine, when running as a service, was being inappropriately terminated by the GUI upon user logoff

Released: November 19, 2008
Publisher: Bitsum Technologies
License: Freeware
OS Support: Windows 2000/2003/2008/Vista/XP
Uninstaller?: Yes
Skin Support?: No; Supports XP Themes

Publisher's Description:

Fastream IQ Web/FTP Server (formerly NETFile Server) is a secure (128-bit SSL), ultra-fast FTP server with HTTP/XML remote admin, virtual network folders, storage quotas, bandwidth limits, built-in HTTP folder management together with fast directory and file caches. Running as NT-service, and controlled through a remote controller interface (free of charge to download and use), has the best possible performance under Windows operating system platform.

Released: November 19, 2008
Publisher: Fastream Technologies
License: Freeware
OS Support: Windows (All)

Monitor Asset Manager is a Plug and Play monitor information utility that works under all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows. It is fully multi-monitor-capable, and unlike similar reporting utilities queries the monitor directly rather than relying on potentially dubious information stored in the registry. In addition to providing detailed information on monitor color and timing characteristics, this compact utility (400kb) is the only program of its type to accomplish this under Windows NT 4.0, providing corporate IS managers with a simple tool to track monitor inventory by serial number.

Reports generated by Monitor Asset Manager provide detailed technical information about the target display device and its capabilities. Corporate licensed versions of this lightweight utility can be set to run periodically in the background where it can silently save reports in SMS-compliant MIF file format to designated locations at pre-specified intervals. An IS manager wishing to implement SMS-compliant asset management and inventory practices will find that Monitor Asset Manager is the perfect tool to compliment existing management capabilities.

Moreover, end users puzzled by the way Windows treats their monitors and high-definition display devices can gain insight into exactly what Plug-and-Play means: all the information provided by the display to the system is displayed in readable format, including DPM and GTF/CVT support, color chromaticity values, native and recommended resolutions with exact timing parameters, as well as device minimum requirements and maximum limits. The latest version also supports DisplayID structures, extracts and decodes EIA/CEA-861 extension data for consumer electronics devices like HDTVs, and queries for basic Monitor Command and Control (MCCS) information from next-generation DDC/CI compliant displays.

Author: EnTech
Date: 2008-11-20
Size: 394 KB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win All

A computer system starts running slower and start-up time takes longer over time as user downloads and installs new programs on the system over extended period of time. Even though all of those programs are valid, they might cause start-up program list grow unnecessarily with non critical applications. Operating systems like Windows do not have notion of delayed processing of start-up programs. Therefore when user reboots and logs on, all those programs need to run first before user can get fair share of CPU to run their own programs. We refer to this delay problem as start-up bloating which is caused by unnecessary insertion of non critical program entries to system registry.

StartupBlaster is a lightweight Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista 32-bit proxy program that accelerates slow system start-up by keeping the system registry thin and gives user the control of the start-up programs list earlier. StartupBlaster improves user experience by enhancing the speed of start-up process.

Author: XenCare Software
Date: 2008-11-20
Size: 2.21 MB
License: Freeware
Requires: Win XP/Vista

Publisher's Description:

MONyog MySQL Monitor and Advisor allows you to Identify MySQL performance bottlenecks. You can compare unlimited MySQL servers side-by-side. It is Available on Windows and Linux. Inbuilt web-server. Has got a nice AJAX interface. Simple Descriptions for all performance metrics. Helps you learn MySQL Internals. Fully customizable using Javascript and MONyog Object Model.

Released: November 18, 2008
Publisher: Webyog Softworks Pvt. Ltd.
License: Shareware; $199.00 to buy
OS Support: Windows 2000/2003/Me/Vista/XP

by Dancho Danchev
November 17th, 2008 @ 4:01 pm

The popular British anti-fraud site Bobbear.co.uk is currently under a DDoS attack (distributed denial of service attack) , originally launched last Wednesday, and is continuing to hit the site with 3/4 million hits daily from hundreds of thousands of malware infected hosts mostly based in Asia and Eastern Europe, according to the site’s owner.

Targeted DDoS attacks against anti-fraud and volunteer cybercrime fighting communities clearly indicate the impact these communities have on the revenue stream of scammers, and with Bobbear attracting such a high profile underground attention, the site is indeed doing a very good job. Anyway, who’s behind this attack?

Let’s track down a well known DDoS for hire provider currently operating 10 Black Energy DDoS botnets, and take an exclusive peek at his switchboard indicating that 4 of his botnets are currently set to attack Bobbear.co.uk only, proving that the attack may have well been outsourced.

With cybercriminals so overconfident in their abilities to remain unnoticed so that they’re using a well known botnet command and control server historically used to manage Zeus banker malware campaigns, it’s fairly easy to connects the dots.....

By Ryan Paul
November 18, 2008 - 01:03AM CT

Adobe has announced plans to port Flash Player 10 and the AIR runtime to the ARM architecture so that the software can be used on phones and other devices. The announcement is significant because it demonstrates that Adobe intends to close the gap between desktop and mobile Flash capabilities and make Flash technology a more competitive choice for platform-neutral mobile development.

Platform fragmentation is one of the most significant challenges faced today by mobile application developers. Programmers who want to target a broad selection of popular handsets and mobile hardware products are forced to port their applications to many different platforms—a task that is arduous and costly. Flash and AIR offer one potential solution by providing cross-platform runtime environments that are available on a wide range of devices.

In theory, this allows developers to write their code once and allows users to run it on desktops, on smartphones, or in a web browser. Adobe's mobile strategy previously focused on Flash Lite, a slimmed down version of Flash that isn't compatible with the latest desktop version. Flash Lite 3, the most recent version of Flash Lite, is loosely compatible with Flash 8 and has some other limitations.

The dichotomy between Flash and Flash Lite has created some fragmentation within Adobe's own ecosystem and has degraded some of the portability advantages of using Flash as an application platform. Moving forward with a full port of Flash Player 10 that is optimized for ARM will begin to end that dichotomy and will eventually lead to a fully unified Flash Player across both the desktop and mobile spaces.

by Ryan Naraine
November 12th, 2008 @ 7:40 pm

Mozilla has released a new version of its flagship Firefox browser to fix a total of 11 vulnerabilities that expose users to code execution, information stealing or denial-of-service attacks. Four of the 11 flaws covered with the new Firefox 3.0.4 are rated “critical” because of the risk of code execution attacks via specially rigged Web pages.

The four critical vulnerabilities are:
* MFSA 2008-55 Crash and remote code execution in nsFrameManager. A vulnerability in part of Mozilla’s DOM constructing code can be exploited by modifying certain properties of a file input element before it has finished initializing. When the blur method of the modified input element is called, uninitialized memory is accessed by the browser, resulting in a crash. This crash may be used by an attacker to run arbitrary code on a victim’s computer.

* MFSA 2008-54 Buffer overflow in http-index-format parser. This is a flaw in the way Mozilla parses the http-index-format MIME type. By sending a specially crafted 200 header line in the HTTP index response, an attacker can cause the browser to crash and run arbitrary code on the victim’s computer.

* MFSA 2008-53 XSS and JavaScript privilege escalation via session restore. The browser’s session restore feature can be used to violate the same-origin policy and run JavaScript in the context of another site. Any otherwise unexploitable crash can be used to force the user into the session restore state. This vulnerability could also be used by an attacker to run arbitrary JavaScript with chrome privileges.......

By John Leyden
11th November 2008 12:36 GMT

Some users of AVG were left with unusable Windows systems after the popular AVG security scanner software slapped a Trojan warning on a core Windows component. AVG tagged user32.dll as a banking Trojan following a signature update issued on Sunday, advising users to delete the "harmful file".

Users following this advice would be left with systems that either failed to boot or went into a continuous reboot cycle, according to dispatches from those hit by the glitch. Users of both AVG 7.5 and 8 (free and full fat editions) were hit by the snafu. AVG has admitted the problem and responded by posting advice on how to recover affected systems (via its support forum item 1574 - here).

The company has also updated its virus definition files to purge the false alarm detection from its virus signature database. False alarms by anti-virus scanners have affected just about every security vendor at one time or another. The issue causes more inconvenience when Windows files are flagged as potentially malicious, as in this case with AVG, so its no surprise to find that AVG's support forums are filling up with complaints.

This is not the first such false positive AVG has had to fix. Its software wrongly identified CheckPoint’s Zone Alarm as a Trojan less than a month ago, raising questions about the quality control regime for virus definition updates released by the Czech-based firm, best known for the popularity of the cut-down version it offers to consumers at no cost.

by Jennifer Leggio
October 28th, 2008 @ 2:09 pm

Earlier today my ZDNet partner-in-crime Ryan Naraine posted about the latest Facebook worm, which tries to get users to download a malicious codec from a video appearing to be shared through Google Reader.

I have a couple of disclosures in relationship to this worm:
* It was researched and reported by network security appliance vendor Fortinet, which also happens to be my employer
* I had a bit of a hand in discovering it

I awoke this morning to a Facebook alert from an old coworker that said, “Sommebody uupload a viideo witth you on utubee. you shuold ese.” What’s interesting is that I didn’t initially notice the very poor spelling. I read right through it to the context, and with a bit of hesitation I went to my Facebook inbox (note: NOT from the email — I logged straight into Facebook through an open browser). I saw in the Facebook note that the site redirected to a Google shared site at what appeared to be a valid URL — I chanced it (NOT recommended).

I didn’t touch the video as I immediately knew there was an issue. But I should’ve realized it sooner. At that point, I engaged Guillaume Lovet, senior manager of our FortiGuard Global Security Research Team, who led our research efforts. Ryan has all of the details of the worm itself in his blog post, but the point is that no matter your associations, understanding or education when it comes to security or social media, one cannot be too careful.

By Ryan Paul
October 22, 2008 - 01:23PM CT

Ubuntu community manager Jono Bacon has released Denied by Reign, his much-anticipated (at least in open source circles—and my basement) metal album, under a creative commons license. The album is part of his solo project, called Severed Fifth, which he intends to use as a springboard for testing music economics and promoting awareness of open content distribution models.

The metal album, which consists of eight tracks, is available for free in OGG and MP3 formats from the Severed Fifth web site. The tracks can be downloaded individually or together in a compressed archive and are also being distributed via BitTorrent. For his project, Bacon selected the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (CCSA) license, which will enable users to share and modify the content as long as they properly attribute it and make derivatives available under the same license.

Open sesame - Music enthusiasts are growing impatient with problematic copy-protection schemes and DRM server shenanigans. As copyright law becomes increasingly draconian and the content industry pushes for even more ludicrous constraints on fair use to the extreme detriment of honest consumers, the calls for reform are becoming louder. Open licensing and unconventional business models could create new opportunities for the music industry and open the business up to some creativity.

The CCSA license empowers users by giving them the ability to repurpose content and build new things using the material. This transforms music into an inclusive and participatory medium—a shared community space instead of a walled garden. It also facilitates unencumbered experimentation by making it possible to adapt the music for use in a variety of other practical and artistic contexts.

By John Timmer
September 05, 2008 - 05:10AM CT

The RIAA's campaign against filesharers follows a standard procedure: find a computer offering files for download, get a court to force the ISP or organization that provided the computer's IP address to reveal the computer's owner, and then sue the owner.

The group has contracted with MediaSentry to do the work of identifying the infringing computers, but that company's methods have been called into question in a number of states that have licensing requirements for private investigators that include the computer-based snooping required to gather the data.

Michigan was one such state and, if there was any doubt about the licensing issue there, it's gone now: the state passed a law that specifically calls for computer forensics groups to be licensed. To an extent, the law is somewhat redundant. Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Growth is responsible for licensing private investigators and, in February, it determined that the company was acting as an unlicensed private investigator.

The Department recommended that the anonymous state resident that filed the complaint contact his local prosecutor if he/she wanted to press the matter. Despite this ominous warning flag, the RIAA's lawsuits in the state have continued apace. But, if MediaSentry felt it could successfully challenge the Department of Labor's decision if called on it, its chances of doing so dropped precipitously.

THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL has axed an episode of its popular show Mythbusters which revealed how easy it was to stuff up Radio Frequency Indentification (RFID) technology after a call from the nice people who make the gear.

The show's co-host Adam Savage claimed that he set out to do an episode on the vulnerabilities of RFID but encountered some very powerful resistance.

A conference call was arranged between co-host Tory Belleci and Texas Instruments to talk about the RFID vulnerabilities. Texas Instruments showed up with the chief legal counsel for American Express, Visa, Discover, and everybody else.

Apparently the combined legal might made it really clear to the folks at Discovery that they were not going to air this episode talking about RFID hacks.

The Inquirer

Saturday, August 09, 2008

CHICAGO — Bernie Mac, an Emmy and Golden Globe nominated actor and comedian, died suddenly Saturday at age 50 of complications from pneumonia. The comedian suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body's organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005.

He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease. "Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital," his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She said no other details were available and asked that his family's privacy be respected.

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago's South Side. Recently, Mac's brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama. Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language.

The performance earned him a rebuke from Obama's campaign. But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer. "Wherever I am, I have to play," he said in 2002. "I have to put on a good show." Mac started his comedy career at age 8, with a standup performance at a church dinner. In 1977, at age 20, he took that act to comedy clubs in Chicago.

August 10, 2008 @ 3:31 CST

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless "Theme From Shaft" won Academy and Grammy awards, has been found dead at home. He was 65. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office says a family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill on Sunday. He was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis.

The cause of death was not immediately known. In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap. His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park."

November 17, 2008

Could former President Bill Clinton's charitable affairs cost Hillary Clinton the secretary of state job in Barack Obama's administration? That's what insiders are wondering after reports that the former president's financial and foreign entanglements could hurt the New York senator in her bid for a Cabinet post.

Politico.com reported Monday that Democrats "are becoming exasperated" by Bill Clinton's response to requests for information about his finances. "The sense among the no-drama Obama world is: This is well on its way to winning best Oscar for drama," an unnamed Democrat told Politico.com. Of worry, Politico.com said, is whether Clinton's charity would create a conflict of interest with foreign governments.

The New York Times reported Sunday that lawyers from the Obama camp were looking into the former president's dealings with foreign governments and pharmaceutical companies. "I think certainly she's been vetted, he's been vetted; but let's remember it's her who's up for this appointment, not Bill Clinton," Brad Blakeman, a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush, told FOX News. "I think they cleaned a lot up before she decided to run for president.

"Certainly his activities going forward, if she is the secretary of state, would be curtailed, but I can't see any reason why Hillary Clinton would not be nominated by this president and certainly confirmed by a Democratic Senate," Blakeman said. Bill Clinton, addressing a symposium at the National Bank of Kuwait on Sunday, spoke about the possibility of having his wife in the new administration.

November 13, 2008

The Senate Banking Committee grilled top bank executives Thursday as credit markets remain frozen and worries mount they are misusing bailout money. Lawmakers urged the executives, all from banks who have received money from the $700 billion bailout, to start lending more to consumers and businesses.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the committee chairman, told the executives Congress wants to see more progress in foreclosure mitigation, lending and in curbing excessive compensation. Dodd also said banks need to step up assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure and loosen up credit markets. The financial sector is slated to receive at least $250 billion per the package passed last month to help bolster balance sheets and resume lending. Officials from Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM), testified on Capitol Hill.

Dodd, who stressed that transparency in the industry is crucial, expressed concern banks are hoarding the money and using it for internal gain. Sen. Charles Schumer, D.-N.Y., said that he would take action in conjunction with other lawmakers to ensure banks ramp up consumer lending moving forward. Executives from the four financial institutions vowed they wouldn't use the money to pay their executives and employees.

Gregory Palm, general counsel at Goldman Sachs, said that compensation would be down “significantly” this year throughout the firm, especially at senior levels. Both Democrats and Republicans have been critical of the way the Treasury Department implemented the bailout. Democrats are pushing for banks to lend more, while Republicans are seeking more transparency from the Treasury.

By Cade Metz
5th November 2008 19:28 GMT

Michael Crichton - the author, filmmaker, and television producer best known for his 1990 novel Jurassic Park - is dead at the age of sixty-six. According to a statement released by his family, Crichton was privately battling cancer.

"While the world knew him as a great story teller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us - and entertained us all while doing so - his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father, and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes," the statement read. "He did this with a wry sense of humor that those who were privileged to know him personally will never forget."

Crichton's books - including The Andromeda Strain, Disclosure, Congo, and Jurassic Park sequel The Lost World - sold more than a 150 million copies worldwide, and several were adapted into high-profile Hollywood films. Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park - made in 1993 from a screenplay co-written by Crichton - is still among the top fifteen highest grossing films of all-time.

Born in Chicago, Michael Crichton attended Harvard Medical School, where he penned The Andromeda Strain, his first best seller, which was later adapted for the screen by Robert Wise. Crichton would go on to direct six films of his own, including Westworld, Coma, and The Great Train Robbery, and produce four others. He was also the creator and executive producer of the long-running American TV drama ER, for which he won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer's Guild of America Award.

November 05, 2008

After clinching an historic victory, President-elect Barack Obama wakes up Wednesday morning to the task of uniting a divided country and laying the groundwork for an ambitious presidential agenda. Obama will inherit on Jan. 20 the worst financial crisis in 70 years, as well as the task of winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Within minutes of taking the stage in Chicago Tuesday night to acknowledge becoming the first black president of the United States, Obama cautioned voters of the tough road ahead. "Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there," Obama said in Grant Park.

And to those who did not back his candidacy, Obama said, "I will be your president, too," and noted the need to "heal the divides that have held back our progress." With his victory, Obama, the Hawaiian-born son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, is poised to turn the page on Republican policies of the last eight years, as well as some racial barriers that have stood for generations.

The 47-year-old Democratic junior senator from Illinois swept to a landslide victory over his Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, building an Electoral College majority of at least 349 votes. "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama told the massive crowd of cheering supporters in Grant Park Tuesday night.

November 03, 2008

With voters making their way to polls across America, Barack Obama and John McCain plan to drag their tireless presidential campaigns into Election Day in a last-ditch bid to sway battleground votes. The Democratic presidential nominee plans to make a campaign stop in Indianapolis Tuesday after voting in Chicago.

Then he returns to Illinois for what has become an election day tradition -- playing basketball. McCain's schedule takes him first to Phoenix to vote, and then to Colorado and New Mexico -- both states President Bush won in 2004 but that are trending Democratic this year. Both candidates radiated determination Monday as they reached for the finish line of a two-year marathon. The polls, however, gave Obama more reason to be optimistic.

With the presidential race mostly being played on Republican turf, Obama sounded a confident tone as he toured Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. Obama began his speech in Jacksonville, Fla., with the line: "I've got one word for you: tomorrow." And in what sounded like hints of a victory speech, Obama even congratulated McCain "on the tough race that he has fought."

But he proceeded to criticize his rival, as he has done for months, as President Bush's "sidekick" for standing with him on economic issues "every step of the way." As he did so, McCain continued to sound alarms about Obama's alleged tax-and-spend policies and his "far left" tendencies. "Senator Obama's massive new tax increase would kill jobs and make a bad economy worse. I'm not going to let that happen," McCain said in Tampa, Fla.