Bitcoin News Australia

Days after the Southwest Airlines snafu, a computer glitch grounded all US flights on Wednesday morning.

Such an order hasn’t been issued since 9/11, per NPR.

What happened?

An FAA computer system that sends out NOTAMs (Notice to Air Missions) failed.

Though separate from air traffic control systems, NOTAMs share crucial info about potential safety hazards with pilots.

• For example: Runway closures, lights out of service, military exercises, lasers, or air shows.
• NOTAMs date back to 1947. The name once stood for “Notice to Airmen,” but in December 2021, it changed to be more inclusive of all aviators, including drone pilots.

Aviation consultant Mike Boyd told CNN, “It’s like telling a trucker that a road is closed up ahead.” So, no NOTAMs, no flights.

What’s next?

The FAA lifted the ground stop shortly before 9am EST, after ~1.5 hours, though air travel was snarled due to the 8.2k+ delays and 1.2k+ cancellations reported by FlightAware as of Wednesday afternoon.

President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into why the system failed. Currently, there’s no evidence of a cyberattack.

Cybersecurity experts think the culprit was likely a software update, per NBC; others told USA Today it could be outdated tech.

Meanwhile: It’s not just planes. On Monday, passengers on an Amtrak train from Washington, DC to Florida, were stuck aboard for 29+ hours due to a freight train derailment. Eventually, the conductor had to tell them to stop calling 911 as they were not being held hostage.

Recommendation: If you haven’t yet seen Avatar: The Way of Water — IMAX, fifth row is the right way to do it. 4D seems cool, too, though a tad violent.

The film has earned $1.75B at the box office. Those earnings include $189.4m in China, despite a surge of covid infections there, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

• Chinese ticketing app Maoyan projects the film will peak at $222m — more than the $202m Avatar collected in China a decade ago, when there were ~5.7k movie screens in the country. Today, there are 82k+.

Attention could dwindle, though, with the Lunar New Year coming up, when a host of domestic films will hit theaters — among them, The Wandering Earth 2. The first Wandering Earth pulled in $700m in 2019 (and is on Netflix, in case you’re interested).

“We’re [going] back to theaters around the world,” Avatar director James Cameron told Variety. “They’re even going back to theaters in China.”

He added, “Enough with the streaming already — I’m tired of sitting on my ass.”

Rolling into the school cafeteria with the newest smartphone was once the pinnacle of cool — but not anymore.

Today’s teenagers seek the opposite: They’re ditching modern tech for phones and cameras from the days of yore (AKA the early 2000s), per the The New York Times.

Uh, why?

The choice to part with a smartphone — and its top-tier camera — to bang out texts on T9 might seem a little confusing.

But old-school phones and cameras appeal to today’s teens:

• They can take photos without being on their cell phones.
• They get space from social media, which 36% of teens say they use too much.

Older digital cameras capture less detail and let in less light through their lenses, producing lower-quality photos. But blurry, vintage-looking photos are exactly what Gen Zers want to stand out from the crowd — and, ironically, to stand out on Instagram.

EBay searches for “digital camera” increased 10% from 2021 to 2022, with searches for specific camera models rising even more sharply (“Nikon COOLPIX,” for example, saw a 90% jump).

Y2K nostalgia…

… has gripped more than just the tech industry. It’s fueled the return of fashion trends like low-rise jeans and velour tracksuits, with brands like Juicy Couture, True Religion, and Abercrombie making lucrative comebacks.

So BRB, blasting Eminem and digging out our Razr phones.