We really, really hope you didn’t have to take a United Airlines flight this morning. The air carrier temporarily grounded all its flights due to a networking glitch that created “automation issues” across its fleet. United started returning things to normal around 9:20AM Eastern (initially for regional carriers), but not before it created serious chaos — there are reports of staff having to write boarding passes and baggage tickets , not to mention flight delays that will likely continue throughout the day. It’s not yet clear what exactly is at fault. However, this is the second time in as many months that the airline has had to bring everything to a screeching halt due to a network failure. That doesn’t mean that you’re looking at a systemic flaw, but it definitely underscores the importance of reliable transportation tech. [Image credit: Shutterstock] Filed under: Transportation , Networking Comments Via: NBC News Source: FAA
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United grounds all its flights due to a network glitch
An anonymous reader writes with a report at Mobipicker (linking to a Korea Times story) that a 12-member committee from the International Telecommunication Union has hashed out a formal definition of the speed requirements for 5G mobile networking; the result has been designated IMT-2020, and it specifies that 5G networks should provide data speeds of up to 20Gbps — 20 times faster than 4G. From the Korea Times story: The 5G network will also have a capacity to provide more than 100 megabits-per-second average data transmission to over one million Internet of Things devices within 1 square kilometer. Video content services, including ones that use holography technology, will also be available thanks to the expanded data transmit capacity, the ministry said. … The union also decided to target commercializing the 5G network worldwide by 2020. To do so, it will start receiving applications for technology which can be candidates to become the standard for the new network. Consequently, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will be the world’s first international event to showcase and demonstrate 5G technology. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
mrflash818 writes: A new report from analytics service SourceDNA found that roughly 1, 500 iOS apps (with about 2 million total installs) contain a vulnerability that cripples HTTPS and makes man-in-the-middle attacks against those apps easy to pull off. “The weakness is the result of a bug in an older version of the AFNetworking, an open-source code library that allows developers to drop networking capabilities into their apps. Although AFNetworking maintainers fixed the flaw three weeks ago with the release of version 2.5.2, at least 1, 500 iOS apps remain vulnerable because they still use version 2.5.1. That version became available in January and introduced the HTTPS-crippling flaw.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
An anonymous reader writes The Verge has an interesting editorial about the USB Type C connector on the new Macbook, and what this might mean for Apple’s Lightning and Thunderbolt connectors. The former is functionally identical to USB Type C, and the latter has yet to prove popular in the external media and “docking” applications for which it was originally intended. Will Apple phase out these ports in favour of a single, widely-accepted, but novel standard? Or do we face a dystopian future where Apple sells cords with USB Type C on one end, and Lightning on the other? Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
angry tapir writes Intel has announced that going forward it will use style of branding for its Atom chips that is similar to its branding for Core chips. Atom CPUs will have the X3, X5 and X7 designations, much like with the Core i3, i5 and i7 brands. An Atom X3 will deliver good performance, X5 will be better and X7 will be the best, an Intel spokeswoman said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.