【The Exotic Time Machine (1998)】

Editor's note:Check out our oft-updated live blogfor all new developments about the Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage.

You'll have The Exotic Time Machine (1998)to bear with FedEX and UPS. It's probably hard to coordinate deliveries when every computer simultaneously crashes because of a CrowdStrike bug.

That may not be a literal description of what happened to UPS and FedEx on Friday, but you get the point. Both of the major mail carriers issued statements (FedEx via its website and UPS via CBS) in the hours after a faulty CrowdStrike software update temporarily rendered most Windows PCs on the planet inoperable. According to both companies, packages might be a little delayed.

"The FedEx network is operating across the globe, but potential delays are possible for package deliveries with a commitment of July 19, 2024," FedEx said. UPS, in a similar statement, said "there may be some service delays" but noted overall that its delivery fleet was functional.

A slightly delayed delivery is inconvenient, but far from the worst consequence of Friday's computer kerfuffle. The dreaded "blue screen of death" came for airlines, hospitals, TV stations, and even Times Square. There is a fix for the problem that unfortunately requires manual human intervention (meaning it'll take a bit before everything is back in order), but Friday's outages may be a wake-up call for those who didn't realize just how interconnected the world's technological systems are.

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