But, as a famous fictional uncle once said, "with great power comes great responsibility." Once the people in your life find out you can fix some of their computer problems from the comfort of your couch, you may soon find yourself up to your eyeballs in tech support requests. Use this power wisely, and maybe set some boundaries.

Southwest Airlines was among the airlines affected by a contractor's computer outage Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be delayed. Southwest Airlines was among the airlines affected by a contractor's computer outage Monday, forcing hundreds of flights to be delayed. Thousands of travelers on some of the largest U.S. airlines endured long waits Monday morning, as their flights were delayed owing to a contractor's computer outage. The technical problem forced Southwest Airlines, which had some of the biggest issues, to shut down all U.S. flights for about 40 minutes Monday. Eastern Time, more than 600 Southwest flights today had been delayed," NPR's David Schaper reports.

Mathematicians have discovered a problem they cannot solve. It's not that they're not smart enough; there simply is no answer. The problem has to do with machine learning -- the type of artificial-intelligence models some computers use to "learn" how to do a specific task. When Facebook or Google recognizes a photo of you and suggests that you tag yourself, it's using machine learning. Neuroscientists use machine learning to "read" someone's thoughts.

Computers live by Murphy's Law: "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Which is why, at some point, your computer will freeze, or flicker, or even shut down. Most of us are comfortable using computers as long as everything is going smoothly. Maybe your old computer is just running slowly. Click here for 9 ways make an old PC run faster.

Why does your computer keep rebooting itself? A program called WhoCrashed can help diagnose this in a Windows machine. Computers live by Murphy's Law: "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Which is why, at some point, your computer will freeze, or flicker, or even shut down. Most of us are comfortable using computers as long as everything is going smoothly.

British Airways said Sunday that it was still working to restore its computer systems following a major system failure that caused the airline to cancel all flights from London airports. "Work continues to restore all of our IT systems but we expect some further disruption today," BA said in a statement. The airline offered to refund or rebook customers affected by the IT failure and said it hopes to operate at a "near normal schedule" at Gatwick and the "majority of services" from Heathrow on Sunday. British Airways flights from London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports were canceled Saturday because of global computer problems, resulting in mass confusion and chaos for tens of thousands of travelers on a busy holiday weekend. The airline said it was suffering a "major IT systems failure" around the world.

A spokeswoman for the airport in northern Germany said they had to cancel all air traffic Wednesday morning for about 30 minutes, but that starting from 8:56 a.m. EST), parts of the airport were working again.

United Airlines said all of its domestic flights were grounded Sunday because of a computer problem. Company spokeswoman Maddie King said in a brief statement that it issued a ground stop in the U.S. because of an "IT issue." The company did not provide any more details, and it was not immediately clear how many flights were affected. Chicago-based United Airlines and United Express operate more than 4,500 flights a day to 339 airports across five continents.

Michael Czaplinski has been unveiling the magic of computers for more than a quarter century. Michael Czaplinski has been unveiling the magic of computers for more than a quarter century. I've worked my entire professional life with personal computers, and most of that time has been spent helping other people use them. I have been the voice on the other end of the 800 number who has to tell you that you should turn it off and turn it back on again. So I've learned a thing or two about the place that computers have in people's lives.

As a book about search, it is thorough, at the state of the art, and contains expositions that will delight the expert with their clarity and depth. However, it is not, per se, a book about AI (nor was it intended to be) or about the history, philosophy, or cognitive aspects of heuristic knowledge.