Amazon Web Services had a major problem, and it seriously effected Smart Beds(?!)

[thewayne]

Now, I have to admit that I didn't know there was such a thing as smart beds. I'm not in the least bit surprised, but I didn't know it.

First, the problem. Amazon Web Services, AWS, had a DNS problem that clobbered a whole bunch of systems around the world that relied on processes running within their cloud services. We had problems at work in the library Monday and Tuesday, though those seem to be clearing up. The data center that had the problem is one of Amazon's oldest, and it's had serious problems before in 2020 and 2021.

(In short, DNS translates domain names, such as Amazon.com, into internet server addresses, such as 192.68.25.1, and sends data requests to the correct server. If it gets borked and you're a data packet, it becomes a lot more difficult to get where you need to go.)

This is why I'm an advocate of not having your IT system relying on cloud systems! But management likes to think they're saving money by putting stuff "in the cloud" where people have little direct control over things and security risks multiple. But whatever, as long as management is happy.

So, these "smart beds". They're made by a company called Eight Sleep. Not only do the beds cost $5,000, you pay $200-$500 annually for this bed to be connected to the internet so it can adjust its position, temperature, "provide soundscapes and vibrational alarms", etc.

GAH!

Whatever. I guess if you have the cash to throw $5K at a bed, go have fun. I'm not going to do it.

ANYWAY, when the DNS problem happened, and the bed could no longer talk to the spymothership, the beds freaked out (probably along with their owners), including some folding themselves double. Apparently Eight Sleep's programmers never considered a scenario where the beds lost connectivity and didn't design a fail safe mode for the bed to, you know, just be a bed. The CEO of the idioticsmart bed company said "...engineers were racing to build an outage-proof mode in the event of a future outage." Livestock, meet barn with open doors.

"Sorry, boss. I was late today because someone unplugged my bed."

I am going to laugh my butt off if this company goes bankrupt and all of those beds freak out or die when the servers get unplugged.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/cloud-computing/smart-beds-flipped-out-during-the-aws-outage-and-so-did-their-sleepy-owners/ar-AA1OYol8

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/10/22/1347211/smart-beds-malfunctioned-during-aws-outage

Comments

[conuly]

Truly, this is the dumbest dystopia. Like, if anybody had tried writing this in 1980 it would never have been published.

[gingeriana]

Smart beds!
We are indeed at the dead end of the evolution. Why do we waste resources on developing stupid stuff instead of curing diseases? (rhetorical)
If someone got stuck in the bed, well, sorry, I am not even sorry!

[murakozi]

Okay. So I'm not a programmer or a bed designer. Even I would assume that when designing a bed that can adjust itself that it's failure mode would be to just be a plain ol flat bed. Barring that, I'd at least have it stay in whatever its last position was.

[thewayne]

nods I have to agree with you.  It kind of makes me want to write a Jetsons fic where their house turns evil and tries to kill them all.

[thewayne]

The bed can heat up to A HUNDRED AND TEN DEGREES F!  Why do you need a bed that heats up to 110f?!  People woke up in the middle of the night because the bed was too hot.  Well, DUH.  We're not curing diseases because the people who form companies like this aren't smart enough, so they find a stupid way with clever marketing to part stupid people from their money.

[thewayne]

Freeze in last position would be an acceptable failure mode.  But to fold upright?  Eh, NOPE.  And apparently the company suffered a cloud outage back in June with similar results.  And a similar promise to give users local control.

[richardf8]

You can't spell "idiot" with "IoT."

[thewayne]

ROFL!  Spot on!

[white_aster]

:facepalm: I am reminded of that tech enthusiasts vs. programmers/engineers quote: one being "yay, future, everything IoT!" and the other being like, "the most recent thing I have is an old printer and I am ready to shoot it the second it turns on me".

I also am reminded of that quote from Men in Black: "A PERSON is smart. PEOPLE are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals...." Obviously, "dangerous" even to themselves....

[thewayne]

Yep, I remember that MIB quote from Tommy.  It's a pity that managers and marketeers get to dictate what programmers have to do.  And sometimes programmers are all in on the product!

[disneydream06]

OMg, Who in their right mind buys a bed like that?

Speaking of expensive...
I was bored last night while my patient slept and I asked Dear Google a question I was wondering about.
Do American car companies still make sedans.
While reading through the answer it talked about a special request Cadillac that you can buy.
It's a limited edition vehicle that you can request and is hand made. And it starts in price at a mere $400 million dollars. :o I don't remember the name now, but it was kind of a sharp looking vehicle.
So if you have an extra $400 mill sitting around, I'll take one please. LOL......
Hugs, Jon

[arlie]

Software engineers clearly aren't engineers. Lack of a fail safe ought to be enough to get a PE disbarred (or whatever that's called for engineers).

Move fast and break things is fine where it belongs - games, entertainment, and other things that don't much matter when they break.

No internet of things here, as long as I can avoid it.

And certainly no "smart beds".

[thewayne]

Yeah, SUVs and smaller versions definitely rule the market.  I know Toyota and Subaru still make sedans.  Pretty sure Hyundai and Kia do, too.

[thewayne]

Yeah, outside of our phones, iPads, computers, and Apple TV: no devices with persistent connections to the internet.  My blueray player can take one, not gonna let it.  Don't own any console game devices.

[disneydream06]

I think after this year, the only cars that Chevy will be making is the Corvette and the electric Bolt.
That's pretty sad. :o

[conuly]

Mmm, well, no, I can see wanting a nice, comfy, 110F bed when you tuck yourself in... provided it then cools itself down rapidly. Starting warm and then cooling down is a nice way to trick your body into remembering to sleep.

[thewayne]

It's kind of ridiculous, through advertising making everyone demand trucks and SUVs.

[murakozi]

Kinda a diversion, but that line from MiB always reminded me of one from the old British tv show UFO. There's a similar line in one of the episodes, explaining why the existence of the aliens is kept secret. I've wondered if maybe that inspired the line in MiB.

[disneydream06]

If I lived some where besides Winter Haven, aka Minnesota, I would be more then happy with a "regular" car. :)

[frith]

110°F is hot enough to kill bedbugs. I'd read there was a hotel bed model able to do this, but I guess the market expanded.

[frith]

Folded might be the default position, reserved for clients that have stopped paying the subscription. It's the extortion model of "value" extraction that is all the rage now. Like scatter seating families on plane rides and eliminating reclining seats.

[thewayne]

I don't remember ever watching UFO, sadly.

[thewayne]

Yeah, ditto.  Subaru's sedan doesn't have 8" of ground clearance, which is something that I want.  There's only like four models that give you that sort of clearance: you have to go Crosstrek, Outback, those sorts of things.

[thewayne]

Interesting, I did not know that.

[silveradept]

Foolish decisions, to believe that there would always be an available connection everywhere and to not build in some form of failsafe mode, or, perhaps more intelligently, to have a local schedule that runs regardless of connection, and only limit cloud connection to when those schedules change. Of course, if you did that, then all you'd have to do would be to make it possible to program the schedule locally, with an app or similar, and then you don't need the cloud at all. Whatever happened to the principle of designing for local control first, and then adding greater network features as actually needed?

[thewayne]

Because then you don't make recurring money on subscriptions!  I've always wanted Apple to lock up any developers involved in iPhone software streaming in a remote area that has lousy cell coverage to get them to understand that not everywhere has flawless location to location coverage.

[silveradept]

Yes, subscription extraction is certainly one of those things that's supposed to make money for companies that don't innovate, and instead expect you to pay $5k for the bed and then at least that much again in subscription costs.

Also, yes, app development has to happen in places with no cell coverage, so they understand how it should work.

[kellan_the_tabby]

smart

beds

... wut

gonna start telling people 'smart' just means 'can have bluescreen of death'

I think most of them might understand that?

[thewayne]

Not so much a BSOD as a broken control loop talking to the mothership rendering it inoperable.