Nest Recalls 440K Smoke Alarms for Safety Risk

[onehandle]

Source: AP

NEW YORK — Government regulators on Wednesday said that they have approved Nest Labs’ plans to fix a feature in its smoke alarms that could prevent them from sounding immediately.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday that the company will recall 440,000 of its Nest Protect Smoke + CO alarms, which have a feature that allows owners to temporarily silence some alerts by waving their arms near the units.

The company announced last month that it would offer an electronic update to disable this feature. It has not received any related reports of incidents, injuries, or property damage.

The high-tech home monitoring device company, which was acquired this year by Google for $3.2 billion, halted all new sales of the alarms in April after recognizing the problem. It said Wednesday that the recall does not differ from its earlier announcement.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/new-york-government-regulators-on-wednesday-said-86497086494.html

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Now it makes sense why Google bought them for about 1000x times their value.

Their products are crap so they fit right in with the world's largest ad spammer.

And...

Google ads could be coming to thermostats, refrigerators and car dashboards

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024982310

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Not bad for a $120 Smoke/CO detector.

I suppose the upgraded version will cut to the chase and just start a fire for you.

[frazzled]

2. Why are they "crap"?

It just sounds like the "wave" feature--which was pretty stupid actually--needed to be de-activated via an online update because people might accidentally turn off the alarm if there were a real fire and they started waving their arms, as in: "Get the *@!# out of here!"

I don't own one of these, and probably won't. But I'm not ready to call them "crap."

[AtheistCrusader]

3. It's 120-130 bucks and doesn't have ionization sensors.

It's a shitty smoke detector for the money.

[Psephos]

6. But it does have hand-wave sensors.

A cool feature IMO.

I would not "update" mine if I owned any.

[sweetapogee]

9. actually...

it doesn't need ionization sensors. It uses a Photoelectric smoke sensor coupled with a rise/rate heat detector. The unit incorporates a CO sensor and multiple alarms in a home can be linked together. It also gives the occupant vocal directions, tells them what to do. The concept is quite advanced. My guess is that the "wave" function is being second guessed since a detector in the basement (for example) will sound all of the alarms in the home. A occupant might waste valuable time trying to disable the system in an upstairs bedroom (where there might not be any sign of an actual fire) instead of making for the exit.

I did a research paper on smoke alarms. 96% of single family homes have smoke alarms. Only 77% of those homes have at least (1) working alarm. 94% of those homes that have non-working alarms are due to pulled batteries from the last toaster burn. Most people don't realize that heat detecting alarms are available for the kitchen. These alarms are not set off by the toaster.

[Hosnon]

4. Because this poster REALLY hates all things Google.

It's either an obsession or a paid gig.

He likely panicked when he read Google has overtaken Apple as the most valuable company.

[onehandle]

7. Apple company value: 523 Billion. Google company value: 367 Billion.

But... Whatever.

You're probably thinking of 'brand value' which fluctuates from year to year depending on who is writing the article. Apple was 'declared' the top brand for the last two years. This year it's Google.

Next year it might be Taco Bell.

[Hosnon]

5. Google bought them to advance Android@Home.

Their next big venture.

The next decade is Google's. You're gonna be busy...

[onehandle]

8. Boner pill ads popping up on my refrigerator display?

That's your desired decade.

I remember you guys from the 90s. Apple is going down annnnny minute now.