Talk about a bad collision in the intersection of different advances in technology. . .
For years I was very skeptical of the restriction of technological devices on airplanes, especially when wireless technology was so much simpler and less pervasive. As the years have marched on, I have taken it as a given that wireless technology is used in so many ways, because of the risk of unintended consequences of one device (like an iPhone or a Gameboy) on a frequency sending a wrong or confusing signal to something like an airplane that can have life or death consequences. I accept that and I think most people, whether or not they think they understand the technology, have come to accept it.
So when I read this article in the paper this morning, I was shocked. This guy Andre Melnikov called to complain that his stove was turning itself on and off, and his landlord was clearly skeptical that this brand new stove would do such a thing. So when he retraced his steps, he remembered that he got a cell phone call just before it happened. Somewhat improbably, he connected the two together and was able to recreate the incident repeatedly. When his cell phone rang, it triggered the oven to be switched on to “HIGH” and not only that, because other people in his apartment complex had also just gotten the same model of this new stove, his phone was also turning their ovens on when his phone rang. Talk about a huge danger.
The fact that it’s a Maytag stove and a Sony phone are, from where I sit, immaterial to the larger “how” trap many manufacturers are in.
It used to be that when you tested your product for safety and basic functionality, you could test it alone and safely assume no “outside” influences would alter the way it functions. In the world of technology this loosely aligns with the definition of a string test where you control everything in the environment that is “strung” together within an enclosed, knowable set of conditions. It’s when you open the product up to a larger universe of things you don’t control, often called the “integration” test, that you have to prepare for almost anything, because you don’t control what could come at you. Manufacturers now need to open their minds to what kinds of things can influence their increasingly technologically advanced products.
So two things need to happen:
1) There needs to be much greater transparency to radio frequencies and who is using which spectra for what (interfering with your kid’s baby monitor is one thing, potentially burning down your house, or your neighbor’s house, is something vastly different)
2) Testing standards need to be revisited. Some conditions that were unrealistic to test ten years ago need to be added to the tests, largely expanding to an “integration” test notion from the simpler “string” test notion.
I am amazed that they figured this out and that no one’s house burned down (as far as we know) as a result of this. I do think this should have been a candidate for the front page instead of being buried on page 26. This is serious stuff, and probably the tip of the iceberg in terms of unintended collisions of technology.
-Ric
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