[LINK] Smart ovens have been turning on overnight

[Tom Worthington]

"Smart ovens" allow the cook to turn them on via an app remotely. There 
are media reports of ovens coming on in the middle of the night. So far 
this appears to be due to operator error, not hacking, and there have 
been no injuries or fires as a result.

See: "Smart ovens have been turning on overnight and preheating to 400 
degrees: June Oven owners are reporting preheating incidents", By Ashley 
Carman at ashleyrcarman Aug 14, 2019, The Verge, 
https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/14/20802774/june-smart-oven-remote-preheat-update-user-error 


I suggest some safeguards could be built in. The cook could be required 
to check remotely, or in person, at regular intervals. They would have 
to push a button to say "okay keep cooking". This is known as a 
"Vigilance control" or "dead man's switch": 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man%27s_switch

If you think a smart oven is not a worry, what about a WiFi pressure 
cooker? https://amzn.to/2YPzD7n

Or a Sous Vide Cooker with WI-FI. This is an electric immersion heater 
you put in a pot of water. https://amzn.to/2HaaZU6

ps: I once programmed the timer, on my not-so-smart oven, to have fresh 
bread ready for breakfast, but the fire alarm went off in the middle of 
the night. My home was filled with smoke, and the oven contained the 
blackened remains of the bread. I never tried the timer again.


-- 
Tom Worthington, MEd FHEA FACS CP http://www.tomw.net.au +61(0)419496150
TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia
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Honorary Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University 
https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington