The widespread Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on October 20 caused an unexpected disruption for owners of Eight Sleep’s high-end “Pod” smart beds, leaving many stuck with overheating or unresponsive mattresses. This is just the latest evidence that plugging everything in your house into the “Internet of Things” is a really bad idea.
Dexerto reports that in the early hours of October 20, the major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage wreaked havoc on a wide variety of apps, games, and online services. However, one unexpected side effect of the outage was the chaos it caused in the bedrooms of owners of Eight Sleep’s “Pod” smart bed across the United States.
Eight Sleep’s smart beds, which retail for over $2,000, rely on cloud connectivity to control temperature and track biometric data. When AWS went down, users found themselves unable to access the app that manages the bed’s water-cooled coils, leaving them stuck with whatever settings were last active before the outage. This posed a problem specifically for users in the United States. Based on the timing of the outage, most Americans were still in bed as apps, including the one controlling their bed, went dead.
Reports from affected users poured in, with some complaining of overheating beds, while others found their mattresses had stopped cooling altogether. In some cases, the smart beds became completely unresponsive, leaving owners frustrated and unable to get a good night’s sleep.
One viral post from tech enthusiast Alex Browne highlighted the absurdity of the situation, as he found his Pod locked at nine degrees above room temperature. “Backend outage means I’m sleeping in a sauna,” he wrote, adding that Eight Sleep confirmed there was no offline mode available, although they were working on implementing one.
Another user reported that their bed was stuck in an inclined position, further emphasizing the need for a fallback option that can function without an internet connection. This isn’t the first time Eight Sleep has faced criticism over its smart beds’ reliance on cloud services. In 2024, a report revealed that exposed AWS keys could have allowed remote access to customer devices, raising concerns about the security of the company’s products.
As the AWS outage continued, Eight Sleep CEO Matteo Franceschetti took to X to address the issue, apologizing for the disruption to users’ sleep experiences. He assured customers that the company was taking two main actions: restoring features as AWS came back online and working around the clock to develop an outage mode to prevent similar issues in the future. By Wednesday, the company was already rolling out an initial fix.
Read more at Dexerto here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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