AWS outage leaves smart bed owners trapped in awkward positions

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) left some smart bed owners stuck in awkward positions. The disruption hit early on a Tuesday morning, causing temperature controls and reclining functions to fail. Customers reported being trapped in uncomfortable settings when their high-tech beds stopped responding.

The problem began around 3 a.m. when the AWS US-EAST-1 cluster crashed. This knocked out cloud-connected services worldwide, including Eight Sleep's smart beds. Priced at $2,700, these beds rely on an internet-linked cover to adjust temperature and track sleep data. A subscription fee of $17 to $33 per month is also required for full functionality.

Some users described sudden blasts of heat or being unable to recline while seated. One frustrated owner claimed their $5,000 bed became unusable, locking them in place. The same AWS outage also disrupted banking services for Lloyds and Halifax customers, as well as United Airlines' check-in systems. Matteo Franceschetti, CEO of Eight Sleep, later issued an apology for the inconvenience. However, no official count of complaints has been released, and the company has not announced steps to prevent future issues.

The incident highlighted the risks of cloud-dependent smart devices. Without internet access, key features of the Eight Sleep bed stopped working entirely. Owners now face questions about reliability as the company has yet to outline fixes or safeguards.