Oct. 3, 2018 EAS Presidential Alert test

Tue Oct 9 04:19:40 UTC 2018

On Mon, 8 Oct 2018, Aaron C. de Bruyn wrote:
> Google solved these problems with ~$120 smoke alarm and a decent cell phone app.
> If they released a new version with weather alerts, I wouldn't think
> twice about dropping $200 on it.

A company already made a combination smoke alarm/weather radio.
Halo Smart Labs went out of business earlier this year.
https://www.smartthings.com/products/halo-smart-labs-halo-smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-plus-weather-alerts

A $120+ niche silicon valley product is great for the nerds. Whats the 
business case for everyone else?

What's the business case for reaching 126 million households, with a 
product that is afforable or already part of something they already have.

> So how is there no business case?  No disrespect intended, but you
> failed to back up that statement.

More people own Amazon smart speakers than NEST thermostats.  Amazon 
product people have told me there is no demand for emergency alerts in its 
Alexa product.

Likewise, I've asked Google developers.  They said the same thing about 
adding emergency alerts to their Google assistant product.

> Perhaps I'm the only one who would spend more than $50 on a weather
> alert device?

Fewer than 5% of households buy weather radios.

WEA can reach over 60% of households with cell phones. Its not 100%.

Yes, 5% of households are willing to spend $50 on a weather radio.  How to 
reach more than 5%?

If you know that Google or Amazon plan to add emergency alerts to its 
smart assistant products, that would be great news.  But so far, their 
product people have been very clear, they see no business case for 
supporting government emergency alerts on their "smart" products.