75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup working on this problem

Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by gregjor on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @07:31PM (#23912065)

I am working on a solution. Without giving it all away, it’s an app for phones that can record audio and video and recognize a fire using ML and AI. It alerts nearby emergency responders based on GPS from the phone.

Initially this service will be ad-supported. When you launch the app you see a short video ad before the app will record the fire. With such a sharply defined demographic the ad impressions should get a good price.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by krapp on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @07:32PM (#23912080)

So basically you're monetizing smoke detectors.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by gregjor on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @07:36PM (#23912113)

That’s one way to think about it, but smoke detectors aren’t programmed in Rust, Typesscript, React, don’t run in a K8S cluster, aren’t serverless, so I think I have some technical advantages.

The app can either call 911 and report a fire, or you can hold it next to an Alexa/Siri/Google home hub or smart speaker, and some toaster ovens, and it will tell the connected device to call the fire department.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by krapp on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @08:46PM (#23912684)

>but smoke detectors aren’t programmed in Rust, Typesscript, React, don’t run in a K8S cluster, aren’t serverless, so I think I have some technical advantages.

Smoke detectors don't require a subscription fee, or for me to sit through advertising. Smoke detectors won't stop working on a bad connection or a botched update. Smoke detectors won't spy on me and sell my data.

Is your app actually, testably, provably better at detecting fires than smoke detectors? Will you have the endorsement of fire departments? Will my homeowners' insurance be affected by using this app?

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by throwawayfound on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @09:40PM (#23913079)

I am 99% sure you are responding seriously to what is intended as satire (and ispretty hilarious).

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by muzani on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @12:32AM (#23913942)

I wouldn't have spotted it without this comment, thanks. I'm mentoring at a hackathon this week and this sounds like a typical pitch.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by gregjor on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @03:44AM (#23914845)

I thought the toaster oven reference would give it away. ;-)

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by krapp on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @04:41AM (#23915087)

Oops.

I should have known something was up when you didn't post a landing page...

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by janbernhart on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @08:58AM (#23916418)

This has been a entertaining conversation to read, I also didn't get the sarcasm immediately, it's quite close to what actually might be happening.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by gregjor on Wednesday July 22, 2020 @03:21AM (#23914721)

I'm planning to work with insurance companies. They can advertise their discounts in the video ad spots in the app.

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Re:75% of fire calls are false alarms. Is there a startup wo... by zzo38computer on Thursday July 23, 2020 @02:48PM (#23930832)

The ad is a waste of time, I think. You will have to avoid wasting time, in the case of fire. (These ads are problematic for other reasons too, but here is one situation too.)

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