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Comment by pjscott | Hacker News Reader

As long as there is enough oxygen in the air, what's disturbing about it? People breathe helium/nitrogen/oxygen mixtures all the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimix_(breathing_gas)

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I didn't mean that the air would be dangerous to breathe.

I meant that it's disturbing that the amount of He needed to disable the iPhone is low enough that the standard sensors around He (which measure 02 levels) don't regard it as a major leak for He to be at that level.

Why would that be disturbing? Electronics and organisms do not have identical environmental tolerances/intolerances.

Presumably, the sensors exist to protect humans, not electronics.

Not at all.

The devices are tested for usual STP. Nothing else, unless specified. They are done so not for human comfort, but for tested conditions. No more.

If you want extreme conditions, pay through the nose.

A device-disabling threat that normal threat sensors can't detect, even when those sensors have been deployed because of the chance of unusually high levels of that threat?

Yes, I'm allowed to be disturbed by that; why wouldn't you be?

Virtually all (esp. consumer) devices assume 'normal' atmospheric conditions with 'normal' temperature ranges and 'normal' humidity ranges. As you start to go outside those ranges, strange things can happen. People at extreme altitudes and/or in extreme climates see this on some types of devices. It's not a big deal. If you have needs outside the typical ranges, you provide your specifications and be prepared to pay much more for your solution.

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