Google Home Minis (1st Gen) bricked

As of this month, I have two out of my fleet of three *Google Home Mini (Gen 1)*s out of commission. Neither will boot; one slows a lonely green LED when the reset button is hit, the other nothing at all (and pulls massive power from USB while it boots).

There is a [truly MASSIVE thread](https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Speakers-and-Displays/HOME-mini-UNRESPONSIVE-thread-quot-Google-home-mini-4-dots-stuck-problem/m-p/558790/page/209876543210) about this over on the Google Nest forum. The *TL;DR* is this: if you contact Google about this issue, they will stall and give you the runaround. Eventually if you persist, they will get you to confirm the purchase date of the device(s), at which point they will either send you a new device or close the conversation with __"[it is|they are] out of warranty"__. The speculation on the forums is that Google are remote-bricking these devices as they reach their warranty period. This truly saddens me but given the well-documented Google anti-enthusiasm for long-term product support, it makes perfect sense. These devices acheived their aim of massive market penetration and have become almost-indispensable around my house, with the excellent Spotify and Chromecast integrations being used multiple times per day. The very low purchase price (indeed *$free* in one case) made it a no-brainer to dot (hah!) them around the place. The only working *Home Mini* left is a little newer. How much longer will it survive? I can't imagine there is any way to block it from receiving that remote kill-code from the mothership without completely nerfing its internet access, so it's just a ticking time bomb now. There's also a highly visible lack of supply for the obvious replacement, the *Nest Mini (Gen 2)*. I suspect Google is letting these evaporate without replacement, so they can introduce a *Gen 3* model, considerably more expensive, for all the people who they've locked into the Google Nest/Home ecosystem and who now, funnily enough, need to replace a fleet of devices. Damn. Draw your own conclusions about how Google's tracking with _"Don't Be Evil"_ at this point, as tonnes of still-useful electronics make their way into landfill.