The Southern China Morning Post may or may not be a completely unbiased source in the matter.

Asking the real questions.

Ha! Same thought at pretty much the same time. Good to see you fellow elder.

The switch from NiCad to the mass adoption of LiPo was pretty revolutionary in my eyes. That might just be me showing my age though 😅

I’ve seen this one which may fit what you’re looking for. No idea about open source firmware though.

This one might work for you too.

Really though, if you’re already spending money on a smart switch, you should probably just replace the outlet, other switch, and faceplate with decora (rectangle style) versions while you’re at it. It’s only going to run about $10 total for all those. Plus you can then use a smart switch that meets your firmware needs.

Mac for me. Occasionally on the iPad, but I rarely use my iPad for actual work that needs multitasking.

It has become my default desktop experience. I don’t know how to describe why I like it, it just works for me and I leave it on 100% of the time.

Bought my first home right at the end of low interest rates. I wasn’t planning on staying but I can’t afford to move now.

iMessage is the iPhone’s default texting app. It comes preinstalled on all their phones.

No, that’s normal and how it should operate. The problem arises when everyone is using the same software suite so everyone has immediate access to current prices, and the software essentially tells you what you should price your units at to maximize your income.

Maybe cartel was the wrong word as it wasn’t an intentional agreement between companies, just an outcome of the system and accelerated by instant access to information. A runaway feedback loop may be more appropriate.

While true, there are some markets where these properties are fighting for a very finite supply of tenants. If they see they are lagging behind in their leasing, they really don’t have any other choice than to lower their prices to make sure they don’t have any vacant units. The industry term is called “vacancy loss” and it’s the one thing the upper management money men actually fear. A unit without someone inside it is literally bleeding money from them so they’ll do nearly anything to fill it.

Hopefully soon they won’t be able to share their prices as easily and they’ll have to fight for their lives by lowering prices to fill vacancies before another property snaps them up.

I work in this industry. The biggest problem with the software is it gave the management companies instant access to everyone else’s current prices. The industry has used “market surveys” for years but you had to actually call around and gather those prices yourself. It’s a very time consuming process so many only did their surveys sporadically.

With the software you had instant access to current price data and everyone pretty much raised their prices to match the market average. Then the newer/fancier properties saw the new higher average and thought “We’re a better property so we can raise our prices above the competition.” Which then led to a higher average that the rest then met again. Rinse and repeat and you have a de facto price fixing cartel.

I had that same model, but the U2 edition. I had no idea who U2 was at the time, but I loved the black and red color scheme.

It had a whole 20GB which I never managed to come close to filling! I wasn’t cool enough to sail the high seas at that age.

I have never felt so personally called out. I love it. 

Problem?

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/096/044/trollface.jpg