spaghettiwestern

Zigbee does work with a generic controller on Home Assistant and other platforms, and there are >3100 devices that are compatible with zigbee2mqtt, a Zigbee to MQTT bridge that exists to bypass the need for proprietary Zigbee bridges. No proprietary app or Internet access required either, but it was not easy to set up. Here's a list of supported devices: https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/supported-devices/

Not the case. What's happening here is Windows is removing the ext4 partition completely, expanding the ntfs partition and writing to all of it.

Windows update did that to my <1 year old laptop. I figured it had just wiped out grub, but when it was booted from a live-usb there was no ext4 partition there at all. This has been reported many times.

Microsoft should be sued for this shit. Legal protection from destroying people's data that is not part of Windows or in a Windows partition, whether deliberately or by negligence, is not something that can be legitimately covered by a license agreement.

IMO people should not have to know a company's policies and go through their website to make a purchase. Anyway, it would have been nice if they put that information on the sign in their pickup area, or their pickup reps or desk clerks mentioned it when I told them I didn't have the app. Instead they made it clear that everyone should either already have the app or install it because they said so.

Way, way too many companies and organizations (like the OP's) are pulling this kind of crap.

Policies and practices are often very different things.

Could it be there's more than one Best Buy?

The number of business that just expect that everyone has already downloaded and installed their app has become ridiculous.

Best Buy now demands an app be installed for order pick up. They are so sure you'll have already done that there are no instructions in their parking lot for pick up that don't include the app, no way to call them, and the lot employees say, "Just use the app and we'll get your order." It's like the 20% tips programmed into just about every payment machine these days. No, I won't leave you a 20% tip for handing me a receipt.

Even when going to Best Buy's service desk the reps looked at me like I was crazy. "No, I won't install your app to pick up an order" was met with confusion and open irritation. Fuck that.

And don't get me started on 'Reddit is better in our crappy Reddit app.'

The list of Tasmota devices is extremely limited if you don't want to flash it yourself, but a bit less so if you use Tuya Convert which is done via WiFi. It seems the device list is getting shorter all the time as vendors switch to other hardware implementations, but I seem to remember reading that a new Tasmota version will be coming that supports additional hardware.

To get plug-in dimmer and smart button functionality (Shelly Button 1 didn't exist at the time) I had to put in Z-Wave. and I've since added a few new devices. Z-wave works pretty well, but not flawlessly. My Tasmota stuff just works and works much better than the original firmware on my smart bulbs and plugs.

Just getting my feet wet with Zigbee because I need yet another dimmer plug for a different location, but my understanding is most (but not all) Zigbee devices are not proprietary and work with most controllers. I'll know next week.

Tasmota is great but I've found the number of available devices is limited. For instance Tasmota smart dimmer plugs do not exist, nor could I find a stand alone controller.

Z-wave or Zigbee integration dramatically expand the number of available options and work with local controllers.

I had to return a DOA item last week and they imposed the charge for the first time. It depends on your specific situation though. In my case a Staples is physically closer than a UPS store, but I'm never near the Staples while I'm in the UPS store parking lot twice a week.

It wouldn't bother me if I were returning items because I changed my mind, but when I'm already inconvenienced because of crappy product quality I don't expect to be further inconvenienced so Amazon can save a buck.

Also don't run for president.

Seems Horseshoe Theory applies to indictment responses too.

That is literally the article linked in the post.