Latest news with #RGB


Mint
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
CLAW GM43 RGB dynamic gaming mic launched in India at Rs. 3990
In search of a high-quality microphone for podcasting, streaming or content creation, CLAW has launched a new GM43 dynamic RGB gaming microphone in India. This affordable microphone claims to offer powerful performance and features to provide users with a studio-like audio recording experience. The CLAW GM43 RGB dynamic gaming mic comes with a cardioid pickup pattern that minimises ambient noise, making it easier for creators working in a home studio setup. Therefore, if you are to invest in a feature-filled microphone for your content, then know what the new GM43 RGB dynamic mic has to offer. The CLAW GM43 RGB dynamic gaming mic claims to offer a wide 50Hz–16kHz frequency response for crystal-clear voice recording. As mentioned above, it features a cardioid pickup pattern that gives focus to the voice by reducing background noise. In terms of connectivity, the GM43 supports dual output options of USB-C and XLR, providing easy connectivity with PCs, Macs, gaming consoles, and other audio equipment. CLAW also highlight that 'Its dynamic capsule delivers rich lows, smooth mids, and crisp highs to enhance vocal presence across multiple platforms.' The mic also comes with onboard controls such as a tap-to-mute LED-backlit button, a 3.5mm live audio monitoring output port, a manual dial for input gain control, and a long-press toggle to switch between mic and headphone volume. One of the attractive features of the GM43 is the customisable dynamic RGB lighting that offers multiple glow effects and memory retention. Therefore, the CLAW GM43 RGB dynamic gaming mic is a great option for people who prefer aesthetics with studio-level audio recording. Within the mic, buyers will also get a pop filter, a 2-meter USB Type-A/Type-C to USB Type-C cable, and a desktop base. Know more about its pricing and where you can buy the product. The CLAW GM43 RGB dynamic gaming mic is priced at Rs.3990 in India. It's available for purchase on and along with a limited-time price of Rs. 3230.


New York Post
02-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Zohran Mamdani's rent freeze will warp NYC's housing market — and hurt us all
The city's Rent Guidelines Board boldly embraced common sense Monday by voting to permit rent increases for the city's nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments — modest ones of 3% for one-year and 4.5% for two-year leases. It was a courageous move in today's political climate. Of course, struggling property owners should be able to collect enough rent to cover their rising expenses — insurance, property taxes, utility costs, not to mention sheer overall inflation. Advertisement Yet Zohran Mamdani, city Democrats' mayoral nominee, is only doubling down on his promise not to raise, but to freeze regulated rents. We've seen this rent-freeze movie before, though — and we should be grateful to the RGB for not green-lighting a sequel. Former two-term Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has endorsed Mamdani's rent-freeze pledge, did just that three times during his eight years in office, and throughout his tenure his RGB appointees never approved an increase of more than 1.5%. Advertisement As a result, the city reaped a whirlwind of deferred maintenance and health hazards. In 2021, the federal Census Bureau's New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey told the de Blasio era's sorry housing story: It found — in its understated bureaucratic language — 'a higher prevalence of most individual maintenance deficiencies relative to earlier cycles.' Translation: Freezing rents resulted in crumbling apartments. The report compared the condition of rent-stabilized units with those that are unregulated — and its results should be eye-opening for those wanting to follow in de Blasio's footsteps. Advertisement As de Blasio left office, 33% of rent-stabilized units (316,000 apartments) had rodents, twice as many as unregulated ones. Roughly twice as many regulated apartments were found to have leaks, heating breakdowns, broken plaster or peeling paint, toilet malfunctions, elevator outages and mold. As much as progressives may want to blame greedy slumlords for all these woes, the reality is that squeezing rental income — for property owners who must pay banks that certainly won't freeze mortgage payments — means repairs and improvements are more likely to be put off. Advertisement Something had to give, and under de Blasio, it did. The 2021 report also pointed to what has since become an increasing trend: 'ghost apartments' — units simply held off the market because the cost of repairing and operating them makes them money-losers. In 2021 more than 28,000 units were off the market because they were 'awaiting renovation,' as the Census Bureau report optimistically put it. Another 27,000 were off the market for 'other' reasons. Even as overall housing supply increased, under de Blasio the city saw 'a continued net loss of the lowest-cost units and a net increase of higher-cost units relative to 2017.' In other words, high-end units not subject to rent stabilization were increasing. The mayor so intent on addressing inequality actually ushered in the opposite. This is what a rent freeze leads to: Apartments that are pest-infested and shabby — or simply not on the market at all. Under Mayor Eric Adams, whose signature 'City of Yes' initiative seeks to increase housing construction rather than freeze rent, the city has seen an increase of 275,000 occupied housing units (153,000 rentals and 123,000 owner-occupied). That's not been nearly enough to loosen a super-tight housing market with a vacancy rate of just 1.4% percent — and it reflects developers' reluctance to build, for fear that even new units might become subject to rent regulation, as federally subsidized units are. Advertisement Developers have been put off as well by the end of a state property-tax abatement law that meant to encourage more residential housing. The replacement law allows fewer of the higher-income units that help projects make economic sense. And, as always, low turnover in rent-regulated units — where residents stay put because they've got such a good deal — increases the demand for non-regulated apartments, pushing up their rents. There's little doubt a Mayor Mamdani would appoint a Rent Guidelines Board friendly to his rent freeze. After all, it's his signature issue. Advertisement He'll have to ignore what that board has been told by Mark Willis of the Furman Center on Real Estate at NYU: that owners of rent-stabilized properties in The Bronx are, on average, losing a stunning $120 per month on every apartment, leaving 200,000 units, concentrated in that borough, under 'severe distress.' If you think we can't return to the bad old days of 'The Bronx is burning,' think again. And don't buy city Comptroller Brad Lander's snake-oil claim that regulated landlords are making a killing. Yes, they earned a 12% return this year — but only after four years of zero net operating income. New Yorkers can see for themselves the damage wrought by a combination of artificially low rents and deferred maintenance. Advertisement Just look at the city's 177,000 public housing units, where chronic elevator breakdowns trap residents in their homes and constant heating outages leave them shivering. A rent freeze will bring us housing equality, all right — if you define that as equally poor conditions in both public and private rent-regulated apartments. Howard Husock is an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow and author of 'The Poor Side of Town — And Why We Need It.'


New York Post
02-07-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Why Mamdani's rent freeze means disaster for NYC tenants
New York City's rental housing market is teetering on the edge of disaster — with a Mamdani mayoralty poised to push it off the cliff. His success running as a 'freeze the rent' candidate has already moved the Rent Guidelines Board to OK dangerously low hikes for rent-stabilized units: 3% for one-year lease renewals, 4.5% for two-year ones — far less than what RGB staff report those landlords' costs are rising at. Zero and near-zero rent hikes in the de Blasio years — RGB rents are up just 20% these last 12 years, vs. overall inflation of 36% — followed by widespread rent nonpayment during COVID (plus state 'reforms' that make it unaffordable to renovate units vacated by longtime tenants), already has many rent-stabilized landlords, especially smaller ones, on the brink of having to abandon their buildings altogether. Others have no choice but to stint on maintenance, letting buildings and units deteriorate; everyone loses as these apartments grow shabbier and more scarce. If Mamdani wins and sticks to his vow to appoint RGB members who'll freeze rents, the bottom is all too likely to fall out. And the new mayor's fans will have a far tougher time finding a decent apartment in New York. By the way, how many Zohran supporters realize that he can't freeze most rents? The rent-stabilized units that the RGB governs are less than half the city's formal rental market, and at most a third of the full city housing supply, once you count coops and condos (even if sublet) and actual houses. And a shrinking of the rent-controlled market is sure to push up prices of market-rate units, big time, because even more people will be chasing a smaller total supply. Incidentally, this effect explains the 'record landlord profits' that Mamdani ally Brad Lander has been thundering about: It's landlord income from rents the city doesn't control. Small, mom-and-pop landlords, who own about two-thirds of city's rent-stabilized units, are the ones who'll get reamed by the freeze (even though they're the little people that lefties claim to care about). Tens of thousands of units are in dire shape in The Bronx alone. Economists almost universally acknowledge that rent control is ruinous to housing markets; ones on the left mostly just don't talk about it, lest it make it harder for 'their side' to win elections. The rent-freeze advocates have no idea how they're destroying New York's housing market — for the very people most desperate for apartments. They're also likely ignorant about who benefits from below-market rents — i.e., folks who, like Mamdani, scored a rent-stabilized apartment, which is actually easier if you're wealthy (as he is). One more irony here: The Supreme Court last year nixed New York landlords' claim that the rent laws violate the Constitution's 'takings' clause. Thing is, that ruling relied on the assumption that the RGB has real independence — a fiction that will collapse if Mamdani wins on promises platform of 0% hikes and then delivers.


New York Post
25-06-2025
- Business
- New York Post
NYC's rent board must ignore the politics, obey its own math — and OK a hike
When the city's Rent Guidelines Board votes Monday on adjustments for one- and two-year leases of rent-stabilized apartments, it must tune out the politics — and increase rents at the highest end of the preliminary range they set last month. The math, and the health of New York City's housing stock, demands it. The RGB's own research data and reports show that a minimum rent increase of 6.3% is necessary for small-property owners to meet their increased operating costs and expenses. Advertisement But the board ignored its own math last month when it set a preliminary adjustment range of 1.75% to 4.75% for a one-year lease. They have a chance to make it right — by voting for the higher number. Independent housing policy experts at the Citizens Budget Commission and NYU Furman Center warn that decades of rent adjustments failing to keep pace with inflation and rising costs have taken a heavy toll, and the pattern is no longer sustainable. Advertisement Too many buildings, they say, are in economic distress. Just look at the staggering number of mom-and-pop, family-owned buildings in last month's Department of Finance lien sale. Those buildings are now in danger of foreclosure, abandonment or takeover by corporate landlords and predatory profiteers. It's simple math. Advertisement When property taxes, water and sewer rates, insurance, utilities, labor, construction materials and every other cost needed to maintain and operate rent-stabilized housing go up, rents should increase commensurately. But with a cap on rent increases, and no ceiling on taxes and expenses, small rent-stabilized building owners are pushed off the cliff — leaving less affordable housing for NYC families. Our lawmakers have worsened the problem. Albany saddled small rent-stabilized buildings with the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act, which effectively made upgrades unaffordable by severely limiting rent increases to recoup costs. Advertisement The City Council continually adds burdensome and costly government mandates — most recently the broker-fee law that will likely force many owners to keep apartments empty. The backlog in eviction proceedings in Housing Court allows deadbeats to skip without making good on arrears after living rent-free for months, sometimes years. No cavalry is on the horizon for economically distressed small rent-stabilized building owners — the largest providers of affordable housing to millions of New Yorkers in low-income, brown, black and immigrant neighborhoods. Their only hope — the only hope, really, for the families we house and for the very preservation of affordable housing — is the RGB, which must deliberate amid an irrational rent-freeze chorus from shouting activists. Message to the Democrats' mayoral candidate: Freezing rents without freezing property taxes and operating costs doesn't work. Bill de Blasio's eight years of rent mismanagement have caught up with us. In its vote on Monday, the RGB must send a clear message to all candidates and politicians: That it's an independent board not swayed by political pressure. Housing policies that punish small building owners — who are mostly people of color and generational owners of immigrant backgrounds — also punish the families they house, shaking the foundation of the city's affordable housing landscape. Anti-owner policies are anti-tenant policies. Advertisement We don't expect the city to freeze property taxes, water bills and other government-driven costs. And if Zohran Mamdani becomes our next mayor, his platform points to an anti-small-property-owner scenario worse than the one de Blasio created. That leaves the RGB as the first, last and only champion for small rent-stabilized building owners. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Advertisement Will this panel be able to shut out the background noise and abide by its own math, so that small-building owners can provide safe, affordable housing to the New Yorkers counting on them every day? And what if this RGB panel blazed its own trail and did some thinking outside the box? For example, the board could try to rescue the most deeply distressed buildings by considering separate, higher rent adjustments for apartment leases in such situations. Advertisement It would be a sensible first step in keeping small owners off the city's next lien sale — and walking the affordable housing crisis off the ledge. Does the RGB have the courage to proceed where other panels in the past have failed? Ann Korchak is board president of the Small Property Owners of New York, where Jan Lee is a board member.


Gizmodo
17-06-2025
- Gizmodo
Govee RGBIC Floor Lamp Hits Its Record Low Price, Create 16 Million DIY Colors With This Amazon Steal
Of the many benefits of modern-day life, one of the most underrated is good mood lighting. After all, we don't have to change the light bulb just to get a new color, and nor do we have to really put much effort in at all to change the mood. The world of smart lights and RGB lighting in general, has really helped on that front. If you're looking for a really good option, then you'll want to make the most of this 30% discount on the Govee RGBIC Floor Lamp. This sleek-looking device can help change everything about how a room feels thanks to an absurd number of colors and some really clever features. In fact, let's go ahead and talk about them. See at Amazon Vibes Only The most striking thing about this lamp is the design. There's no denying just how impressive this long, thin lamp looks, and how unassuming it isreally helps upgrade its impact when it's on as well. That's not the be-all-end-all, but it's a nice little bonus if you're someone who likes to plehttps:// surprise your guests. Of course, the big draw here is the actual lighting it offers, not the light. This lamp has an impressive 1000 lumens rating, which means it can comfortably fill a room with light. The color of that light is where things shine though, pun intended. That's because this lamp can manage 16 million different colors when you consider different shades, which means that even the pickiest of hosts can find the exact style of light they're looking for, no matter how obscure it is. Of course, you can also set it to one of the many presets dynamic scene modes to help define things, and you can even have it sync with the music that's playing to really help the immersion of everyone involved and bring entertainment to a whole new level. You can control it all, not only using the app, but with your voice, with most major smart assistants as well. This helps it really slot into smart home setups, and allows it to better fit your needs. It just means that it's not a hassle for most people to actually install it, especially as you can easily move it from place to place and room to room. This is a very popular lamp, so being able to get it for $70, instead of the usual $100, is a great chance that you shouldn't miss out on. See at Amazon