Now, this is the roommate we always wanted in college. UC Berkeley freshman Derek Low turned his dorm at aesthetically-jarring Unit 2 into something special and magical. Low fashioned his drab room on the fourth floor into a bachelor pad replete with automated curtains, motion detection sensors and voice-activated light control. He calls is BRAD, the Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm. "It cost about two to three hundred dollars," Low explained to The Daily Cal. "Each device was in the same range of about 20 to 30 bucks." more ›

While we won't declare knives are the new guns just yet, the city did see two stabbings between roommates this past weekend — one on Friday in Chinatown and a second on Saturday evening in Visitacion Valley. more ›

A spat over a kitchen light turned into a harrowing boiling-oil attack Tuesday morning between two San Francisco roommates living in the Tenderloin. "The victim told police he was in the kitchen reading when the suspect came in and started heating the cooking oil in a pan to make some food," reports CBS 5. "The roommate then left the kitchen and turned off the light, but the victim turned it back on, apparently angering the roommate, who allegedly grabbed the pan and flung the boiling oil at the victim, scalding his face and his arms." (Something to about that the next time you fail to pay your fair share of the utilities.) more ›

Mike Aldax, our favorite crime reporter, details a roommate living situation gone awry. Early this morning, a 47-year-old woman was clubbed with a hammer by her roommate on the 100 block of Mission. "The suspect, a 48-year-old man, began “making irrational comments” before unleashing the hammer around 2:40 a.m. at a home in the 1000 block of Mission Street ... The woman temporarily lost consciousness but called 911 when she awoke." No word yet as to why the suspect, who is now in custody, hit his rommie. We can only image what led to such high drama. [Examiner] more ›

There have been four new laws proposed this year that would make it harder for landlords to raise rents and evict tenants. Three of the laws would increase the rights of rent-controlled tenants by allowing them to add roommates and by suspending or limiting rent increases that are a hardship. The fourth law would give eviction protection to tenants in non-rent-controlled units, specifically homes that are being foreclosed. more ›