AngelouEconomics will host the annual Economic & Technology Forecast next Thursday, January 24, at the Austin Convention Center. The Economic & Technology Forecast is billed as the largest business event in Austin, with attendees including public officials, educators, media, economic analysts and business executives from Central Texas’ technology, legal, real estate and services industries. Speakers include Angelos Angelou, the Founder and CEO of AngelouEconomics, and Zanny Minton Beddoes, the US economics editor for The Economist....

Photo by my favorite yarn on flickr Sgt. Michael Olsen is appealing his firing by APD. While the housing market everywhere else is on the decline, Austin still a place to buy, according to real estate expert. David Letterman in Austin for a Habitat build. Someone is going door-to-door claiming to be raising money for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Video: Bobby Knight's neighbor isn't happy about how close Knight is shooting to his property. New, more......

Looking for a place for the summer? How about a pre-lease for the fall? If you thought the housing market has been bad lately, you may want to start considering that move to Round Rock right about now. The Daily Texan reported yesterday on a few numbers that seem to keep getting bigger, the prices of your average apartment in Austin. 94% - The occupancy rate in Austin by the end of 2006. 88%......

First and foremost, we'd like to give a shout-out to higher education. Promoting the notion of Thinking for Yourself since at least the 18th century. Television advertisements will soon embrace images of cancer tainted lungs as cigarette companies are required to clear up any confusion about the health benefits of cigarettes. (See benefits of higher education, above.) And the smoking-ban in Austin will hopefully soon be changed to make smokers, not bar-owners, responsible for......

Hooters has a conscience about selling a $200 bottle of champagne to a FEMA aid-recipient, so they're reimbursing the agency. We can't wait until those strip clubs pony up the money spent there by disaster victims. Those debit cards- a disaster indeed. A Brooklyn artist posted his backyard tree house for rent as a gag but the housing market there is so competitive, he actually had a few seriously interested parties. Check out the......

The roster of bands scheduled to perform at this year's South by Southwest Music Festival has grown to over one thousand, with several hundred still unannounced. If you're not on this, don't fret -- just yet. SXSW coordinators are promising to contact all selected bands by February 7. Meanwhile: The housing market during the festival is looking rather healthy. SXSW is still looking for volunteers Registration rates are at their penultimate price points before......

The Statesman reports today that Central Texas' housing market exploded last month, increasing 24% in sales and raising the median home price to $170k, up 15% from October. Over 1,850 homes were sold in November, up by 300 from the same time last year. And whom will this benefit the most? The jumps were good news for sellers, but buyers could be in for a tough time as the supply of homes for sale......

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday [subs. required] that Austin's economy has again picked up, bringing with it a flood of real estate developers and investors: The rebound comes after the Texas capital lost about 31,000 jobs from the end of 2000 through the close of 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as high-powered tech employers such as Dell Inc. slashed payrolls and some smaller Internet start-ups fizzled. The tech bust also......

The local housing market continued its rapid growth last month, increasing over 30% versus the same time last year. Coupled with the slowly rising mortgage rates, Austinist thinks this is potentially bad news for those looking to buy a place in town. From the Austin Business Journal: Keeping in step with an Austin housing uptick, October 2005 single family home sales jumped almost 30 percent over the same period last year. According to the......