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Will you be in Chi-town attending any of TBS’s Just for Laughs in Chicago events? Then this app will be for you, however it won’t be available until June 1st via the Android Market, App Store and Just for Laughs in Chicago website. The second annual festival spans June 15-19th and includes headliners like Ellen DeGeneres, Cedric the Entertainer, and Dennis Leary among many.

Key Features of the App:

• Shows Descriptions
• Festival Schedule
• Comic Bios
• Venue Information
• Ticket-Purchase Information
• Festival Maps
• Photo Galleries
• Video Clips
• TBS TV Schedule
• TBS Festival Newsletter Signup
• Live Festival Blogs
• Facebook & Twitter Extensions
• Frequently Asked Questions

Few Screenshots of Just For Laughs in Chicago:

We’re starting to see venue apps be very helpful for attendees, such as the Google I/O 2010 app for the developers conference last week.

We’ve carved out a corner of TC Disrupt and created our own Little Shenzhen sweatshop complete with DIY MP3 players, MakerBot 3D printer, and a pneumatic robot called Stabby. More videos of each event will be posted shortly but if you happen to be at Disrupt, we’re down by the RedBull lounge.

Here’s ye another example of why our forum members are the best. Locoman shot this picture of the moon through a 10-inch Dobsonian telescope — with the HTC Incredible, putting that 8-megapixel camera to good use. But it gets even better. Check out his shot of Saturn — yeah, the one with the rings that’s way, way out there — and some more moon shots in his forum post.

This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store

When I was a kid, we used to play on the street in front of my house. Yeah, I know – seems like years ago. Nowadays, with children and families spending more time inside watching TV or playing video games; I feel like there’s nobody outside in my neighborhood anymore. In fact, most people don’t know their next-door neighbors.

DeHood, sponsors here at TechCrunch Disrupt, wants to crush that problem. Founded by Babak Hedayati, DeHood is a social network for neighborhoods. They are kind of like a one-stop local social network on iPhone (app available here). The goal is to be a one-stop shop for all the local social networking you need to do.

DeHood launches today with a plethora of features and functionality. Users can share what their doing in the local area via a feature called “local buzz.” It’s essentially a location-based Twitter feed of what’s going on in your local area. You can also stay in touch with your friends and other people in the neighborhood and “check in” to venues when you’re in a local area. Another feature is that you can view a map of the neighborhood and see what shops are nearby.

There’s a website version, which has a lot of the same functionality, but the app primarily lives on mobile. The company is funded by the founder, Babak Hedayati, a serial entrepreneur, and he’s hired a large team of seasoned startup veterans to help him with DeHood.

The key challenge for DeHood will obviously be gaining traction in a crowded space. It has been beta tested with a limited number of users and is only launching today, so time will tell whether Babak and team can figure out the secret sauce of user adoption.

Mark Gasson, at the University of Reading, just caught something. A computer virus. Gasson claims to be the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus.

But by “caught,” we mean he gave the virus to himself, and by “virus,” we mean a program that he designed.

Gasson put the virus in an RFID tag that was then implanted in Gasson’s hand. The tag—like the microchips used to track down missing dogs and cats—had allowed Gasson to open security doors and unlock his cell phone automatically. When infected, the tag spread its virus to other devices, for example, that door-opening system. If other people then used their own hand tags to open the door they could, hypothetically, also catch the virus.

As the BBC reports , the test was meant as a “proof of principle.” Gasson wonders, given the increasing use of implanted technologies like pacemakers, if such infections could threaten our cybernetic futures.

But did Gasson really transmit a virus? Couldn’t we as accurately call his test a novel way to share data? Instead of “scientist infected with computer virus,” couldn’t we call him a cyborg bee, pollinating computer flowers? He picked up something and spread it around, in a system he designed for spreading. Instead of a virus meant to cause harm, perhaps we could call it a helpful program… meant to create, well, publicity.

The Register compares the virus to a similar experiment by Kevin Warwick, a self-proclaimed cyborg who implanted an RFID tag in his arm. From the Register article, an interview with Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the security software company Sophos:

“The way they are presenting their research is scaremongering nonsense that doesn’t present the true nature of this, frankly, non-threat.”

Related content:
80beats: Mystery of the Conficker Worm Continues: Does It Want to Scam or Spam?
80beats: Computer Virus Travels Into Orbit, Lands on the Space Station
80beats: Sorry, Australian iPhone Users: You’ve Been Rickrolled
DISCOVER: Iris ID

Image: flickr / VanessaO

The accounts from BP on what happened at the well are sounding more and more troubling.  Warning signs were ignored; BP officials refused to listen to a specialist team that had just arrived, even when said team demanded evacuation (and got it, but only from their own company).  The well blew up a flew hours after their helicopter took off.

When events like this happen, we always ask the same question:  how could people be so stupid?  How could they ignore what is now plain to us?  There will be a lot of answers to that question, but I’m willing to bet that a lot of it will end up sounding like “We’d ignored those problems before, and it always turned out all right.“

Update:  A reader sends along this Malcolm Gladwell piece from 1996.

BP – Helicopter – United States – Business – Oil spill

Two new ironic ads on the BP oil disaster — though only the first one is intentionally ironic:

What follows is a Think Progress repost.

Since the disastrous Gulf Coast oil spill, BP and the other companies responsible for the tragedy have been beefing up their lobbying and public relations efforts. Today, the oil giant has full-page ads in the Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today defending its response to the oil spill. From the ad:

Since the tragic accident on the Transcocean Deepwater Horizon rig first occurred, we have been committed to doing everything possible to stop the flow of oil at the seabed, collect the oil on the surface and keep it away from the shore.

BP has taken full responsibility for dealing with the spill. We are determined to do everything we can to minimize any impact. We will honor all legitimate claims.

BP’s ads come as a new poll finds that 76 percent of the American public disapproves of how the company is handling the spill. And BP is not taking “full responsibility” for the spill. In fact, officials have repeatedly tried to downplay the disaster and argued that attempts to accurately measure the rate of flow at the seabed are impossible and unnecessary:

– Tony Haywood, BP CEO: “I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest. It is impossible to say and we will mount, as part of the aftermath, a very detailed environmental assessment as we go forward.” [5/18/10]

– Haywood: “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume.” [5/14/10]

– Lamar McKay, President of BP America: “The volume estimates are based effectively on surface expression, because you can’t measure what’s coming out at the seabed.” [Senate testimony, 5/12/10]

– Tom Mueller, BP: “We’re not going to take any extra efforts now to calculate flow there at this point. It’s not relevant to the response effort, and it might even detract from the response effort.” [5/14/10]

– Doug Suttles, BP COO, Global Exploration: “Since the beginning, we’ve said it’s almost impossible to get a precise number. But ourselves and people from NOAA and others believe that something around 5,000 — it’s actually barrels a day — is the best estimate.” [ABC News, 5/14/10]

In Boston Globe op-ed today, columnist Derrick Z. Jackson hits BP for its ads:

It is difficult to conceive of a more resounding insult to our intelligence than BP’s full-page advertisements in the New York Times and USA Today about its response to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The most intriguing paragraph of the BP ad was, “This is an enormous team effort. More than 2,500 of our operational and technical personnel from around the world are working tirelessly in coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard, and federal, state and local government agencies.’’

But until Deepwater Horizon exploded, BP’s idea of working tirelessly with government agencies was lobbying them to bypass environmental-impact reviews for well permits. Yesterday, the Times had yet another story on how drilling projects have proceeded with environmental waivers, despite President Obama’s so-called moratorium on permits. Deepwater Horizon received an environmental waiver last year and received another one just before the April explosion.

While BP will likely survive this tragedy because of its massive profits, these attempts to shirk responsibility are already beginning to drag the company down in the public’s eyes.

– Amanda Terkel

The spending bills are coming fast and furious in Washington, with the summer deadlines looming and Democrats and Republicans looking to tie a pretty little bow on 111th United States Congress by appeasing valuable constituency groups.

The spending bills moving through the House and Senate are an American version of Bubble and Squeak: a mess of refried leftovers from months of political wrangling. We want armor for our troops, checks for our jobless, money for our schools, funding for new nuclear reactors, and more troops on the border. But with only weeks remaining until summer recess, everybody’s ideas are trying to leave the train platform at the same time.

Senators are scrambling to put finishing touches on the war funding bill. Max Baucus is pushing for a weighty tax cut and stimulus bill that we would partially pay for by eliminating a tax loophole that benefits hedge fund managers known as carried interest. In the House, politicians are trying to find space on the mothership that is Obama’s war supplement, by proposing add-ons like disaster
relief, foreign aid, border patrols, and $23
billion rescue plan for public schools. The district ragweed known as the “doc fix,” which keeps doctors from taking up to a 20 percent pay cut under Medicare, is back in play, as well.

Times like these tell you where an administration sees its priorities and its opportunities. The administration is not standing firmly behind the public school rescue plan, despite pleas from Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Instead the White House announced it wants to send thousands of troops to the Mexican border. The calculus here is clear, even if it’s distressing. The White House is afraid of big numbers and is looking for ways to show moderate Americans that it “gets” them.

It’s too bad. The enemies are at the gates of our fragile recovery. Europe’s debt crisis is making the Dow shiver. Summer demand for new homes could be dry. Broad unemployment is still at 16 percent. Despite months of growth, we’re still on the cusp of deflation, and income growth is practically non-existent. And yet the administration is still spooked by bold spending to juice the economy.

Max Baucus – United States – United States Congress – United States Senate – Washington D.C.

NASA images show the central Gulf Coast. In the bottom view, elevations below 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level have been colored light blue. These low coastal elevations are especially vulnerable to flooding associated with storm surges.

From Green Right Now Reports

Between 1960 and 2008, the population in coastline counties along the Gulf of Mexico soared by 150 percent, more than double the rate of increase of the nation’s population as a whole. This area, which faces ongoing challenges in Gulf hurricanes and new threats from the BP oil spill, is now is home to nearly 14 million residents, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report issued today.

The Gulf Coast’s population growth over the period surpassed that of coastline counties along the Pacific (110 percent) and Atlantic (56 percent). The region has experienced double-digit rates of population increase each decade since 1960. The Gulf Coast was home to six of the eight U.S. coastline counties with the fastest population increases over the 48-year period, led by Collier County, Fla., which grew by 1,900 percent (from 15,753 to 315,258). At the same time, the region contained six of the 11 coastline counties most frequently hit by hurricanes during that time, with Monroe County, Fla., leading the list with 15, and Lafourche Parish, La., tied for second with 14.

The Census Bureau report, “Coastline Population Trends in the United States: 1960 to 2008,” examines population trends along the country’s saltwater edges – coastline counties – and their shares of coastline states during the period. It analyzed trends in the growth and decline, geographic distribution and density of the coastline population. It also incorporated historical data on the trajectories of hurricanes striking the U.S. coastlines to gauge the coastline population’s experience with hurricanes.

“Coastline counties along the Atlantic and Gulf, as well as the Hawaiian Islands, account for nearly two-thirds of the nation’s coastline population and are home to four of the nation’s 10 most populous counties,” Steven Wilson of the Census Bureau’s Population Division and co-author of the report, said in a statement. “As hurricane season begins, this report should put into perspective the number of Americans living along the coast who might be affected.”

The report also frames the potential damage from predicted rising seas as the result of global warming.

All in all, 87 million people, or 29 percent of the U.S. population, live in coastline counties, including more than 41 million in Atlantic and 32 million in Pacific counties. In 1960, only 47 million lived in coastline counties.

Other report highlights include:

• The number of housing units along the Gulf of Mexico’s coastline increased by 246 percent from 1960 to 2008, compared with 130 percent in the Pacific and 98 percent in the Atlantic coastline regions and 121 percent for the U.S. as a whole. The number of housing units along the U.S. coastline grew from 16 million to 36 million during this time.
• On average, the 11 coastline counties that were hit by 11 or more hurricanes from 1960 to 2008 increased in population by nearly 179 percent and had a housing unit increase of 255 percent. Among these counties, only Hyde, N.C., lost population (-10.1 percent) and only St. Bernard Parish, La., lost housing units (-2.6 percent).
• The coastline share of Maine’s total population climbed by 9 percentage points from 1960 to 2008. New Hampshire, Virginia and Alaska also had increases of more than 5 percentage points. In contrast, the share of Maryland’s population in its coastline counties dropped 14 percentage points and California’s by 10 points.
• Excluding Alaska, the average density of coastline counties increased from 260 people per square mile in 1960 to 480 in 2008. On average, they are twice as densely populated as noncoastline counties. Among the coastline states, only the coastline sections of New York (between 1970 and 1980), Louisiana (from 1980 to 1990 and 2000 to 2008) and Mississippi (from 2000 to 2008) had declines in population density during any decade.
• New York County (Manhattan), N.Y., is the most densely populated coastline county, with nearly 72,000 people per square mile in 2008. Between 1960 and 2008, Orange County, Calif., and Pinellas County, Fla., joined the list of the 20 most densely populated coastline counties, with Orleans Parish, La., and Westchester County, N.Y., dropping off.
• Nearly half of the nation’s coastline population in 2008 was in either California (29 percent) or Florida (16 percent).
• Most coastline counties (223 of 254) experienced population gains from 1960 to 2008, including all counties from the southern coast of North Carolina through Mississippi, and all counties from California through Washington.

Twi-Hards will not be amused (Trailer Slightly NSFW)…

Take a look at the number of sequels and remakes set to hit the cinema over the next few years and it’s not hard to see that originality is a dying art in Hollywood.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Ripped From The Headline-themed skin flicks are all the rage on the porn circuit, too. So it was only a matter of time before someone rolled out the red carpet for a bloodsucking, semen-slurping guy-on-guy spoof of the insanely-popular Twilight Saga. Think of it as Edward Cullen Meets Queer As Folk. If Bella only knew!

We’re not sure whether to laugh or shut our eyes in horror. Either way, Twinklight sashays into smut shops just in time for the premiere of Twilight Eclipse, opening in theaters June 30.

Spotted@

The automaker Nissan Motor Co. began sales of fast charging units for electric cars in the U.S., developed by the company through its regional partners of parts in preparation for launch in December of this year’s Nissan Leaf, a new zero-emission vehicle. The device may be used not only with Nissan vehicles but with other brands to.

The quick loading unit will provide a preferential price of about $ 16.400. The company plans to install standard 200-volt chargers at 2,200 Nissan dealers across the U.S. before December 2010.

Fast chargers are available for sale in 200 selected dealers, at least one quick charging unit will be available in every 40 miles distance in the country.

The team has a charger that stays in closed communication with the vehicle, including various safety equipment such as a monitor for anti-short circuit, and can be used in any climate condition.

Related posts:

1. Electric Vehicle of the Century: 2010 Nissan Leaf and it’s Latest Price
2. Nissan Leaf Review, Specs, Price : Now Manufacturing In Sunderland
3. IPL3: Kolkata Knight Riders Vs. Deccan Chargers

The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly investigating Apple, to determine whether the company used its position as the nation’s largest music retailer to unfairly influence music labels. Apple allegedly told labels not to offer exclusives to Amazon.com, and punished those that didn’t comply by dropping marketing support on iTunes.

According to The New York Times:

The antitrust inquiry is in the early stages, these people say, and the conversations have revolved broadly around the dynamics of selling music online.

But people briefed on the inquiries also said investigators had asked in particular about recent allegations that Apple used its dominant market position to persuade music labels to refuse to give the online retailer Amazon.com exclusive access to music about to be released. …

Though the Justice Department’s inquiry is preliminary, it represents additional evidence that Apple, once the perennial underdog in high tech, is now viewed by government regulators as a dominant company with considerable market power.

Nobody was willing to talk to The Times on the record, though one antitrust lawyer helpfully commented that “without knowing what acts or practices they are targeting, it’s difficult to say exactly how big a problem this is.” The paper also pointed out that Apple has recently opened itself up to more competition, by allowing streaming services such as Pandora and Rhapsody onto its devices.

U.S. Is Said to Scrutinize Apple’s Online Music Tactics [NYTimes.com]

An age old dilemma, – which is more powerful and important – brains or beauty?  Would you rather be hideously ugly and brilliant, or stunningly beautiful and unable to carry a conversation?

Of course none of us really wants to be either of those things.  We want to be brilliant and stunningly beautiful.  And rich.  And happy.  And living on an island with a cabana boy named Juan who fulfills our every desire…

Maybe that part is just me.

We have all been lead to believe that we should want it all and that we can get it all and if we don’t want and have it all, there is something wrong with us.  However, I now have some scientific proof that the choice between brains and beauty is more real than you may have thought!

In late April, the Wall Street Journal published an article, entitled “A Case for those Extra 10 Pounds”, that said that, while the recommendations are to control calories and make healthy diet choices, it seems that there is actually some benefit that comes from being 10-15 pounds overweight.  A little extra weight can lead to a lower risk of osteoporosis and even make you look younger.

Bring on the ice cream!

Just as I was really settling into my celebration of the joys of science, a new study came out that says that extra fat is linked to smaller brain volume, and potentially linked to Alzheimer’s Disease.  Lucky for me and my desire to continue to eat ice cream, it is unclear whether smaller brains lead to extra fat or vice versa.  I am pulling for the first one.  The idea of fat causing my brain to shrink is disturbing in more ways than one.

So extra fat causes Alzheimer’s, and too little fat causes osteoporosis.  A little extra fat will keep my face unlined and youthfully full, but may cause me to eventually forget my name. Am I willing to give up the ice cream to reduce the risk of dementia?

Is it wrong that I am not sure which way to go on this?

WASHINGTON–Baseball great Sandy Koufax, the Hall of Fame pitcher for the Dodgers who refused to pitch in a World Series game on Yom Kippur–will be among the guests at the Thursday White House first ever reception for Jewish American month. Vocalist Regina Spektor will perform.

To kick off grilling season, Crisco.com is showcasing new recipes and how-to video tutorials to help answer all your grilling questions. Whether you are looking to try new grilling recipes or for helpful tips to prevent food from burning or sticking to the grill, the experts from Crisco® can help.

We have an ancient charcoal grill that takes forever to heat up, but it’s better than none I suppose. I wish my husband would buy a gas grill so we could have more options for grilling food! I’d love to be able to grill veggies and make pizza on the grill.  With the grill we have, we like to do burgers and hot dogs, and we also light a small fire in it sometimes to toast marshmallows for S’mores!

No matter what kind of grill you have, it’s a great way to cook without heating up your kitchen. Here are some helpful tips:

• Always spray cool grill rack with Crisco No-Stick Cooking Spray before heating grill so that food will not stick. Remember to never spray a hot grill.

• Make sure you have the right equipment and a clean grill prior to igniting the grill

• Coat meat and vegetables with a light coat of Crisco Olive Oil to help your favorite seasonings adhere while grilling. Try using black pepper, kosher salt and a touch of lime or lemon juice.

Log on to Crisco.com to see how-to video tutorials featuring delicious grilling recipes just in time for summer including:

• Grilled Salmon with Maple-Dill Glaze

• Grilled Garlic Chicken Salad

Coming in June:

• NEW! Grilled Beef and Vegetable Kabobs

• NEW! Barbecued Chicken with Grilled Asparagus

I’m a big fan of Crisco products and I’m happy to be sharing these tips with MomCooks readers! disclosure: I received no compensation for this post.

Two recent chocolate “investments”,

• Candy maker issues chocolate bonds – U.K. confectioner to sell 5 million pounds worth of sweet-paying securities [This is more of a way of selling than “bonds”]
• Calgary based Chocolatier Bernard Callebaut raising funds for cross-country expansion – Here is an excerpt, “The return is 10 per cent for two years, 10.25 per cent for three years, and 10.5 per cent for five years. There’s additional return from participation in the overall profitability for the term of the investment.”

Filed under: advertising, Alberta, Business, Calgary, Canada, food, investment, people, UK

What if the energy needed to power data centers could be like the latest episode of “True Blood” — on demand? That’s the idea behind Power Assure, a startup founded three years ago that makes a software-as-a-service product that can ramp up and down the power consumption of data centers to coincide with the demand of its web company users. So, say, in the middle of the night, when few people are pinging its customers’ websites, Power Assure’s service can reduce energy consumption appropriately, and when there’s a sudden spike of traffic in the morning, the service can quickly ramp capacity back up.

Power Assure’s CEO Brad Wurtz tells me that the company built from scratch the software platform to manage server capacity in delicate balance with demand. It’s a novel, if utterly simple, concept given that most data centers are typically using just 10 percent of their capacity, yet running servers and the data center at full power, explains Wurtz. Google has also been working on this problem and published a paper last year that calls for servers to be redesigned and enhanced with software so that they can be as energy efficient when used lightly as they are at maximum use (see my article Google: Servers Should Be More Like People, GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

The key to Power Assure’s technology is the smart algorithms it’s created to monitor and control energy usage in the data center in real time. The company starts out by installing one or two appliances in its customer’s data centers. Those appliances sit on the company’s management network and gather information about the demand of its websites, as well as the power usage of the servers, cooling system and networking gear. Power Assure’s system then uses its algorithms to, in essence, dynamically match the website demand in whatever metric is available (such as cost per click, number of users or number of sessions per minute) to an appropriate level of utilization for the servers, cooling and networking gear.

Of course the first question that springs to mind — both mine and Power Assure’s customers, according to Wurtz — is will the system be able to accommodate a rapid, unanticipated spike in traffic? But Wurtz says that the software also monitors traffic in real time and keeps a buffer of capacity available so that the system has enough time to wake itself up to full capacity. The company lets customers test it out to see that there’s no problem with traffic peaks, says Wurtz.

If it works as advertised — saving 50-60 percent in energy costs and not having a negative impact on service — it could be a killer product. That’s one reason why the company was able to raise a seed round of funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson (see DFJ Managing Director Steve Jurvetson talk about the company in this video clip), and has scored $5 million in grants from the Department of Energy.

Wurtz says the DOE funding was very beneficial in getting other funding and gaining customer trials. The company has also more recently boosted its funding to $10.75 million and is looking to raise another $2.75 million on top of that, according to an SEC filing.

At this point Power Assure has no customers that it will announce publicly, but Wurtz says it has a handful it’s doing trials with government, financial services and Internet firms. And over the next year the company will be working on scaling its technology into commercial deployments.

You might be wondering why data center energy isn’t used on demand already. Well, that’s what I was thinking. Wurtz explained to me that with the growth of data center energy consumption, the problem of energy cost and environmental responsibility has just started to come into the mainstream over the past year. The market for energy efficiency enterprise and computing products has changed dramatically recently, says Wurtz.

To learn more about data center and Internet infrastructure energy use, come to our Structure event on June 23 and 24 in San Francisco, Calif.

For more research on green data centers check out GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Google: Servers Should Be More Like People

Is Software the Key to Green Data Centers?

Report: Green Data Center Design Strategies

Americans bought a lot of new homes in April, as they rushed to take advantage of the government tax credit. The sales of new homes increased 14.8% to an annualized rate of 504,000, according to the Census Bureau. This easily beats economists’ expectations of 425,000. April’s rise follows an upwardly-revised increase of 29.9% in March. Since February, new home sales are up an incredible 49.1%. This sounds wonderful, but once the influence of the buyer credit wears off, a brutal hangover in May will likely follow.

As impressive as the rise from February sounds, it needs to be taken in context. That month marked the fewest new homes sold since the government began keeping track in 1963. Even April’s huge rise to 504,000 looks pretty pathetic compared to the housing boom numbers:

As you can see, April’s new home sales are the highest in almost two years — since May 2008. The number also represents a 47.8% increase over April 2009, a year earlier. So if this trend continues, then that would be good news for construction jobs.

Unfortunately, it won’t. We also learned today that mortgage applications for new purchases declined for the third week straight, by 3.3%. In May, without the government credit, mortgage applications for purchases are down a 36.2%. Here’s how that looks:

The red line is the Mortgage Bankers Association index, and the bright green line shows its level during the week ending May 21st. Mortgage applications for purchases are now at a level not seen since April 1997.

What might this mean for new home sales? If they drop by the same proportion as mortgage purchase applications have so far in May, then they would hit a new all time low of 321,000 sales this month. And this time around, the low doesn’t have a government credit to bail it out in the months that follow like in February.

Of course, May isn’t over, so if the trend continues, then this would be an optimistic prediction. Moreover, it’s plausible that buyers will turn more to existing homes than new ones without the credit. They’ll seek bigger bargains on foreclosures and short sales since the government incentive is gone.

Ultimately, that would be good for housing market stability. Buyers need to focus on soaking up most of the massive existing housing inventory before building new homes. And that inventory is rising. As far as jobs are concerned, construction will have to mostly rely on renovations for those existing home sales.

Note: All data above is seasonally adjusted.

Mortgage – Mortgage Bankers Association – Tax credit – U.S. Housing Market – Business