yay!!!

Quoted: Google's bringing a free perk to 47 airports around the country, offering free WiFi service during the busy holidays. At SeaTac -- homeport for competitors Microsoft and Amazon -- the freebie will continue "indefinitely."

...but the increase may just put us in-line with historical levels.

Quoted: Overall, there have been 26,372 bankruptcies filed this year in Washington state, up 46 percent over the same period last year. Experts say the tightening of consumer credit and home equity lending over the past year left many families with no other option. The level of bankruptcy filings may be returning to normal historical levels, says Robert Lawless, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of Illinois. During the '90s, about 24,000 bankruptcies were filed each year in Washington state, according to data from the American Bankruptcy Institute. From 2000 to 2004, an average 37,000 bankruptcies were filed annually. Filings peaked at 46,930 in 2005.

Quoted: “Making a computer typically requires the mining and refining of dozens of minerals and metals including gold, silver, and palladium as well as extensive use of plastics and hydrocarbon solvents. To function, digital devices require a constant flow of electrons that predominately come from the combustion of coal, and at the end of their all-too-short useful lives electronics have become the single largest stream of toxic waste created by man. Until recently, there was little, if any, voluntary disclosure of the lifecycle ‘backstory’ of digital media.”

Quoted: The US Conference of Mayors, a nonpartisan organization that represents cities with populations greater than 30,000, is sending out an industry warning that they expect employment rates to continue to climb in 2010, reaching levels as high as 15% in some municipalities. Servicers in these areas should prepare to face a much heavier distressed asset portfolio as borrowers struggle to cope with lose of income, says Dave Gatton, a director at the firm.

There is positive activity in the real estate market. How much of it is is due to the mad rush to claim the first time buyers tax credit (since expanded) and how much of it is real growth is difficult to say.

Quoted: Listings of single-family homes and condominiums declined an average 2.82% across 27 major US metropolitan markets in October, according to data compiled by Web-based real estate brokerage ZipRealty (ZIPR: 4.07 -0.25%). The 593,794 total homes for sale in the 27 markets in October 2009 are down from 611,026 in September and represent an inventory 28.65% lower than that in October 2008.

Quoted: The $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit, which helped home sales rebound this year, was scheduled to expire Nov. 30. The legislation extends it to homes that are under contract by April 30, 2010, and creates a new $6,500 tax credit for owners of existing homes who buy a new principal residence. To take advantage of this credit, buyers must have lived in their old house for at least five of the past eight years.

Quoted: Pending sales of single-family homes and condominiums in King County jumped more than 70 percent in October compared with last year as buyers raced to purchase homes before losing a federal tax credit.

Quoted: sAgainst that backdrop, the Fed kept the target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent. And it made no major changes to a program to help drive down mortgage rates.

The number of people who can actually benefit from this, however, is pretty small.

Quoted: Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday. The government-controlled company, through its new "Deed for Lease" program, will allow borrowers to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that.