Austin economy gaining strength: "The Austin area has turned the corner and is resuming its claim to having one of the fastest-growing economies in the state, according to a new index." —Austin Business Journal

Netflix Takes Over Wal-Mart DVD Rentals (AP): "AP - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is turning over its online DVD rental business to Netflix Inc., signaling that the world's largest retailer couldn't beat the Internet upstart at its own game." —Yahoo! News: Business

Chalk one up for the little guy. Go, NFLX! Now if they would just open a little store in the shopping center in my neighborhood and hire a 16-year-old kid on a moped to deliver movies to my house... Oh, wait.

Valet Parking, Comfy Seats, Nice Meal (This Is Flying?): "Companies in the United States own or operate more than 5,000 private jets. Also, manufacturing is rebounding sharply after a post-9/11 slump, with shipments up 21.1 percent in the first quarter of 2005." —The New York Times

Howard Anderson's "Good-Bye to Venture Capital": "Yeah – the markets are rational again – but isn’t that just a cycle (I smiled as a wrote that – at least they aren’t irrationally horrifying anymore like they were in 2002.)" —Brad Feld (Mobius)

A Better Bubble?: "Vonage has just raised an awesome $200 million in additional venture capital. Skype has built a huge networks of users, most of whom contribute nothing to the company’s coffers; but Skype is rumored to have turned down nine digit buyout offers." —AlwaysOn Network

Scary, Scary? Quite Contrary: "The economy is slowing, real wage growth is nowhere to be seen, the consumer is finally rolling over and the Fed needs to raise rates to fight inflation. Yep, it's time to buy stocks." —The Wall Street Journal

Our Schizophrenic Housing Market (at Forbes.com): "When it comes to homes in the U.S., you can forget everything you know about supply and demand." —Yahoo! Finance: CFC

Sleazy Salesman Finds Dot-Com Stock Dupes ... After The Bubble: "The attorney general of Missouri is going after scammers who sold worthless dot-com stock. That's a blast from the past, not only to those of us in the here and now, but apparently also to those who fell for the scam: it happened in 2002." —Techdirt

Bay Area employment rebound predicted: "Thirty-nine percent of Bay Area CEOs and top business executives say they will increase their Bay Area workforce in the next six months, according to a survey for the Bay Area Council. Another 51 percent will keep their current regional workforce stable and only 7 percent plan layoffs, the council says." —Silicon Valley Business Journal

Travelzoo Stock Up on Takeover Speculation (AP): "Investors moved into shares of Travelzoo Inc. as speculation heated up Thursday it might be the next Web site to be snapped up in the ongoing consolidation of online travel agencies." —Yahoo! Finance: TZOO

Monster Boosted By Tightening Jobs Market: "Piper Jaffray rates the company at 'outperform' with a $41 price target." —Forbes

Profit leaps at Nvidia: "Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp. late Thursday said net income more than tripled in the first quarter, sprinting past Wall Street's expectations." —MarketWatch

Dow Drops 111 on Wal-Mart Profit Warning: "Stocks tumbled sharply Thursday as a second-quarter profit warning from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. overshadowed strong economic news and a sharp drop in oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 100 points for the second time this week." —AP Headlines

Silicon Valley construction on upswing: "Construction activity in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties is gaining steam, according to first-quarter numbers from the Construction Industry Research Board of Burbank." —Silicon Valley Business Journal

Into the Gildercosm: "George Gilder recently stopped by for a visit. You may remember him from the telecom bubble when his bullish newsletter, Gilder Technology Report, could goose stock prices" —BusinessWeek Deal Flow

The futurists return.

Supernova pre-pre-party: Rocking like it's 1999.: "I just came back from a great networking dinner hosted by Kevin Werbach as a pre-pre Supernova get-together. You can see a preliminary guest list – there were well over 150 people at the confab. The evening had a certain 1999-esque flair but with a big difference – we each had to pony up $20 for the Thai food (which by the way, was very tasty!). And it was a cash bar!" —Charlene Li (Forrester)

Markets shaken by hedge fund rumors: "Markets wobbled Tuesday amid speculation that some hedge funds were in trouble over bets on General Motors Corp. and positions in convertible bonds." —MarketWatch

AV to start investing from $525M fund: "After raising its $525 million ninth fund, Austin Ventures LP is set to begin making investments by late summer or early fall, the venture capital firm said Monday." —Austin Business Journal

A Better Bubble?: "So my hope is that, since Internet Bubble Two is so soon after Internet Bubble One, we will postpone IPO fever.  Vonage and Skype which I have been blogging about and all of other interesting startups will be able to do a better job of company building if they do it on private capital than if they go public before profitability." —Tom Evslin

Starting up again, but slower: "Technology professionals have reason to be cautiously optimistic about new jobs at start-up companies." —News.com

Net phone venture peaking?: "A $200 million investment in Vonage may be the last of the big spends on Net phones." —News.com

Fortune Cookie: "Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose your job. These economic downturns are very difficult to predict, but sophisticated econometric modeling houses like Data Resources and Chase Econometrics have successfully predicted 14 of the last 3 recessions." —The Fortune Cookie Feed

Will housing bubble burst?: "Some economists have watched the soaring home prices with alarm as well, fearful the steep rise could lead to a plunge. They see a combustible mix of low interest rates, easy credit and rising speculation, coupled with a widely held belief among buyers—especially younger ones—that real estate values never decline." —San Jose Mercury News

Online Exuberance: "Everyone knows how aggressive Forbe's online strategy is, including adding podcasts. And indeed, a bullish statement attributed to the Forbes.com president at a recent speech in an article by BtoBOnline has been going the rounds online." —BusinessWeek blogspotting

Hiring Bankers - Pick the Lowest Number: "I have been spending some time lately listening to banker's pitches.  That's a good thing.  It means the IPO and M&A markets are healthy and people want to buy the businesses we've invested in." —Fred Wilson (Union Square)

On Pinning Plans to Restroom Walls: "From an Information Week article on the resurgence of venture capital activity in Silicon Valley, there is something accidentally appropriate about someone pinning a 1999-style business plan to a restroom wall..." —Paul Kedrosky (UCSD)

U.S. online marketing forecast: $26 billion by 2010: "This is not the return of 'The Bubble'. The growth is coming from marketers having to make tough decisions about allocating scarce advertising dollars – in many cases, funding online channels from traditional channels. Back in 1999/2000, spending often came from exuberant spending, fueled by venture money." —Charlene Li (Forrester)

Were those the golden years?: "Business is booming, but it is less fun. Is Kottke right, and will we look back at 2002-2004 as the golden years of the internet, pre-Web 2.0?" —Geodog

Red-hot housing markets stir fears of busts: "The number of areas across the United States with real estate booms grew nearly two-thirds last year to 55, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said, warning that these booms may be followed by busts." —MSNBC

Bubble Indicators: Ferrari Sales in SV: "You know you are in a bubble when Ferrari opens a new dealership in Redwood City. There is nothing like a $200,000 Ferrari to go with your freshly minted dollars, the dollars you just generated by flipping your latest start-up to say a Yahoo, Google or even Microsoft. If signs of SV optimism are directly correlated with Ferrari sales, then we are in for a nice ride ... pun intended. " —Om Malik via Ross Mayfield