The mortgage lender is hosting a free “homeownership village” at the Georgia World Congress Center from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Spokesman Jay Lawrence said the workshop can accommodate hundreds of walk-ins.

“Dozens of people have already walked away today with letters reserving $15,000 to help buy or renovate homes in the city of Atlanta,” Lawrence told Channel 2 Action News.

Wells Fargo has launched an $8 million program to help people buy and renovate homes while also helping the city reduce its high inventory of vacant houses, many due to foreclosures. The bank is working with nonprofits such as Resources for Residents and Communities and NeighborWorks America, in addition to the city.

The state and five major lenders, including Wells Fargo, announced a big mortgage settlement this week to help …

While the answers to that question and others remain to be worked out, there are some clear specifics to the deal, which is designed to help stabilize the the state’s mortgage industry and provide some relief to Georgians facing foreclosure or who have already lost their homes to it.

First, Georgia’s share of the settlement will be about $814.7 million, the majority of which banks will use to either write down balances on loans that exceed a home’s current value, or refinance loans in a way that lowers interest rates to today’s rates and brings down monthly payments, or compensate former customers who lost their homes improperly to foreclosure.

To benefit, you must have been a customer of Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial …

Nice place to shop?

Better place to live?

For some folks in North Dakota, it’s been a big  yes to the latter.

Only the retail colossus says no.

According to the Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune, visiting oil workers have been living in campers in a Walmart parking lot in Williston for months, and apparently accepting the accommodations.

But now the store is saying be on your way.

This week store executives warned the squatters that they’d better leave or their vehicles would be towed at their expense.

Some were.

Walmart cited safety, noise and litter as the issues.

A housing shortage in the area drove the workers to the parking lot, even though the accommodations were less than plush. There were no water or sewer hook-ups, for example, and many were crowded into small campers without heat or electricity. Some  lived there for weeks or months.

Walmart said it was concerned with the environment for its customers and employees.

The tech website said Apple will unveil the newest version of the popular tablet in the first week of March in San Francisco. It could hit stores within a week after the announcement, AllthingsD speculated.

As far as the changes, Apple enthusiasts can expect “a device similar in form factor to the iPad 2, but running a much faster chip, sporting an improved graphics processing unit, and featuring a 2048×1536 Retina Display — or something close to it,” the website said.

Apple said it wouldn’t comment on rumors.

In its first fiscal quarter ended in December, Apple said it sold 15 million iPads, a 111 percent unit increase over the same period a year earlier. The iPad 2 starts at $499 and the price is higher depending on the memory.

The 191-page backgrounder was gathered in 1991 at the behest of President George H.W. Bush, who was considering Jobs for a seat on the President’s Export Council.

Jobs, 56, died last October of pancreatic cancer after stepping down from Apple. The FBI file corroborates revelations that appear in Walter Isaacson’s biography of the man behind the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac computers.

The FBI spoke with many of Jobs’ friends and associates, who “describe him as profoundly talented, creative and hardworking. But his many faults are also acknowledged including the fact that he neglected his daughter for the first several years of her life and that his management techniques were considered by many to be abusive.”

The identities of those interviewed were not disclosed. One person who identified himself as a former good friend said Jobs was “honest and …

Essentially, the company that was a household name for generations of novice and professional photographers in the U.S. and around the world has been done in by the digital imaging technology it created.

Digital cameras were the death knell for the film and disposable cameras that were Kodak’s bread and butter for decades, and it wasn’t able to keep up with competition from Japanese digital camera manufacturers.

The company will license its brand name to other camera manufactures. In addition to digital cameras, Kodak’s digital business produced pocket video cameras and digital picture frames. It will also focus on home photo printers, high-speed commercial inkjet presses, workflow software and packaging as the core of its future business, according to the Associated Press.

Kodak has laid …

Northwestern University researchers are developing such a smartphone,  The technology involves determining the user’s state of mind by tracking his or her whereabouts, a researcher told CBS radio affiliate WBBM in Chicago.

The phone would be able to sense whether a person is staying at home for a lengthy period, according to psychologist David Mohr, who has been adapting phones as “virtual therapists” for depression patients.

“It can provide them an automated text message, or an automated phone call to make a suggestion to give somebody a call or get out of the house,” Mohr told CBS.

The conditions of eight depression patients were improved “significantly” after getting the alerts, Mohr said. Wider tests are planned this summer

That’s the upshot of a new survey that looks at American attitudes post-recession.

According to the Pew Research Center, 41 percent of Americans believe young adults (ages 18 to 34)  “have been hit harder than any other group, compared with 29 percent who say middle-aged Americans and 24 percent who point to seniors 65 and older,” the Associated Press reports.

What’s more, 69 percent say it’s harder for young adults to pay for college, find a job, buy a home or save money, compared to their parents.

“Young workers are on the bottom of the ladder, and during a recession like we’ve had, it’s often hard for them to hold on,” said Kim Parker of Pew.

Parker pointed to the feelings among young adults and suggested they may have contributed to their role in the Occupy protest movement.

“They are clearly less satisfied with their current circumstances than they were before the recession,” she said. “This may be where some of the anger and frustration being …

Amazon announced Wednesday that it is teaming up with Viacom to allow Amazon Prime subscribers and Kindle Fire users to instantly stream scores of Viacom TV offerings, including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Spike, VH1, BET, CMT and Logo.

Prime subscribers now pay a $79 annual membership fee for Amazon Prime Instant Videos, giving them unlimited, commercial-free access to more than 15,000 movies and TV shows. The deal with Viacom is expected to add about 2,000 more titles that that list.

“This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids’ shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available,” said Brad Beale, director of video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a release. …

Costco was the only chain to earn an outstanding grade for the overall quality of its merchandise, whether in the stores or online. And it earned above-average scores for all 10

product categories the survey rated — including electronic entertainment, jewelry and sporting goods.

Surprisingly, its website did better than its walk-in stores on all counts, except product quality (the two types tied), and earned top marks for layout, product value, and checkout.

In-store shoppers found a few things not to like about Costco: The chain’s walk-in stores scored below average for selection, checkout (because of long lines), and service, and its shoppers were more likely than those elsewhere to complain …