The House of Representatives today passed the Wall Street Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act, with a 223-202 vote. No Republicans voted for the bill, and 27 Democrats joined the nay column, If passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the bill would create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and either fix a broken financial system or lead to a government takeover of Wall Street, depending on your perspective.
Consumerist.com
12
Dec 09
Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds
Here are eight cool photos readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, picked for neatness and usability in a Consumerist post, and one silly one I just want you to see. Also, be sure to check out our new Photo Gallery to see the latest additions all week long!
12
Dec 09
Should Rob Complain About His Bad Kroger Pharmacy Experience?
Rob’s local Kroger pharmacy screwed up the prescription on his kid’s TamiFlu. Rob caught the error before any harm was done, and he’s not the confrontational type. In fact, he’s wondering whether he should just drop the whole matter. Here’s your chance to convince him otherwise.
10
Dec 09
Buy A New Printer When You Run Out Of Ink
If you’re sick of the high cost of toner, and don’t want to deal with messy refill kits or off-brand versions, here’s a great way to save cash and help struggling manufacturers at the same time: Just buy a new printer every time you run low on ink. Sure, you’ll have a house full of printers in no time, but you can always donate those to Goodwill, or to the local landfill.
10
Dec 09
How To Make Sure Your Next Plastic Surgery Is Safe
If you’re dumb, you forget that plastic surgery is surgery with an extra word in front of it, a doctor tells CNN in their article on getting nip/tucked safely. As with any surgery, there’s no real way to make it completely safe, but here are five tips from their article that you should follow to improve your odds. In fact, they’re probably good tips for any kind of surgical procedure.
10
Dec 09
Wireless Industry Needs Better Oversight From FCC, Says Government Audit
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just completed a survey of wireless customers and a review of the “tens of thousands” of complaints made to the FCC every year, and they’ve reached a verdict: the FCC needs to step up and provide a better way for consumers to get help.
8
Dec 09
Should Vending Machines Post Calorie Counts?
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog noticed that both health care reform bills currently making their way through our lovely government have provisions that require vending machines to display the calorie counts of items inside.
8
Dec 09
Sprint Served Customer GPS Data To Cops Over 8 Million Times
An Indiana University grad student has made public an audio recording of a Sprint employee who describes how the company has given away customer GPS location data to cops over 8 million times in less than a year. Ars technica reports that “law enforcement [officers] could log into a special Sprint Web portal and, without ever having to demonstrate probable cause to a judge, gain access to geolocation logs detailing where they’ve been and where they are.” Update: Sprint says the 8 million figure refers to individual pings of GPS data, and that the number of individuals involved is in the thousands.
8
Dec 09
Why A Comcast/NBC Merger Is Bad News
As the Comcast/NBC mergepocalypse draws near, we wanted to remind readers of the ways that this is going to harm consumers (beyond the obvious things like 30 Rock being promised to come on between 6 and 10 pm and actually airing at 11:30). Join us for a sad look into the future.
8
Dec 09
Yay I Haven’t Been Crushed To Death By Bargains Yet!
It’s easy to pick on the people who end up on PeopleOfWalmart.com, but… yeah, it’s just easy. Especially when they trap their babies under a mountain of crap. Parents, I wish I could recall you.
8
Dec 09
Passenger Of Size Allegedly Has Picture Taken By Flight Attendant
We can in no way confirm that this is true, but the Telegraph is reporting that this photo was “reportedly” taken by an American Airlines flight attendant who wanted to illustrate to airline managers the difficulty of dealing with passengers who cannot fit into seats.
8
Dec 09
Sprint Forcing Customers On Too-Good-To-Be-True Plans To Upgrade
I don’t know how Corey ever managed to secure a monthly plan that only costs $2.50–oh wait, it looks like some old offer Sprint forgot about but some of their customers found. Well, now Sprint knows about it, and they’re not happy. On the bright side, hey, no ETF to worry about if you want to switch carriers, Corey. You can read Sprint’s take-it-or-leave-it offer below.
7
Dec 09
Domino’s Pulls Ads From ‘Jersey Shore’ Show
MTV’s gross new reality show, Jersey Shore, goes too far into offensive stereotype land as far as Domino’s Pizza is concerned. After seeing the first episode last week, the pizza chain asked MTV to stop airing its ads during the show, apparently before anyone starts complaining. But really, there’s no way you can eat Domino’s and maintain abs so ripped that you call them “The Situation,” so maybe it’s for the best.
7
Dec 09
Domino’s Pulls Ads From ‘Jersey Shore’ Show
MTV’s gross new reality show, Jersey Shore, goes too far into offensive stereotype land as far as Domino’s Pizza is concerned. After seeing the first episode last week, the pizza chain asked MTV to stop airing its ads during the show, apparently before anyone starts complaining. But really, there’s no way you can eat Domino’s and maintain abs so ripped that you call them “The Situation,” so maybe it’s for the best.
7
Dec 09
Domino’s Pulls Ads From ‘Jersey Shore’ Show
MTV’s gross new reality show, Jersey Shore, goes too far into offensive stereotype land as far as Domino’s Pizza is concerned. After seeing the first episode last week, the pizza chain asked MTV to stop airing its ads during the show, apparently before anyone starts complaining. But really, there’s no way you can eat Domino’s and maintain abs so ripped that you call them “The Situation,” so maybe it’s for the best.
