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Consumer Confidential: Financial reform, Apple speaks, Allen gives

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Here’s your things-we-do-for-love Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- It may not be everything consumers could want, but 2,300 pages of financial reform legislation have vaulted past Republican opponents and could be soon on their way to President Obama’s desk. Among other things, the legislation would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would oversee credit cards, mortgages and other consumer loans. It would also shine a regulatory flashlight on aspects of the financial world that in the past have operated largely in the shadows. The bill could have been tougher -- it should have been. But politically speaking, it’s probably the best that could have been hoped for.

-- Lots of buzz in the tech world about the press conference Apple has called for Friday. The company will almost surely address problems surrounding the iPhone 4, which Consumer Reports said the other day that it wouldn’t recommend because of antenna problems. So what will Apple say? As with all things Apple, one can only guess. But it’s unlikely the company will announce a full-blown recall. Instead, it’s probable that Apple will offer free cases that would hopefully improve call reception. And if we know Steve Jobs, he’ll start laying the groundwork for a hyped-up iPhone 5.

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-- This is how you do it: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen says he’ll commit most of his $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy after his death. Allen announced in November that he has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. ‘I’ve planned for many years now that the majority of my estate will be left to philanthropy to continue the work of the Foundation and to fund nonprofit scientific research,’ he said in a statement. Allen’s philanthropy is in line with similar moves by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. It also shows that in the right hands, enormous wealth can be an enormous catalyst for good works.

-- David Lazarus

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