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Consumer Confidential: Service sector surges, new car cameras, Best Buy opens early

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Here’s your finally Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--The headline on the jobs front might be the 9.8% unemployment figure, but there is a smidge of good news out there. Service industries expanded in November at the fastest pace in six months, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The stat suggests that while the economic recovery remains limited, it’s still continuing, especially in the service sector. So if you’re looking for work, you might concentrate there. I’m thinking I’d make a fine fry cook if this whole blogging thing doesn’t work out.

--Your car might soon learn a new trick. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is proposing that rearview cameras be required on all new vehicles by 2014 to prevent drivers from backing over pedestrians. The agency says an average of 292 people die each year from back-over accidents, which primarily kill children and the elderly. But the change wouldn’t be cheap: It could cost as much as $2.7 billion to equip new cars with the cameras. The agency admits this is a “substantial” amount, but it also says the change could reduce back-over deaths and injuries by almost half.

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--Still jonesing for that new flat-panel TV? Best Buy says it will open an hour earlier -- at 8 a.m. -- every day until Christmas to help gadget-hungry consumers get their fill. The company will also offer free cellphones with two-year activation agreements and expand its no-interest financing deals. Best Buy is among a number of major chains that are going all-out this holiday season to woo shoppers with heavy discounts and promotions. If you’ve got the cash, this is probably a very good time to splurge on whatever you’ve been desiring of late.

-- David Lazarus

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