Consumer Confidential

Here’s your mad-about-you Monday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Wal-Mart wants you to pay your taxes. And to help, free preparation of simple tax forms will be made available at more than 3,000 Wal-Mart Stores nationwide. The nation’s largest retailer has contracted with the top two tax prep companies, H&R Block and Jackson-Hewitt Tax Service, to set up kiosks inside its stores where customers can have their tax returns completed by trained preparers. H&R Block will offer free preparation of 1040EZ forms at Wal-Mart through Feb. 29. Block will have kiosks in about 250 Wal-Mart stores. About 39% of the total 133 million individual returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service last year were submitted before the end of February. Early filers usually expect a refund. (Associated Press)

--Are you a one-percenter when it comes to data use? If so, you have a lot to answer for in terms of how the rest of us enjoy cyberspace. Thanks to new smartphones and the apps that tag along, mobile data is accelerating beyond expectations, network management company Arieso finds in a new study. Following a similar study in 2010, Arieso’s new analysis reveals that so-called extreme users are becoming even more extreme, with 1% of subscribers now consuming half of all downloaded data. In other words, we 99-percenters make up half of data traffic, and the super-users account for the rest. Kind of a strong case for tiered pricing. (ConsumerAffairs.com)

--Speaking of cyberspace, one of the biggest changes to the Internet since its inception 30 years ago will begin this week. From Thursday, anyone will be able register any web address suffix for $185,000. Ford, for example, can apply for the rights for .ford, while Pepsi is apparently keen on buying up .pepsi so it can launch a drink.pepsi website. The launch of so-called “dot brand” names is the latest big change to the strict rules governing internet nomenclature since the launch of .com in 1985. Since then, industry body Icann has opened up the internet to country codes, such as .uk, .fr, and .de, and 22 other generic suffixes, including .info and .gov. Icann is encouraging companies to get their new domains lined up as Web addresses expand. (Guardian)