monday

I have two useful new mobile apps to recommend for those gearing up for the holiday gift shopping orgy that will soon be upon us.

Shipping tracker First, Slice is releasing a mobile app. Slice is a useful utility that reaches into your Yahoo or Google e-mail inbox and extracts all the receipts that are sent to you. It gives you a list of everything you've bought online. It also collects all your shipping alerts and then tracks packages that are on their way. It will send you a nice alert when a package is out for delivery. If, … Read more

Are you ready? Black Friday 2011, the day that U.S. retailers and thrifty consumers have been waiting for all year, is just around the corner.

Whether you're looking for a $2 toaster or a $200 laptop, you're going to need a plan of attack to help you succeed. Here are a few sites that will help you develop and carry out your strategy this year:

FatWallet FatWallet has been around a long time and is a popular destination for deal hunters. It maintains a Black Friday section each year, to help you sort out all the deals. … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--eBay knows that half of all Christmas shoppers miss its December 16 shipping deadline for getting presents under the tree in time, and it wants to help the stragglers.

The e-commerce giant's idea is to make it easy for shoppers to find the item they're looking for--say, a Nintendo Wii--that's for sale and in stock at a store near them and to select and pay for it in advance through a mobile app.

The technology has been rolled into the latest version of eBay's RedLaser mobile app, which allows users to search for … Read more

The number of the day is 0, brought to you by the United States economy and Jill Schlesinger, editor-at-large for CBS MoneyWatch.com and host of an Emmy-nominated podcast! Jill sits with us today and reveals her plan of attack on Suze Orman at the award ceremony.

She'll also give an update on the state of the economy, the financial implications for Yahoo ex-CEO Carol Bartz, and why the rich and poor have never been further apart.

Check out the video today to see our new Bathroom Break video segment, and afterward Jill will predict the content of President Obama's jobs speech tomorrow. Finally, we'll run through a quick listener-submitted Q&A about how to keep yourself above water on your mortgage, the exact definition of a "robosigner," and why it's never a good idea to draft your prenuptial agreement.

Aunt Jill's been busy with her own podcast Jill On Money, but today she joins us on The 404 to answer your financial questions. Listen to this episode to find out what each of us did as teenagers to make money, how kids today can make the most of their time, and the best way to handle your monthly credit card debt. Plus, Jill helps us out with another Tang That Tune, now with a video and audio intro thanks to Patrick and Jamey!

Calendar software is ubiquitous, with options for everyone no matter how simple or complex your needs. As the name suggests, Classic Calendar falls more into the simple category, with the features you would expect from a traditional calendar and not much else.

The program's interface is plain and easy to navigate, consisting of a basic-looking calendar and an Options menu at the top. The calendar's color scheme is highly customizable; users can select the colors for the main background, date boxes, empty boxes, calendar text, and highlighted days. Users can also select the font they want to use … Read more

We're back from our four-day weekend despite yesterday's gloomy celebration of Blue Monday, the "holiday" psychologists deem the most miserable day of the year.

Blue Monday is the result of a questionable formula written by psychologist Cliff Arnall in 2005, who calculated that the third Monday of January based on seven variables including weather, debt, monthly salary, time since Christmas, time since failed quitting attempt, low motivational levels, and the need to take action.

The formula seems dubious, especially since Arnall was employed by a PR company at its recognition, but it also happened to fall on my 27th birthday, so it might hold water after all.

Speaking of B.S., tune into today's episode for a skeptical discussion about astrology based on a random astrologer correctly guessing my birthday yesterday in a coffee shop. Wilson and I don't take astrology very seriously, but the coincidence is enough to make us wonder about its legitimacy. Plus Jeff's daily Aries horoscope is spot-on today!

Also, don't worry about your zodiac sign changing, as some media outlets are calling a red herring, and Ophiuchus is old news!

In other news, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced his second medical leave of absence in the last two years. Jobs will remain CEO of the company, but Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will take responsibility of the day-to-day operations.

The company's stocks are already taking a hit with a 4 percent slide just an hour and a half into today's Nasdaq exchange, but we're deferring to our Apple expert Wilson Tang to predict the future of Apple once again.

Computer hardware is hot among holiday buyers this season, according to data out yesterday from ComScore.

As online buyers scoop up iPads, e-readers, laptops, and other portable devices, computer hardware is ringing in the holidays as the product category showing the most growth for the season so far, a 25 percent increase compared with last year.

Lower prices on flat-panel TVs is spurring growth in consumer electronics, helping that category grow 22 percent among online buyers over the same period last year, says ComScore. Books and magazines are also proving to be a popular gift item, up 21 percent from … Read more

Online retailers rang up more than $1 billion in sales this past Cyber Monday, according to data released yesterday by ComScore.

Adding up to a 16 percent gain in sales over the same day last year, Monday's cybershopping spree was the heaviest online spending day in history, said ComScore, and the first to cross the billion-dollar mark. Overall, the start of the holiday season has brought good cheer to online retailers. More than $13.5 billion was spent online from November 1 to 29, a gain of 13 percent from last year.

The growth in Cyber Monday sales was … Read more