This 99-cent app serves up a wealth of free Redbox rental codes.

Good news for fans of Redbox movie-rental kiosks: the new Redbox app (free) lets you browse and reserve movies and find the kiosk nearest you. Cool.

Better news for Redbox fans: the new Red Box Free Rental Promo Codes app (from third-party developer Neese) means you may never have to pay for another movie.

The app aggregates codes from around the Internet and various promo mailings, updating them every 12 hours so you're sure to have the latest and greatest.

When you get to the Redbox checkout screen, just tap "Rent with a Promo Code," then type in any of the codes listed in the app. If one doesn't work, try another.

Red Box Free Rental Promo Codes costs 99 cents, so the first time you nab a free rental, it pays for itself.

I haven't had a chance to put the app to the test just yet (it does require a visit to a kiosk--you can't use the codes when reserving movies), but I'll update the post if I run into any problems. To me it seems like a can't-miss way to score free movie rentals.

While we're on the subject of using your iPhone to save money, be sure to check out "Five iPhone apps that can save you money," "iPhone apps for Black Friday shopping," and eBay's new holiday-deals app.

All this gets me wondering: Could your iPhone actually start paying for itself? I mean, if you can rack up 70 bucks' worth of savings per month by way of various apps, that would cover the cost of AT&T's low-end plan. Hmmm...

Remember the Death Clock, that oh-so-depressing site that counts down the time you have left to live?

I won't say this is the exact opposite, but it's in the ballpark: Earn-O-Meter for iPhone tallies up your income, in real-time, while you work.

The idea of this tongue-in-cheek app is to help you endure workday drudgery by showing how much money you're earning while "sitting through pointless meetings, dull conference calls, and inane conversations with nitwits in the workplace." (The developer's words, not mine.)

And, let's face it, wouldn't it be nice if you could emerge from another mind-numbing meeting with the knowledge that you'd pocketed, say, $37 for your trouble?

Of course, depending on your income level, this might be just as depressing as the Death Clock. (I could tell you how much I earned writing this post, but I don't like to cry onstage.)

Anyway, all you do is enter your hourly, daily, or annual wages, then set your workday's start and end times. Then tap the Earn-O-Meter button to see how much you've earned so far today and your "time left to endure."

Earn-O-Meter will run you 99 cents. Obviously it has little practical value, but it is kind of amusing (in an iNap@Work sort of way) and definitely enlightening.

Jill Schlesinger of CBS' MoneyWatch joins the show to talk about the economy. So it turns out that things aren't going to collapse, and we're not going to have to sell our bodies in a barter system. That doesn't mean, however, that we're out of the woods, and Jill is here to show us the way out. Throw in a little bit of health care, a little bit of Social Security, and a garlic smell? Only on The 404!

(Credit: Jill Schlesinger/CBS)

For the last couple of months, stocks have been soaring more than 50 percent since their March low. Jill says all that means is that the market doesn't think we're headed for Great Depression 2.0, but that doesn't mean we're out of trouble. In the dark, we imagine what V-, U-, and W- recoveries would look like. Strange... Justin, is that your hand on my leg?

Further down the line, we jump into the health care debate. Jill tells us her generation is screwing our generation and not in a good way. Essentially, they took all the good health care, and we (the 20-somethings) will just not be able to afford the premium "best health care" in the world, when we really need it. And somehow, Wilson reveals some of his Republican leanings? Say what?

Finally, we get into personal savings for the future, and we pick up the ashes of our 401(k)s. So while your parents may have lost a bundle on their retirement funds, we 20-somethings still have another 40 years before we really have to worry about our returns. Meanwhile, Social Security is a toss-up. Jill wants to advise President "Barry" Obama that the easy solution to fixing the "Third Rail" of American politics is just tying benefits to an age index. People are just living too long...death panels, any one?

Wow! So we hope you finally learned something on The 404. We sure did! Send in your feedback to the usual at the404 [at] cnet [dot] com. Follow Jill on Twitter. Or leave us a voice mail at 1-866-404-CNET, and you can debate us on the finer points of the liquidity of the money supply and U6 unemployment figures.

Asian pears are delicious, which is why Jill Schlesinger--The 404's very own financial expert from CBS MoneyWatch--likes them so much! After getting through some munching and slurping noises in the first minute by Wilson, Jill explains to us what is going on with the economy and why we need to fear the End of Days. Just kidding...mostly.

Not being financial experts by any means, Jill explains some basic terms to us so we know what the heck is going on. Like what is the difference between the unemployment rate and weekly jobless claims? Plus, she goes on to say that she thinks that everybody should have at least six months of living expenses saved up, given that the average person is jobless for 22 weeks now. And maybe we should start spending money again if we know that we're not about to lose our job. It would help the economy out. We know it sounds very different than most of our inane topics to most of our audience, but money is something we all need to know and understand. Plus, we love how Jill lays it on us with financial straight talk.

On the second half of the show, Jill tells us about her CBS Evening News appearance and her lady crush on our very own Katie Couric. Jill comments about the growing political discourse about a possible second stimulus package. Check out the segment. We've embedded it into this blog post.

Come back tomorrow, where we've got Steve Guttenberg. Of course, we're got the doors barricaded, just in case HR comes running in. And! We've got Wilson's Audio Draft. (Editor's note: I promise I listen to music. Whale sounds anybody?)

UPDATED: Before we forget, download the new 404 artwork for your desktop background.
Desktop Backgrounds: 4 x 3, 16 x 9 and 16 x10, iPhone.

Full Disclosure: CNET, The 404, MoneyWatch and the CBS Evening News all are properties of CBS.

It's back to the regular news stories on today's show, and we start off strong with talk about how the iPhone 3.0 may give sex toys a run for their money. See what happens when you give developers control over the vibration functionality?

This isn't going to end well.

(Credit: Amazon)

Microsoft has announced it won't be making Money anymore--the software that is--but who actually used that program anyway?

Next, we discuss how the Internet is successfully turning the English language into nothing more than a bunch of incoherent misspellings of words with numbers in them. "n00b" is now a real word? We're starting to regret this whole Internet thing.

A Stretch Armstrong movie? Really? This isn't going to end well.

There won't be an episode tomorrow, but fear not, we're going to feed you with a classic 404 from the past that's sure to tickle you. See you Monday!

EPISODE 361

It's no surprise that Jeff, Wilson, and Justin don't know jack about the economic financial crisis, so we invite CBS MoneyWatch.com's Editor-at-Large Jill Schlesinger on the show to break it all down. She preps us with tips on what young people can do to secure a stable future and she gives us three very important ways to keep the money we earn.

(Credit: CBS MoneyWatch.com)

First of all, be sure to have six months of living expenses in the bank. If you don't have a steady, stable job like a tenured teaching position, a three-month rainy day fund in the bank will do you some good, if, God-forbid, something happened. Second, pay off your debt. Sounds obvious, but most Americans haven't saved a dime since the '90s.

Last thing she says is to take advantage of your company's 401k. Yes, your parents retirement and pension funds might be gone, but if you're like us, in our 20s and barely employed, you should throw money into your 401k. If you want, Wilson will manage your 404k--if you want a negative return on your investment.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to show off all of your submissions for our logo contest, but let's face it: some things are more important than logos. But rest assured that we're going to go over ALL of them on tomorrow's show, not to mention a huge "Calls from the Public" to make up for today. Keep sending in your submissions to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com--they've all been amazing. We've gotten so many that we're EXTENDING the contest to next week! Don't forget: all submissions should include a JPG/PNG as well as a high-res file. Thanks all!

Star of The Gagdet 411's "The Money Shot" Web show, Liz Money, joins us in the studio today to talk about the gadgets she's currently obsessed with. Liz is in town from New Orleans (see Nawlins) and was nice enough to stop by the 404 studio for some good, clean fun.

That wholesome fun ends when we get into a story about a recent Trojan outbreak in the office that, while seemingly benign, spread like wildfire. Liz helps gets the message across: it's always best to use antivirus protection.

Next it's on to Ron Howard's new film "Angels & Demons". We chat about how the book will probably still be better than the movie, but that it's pretty much guaranteed to be better than "The DaVinci Code."

Finally, we quickly touch on the fate of Duke Nukem Forever, a game stuck in the development process for just over an entire decade. Then we get Jeff's quick take on SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

EPISODE 343

For a good six months now, Mint has been the go-to app for managing finances on your iPhone. Today, Quicken debuted its own money manager: Quicken Online Mobile. Like Mint, it's free. Unlike Mint, it's passcode-protected.

That protection addresses a long-standing concern: if someone makes off with your iPhone, they can fire up the Mint app and see how much money's sitting in each of your accounts.

Quicken Online Mobile, on the other hand, won't let you in without first entering your four-digit PIN.

To get started, you'll need to create a free Quicken Online account (if you don't already have one). As with Mint, QO gives you a big-picture overview of your bank accounts, credit cards, and the like. (It also allows for a little forecasting, such as when your next paycheck will hit.)

From there, just load up Quicken Online Mobile (which can also run on an iPod Touch, natch) and sign into your account. In addition to showing you account balances, the app lets you record purchases on the run and can find nearby ATMs--two perks not available in Mint's app.

Is that enough to make you switch? Or do you continue to have concerns about carrying sensitive financial data in a device that's easily lost or stolen? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Stanza: download 10 free e-books from Random House and thousands more from other sources.

I love reading books on my iPhone, but I don't love e-book prices. I mean, digital content requires no printing, binding, shipping, storage, or heavy lifting--so why does Amazon charge the same price for the Kindle edition of "The Kite Runner" as for the paperback?

That's a debate for another day (though let me go on record saying I'd buy a lot more e-books if they were priced in the $1 to $4 range). For now, let's look at ways you can read on the cheap--or, at least, the cheaper--on your iPhone.

• Look for freebies Stanza, one of my favorite e-book viewers (just acquired by Amazon, incidentally), connects you with thousands of freebies. For example, check out the Random House Free Library, which currently stocks 10 mainstream e-books. (Best bet: Charlie Huston's superb crime-noir series, which starts with "Caught Stealing.") Meanwhile, there's Google Book Search, a browser-based solution that connects you to a whopping 1.5 million public-domain books. Point Safari to http://books.google.com/m.
• Look for deals E-bookseller Fictionwise already discounts its e-books, but you can stretch your dollar even further by setting up a "Micropay" account (i.e., a debit account). Most books come with a Micropay rebate, meaning you get 10 percent to 15 percent of the purchase price added back to your account. But sometimes Fictionwise runs rebate specials, as it's doing right now with J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series: Buy any/all of the books and you get back 100 percent. You can read Fictionwise e-books using eReader or Stanza. (Just make sure to choose titles that are available in the Secure eReader format.)
• Try before you buy Amazon's Kindle app lets you read free of charge the entire first chapter of any book in the Kindle Store. That's a great way to see if you like a book before plunking down your $10. However, you can't browse the store from within the app: You have to queue up your sample chapters from your browser. Not so with Shortcovers, an e-book viewer with a built-in bookstore that offers sample chapters for many titles (but only forewords for others).
... Read more