Inside Out -- Just a Thought

What is the number one website/most visited in the world??

Google right!!!!

Have we ever thought why Google??

What is Google??

A search engine!!!

Number one because we all search multiple times

Bingo!!!!

WE ALL SEARCH….. Right!!!!

We gratify and satisfy our mind and body by searching outside, for what we want, using Google

Search is everybody’s responsibility; the more we search outside more we become materialistic and the more we search inside ourselves, more peaceful we become. The balance between those two lead to a happy life.


The idea of searching comes from questioning???
Why?? Who??Where?? How??When?? are the magical words that bother us first, until we find answers.


Why do we question???
Because we have to Know!!!!!!


Knowing is otherwise called Knowledge right!!!
Someone said Knowledge is power.


What is more powerful than Knowledge???
Wisdom!!!


Wisdom is knowing--what needs to be done and when to do it.


Knowledge can only be achieved by questioning and finding answers. We can only get wise with experience. Experience can be achieved by making better mistakes each time.

Emeril cookbook download

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I Found My Drink

To be very honest, I love soft drinks; but, I had negative effects of them. Due to my sedentary life style, sugars in these drinks accumulated to make me slightly fat. I tried diet coke, but I hate it, tastes like tonic. I tried to find a drink that gives me same pleasure minus negative effects. Today, I some how got my eyes laid on Coke Zero. It tastes like coke classic but with zero calories. It has caffiene and so, I guess I still need to limit how many I can have in a day. However, I am happy that I found my drink. 

My Saying

I am not like an evolution or like a mutation, both are bad in today's world. I would rather find something in between.


Photo: Dreamstime

My Saying

"Nobody can achieve anything new without some or lot of discomfort"


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Just a Thought - The Power of Basics

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There are 26 letters in English Language but there are millions of words out there, which in turn are used to write and speak millions and millions of sentences. There are 8 notes in Music, but there are millions of tunes coming from them.There are billions of people in this world, their faces don't match (except twins to certain extent) even if the parts used to make them are the same.The complexity of literature, Music, and People have very basic/simple beginnings.If this thought is applied to everything you see, feel and hear, you will see a similarity.........for example, see our DNA, it is composed of only 4 nucleotides ATGC, but the arrangement makes the difference. How about finger prints?? the whole forensic science is based on small differences in finger prints among individuals. How about the elements in chemistry, they are just above 100 but the chemicals are many, with different structures resulting from different number and arrangement of atoms. There are many proteins, resulting from some aminoacids arranged differently. It is not just the arrangement of these basic tools of nature, the quantity and quality aspect has to be kept in mind. All words are made of letters but the number of letters, arrangement of letters, and other aspects determine the beauty and meaning of those words. What I want to say is that, what we have is just basic/simple tools (26 letters in the first case) but what we build with them matters. I don't mean to say we all have the tools, resources and imagination to create something extraordinary. But, whatever we create, it is from these basic tools. If you get this small basic idea, what you will understand is, you need to learn the basics of anything you try to accomplish. Imagine that you know only 24 letters in 26 letters of english language, what you create with those is incomplete. When one has to take up a project or a goal, it is important to know the basics of that particular task. This is what people call preparation and some call it research. Know the basics, you will have a good chance of accomplishing the task in hand. For example, you need a job as a scientist. You need not know everything about that job, all you need to know is where and how to find a job. It is that simple. This is the same reason why most successful CEO's in the world are not actually MBA graduates, they don't know everything but they know the basics. It is not wrong to know everything about something, but trying to know everything at the beginning delays  one's journey towards success. The point is simple, you don't have to know everything but you need to know that you will learn everything you can in the process. If one has this belief then, it is time for some action.

11-in-1 Universal USB Charger Kit for iPod Nano Touch iPhone 3G iPhone 3GS Mobile Phones Car Charger

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Learn to Invest Through This Website

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I have given a small list of websites to refer to in the past and this is a new addition to that list. Click Here

Bored in Your City

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Everyone gets bored at sometime or the other, the remedy is to find something new. If you want to find new friends and activities in your city, try this link

Living Social Deals

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LivingSocial offers one fantastic deal every day with discounts of up to 90% at local restaurants, bars, spas, theaters, and more. You will receive your deal the next business day. After you buy the deal, you'll get a unique link to share. If three people buy the deal using your link, then your deal is free.It is new and so subscribe through email. You can find the ad on my blog.

Are You Having Tough Time Deciding between Pay Go Phone and Contract Phone Service??

It’s really a personal choice based on your usage habits and number of lines you have. It also depends on what kind of carrier your friends and family have. I came across this website click here. This website will search for all the possibilities to minimize your bill while retaining the features you desire. Hope it helps.
Image: Dreamstime

Best People Finder Website

This is by far the best people finder website. Click Here

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Great Website For Book Readers

There are many websites out there and this is one of them.
Check this out Bartleby


This one is a great source of eBooks -- Click Here

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Home Made Strawberry Juice

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Over last 2 years, my weight increased significantly and my present goal is to get back into shape. The main reason I became overweight is because of my sedentary life style and in addition, lot of sugar intake in the form of carbonated beverages. I used to love walking and drinking lots of water some 4 years ago but due to change in my habits, water got replaced by coke and walk with driving a car. I have made some changes to my life style by bringing back some old habits like drinking water, walking again on purpose, and avoiding sugar beverages and so on. With that in mind, I started having fruit juices instead of coke. The fruit juices from Wal-Mart and other places have added sugar and so I decided to make fruit juices myself. I went to Publix, Kroger, Wal-Mart and other places to find some fruits but all of them were expensive except in Wal-Mart (in some cases). I think Kroger and Publix have good fruits but very expensive to me.So, I went to Aldi's to find some fruits and I was surprised to find good quality fruits at such a low price. I got 2 boxes of strawberries (@1$ each), cut them into pieces and placed them in the juicer. I did add lots of milk to it and a little bit of sugar for taste. I could make 8 glasses of juice for just 2$. Awesome right!!Try it yourself and let me know. 

My Kiddish Mind

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When I was a kid some 20 years ago, I was alone in the crowd. I was more an observer in a passive fashion and always had only my point of view. As kids were then, I was ignorant and believed what I thought was right. I used to think that the whole world comes to a standstill when I don’t watch it. I used to think everything revolves around me and not other way round. I know for sure then that not even a branch of tree or water in a river moves without my presence. But sometimes I used to doubt that, if they stopped in my absence, how come trees grew from the last time. If I am that powerful how come I don’t get to have some Tea like my elders? But that didn’t bother me much as I was more interested in being a powerful kid.

I might sound stupid but I was just ignorant, I learnt overtime that, I am only part of this huge universe and it’s not about me. Everything happens at its pace, on its own and I had to adapt to that. Like everything else I had to act and react and that is my part, which I need to do right. It should get better with time, that’s it!!! Its life!!! I got reminded of my childhood and looking backwards is something that makes me laugh at myself and I am glad I don’t think like that anymore.

My Friday @ Thrifty Store

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I Googled this word "Thrifty" to get multiple meanings and one of them being; Practicing or marked by the practice of thrift; wisely economical. Right, wisely economical, in my understanding it means being frugal. There are some stores which go by that name. They look cheap and not so classy. Sometime back I read an article about these stores and I was impressed by what you can get there. To be honest, nobody knows what you get there because it has got all the used and donated stuff. This stuff could be anything from decorative items to electronics. Ah!! I like the last word; “electronics”. I was feeling bored at home yesterday, as it was a Friday and had to spend all alone. So, I went to this store which is like couple of blocks away from my house.

         When I entered I felt like I got into a museum or something and felt very poor. But as I went through the aisles, I was immersed in the process of searching the unknown. When I went to the books section, it was not like in a Barnes and nobles store, where books are organized in a particular fashion. Here, psychology, history, cooking, personal development books and all other kinds are generously mixed. I had to rely on my eyes to find that gem which I might love to have. Some are 4.98, some are 3.98 and some are 1.98. After a bit of searching I found a book by Stephen covey for 1.98$ and it had some white tag. Then I went into the home décor section and I found a CD case (leather) for my car for 1.98$. Then I went to my favorite section, electronics. Believe me; it was like visiting an electronic store in 1950’s (with the help of a time machine).

          I should have taken some pictures (probably next time), but some old coffee makers, rice cookers, radios, TV’s and so on were displayed. I was fascinated by the development we had since those times. I found a 3 CD changer Stereo system with two big speakers for 12$. When I got to the check out area, the lady said “books are on discount sale” and so I got it for 1 dollar and the rest are on 40% sale. The thing to remember is, they cannot be returned once you buy. But, I was satisfied with my purchase and more so with my choice of visiting the store.

           There are many things that can be bought there, like art, shoes, clothes and so on. I would not prefer to buy any clothes or shoes but definitely will visit for books and electronics and some music CD’s. I will make it a point to visit this store regularly and surprise myself. It is much better to go here sometimes than to any regular store where we find what we expect. There was no thrill and fun in shopping anymore until I went to this place. I can’t buy everything I want here but definitely a good time pass visit.

Watching TV for Free

I used to have DirecTV subscription a while ago. After lot of thought I realized that, it is not for me. Firstly, it was expensive and secondly, I don’t get to see what I want even after paying 50$ or more a month. So, I called them and got rid of it and after that I searched Google and other places to find other sources for watching TV. To my surprise, I found very good sources of watching these TV shows and movies.

     There are many sources but I will put some important ones in here for now. At a later time, I will try to update it with others.

Hulu.com : This is the number one site for TV watching. The episodes are quickly updated usually following day of the airing. It has got episodes from 150+ channels and also has collection of old movies and others.

Cast TV : This website also has a very good collection of episodes and other entertaining stuff.

Streamick: This is my favorite, it has got almost real time streaming of 263 channels (according to abc.com) and they are planning to have 900 channels. I even found HBO and other movie websites playing very good movies.

TIOTI: (Tape it off the Internet is the full form)—It is part TV hub and part social network site

In addition, browse through websites of network sites like abc.com, NBC, MTV and so on for full episodes.

Source: www.abc.com

Learn New Languages For Free

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Get 200$ gift card using American express Blue Card for DirecTV subscription

There are many sources of watching TV namely Comcast, Dish TV, DirecTV and so on. These providers use attractive offers as bait for new customers. Yes, I said bait especially in the case of DirecTV. I had DirecTV for a while and I like the channels and the quality they offer but I hate their terms and conditions. You can expect unnecessary charges for everything you ask for. I really had bad experience with them but if you choose to have DirecTV anyway and if you are willing to pay 80-90 bucks a month then this post will be of some help.

      If you have American Express Blue Card, use it through this link to subscribe for DirecTV. The advantage of this offer is that you will receive a 200$ gift card that can be used at places where Amex card is accepted. One of my friends received it but only after 6 weeks or so. You need to email them sometimes to make sure you get it. I personally don't like these TV subscriptions; instead I watch Hulu or some other websites. Its a personal choice, I just can't afford.

The Only Thing You Can Change

You can’t change your entire life.

You can only change your next action.

—

You can’t change a relationship with a loved one.

You can only change your next interaction.

—

You can’t change your entire job.

You can only change your next task.

—

You can’t change your body composition.

You can only change your next meal.

—

You can’t change your fitness level.

You can only start moving.

—

You can’t declutter your entire life.

You can only choose to get rid of one thing, right now.

—

You can’t eliminate your entire debt.

You can only make one payment, or buy one less  unnecessary item.

—

You can’t change the past, or control the future.

You can only change what you’re doing right now.

—

You can’t change everything.

You can only change one, small thing.

And that’s all it takes. 

Source : ZenHabits

I would like to add--Serenity Prayer which says 

God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

The courage to change the things that I can;

And the wisdom to know the difference.


There is also a saying that says -- Rome was not built in one day and other saying which says--You can't eat an elephant in one day and so on. What these sayings mean is that one can achieve a big task by breaking it down into simpler tasks and doing them consistently. It takes lot of patience and discipline, because we are so distracted by technology, relationships, friends and so on. But thing to remember is no one can distract us as long as we don't let them to. Nobody really plans to distract us but our own weaknesses keep us from focusing on our goals. We expect complex solutions to complex problems but the reality is, in most situations the solutions are very basic and simple. Over thinking and over doing ruins our path to success. When we set a goal to achieve it is very much possible that we think ahead of time and think of all possible hurdles we may face and we get discouraged by that. Imagine these hurdles as drinking water, if we think of all the water we need to drink in next 45 days @8 glasses per day, we will have to drink approx 360 glasses of water. If you place 360 glasses of water in front of you, then you will not be able to drink 8 glasses in that particular day. Same is with the goals, if we think of all the hurdles in the path to your goal, we will under perform by putting pressure on ourselves. The farther the goal difficult it becomes to do one task at a time. Knowing this, its better to focus on the task in hand rather than whats going to come up. Another example is, say you play cricket, its better to think of present delivery rather than about next one or the delivery in 30th over bowled by some fearsome bowler. Plan for the future and break that plan into minor goals and then into tasks. Perform these tasks one at a time and in the best possible way without thinking of anything other than the task in hand and then if this is done consistently you give yourself a great possibility of succeeding. Success cannot be guaranteed by can be achieved. Remember, most of the thing we fear never happen. All izz well !!!!!!!!!!

Keeping Track of New Habits

We all have good and bad habits, and as we grow, we make changes to our lifestyle in order to maximize our chances of succeeding. Many experts say- to make something a habit, one has to do it repeatedly and consistently. Since we are not motivated at all times, it is a good idea to have a log book to keep track of our consistency. I came across this website (Click here) that will help keep track of our habits.There are other websites that are like this one but i like this particular one. This website allows keeping track of multiple habits. In my case i keep track of the time i get up and the time i have my breakfast and so on. Be honest with your tracking and with time and some effort it is worth trying to change habits.

Hyatt Gold Passport Membership

This is a loyalty membership card from Hyatt and it is free.When booking a Hyatt hotel room or booking something with the partners of Hyatt, just use your membership number. The benefits are many and the most important one is that you get free nights all round the world (after booking sometimes). More details are available through the link below. There are other memberships like these which i will post in future. This is not a credit card and you can have an online account to check your points or promotions. 
Link

Presentation Skills

25 Presentation Tips from Dale Carnegie Training 1. Know your audiences' interests, concerns, and desires  2. Plan your talk with the end in mind; or a call to action 3. Begin with honest appreciation for your audience 4. Be yourself 5. Let an audience get to know you - Share obstacles/what life taught you 6. Inspire using emotion along with logic 7. Write out an outline of your talk 8. Fill your talk with examples and stories 9. Create a picture stack to remember key points 10. Never write out a talk word-for-word 11. Never memorize a talk word-for-word 12. Know 40 times more than you need 13. Practice with a supportive person or a child 14. Watch powerful speakers. Notice their movements, speech patterns - learn from them but don't copy - see # 4 15. Gravity will not be suspended during your talk, let go of the podium 16. Move naturally to different locations on the stage to add visual interest. 17. Use a variety of visual aids - demonstrations, charts, pictures, videos. When you practice with a child, they should say "Cool!". 18. Check venue for distance to stage, acoustics, set up, visibility of screen or your demonstrations on the stage. 19. Decide if you're going to use a microphone 20. Decide if you're going to use a lectern 21. Limit or eliminate all words on powerpoint slides - it seems harsh but they came to hear you speak, not to read. 22. Eat lightly prior to the event 23. Use a pep talk - all positive, upbeat, smile at yourself 24. Know that the audience likes you and you like them 25. Speaking is a thrill sport. Make those butterflies fly in formation.

Note : I received it in my email. Hope it helps you all.

Sogotrade Referral

Please find the link below and don't forget to put "553966" in the reference code section.


Link

Drop Attachments and Add Invitations Directly Into Gmail

I have noticed this feature on Gmail today. It is a wonderful addition to already awesome Gmail. Try it Out !!!

Note : I think it works only with Chrome and Firefox 3.6 version.

Learn and Earn Through Investing

In my earlier post, I mentioned about following kiplinger.com, Google Finance and other sources that are good for learning about investing. I was looking to find ways to get these resources for free. After a bit of research I was able to find some places where we can get these for free. First and foremost, I would check with libraries, if not older issues at least it is a good source of latest issues of Kiplinger and other investing magazines.

          There is a good possibility of finding older versions from the library archives. In addition to this, it is a good idea to search craigslist.com and ebay.com. The best and the easiest way to access Kiplinger issues is through Google Books. Many older issues and even latest issues can be found which I find very useful. There are many other sources that can be explored like going to a book sale or yard sale or just by placing an ad on craiglist.com or freecycle.org. If you really want to learn about investing there are many ways to do it and this is just one of many.

Basic Steps To Manage Bank/Credit Card Accounts

1. Add all your bank/credit/brokerage accounts to mint.com or yodlee or quicken etc
2. Download mint application on your iPhone or other smart phone (if you have one)
3. Set up minimum payment on due date to avoid late charges
4. Pay off balances - minimum payment if you get a chance to pay before due date
5. Use only one or two credit cards a month to avoid multiple payments
6. Monitor your transactions everyday on your mint
7. Call customer service on regular intervals to get lower APR

Keeping your photos safe

1. Upload all your digital photos to online sites like snapfish.com or shutterfly.com or some other good ones
2. Save the originals in an external hard drive
3. Save photos in a portable hard drive if you have one
4. Since memory cards are also cheap these days, save photos in these cards and label them
5. Share all your photos with your friends and keep personal ones with in family members and with significant one
6. Email your uploaded photos link to your other email addresses
7. Remember that they are memories from past and they need to be treasured, negligence is too costly!!!!

Investing tips for a beginner

1. Start reading financial sites like investopedia.com, kiplinger, and Google finance.
2. Make a portfolio of some good companies you find on above sites using Google finance 
3. Follow the trend of these companies for a while to understand how they progress
4. Choose an online brokerage based on your requirement (if you are just small time investor and all you do is buy stocks then brokerages like sogotrade.com, just2trade.com are your options)
5. Choose stocks that are low priced and have a promising future.
6. Take personal responsibility towards gain or loss and for your choices
7. Read about people like Warren Buffett and their advices

Organizing Daily Tasks With RTM and Gmail

First of all, RTM here stands for Remember The Milk. It is an online service that is used by many to organize their tasks and to set reminders. I have an iPhone and there is an application for RTM which is very handy. I used to use Gmail Tasks prior to RTM. Now, to add RTM to Gmail i followed these steps -- 
1. Opened an account with RTM (Free)
2. Follow this Link to add RTM gadget to Gmail
3. Once you add it, close your Gmail window and restart it. 
4. You should be able to see Tasks on your right next to your Email.
5. If their is a Gtalk Gadget on your right, go to Labs (in settings) to move it to your left. 


Leave a comment to let me know if it worked or not.


PS: You can also add RTM to Google calender. I hope we get to see a sync option between RTM and outlook. I will search around to see if we have one.

Integrating Facebook, Twitter into Gmail

When at work it is really difficult to open up all these social network sites and work at the same time. After a bit of searching i could find a post on mashable.com that helped me accomplish this. The steps i followed:
1. Login into Gmail
2. Click on labs and enable Add any gadget by URL and save changes
3. Now open Gadgets tab (in settings) -- you will find Add a gadget by its URL
4. Copy & Paste this URL for Twitter --  https://twittergadget.appspot.com/gadget-gmail.xml
5. Repeat for Facebook with this URL --  http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/104971404861070329537/facebook.xml
6. Close the Gmail window and open an new window to login into Gmail to see Facebook and twitter 


   

Free Admission To All 392 National Parks During National Park Week

April 17th to April 25th is the National Park Week.


Link
Link2

My Groupon Referral

Linky

Letters of great significance

Below is the link to the letters written by Mr.Warren Buffett to his stock holders. He usually writes a letter every year and i think its is fascinating to read them from 1977 until 2010 (present). Market has gone through ups and downs since 1977 but Mr.Buffett had mostly Ups than Downs, so it is worth reading to know how he responded to the bear times and bull times.


Linky

Want to make a note in bathroom?

Sometimes we receive a phone call in the middle of a shower and we know we have to take that call and the person on the other end gives you a piece of important information. You cannot rely completely on your memory and will look for piece of paper/pen and obviously you will not find one in a bathroom. For times like those, here is the solution. Please click on the link 


PS: You could lose wonderful ideas or tasks that come to your mind.

Free Credit Report and Score for AMEX members (Update: 2/16/2011- Link does not work anymore)

Link


Note: its free and not a trial 

Complete List of e-books from University of Chicago

Linky

Free e-book -- Nice Guys Finish Last

 Go to this link and get this free ebook

Tasks Application To Consider from Google

Everyone has a to-do list for a day, but there are too many applications out there to confuse us. I recently found my way of dealing with this. I downloaded an extension on google chrome called as “new tab to tasks”. After downloading this extension, all i needed was to open a new tab to find my tasks list (picture below). I repeated this step in my office computer too. Since it is a google extension, it updates itself on any computer i am logged in with my gmail account. I can make everyday list and can also apply due dates if needed. Unlike many other applications the task lists don’t get deleted upon closing the browser. I can also find the same task lists in my gmail under tasks section.

Readability

I came across this tool that makes reading on Web more enjoyable and clutter free. It is an easy tool to install on your web browser. Follow the link here to install and use. When you open a web page that you intend to read, just click on readability (in the bookmark bar). Remember this will not work on the home pages but will definitely work on the articles. Enjoy!!

You Tube - ads, pics, comments = Quiet Tube

Many of us use YouTube for watching videos, songs, movies and so on but we always are annoyed by the ads, pictures and comments (that distract our focus). There is a simple way of avoiding these distractions and it is a tool called Quiet Tube. Go to this link to drag the quiet tube tool onto your bookmark bar. Whenever you open YouTube, just click on Quiet Tube on the bookmark bar and you should be able to watch peacefully. You can also search for new videos in the search bar without going through this process again and again. 
Happy watching !!!

Some wisdom from Mr. Warren Buffett

• Stay Liquid: We will never become dependent on the kindness of strangers
• Buy when everyone else is selling
• Don’t buy when everyone is buying
• Value, Value, and Value : You are investing in a business (it has to do well, only good ones do)
• Don’t go by attractive products of the companies
• Don’t get suckered by big growth stories. (Avoid businesses whose futures we can’t evaluate, no matter how exciting their products may be)
• Understand what you own
• Defense beats offense
•  A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when  others are fearful – WF
• World will not find you deals. You have to find the best deals/bargains-WF

Interesting fact: Warren Buffett bought Gillette shares because he knows that men never stop shaving.

Other good sayings:

Wealthy people do what others don’t –Yogesh Chabria

My Investing experiences with online brokerages

After the stock market crash in February-March, 2009; I thought I should start investing in stocks. People told me that it is a good time to start investing and this will be a rare opportunity (once in every ten years or may be more). I had no idea about how stocks work and how to invest. With the help of my colleagues and others I was able to open a brokerage account with TDameritrade. My colleagues were very experienced and their invest range is in thousands. My investment capabilities were limited (In hundreds) and in addition to that I was new. After I opened my account, I studied about stocks from many sources like Google finance, smartmoney, Kiplinger, yahoo finance, Kiplinger old editions on Google reader, YouTube and others.

                          By the time I got an idea it was November, but the stocks were on the rise and it was time of thanks giving followed by December (Christmas). It was good time for businesses and so I started my first investment with starbucks. I had little idea on how to choose my stocks but had strong belief that this company will do well in long run. Ameritrade was good but not for beginners and for people who invest very less. They charge 9.99 for each trade; it’s a lot for small investors like me. I switched my brokerage account to sogotrade, which charges 3$ flat for every trade. The only problem I had with this brokerage was the stock prices are delayed by 20 minutes or so or may be less than that. Anyways, I check real time prices on Google finance before I buy on sogo. I found just2trade.com for 2.50$ per trade but I did not find their website very clear.

                         Very recently I opened an account with share trader, which charges 4$ per trade. It is a nice brokerage for people who want to invest on a biweekly or monthly basis. They have plans like basic, standard and so on. If you open an IRA account they are giving free credits to invest for a year (check restrictions). From time to time they give out promotional codes for free credits to invest (no brokerage fee). I use referral programs from these brokerages to get some money or free trades. For example, Ameritrade gives 50$ or 5 free trades for every referral, sogotrade gives 25 and sharebuilder gives 10 per referral.

                         If you have a really good credit history (say 740 or more), I would say apply for a Schwab visa card (the one with 2% unlimited cashback on everything you buy).  The cashback is directly deposited into the brokerage account which can be used to invest in the stocks/funds. I use this card alone for all my purchases to get the benefit. In my opinion, one should always choose a brokerage account based on their requirement. If you keep asking others or search Google, there will be multiple opinions about all the brokerages. Do your research and make a choice. Good luck..

US Mint 1$ Coins

I usually buy US 1$ coins from www.usmint.gov  in the amounts of 250 or 500$. The purpose of buying is to collect coins and also a good way of getting cash back on your credit card (1% to 2% depending on your CC). I use my master card to get some thank you points for the amount I spend. 
                               
The purpose of the program (“$1 Coin Direct Ship Program”) is to distribute these coins all over USA for general public. These coins come in lots of 250 and a maximum of 500 can be bought at one time (500 per president). These coins are named after the presidents of USA. I use these coins in retail stores or give them to get dollar bills. I am getting the rewards and also helping them to distribute these coins in my area. This is a good idea for those who want to build a good credit history. You can order 250$/month and pay them for your apartment rent, something like that. When you try to place an order it shows 4.99$ or so for shipping but at the checkout you will not be charged any shipping fees.

Note on their website: The immediate bank deposit of $1 Coins ordered through this Program does not result in their introduction into circulation and, therefore, does not comply with the intended purpose of the Program.

Entertainment.com Book

I am sure many of you might have heard about entertainment.com coupons. I really like them; I usually buy a couple of books every year to save some bucks. These books cost around 35$ when they come out but they gradually reduce the price and you can even get these for 7$. I buy them using cash back sites like fatwallet.com to get 7$ cash back. I wait till the books are around 15$ and buy with cash back to get it for 8$.The cool thing about it is, there are coupons in book and also online (printable). You can buy coupon book of any city in USA (especially if you are planning to visit those places). Most coupons expire in November but some run until December. One of my favorite coupons is the 6% (10% sometimes) off coupon for American airline air-ticket for up to 6 people. Of course, the main purpose of entertainment book is to get restaurant and movie deals. There are coupons that allow you to get movie tickets for 7$ and most restaurant coupons are BOGO. I really make use of these books and if you are one of those people who spend a lot outside for food and entertainment then this book is for you. 

Get 100$ cash with chase card

Chase Freedom Card
5% Cash Back offers in popular rotating categories
$100 Cash Back with $799 spend in first 3 months

chasefreedomcashback.com/fs3
1.877.461.7277 Invitation code: SS5

Citi Forward Card

100 points per billing period if you pay on time and stay under the credit limit
5 points per dollar on restaurants, books, movies, music
1 point for everything else
0.25% APR reduction when "using credit wisely"

5000 points for signing up for paperless statements w/in first 3 months
6000 points after $50 in purchases within first 3 months

Link

Sharebuilder- 5 Free Real Time Trade credits

If you don't have an account, create one with promotional code FOOL50 or BUYSTOCK to get 50$ after you deposit 50$. Once You have an account you can use below code to get 5 Free trades.

Steps on how to claim your 5 free real time trades

1. Sign in to your Sharebuilder.com account
2. Click on Accounts Overview tab - Promotions
3. Enter Promo code - HVC09NY

Bank of America Add It Up Program

This is a cash back program, if you have a checking account with bank of america, you can register your card to this. It is free and there are many retailers who offer cash back for the purchases you make through this website. The cash back amount varies depending on the retailer. Cash back amount also varies from time to time. Bank of America also has instant transfer facility between their customers.

Bing Cash Back (Update: No Longer Available)

Steps:

1. go to www.bing.com

2. Search for the product or the company you want to purchase from.

3. In the search results, find your company or the product with dollar sign next to it.

4. click on the dollar sign to go to a sign in page

5. The sign in page will display how much cash back you are going to get that day (remember it varies based on the day and the keyword used )

6. Login with your Hotmail or live.com account

7. It will take you to the product page

8. Once you make a purchase, it will take up to 72 hours for cash back to show up

9. Remember not to use any other coupon codes

10. There is a limit of 2500$ a year (This is the amount you can earn through cash back in an year)

11. Wait for 90 days from the day of purchase to get the cash back

12. Link your cash back account to pay pal if you have to get cash back faster.

Note: google or search in forums to find keywords for each company like dell, walmart and so on. 

Sometimes they have cash back anywhere from 5-30% or more.

PS: Bing does not work on gift cards but sometimes it does!!