If you've ever wondered about alternative methods of finding good reading material you wouldn't otherwise find in a local bookstore, Wattpad has you covered. The same goes for people who find themselves a bit short on cash but itching to dive into an engrossing new read.

Wattpad offers ebooks written by both professional and aspiring authors. Similar to Authonomy and Inkpop, Wattpad's primary difference is about eighty percent of its members are readers as opposed to aspiring authors. The community feel is consequently a little different. As a member of Wattpad, you can browse through a variety of different novel genres and read finished and unfinished works. Wattpad also lets you review or comment on specific chapters and author's home pages, as well as become their fan and receive notifications whenever new updates are published on the site. It's a great way to connect with other readers and also interact with your favorite, newly-discovered authors.

Wattpad also lets you personalize your profile, add your own writing samples and broadcast messages to your fans, all with a few simple clicks.

If you're looking for a fun and easy way to find new reading material, give Wattpad a try.

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Almost identical to Pinterest, Indulgy lets users organize the photos they find online in a coherent way so you can keep track of your favorites in an easily viewable interface. Currently, you can only join by logging in via your Facebook account, although you're not required to post anything you collect publicly on Facebook.

Indulgy is simple. Once logged in, you can either browse the images on the site's main page, search for something specific, or upload your own images. You organize your images by creating Collections, the names of which are entirely up to you. Alternatively, you can keep the original image Indulgy poster's Collection title if you prefer as well.

Much like Pinterest, Indulgy has a number of browser plugins that make it easier to add the images you find off-site onto your account as well. You can even suggest images to other users, although the catch is that they have to be following you first. Unfortunately, unlike Pinterest, you can't comment or really get any more social than offering image suggestions to followers.

For users who just want an online space to organize the images they've discovered online, Indulgy gets the job done, although people looking for a more social element to their photo sharing will probably prefer Pinterest.

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While sites like Authonomy and Inkpop let you submit your written work for critique, Goodreads lets you critique the work of other published authors, from famous writers to those who're self-published. Create an account, personalize your profile, find friends to follow and you can get started.

You can either search for books you've read by title or author name and then rate on a one to five star basis. The Goodreads ratings, of course, refer to your personal preference as to whether you enjoyed the book or not. A one star rating means "didn't like it," whereas a five star rating indicates "it was amazing." There's also the option to add specific books into a to-be-read category on your Goodreads profile. The next time you see a book you haven't yet read that looks interesting, you'll be able to store its information for reference later. Goodreads also lets you write book reviews, so you can share your opinions about a specific book with others. The reviews are equally useful for getting a sense of whether a book you haven't yet read is one you might want to read in the future.

If you're a published author, you can become a Goodreads author, which lets you show off your work, post blog entries and answer fan comments. Also, if you're in a hurry and always on the go, download the Goodreads iPhone app.

Goodreads is simply a fantastic way to track, review and rate the books you've read.

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This web-based daily deals site compliments Groupon’s mobile apps for the iPhone and Android platforms. It allows you to check out daily deals wherever you have an internet connection. Each day, Groupon offers a new deal at a discounted rate, generally ranging from 40-60% off the going market price. The deals are tailored specifically to your city of residence and are described in a quirky and often humorous way that is fast becoming Groupon’s calling card.

Each deal requires a specific number of Groupon users to purchase it before it will become valid. If the requisite number of people do not purchase it, users who initially chose to buy it will not have their credit cards charged. If enough people do make the purchase, however, Groupon will let you know that “the deal is on!”

You can share deals with friends via email, Twitter, or Facebook quite easily. In addition, you’re given a special discount if you refer friends to purchase specific deals.

Groupon is a convenient and innovative way to find out about the best deals in your city.

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There are a lot of great pictures online, from memes to gorgeous professional photography. You can opt to save the ones you like to your computer or maybe even post them to Tumblr, although if you're a frequent poster they might soon get lost in the chatter. Pinterest is an alternative that lets you organize all your favorite photos and show them off to others.

How it works

By creating folders to organize the content you find online into pinboards, you'll be able to tailor your interests and even organize them into more specific sub-categories to make them searchable to other users on Pinterest. You can add an image to your Pinterest pinboard manually or in Chrome with a one-click add-on. There's also the option to upload images saved on your computer directly to the site. Just be sure to add a link back to the original source to credit its creator!

Features

Pinterest also offers a feature that lets you "Repin" an image and add it directly to the pinboard of your choice. This is a nice option if you're following a lot of other site users and find things you like on their pinboards.

In addition, Pinterest can also be accessed as an app on the Pokki desktop platform.

Pinterest is a visually appealing way to organize the photos you find and want to keep track of online.

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The system works by businesses signing up to the service, and then LivingSocial forwards you a selection of deals daily via email, which you can take advantage of either by using the website or via LivingSocial's apps for iPhone and Android. There are 'escapes', for travel deals and 'daily deals', which could be anything from cut price club entry to a discounted Brazilian blow dry.

If you sign up for a LivingSocial account you can email offers to your friends, and if three use your link to buy the deal, you get yours free. The site itself couldn't be simpler - the interface is a piece of cake to navigate and is very attractive.

The downside of LivingSocial is simply that it doesn't cover all cities yet, although more are being added. The other issue is that you are always restricted to the offers on LivingSocial for that day - there is no search, and you can't refine the kind of deals you want to receive.

If you're an avid bargain hunter, LivingSocial might just be the site for you.

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Using about.me is piece of cake. After creating your user account, you're ready to start creating your page. The about.me personal pages are highly customizable: you can add a short description about yourself, insert a background image, and link to your profiles in dozens of online services and social networks.

The customization options in about.me also include colors and text fonts, as well as the possibility to drag elements around the page until you're satisfied with the layout.

Once you’re done, your about.me page will be available under a personal domain – something like about.me/yourusername – ready for you to share with anyone.

about.me offers an instant preview of all changes, which works great when working on the page design. The tool also includes profile statistics, though this functionality is still at a beta stage and doesn't provide much information yet.

With about.me you can easily create a personal splash page with all your information and online profiles in almost no time.

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If you're a Kindle owner, you're probably aware of the ability to lend out books you've bought to other Kindle users. Amazon lets you do this on a one-time-only basis for up to 14 days. But what if you don't know anyone else who owns books in Kindle format? That's where the Lendle web app comes in.

Lendle provides a free service that connects owners of Kindle ebooks so that they can accept requests to lend their books to other interested users. Sign up for an account on Lendle's site, create your profile and add books you've bought and currently own. Based on books that are considered lendable, Lendle gives you a certain number of borrow requests yourself. These let you submit requests to other Lendle users who own books you'd like to borrow for 14 days. It's up to the user who actually owns the book to approve your request. Once approved, the book is all yours to enjoy for that two week period before being returned to the original owner.

Unfortunately, a lot of book authors and publishers don't allow their books to be lent out, greatly reducing the usability of Lendle's service and cutting the amount of books that can be shared from user to user. Amazon also has a policy of only allowing a user to lend each book one time, so once you accept a lend request on one of your books, you can no longer lend it out to anyone else in the future. This is more a downside to Amazon's service, however, as Lendle is simply complying with Kindle regulations. Right now, book lending is only available to US users as well.

Lendle is a useful service for anyone who'd like to share Kindle ebooks across the web.

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Lots of people who had pen pals when they were children got to enjoy the excitement of getting mail from someplace else around the world. It not only taught you about another culture, but sometimes helped you improve a foreign language and meet someone entirely different from yourself.

Postcrossing builds on this concept and lets users receive postcards from virtually anywhere in the world where a user has registered for the site. Postcrossing lets you receive one international postcard for every one you send out. You can request postcards from specific locations or just leave it up to chance for a surprise when you find one in your mailbox.

Simply fill in some basic location information about yourself after you create a Postcrossing account and you can get started. You could make your own custom postcard with a program like Adobe Photoshop Elements or just buy one the traditional way. The main point is to get something that shows off something special about the city you live in or your culture. In order to receive cards, you do have to list your address, which requires a little leap of faith on your part. You don't have to list your name or even your gender if that makes you uncomfortable, however.

Once you receive a postcard you can return to the Postcrossing site and log its information. Postcrossing has a postcard gallery for you to display the cards you've received. You can also track how far your mail has traveled in kilometers from your profile.

If you love receiving mail from all around the world, Postcrossing is a great way to track your mail and document your growing postcard collection.

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One of the worst feelings experienced by conscientious consumers is buyer regret, be it at a clothing store, local gym or restaurant. If customer service is important to you, make sure you're prepared before visiting certain businesses by checking out Yelp before you go.

On Yelp, you can be a passive observer or an active reviewer completely at your own whim. Use Yelp to search for specific businesses or even something more basic like "cheap dinners" in specific cities, states or zip codes. If it's been reviewed on Yelp, you'll find what you're looking for in no time.

Yelp reviewers have the option to give a business anywhere from one star at the worst and five stars if a business is truly great. They can also write a personalized review of their experiences. Make sure to take note of the date of the review though, as some of the top ones can be from a few years back and may no longer be relevant.

If you decide you want to get in on the reviewing fun, you can create a profile, add friends via Facebook, write reviews and even share them on Facebook, Twitter and more. If people like your reviews, they can compliment you on them, which boosts your Yelp street cred and puts you one step closer to becoming a Yelp Elite. You can also organize your reviews into lists for easier browsing later on.

Yelp is a great way to make informed financial decisions before choosing to go out on the town.

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