While most investors are fretting the markets recent contraction, you can be quite confident that "my pal Warren" has a smile on his face, as does Peter Lynch, Ken Heebner, Bill Miller, Bruce Berkowitz, and any number of fellow value investors that know now may be a time of opportunity. That is because they have the experience and understanding to pounce when they have a chance to buy things cheap.

This is the fourth installment of my series to discover just that: cheap stocks. If you would like to get on board from the beginning then review the initial post which screened for stocks with lower than market average P/E ratios, see Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks. In the second installment, I looked at yield and PEG ratios: Serious Money: Still Cheap Market -- 35 Stocks + Yields & Growth. Then I moved on to the the P/S and P/CF metrics in Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks Yet -- From 35 to 26, cutting nine stocks.

Now here's a stroke of genius! Notice we use an exclamation point for emphasis. We have a period, a colon, a semicolon, a question mark, but no punctuation mark to indicate sarcasm.

Enter Sarcasm Inc. What does Sarcasm Inc. do? For $1.99 the company will sell you their software that includes their special punctuation symbol for sarcasm. The software is compatible with most existing software, such as Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG).

The company also sells T-shirts, mugs and mouse pads. They also have their own newsletter.

So now when you are being sarcastic, you won't need to use a "ha ha" or other words to describe your feelings. You just hit the sarcasm symbol and the receiver knows instantly what you are thinking, whether its nice of not.

Would you buy this software for $1.99?

From his apartment in 1999, Marc Benioff started a new-fangled software company, Salesforce.com (CRM). While there have been some missteps along the way, the company is a model of success. Today, Salesforce.com generates more than $1 billion in sales, is profitable and has a market cap of $9 billion.

How did Marc do it? Well, now we have a chance to find out. That is, he has written an excellent book about his experiences and strategies, called Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company -- and Revolutionized an Industry.

Over 10,000 leaders in technology, business, and finance recently gathered at Columbia University in Manhattan to analyze emerging trends at the second New York Entrepreneurs Week. The conference featured such companies as SecondMarket, FirstMark, Capital Behind the Burner, Behance, Nolcha, TheLadders.com, Bonobos, 1-800 Flowers, Meetup.com, Thrillist and NYC SBS.

The conference's founder is Gary Whitehill, a 26-year-old entrepreneur who strives to educate entrepreneurs worldwide. Whitehill graduated in June 2007 from Central Connecticut State University with a triple-degree in management, marketing and entrepreneurship. Having been to New York City just once in his life, he relocated to the Manhattan without knowing anybody. Whitehill said, "I knew for sure that one way or another, my decision to move to New York would be an adventure I would not regret," and it definitely paid off, not only for him, but also the thousands of people who attended New York Entrepreneur Week.

According to the latest American Express (AXP) OPEN Small Business Monitor report, there are signs of improvement. Yet, the fact remains that cash flow continues to be a problem for many business owners. In fact, they have had to take some tough measures, such as cut costs, renegotiate contracts, sell personal assets and even get a second job.

But there is another way to help deal with cash flow problems -- that is, get better at invoicing and collections. While this can be uncomfortable, it is a necessity for any successful business.

The world is searching for new and creative ways to reduce carbon emissions. Here's a new technology that is close to being from The Twilight Zone.

The new technology is "glowing wallpaper." The UK has given a Welsh company, Lomox, £454,000 to develop "light emitting wallpaper." The project is called the Carbon Trust.

Ever since governments around the world started printing stimulus money, Jim Rogers, chairman of Jim Rogers Holding, has been bullish on commodities.

Rogers holds gold and would buy more. "I wouldn't think of selling," he said. "If gold goes to $1,000 per ounce or pick a number -- I hope that I'm smart enough to buy more."

Central bankers are buying gold, making gold an investment of choice among bankers around the world. Rogers does not believe that we've seen a bubble in gold. He believes that gold will appreciate over the next decade.

Yes I am picking Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) over Apple Inc. (AAPL) in 2010.

Last week I suggested in two separate posts that Apple investors potential gains going forward in 2010 would be far less rewarding than in 2009. The issue first came up in Chasing Value: Ten stocks for 2010 -- Part 9 + Apple where I was simply reviewing Apple for inclusion in the ten but some of the faithful (sometimes over zealous) took exception to this.

The stock having reached an all time high last month was part of what lead me to write, "Sure it is possible that Apple comes out with another winning product but that rampant speculation is among the things that have driven the stock price to where it is. I think the downside outweighs the upside by a large margin so I will pass on this one."

Some of the comments I received only made my case stronger.

James Altucher is a financial journalist for The Wall Street Journal and founder of Stockpickr.com. His articles cover every angle of the market; he also stars in feature videos with other financial luminaries. He is the author of Trade Like a Hedge Fund, Trade Like Warren Buffett, SuperCa$h, and The Forever Portfolio.

He has taken a controversial path lately with numerous articles in the New York Post and Huffington Post. Some articles include: "Global Warming Is a Myth," "Should Insider Trading Be Made Legal?" "School of Hard Cash," "The Internet Is Dead (as an Investment)," and "5 Myths the Recession Taught Us."

Rumors of a new addition to the James Altucher library have entered the blogosphere, so I met with James to discuss a possible new book and the response from his recent aggressive views on finance and the stock market.

Jason Sadler made a whopping $85,000 wearing T-shirts! Yes, you heard right, wearing T-shirts.

Jason is way out there where imagination rules. He dreamed up the idea of wearing a different T from a different company each day. Simple idea. But there's more.

Just getting paid a few dollars to wear a T shirt doesn't add up to $85,000. Now comes Jason's marketing genius. He charges for wearing the T-shirts based on the day of the year. For example, on January 1 he charges $1.00, on the second $2.00 and so on up to $365 for December 31.

Interesting little battle shaping up in the fast-food realm, and it isn't between restaurants -- it is within one. According to the Associated Press, Burger King (BKC) franchisees are suing the company over its recent $1 double cheeseburger promotion.

The reason for the lawsuit is that the franchisees are losing money on the deal because the company is setting maximum menu prices, which Burger King is not allowed to do. The National Franchise Association (NFA), which represents more than 80% of Burger King's U.S. franchise owners, says that the promotion is forcing restaurant owners to sell the quarter-pound burger at a 10-cent loss. One Burger King franchisee said that the burger in question typically costs franchisees $1.10.

Here's a stunning accomplishment. The Tesla Roadster set a record by traveling 313 miles on one electric charge. The new record was set at the 2009 Global Green Challenge in Australia.

The competition was over an 1,800 mile course. The Tesla Roadster reportedly had three miles worth of charge to spare. This was well above the average 244 miles per charge it mentions in its specs.

The winning driver was Simon Hackett, managing director of Australian national broadcasting company. He owns the only Tesla Roadster in Australia and now holds the world's record, having beaten the previous record of 241 miles set in April at Rallye Monte Carlo of Energies Alternatives.

Do you remember before computers churchgoers got up, got dressed and walked or drove to their local church for a live performance by Pastor XYZ, prayed as a congregation, received the Pastor's in person blessing and returned home?

With the advent of computers, the world has changed. People use computers to shop online, get their news, express their opinions and search the world for information about almost anything we can imagine.

Now churches are using the computer to provide church services with all of the components of a regular church service, expect for person to person interaction. These sites are interactive and even provide music as well as live pod casts.

First off, what is smart grid technology? Smart grid technology allows two-way communication between a home or business and the utility company.

Then you are probably wondering why is there so much interest in smart grid technology now? The key reason is that our electrical transmission system is outmoded and overloaded. Our present system will be unable to handle the increasing demand for electricity for much longer. Take the electric car. If thousands of these cars are on the road next year, we will need the electrical delivery system to power them.

The clean technology private equity momentum continues. In New York, a group of partners has launched NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm that will focus on mid-market investments in clean energy infrastructure companies in the United States and selectively in Europe.

The new fund will work closely with Ambienta, a European environmental assets private equity firm in Italy. Both said they plan to collaborate on finding and analyzing investment opportunities -- with NewWorld taking care of the United States and Ambienta addressing Europe.