Pinterest (time waster, or decent info collector)
Posted: April 1, 2012, 7:15 pm
I came across Pinterest a few months back and it didn't seem interesting to me. It's a constant stream of "pinned" images, videos, websites, etc of what people find interesting.
Pinterest does one thing very well. It is extremely easy to setup folders/categories of things you want to collect items of interest in and it has an excellent "pin this" java button you can place on your toolbar of just as a link in your favorites. Anytime you come across something on the net you like (visually, or otherwise), you can click the pin button and it presents you with a graphic list of the images on that web page for you to select what image you wish to "pin"
Now, the front page of Pinterest is pretty much a random streaming of crap people are pinning. That seems like a huge time waster but I found this site useful as a place to hold things I like, mostly images, but I also linked some audiobooks, etc., and also linked some videos from upcoming games that make it easy to have friends view. Instead of linking various youtube videos, web sites, etc. you can just link to your pinterest pinboard.
Here's my pin board:
https://pinterest.com/justafad/
That will give you and idea of the setup.
one thing people on this board might use it for is linking images. Hotlinks go down or are blocked on the net sometimes but when you "pin" an image, pinterest stores a copy of the image while also providing a link to the original site. So, if the original site blocks hotlinking, the image won't "red-x" since you first pin it to one of your pinterest folders. I used that method for pinning the "iGoggles" image I posted earlier on the iPad thread. If you go to the actual link here, click on the image and it will take you to where I found it. I setup the "Holding Tank" category to put random crap in that I don't know what to do with or want to show a friend, making it easy to access.
Overall, Pinterest seems like a time waster in general but there are some interesting pin boards people have put up.
This one is pretty cool for example:
https://pinterest.com/yoch/place/
If you think of Pinterest like an organizer, similar to Evernote or Springpad, it becomes useful.
For example, if you were researching a new PC build. As you comb the net for parts, you can pin them to your PC Build folder. Something like this:
https://pinterest.com/pattulus/audio-gear/
While the above is just a collection of audio gear, the same could be done for anything with automatic links built in to take you back to the original site you found the items.
Another example is my Audiobook recommendation folder:
http://pinterest.com/justafad/audiobook ... endations/
Books I found interesting. I just went to Audible.com and searched for the books, linking images from Audible makes it easy for someone to sample the book and get more info on it. Instead of having to tell someone links, etc. I just need to remember the link: http://pinterest.com/justafad/ and I can tell them to go to the audiobook recommendation folder, etc. Same strategy could be used for most things, movies, music, etc.
I just started playing around with it so don't have much up, and really it's not meant as a site people go to, more for my personal collection of stuff I can access quickly.
Pinterest is invite only right now. You can sign up on their main page and it takes about a week or so right now to get an invite. I can send out invites to email addresses so if you want one, just PM me and I'll send an invite. You need a facebook or twitter account to sign up after getting the invite but right after you sign up, you can choose to "unlink" your facebook or twitter account, and even change your name. Mine's Winnow Papagiorgio, because it's the fake facebook site I set up awhile back to use whenever facebook is required for something. I can change that name, and even change "justafad" as my pinterest website if I want to which Pinterest setup asked you to create.
Pinterest does one thing very well. It is extremely easy to setup folders/categories of things you want to collect items of interest in and it has an excellent "pin this" java button you can place on your toolbar of just as a link in your favorites. Anytime you come across something on the net you like (visually, or otherwise), you can click the pin button and it presents you with a graphic list of the images on that web page for you to select what image you wish to "pin"
Now, the front page of Pinterest is pretty much a random streaming of crap people are pinning. That seems like a huge time waster but I found this site useful as a place to hold things I like, mostly images, but I also linked some audiobooks, etc., and also linked some videos from upcoming games that make it easy to have friends view. Instead of linking various youtube videos, web sites, etc. you can just link to your pinterest pinboard.
Here's my pin board:
https://pinterest.com/justafad/
That will give you and idea of the setup.
one thing people on this board might use it for is linking images. Hotlinks go down or are blocked on the net sometimes but when you "pin" an image, pinterest stores a copy of the image while also providing a link to the original site. So, if the original site blocks hotlinking, the image won't "red-x" since you first pin it to one of your pinterest folders. I used that method for pinning the "iGoggles" image I posted earlier on the iPad thread. If you go to the actual link here, click on the image and it will take you to where I found it. I setup the "Holding Tank" category to put random crap in that I don't know what to do with or want to show a friend, making it easy to access.
Overall, Pinterest seems like a time waster in general but there are some interesting pin boards people have put up.
This one is pretty cool for example:
https://pinterest.com/yoch/place/
If you think of Pinterest like an organizer, similar to Evernote or Springpad, it becomes useful.
For example, if you were researching a new PC build. As you comb the net for parts, you can pin them to your PC Build folder. Something like this:
https://pinterest.com/pattulus/audio-gear/
While the above is just a collection of audio gear, the same could be done for anything with automatic links built in to take you back to the original site you found the items.
Another example is my Audiobook recommendation folder:
http://pinterest.com/justafad/audiobook ... endations/
Books I found interesting. I just went to Audible.com and searched for the books, linking images from Audible makes it easy for someone to sample the book and get more info on it. Instead of having to tell someone links, etc. I just need to remember the link: http://pinterest.com/justafad/ and I can tell them to go to the audiobook recommendation folder, etc. Same strategy could be used for most things, movies, music, etc.
I just started playing around with it so don't have much up, and really it's not meant as a site people go to, more for my personal collection of stuff I can access quickly.
Pinterest is invite only right now. You can sign up on their main page and it takes about a week or so right now to get an invite. I can send out invites to email addresses so if you want one, just PM me and I'll send an invite. You need a facebook or twitter account to sign up after getting the invite but right after you sign up, you can choose to "unlink" your facebook or twitter account, and even change your name. Mine's Winnow Papagiorgio, because it's the fake facebook site I set up awhile back to use whenever facebook is required for something. I can change that name, and even change "justafad" as my pinterest website if I want to which Pinterest setup asked you to create.
