Pinterest: Curate the Internet with Pictures

“Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Collect the things you love” That about sums it up. Pinterest is one of those well known unknowns. A lot of people use it and love it but there are also a lot of people that don’t know anything about it.

Pinterest is a personalized pinboard on the web. The premise behind it is to “pin” pictures on your “board” that you create. You can create boards of any category; Technology, Cars, Architecture, Wedding photos, etc. and then pin pictures you find to the corresponding board. Really all it is is eye candy that you can collect on your personal board.

You have the opportunity to follow people. This will make every picture they “pin” show up in the main area where you will spend most of your time. The whole page is filled with pictures that people have pinned. If you see one you like, go ahead and “repin” it to one of your boards (similar to retweeting). You are not limited to the pictures you find on the site itself. Pinterest has a feature in the form of a bookmarks bar button that allows you to pin any picture from anywhere on the web. You will be prompted to put the feature right in your bar upon sign up. When you are on a site and see a picture you want to pin, just click that bookmark button and you will be taken through a short, easy process for pinning.

Let’s go into some more detail about boards. This is an aggregation of pictures you pin. Say you have a technology board. All the pictures you find and like about technology can be pinned to that board. Pinterest can be used other than for eye candy. For example: My sister has a board called “Wedding ideas” She searches hours and hours, looking at picture after picture of wedding ideas and if she finds something she likes and wants to use in her wedding she will pin it for safe keeping. She can then come back to this board when planning her wedding.

I know it sounds a little pointless but give it a chance. You’ll be pinning all night long. It’s actually quite addicting. It’s just a large aggregation of pictures about every category under the sun that you can collect to show your personality. The service is hard to explain, just sign up and give it a try. It’s a really unique and fun experience.

Google Wallet is Here

The new mobile payment system by Google that was scheduled to release this summer is out to the public, and if you use MasterCard or Visa and have a Nexus S, Google Wallet is ready for you to spend your hard earned cash in the most techy way possible.  Payment is made easy by opening the new “Wallet” app and swiping the smartphone, which is most likely already glued to the palm of your hand, at the checkout.

I know all of us forget our wallets on a regular basis, but how often do we forget our precious smartphones? Never. Our phone is always on us. Paying with a phone has to be the most convenient thing to come to this market since the cell phone itself. No more need to fumble around in the back pocket and search and search for the correct card. Just swipe the phone.  If Google can figure out a legal way to keep a drivers license on the phone, the old school leather wallet will be no more.

Unfortunately the service only works with Sprint’s Nexus S 4G. What this means for the service is out in the open. For now, it’s not good. Google needs to expand this to every phone running on the Android platform, which I’m sure is coming. After all, Google Wallet was just released this week.

Having Credit Cards readily available on your cell phone is a calling (pun intended) for all thieves. Instead of snatching wallets, they will be snooping for phones. Identity Theft is a big deal already and this new payment system may make it a bit easier for it to happen. Hopefully Google has some good security features bundled in the “wallet”.

This new way to pay is obviously a big step towards the future of spending. Whether you buy into it, or trust it, is up to you. Will you use Google Wallet? Would you use a similar feature on the iPhone? Leave your thoughts in the comments.