Explaining Pinterest, and Why You Should Care

Are you just becoming accustomed to the idea of social media? Well here comes another that is growing in popularity: Pinterest. Something that is different about Pinterest is that it focuses less on updates about the day-to-day and more on the interests of the users. This encourages creativity among its user base.

The site’s name gives a clue as to what it’s all about: Pinterest is a combination of “pin,” as in pinboards, and “interest,” as in what you’re all about. After you sign up for Pinterest, you make your own “pinboards” or categories. You then attach photos and images that fit within those categories, as if you were pinning these images to a bulletin board.

Creating Pinterest Categories

For example, you can make the category “Convertibles”. Then you can paste any images you find online of the new Volkswagen Beetle convertible, along with a link to the page where you found them. You can also attach any photos of convertibles that you took yourself as well as add notes to these images. You can then share these pinboards with other Pinterest users.

The Social Part of Pinterest

Just like Facebook and Twitter, you can choose to follow coworkers and friends. You do not have to follow all of a friend’s collections; for instance, you can decide to follow only their collection of art, while choosing not to follow the restaurants they like in their area.

Joining Pinterest

The one challenge with Pinterest is that you have to get invited to get an account. You can visit pinterest.com and ask for an invitation but it might be a while before you receive one. The more surefire method to get an invitation is to have a friend invite you that already possesses an account.

Will Windows Phone make Microsoft Cool?

Microsoft is a household name and Bill Gates is arguably one of the most important names in the technology field. But has Microsoft ever been “cool”? Not really. In the eyes of consumers it’s always fell a little short of hip, but Microsoft’s new software for smartphones may alter the way the company is viewed.

Microsoft has long fought an industry reputation as a sort of stodgy dullard. There is a decent list of unsuccessful Microsoft products. Remember the Zune music player? Maybe not. How about the Kin phone? That flop has long faded from the minds of most consumers.

That being said, Microsoft’s Windows Phone software has captured some attention. It has been well received by both critics and consumers and received praise for its easy to use interface and its clean look. Users have easier access to social networks the in the past, the tiles on the home screen come to life when friends update their Twitter of Facebook keeping users up-to-date.

Problem is, in spite of the clever design features of Windows Phone, the operating system has not become a big seller. A portion of the blame may go to the companies making the actual phones loaded with Windows Phone. These phones are often relatively bland and have blunted Windows Phone sales. As well, wireless service providers continue promoting the iPhone and handsets running Google’s Android operating system.

While sales may be lower then desired for Windows Phone the change it is making to Microsoft’s reputation could have a very favorable impact. Where the consumer is concerned, a little cool never hurt a company.

Increase Your Productivity in Windows 7

Windows 7 represents a major improvement over past Windows operating systems. However, if you do not know how to use this latest version of Windows properly, you might miss out on a host of goodies that can help you work more proficiently.

By mastering a few simple tricks, you can get the most out of Windows 7.

• Move images to outside disks quickly with Windows 7. The operating system lets you burn ISO images onto CDs or DVDs. To accomplish this, you merely have to double-click on the ISO image, tell Windows 7 the drive that holds your blank disc, and click on the “burn” option. Windows 7 will do the rest.

• Finding and repairing problems is quite simple with Windows 7. If you feel like your OS is behaving oddly select the “troubleshooting” option from the “Control Panel”. This gives you access to a series of wizards that can help you reduce clutter and tidy up your system.

• Allow only pre-approved programs to be installed and run on your computer. Do younger people in your household install cumbersome software that slows down your computer? This is easily prevented using the Windows 7 AppLocker feature. This feature only allows your computer to run and install programs that have your pre-approval. You can tell AppLocker to only run programs from reputable companies, so if someone is trying to run a program from an unknown publisher AppLocker will block it.

• Windows 7 includes its own power efficiency service. This enables you to access tons of information regarding how much power your laptop is consuming. This can be important if you’re working from a remote location and are not in the vicinity of a charging source.

Less Then Successful Tech

Smartphones, iPads, iPods, and notebook computers are some of the must-have products of the last five years. However, for each successful must-have product there’s a tech failure. Organizations take a chance when they send a new piece of technology into the market. There is absolutely no assurance that no matter how cool or practical a gadget is that it will become popular with the buying public. That being said, listed here is a glance at some of the most commonly known technology failures of the last decade.

Famous tech failures

• Apple
  TV: This product gives users the power to purchase entertainment from iTunes then stream it to the device of their choice. Good idea? Possibly, if it wasn’t so limited to iTunes.

• Sony Mylo: You will possibly not recall the Mylo. That’s because it came and went without eliciting much reaction from consumers. This Wi-Fi-enabled mobile device permitted consumers to connect to the Internet, send e-mail, and hold online chats. In addition, it came with Skype for free Internet calls. Sadly for Sony, the iPhone and its huge app store simply overwhelmed the Mylo.

The Segway peters out

• Segway PT: It was believed that the Segway PT would replace cars in cities. It made it easy for people to just zip to the market or make the short commute downtown. But it never quite caught on. Unfortunately for the manufacturers, people thought balancing on two wheels made them look a little silly.

The CueCat doesn’t purr

• CueCat: The CueCat was a handheld barcode reader shaped like a cat. Consumers could use it to scan any barcode and it would navigate them to the company’s website. This did not catch on but did it pave the way for QR codes?