Just flip the switch next to Pinterest to add a “Pin It” button to the iOS “Share” window.

Thanks to the new iOS 8 update (which you’re not going to install until next week, right?), you can easily pin anything cool on the web to your Pinterest boards directly from the mobile Safari browser, all without having to paste arcane snippets of code into your Safari bookmarks.

The trick: fiddling with the settings for the revamped Share button, which now lets you add a variety of third-party sharing services, ranging from Instapaper and Pocket to Evernote and—you guessed it—Pinterest.

Here’s what you do…

• First, make sure you have the Pinterest iOS app installed and that you’re logged in to your account.
• All set? Now open Safari, then tap the Share button. On an iPhone, it’s at the bottom of the screen (it’s the square one with the arrow pointing up); on an iPad, it’s in the top corner.
• The Share window will now slide into view, and just below the Airdrop icon you’ll see a row of buttons, starting with Message, Mail, Twitter and Facebook. Slide that row of buttons from right to left, then tap the More button.
• 

  Once you’ve flipped the right switch in the Activities window, Pinterest will appear right next to the other Share buttons.

  You’ll see a list of apps that you can add to the Share window, including Pinterest. Go ahead and flip its switch on, then tap Done. You should now see the Pinterest button right next to the other main sharing buttons.

Now, find something neat on the web that you want to Pin, tap the Share button, then tap the Pinterest buttons, and presto! A Pin It window will appear. Compose your pin, tap “Pin It,” and you’re done.

Bonus tip

You can rearrange the buttons in the Share window by tapping the More button, then dragging the little handles next to the available Share services.

Stand by for more iOS 8 tips in the coming days. Have questions? Let me know!

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Hi Cindy! Well, bad news first: Unlike Google and Facebook, Pinterest doesn’t have an official, easy-to-use tool to download an archive of your Pinterest boards.

And while there are a few third-party services and apps that claim to download and/or back up your Pinterest boards, none of them does a wholly satisfying job of doing so. Downloadmyboard.com comes close, but it’s still too buggy for my taste.

With a little help from your web browser, you can save a “web archive” of any Pinterest board you wish.

That said, there is a handy tool that makes downloading an archive of your Pinterest boards a snap—and believe it or not, it’s (probably) sitting quietly in your favorite web browser.

What you’ll be doing, basically, is creating a “web archive” of your Pinterest board.

What’s a web archive, you ask? It’s (so-called) “local” version of a web page that sits on your hard drive.

When you open a web archive in your browser, it’ll look almost exactly like the original, “live” web page, complete with images and clickable links.

The archived page will open even without an Internet connection (although you’ll get a “You are not connected to the Internet” error if you try to click the links while offline), and it’ll remain intact on your hard drive even if the original page is altered, deleted or otherwise lost.

Best of all, downloading a web archive takes only a few clicks.

Here’s what you do…

• First, browse to the Pinterest board you’d like to save—yours or anyone else’s, for that matter. What happens next depends on the browser you’re using…
• With Safari on a Mac, click File, Save As, find the Format pull-down menu and select “Web Archive,” then click the Save button.
• Got Chrome? Click File (on a Mac) or right-click the web page (on a Windows PC), select “Save as…”, select “Webpage, Complete” in the “Save as type” menu, then click the Save button.
• For Internet Explorer and Firefox users, the process is almost the same as it is for Chrome: click File, “Save as…”, select “Webpage, Complete” in the “Save as type” menu, then click the Save button.
• All set? Find the web archive your downloaded (check your Downloads directory first), then drag it into your browser.
• Presto! The archived version of your Pinterest board should pop into view—and yes, it’ll open even without an Internet connection.

Note:

Keep in mind that the pins on Pinterest boards load as you scroll, and your browser’s “web archive” tool will only save the content that’s currently loaded on the page. In other words, if you’re trying to archive a lengthy Pinterest board, you may have to do a lot of scrolling to download a complete archive of even pin.

Looking for more Pinterest tips? Click here!

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A new update to Pinterest’s iPhone app finally adds its own web browser complete with a “Pin It” button, perfect for pinning the latest fashions, books, tasty delights, or any other goodies you discover online.

(In case you’re wondering, the iPad version of the Pinterest app already has its own web browser, while Pinterest for Android adds a handy “Create pin” sharing option to your phone’s native Android browser.)

The updated Pinterest app makes it much easier to pin items on the web from an iPhone.

Granted, the new browser in Pinterest’s iPhone app isn’t perfect—you won’t find any bookmarks, for example, nor is there any tabbed browsing.

That said, pinning from the app’s “Pin It”-ready browser is better than nothing—and indeed, it’s probably better than trying to install a Pin It button in Safari on the iPhone’s tiny screen.

So, ready to pin? Let’s get started…

• First, make sure you’ve updated the Pinterest iPhone app to the latest version (2.4, to be exact). Tap App Store, Updates, and tap the Update button next to the Pinterest entry.
• Go ahead and launch Pinterest—and when you do, you’ll notice the old camera button at the bottom of the screen has been replaced by a new “+” button.
• Tap the button, and you’ll get a couple choices for pinning: either by snapping a photo with your iPhone’s camera (which used to be the only way of pinning something from the Pinterest iPhone app), or by browsing a website. Tap the Website button.
• Now, the new Pinterest web browser will slide into view. You can enter a web address into the form at the top, or (probably easier) just type in a word or phrase—like, say, “Amazon” or “Penguin shirts”—and tap “Go” for Google search results.
• Found something to pin? Tap the red “Pin It” button at the bottom of the screen, then pick an image, edit your pin, select a board (or not), then tap the final “Pin It” button in the top-right corner. All done!

Looking for more Pinterest tips? Click here!

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Read on for 10 free iPad apps that you shouldn’t miss, from Amazon’s Kindle reader and Flipboard’s customizable “social” digital magazine to Skype video chat and Google’s Office-friendly cloud storage utility.

Note: Yes, there are actually more than 10 apps on my top-10 list, but I figured you wouldn’t mind a few extra.

1. Kindle / iBooks / Google Play Books

Curl up with your iPad and dive into a great book from Amazon’s Kindle store, Google Play Books, or Apple’s own iBookstore with these easy-on-the-eyes e-reading apps.

Each one lets you flip pages with a swipe, choose your favorite font, sync bookmarks, and download any previously purchased volumes.

Download: Kindle | iBooks | Google Play Books

2. Netflix / Amazon Instant Video / Hulu

Cinephiles and couch potatoes, rejoice. You can press “play” on tens of thousands of movies and TV shows from Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu with these streaming video apps for the iPad.

The apps themselves are free, but you’ll need to be a paying subscriber ($8/month for Netflix and Hulu, or $79/year for Amazon’s “Prime” service) before you can start watching.

Download: Netflix | Amazon Instant Video | Hulu Plus

3. ABC Player / The CW Network / NBC

Not a Netflix/Amazon/Hulu subscriber? No problem. You can still watch scores of free network TV shows on your iPad from the likes of ABC, A&E, The CW, NBC, and more.

The catch? Unskippable (and relatively frequent) advertisements.

Download: ABC Player | The CW Network | NBC | and more…

4. Skype for iPad

Sure, the iPad already comes with Apple’s FaceTime video-chat app, but it won’t do you much good if you’re hoping to say hello to someone who isn’t using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

The free Skype app for iPad, however, will let you chat face-to-face with any Skype users, even those with a PC or an Android phone.

Download: Skype for iPad

5. Google Catalogs / Catalogue / Catalog Spree

Do a little shopping and save a tree while you’re at it with these catalog-shopping apps for the iPad, each of which lets you flip through virtual, iPad-sized versions of catalogs from such big-name retailers as J. Crew, Crate & Barrel, L.L. Bean, and more.

Download: Google Catalogs | Catalogue | Catalog Spree

6. Pinterest for iPad

Wish you could “pin” your favorite fashions, products, and other online goodies to your Pinterest boards on the iPad’s jumbo screen?

Well, you could try the laborious process of adding a “Pin It” button to the iPad’s Safari browser, or you could just install Pinterest for iPad, which boasts its own “Pin It”-equipped (but otherwise bare-bones) browser plus a gorgeous, touch-friendly interface for browsing the latest pins from fellow Pinterest users.

Download: Pinterest for iPad

7. Flipboard

One of the most innovative apps yet for the iPad, Flipboard turns your Twitter and Facebook news feeds into a beautifully formatted virtual magazine, complete with bold headlines and vivid images.

You can also add hand-picked web collections from Flipboard editors or add your own favorite blogs.

Download: Flipboard

8. Dropbox / Google Drive

Both Dropbox and Google Drive will let you sync files and folders from your PC or Mac to your iPad, although Google Drive comes with a nifty bonus: the ability to edit, create, and share Word- and Excel-compatible documents.

Download: Dropbox | Google Drive

9. Facebook / Twitter

Feeling social? Browse your Facebook and Twitter feeds from your iPad, complete with jumbo-size photo galleries, “push” notifications when your friends post updates or replies, and easy photo posting from your iPad’s camera roll.

Download: Facebook | Twitter

10. YouTube

Diving into the YouTube rabbit hole is all too easy on the iPad, and Google’s new YouTube app for iPad makes it even easier to sign into your YouTube account, add videos to your “Watch Later” list, subscribe to new channels, create playlists, and wade through an endless number of related clips.

Download: YouTube

Looking for more iPad tip? Click here!

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1. Facebook / Twitter

 
Rejoice, social mavens: mobile apps for both Facebook and Twitter are available for Android phones, and each will let you post updates, browse the latest stories from your pals, upload photos, and share links.

Download: Facebook | Twitter

2. Netflix

 
Are you a Netflix subscriber? If so, get ready to start streaming. You can browse tens of thousands of movies and TV shows through Netflix’s glossy new mobile interface, manage your instant video queue, and stream videos over both Wi-Fi or 3G/4G cellular networks. Just be careful not to bust over your carrier’s monthly data limit.

Download: Netflix

3. Kindle / Google Play Books

 
Yes, bookworms, you can use your Android phone as an e-reader with the mobile Kindle or Google Play Books apps, which let you download and store, and flip through purchased e-books, even when you’re offline.

Download: Kindle | Google Play Books

4. Pandora / Last.fm / Slacker Radio

 
No need to go without free, streaming music if you’ve got one of these music apps on your Android phone. Each app serves up all the streaming tunes you can stand—albeit with advertisements.

Download: Pandora | Last.fm | Slacker Radio

5. Amazon MP3

 
Browse, purchase, stream and/or download new and catalog tunes from Amazon’s massive digital music selection.

Download: Amazon MP3

6. Pocket (formerly Read It Later)

 
Similar to Instapaper, Pocket (also available for the iPhone and iPad) saves and formats web pages you’ve bookmarked for mobile (and offline) reading. It’s the perfect app for Android users looking to dive into lengthy news and magazine articles on a small screen.

Download: Pocket

7. WeatherBug / The Weather Channel

 
How’s the weather out there? Both WeatherBug and the Weather Channel serve up current conditions and forecasts, plus animated radar maps, video forecasts, and webcam images from local weather stations.

Download: WeatherBug | The Weather Channel

8. Lookout Security & Antivirus

 
In addition to scanning your handset for the latest crop of mobile viruses; Lookout’s mobile security app will also track your lost or stolen Android handset, similar to Apple’s “Find My iPhone” feature. An absolute must-have app, if you ask me.

Download: Lookout Security & Antivirus

9. Google Reader

 
Perfect for keeping tabs on your favorite blogs and news sites, the Google Reader app syncs with the free, web-based Google Reader service and even saves new articles for offline reading.

Download: Google Reader

10. Yelp

 
Where to go, what to do … and what’s for dinner? Yelp for Android will pinpoint your location and list nearby stores, restaurants, banks, museums, hospitals, you name it. Each listing includes details like street addresses, hours of operations, and plenty of user reviews.

Download: Yelp

11. Dropbox / Google Drive

 
Your most important desktop files will never be more than a swipe away with these powerful file-syncing apps on your handheld. Dropbox offers free syncing for up to 2 GB of documents and will (if you wish) automatically sync all your mobile snapshots with your other Dropbox-linked devices.

Google Drive, meanwhile, taps into your online Google Drive account (up to 5GB of free storage) and adds the ability to create and edit Word- and Excel-compatible documents directly on your phone.

Download: Dropbox / Google Drive

12. Pulse News

 
A sleek, magazine-like mobile news reader that syncs with Facebook and Google Reader, Pulse News boasts featured sections from the likes of TIME, The Huffington Post, CNNMoney, and more.

Download: Pulse News

13. Flipboard

 
Don’t want to cough up the cash for a pricey digital magazine subscription? Build your own “social” magazine with Flipboard, an app that creates beautifully designed, magazine-style pages using stories from your favorite blogs, not to mention headlines shared by your Facebook and Twitter pals.

Download: Flipboard

14. Instagram

 
Armed with dozens of groovy filters and frames, Instagram turns your mobile snapshots into works of pop art—and if you’re feeling social, you can share your eye-popping pics on Facebook or Twitter, or with other Instagram users.

Download: Instagram

15. Skype

 
A must-have for new parents (as I’m just now discovering), Skype makes it easy for far-flung relatives with PCs, Macs, iPhones or iPads to say “hi” to baby via video chat. Also on board: crystal-clear voice calling and instant messaging.

Download: Skype

16. Pinterest

 
Browse all the fashions, products, food, and other online goodies that’ve been “pinned” by fellow Pinterest users, and create your own pins using the automatically installed Google Chrome “pin it” bookmarklet.

Download: Pinterest

17. Fandango / Movies by Flixster

 
Wanna see a movie? Fetch local showtimes, reviews, photo galleries and trailers for the latest box-office draws, buy tickets, or check out new movies on Blu-ray or DVD.

Download: Fandango / Movies by Flixster

18. Google Chrome

 
Why settle for the browser that came with your Android phone when you could get the mobile version of Google Chrome, a web-browsing speed demon that lets you sync bookmarks, tabs, recent searches, and other settings with Chrome on your desktop.

Download: Chrome for Android

19. Evernote

 
Don’t let that brilliant thought slip away; instead, jot it down with Evernote, an easy-to-use digital notebook that syncs your notes and web clippings with your (free) online Evernote account.

Download: Evernote

20. Google Goggles

 
Confounded by those blocky, black-and-white squares stamped on everything from magazine ads to billboards? Those are QR codes, and you’ll need a mobile QR reader to translate them. Enter Google Goggles, a free Android app that’ll quickly scan a QR code and reveal its secrets.

Sightseers will also appreciate Google Google’s ability to cough up factoids about notable buildings, statues, and other landmarks in your field of vision.

Download: Google Goggles

Keep in mind, of course, that these aren’t the only must-have apps in the Android Market. Have any suggestions for more? Post ’em in the comments below!

Update [1/3/13]: I’ve replaced Listen, the Google podcast app that hasn’t been updated in nearly six months, with Flipboard. I’ve also added Google Drive, Pinterest, Fandango, Movies by Flixster, Chrome, Evernote, and Google Goggles to the list.

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But what if you’re not so keen on sharing your latest online finds? It is, after all, the holiday shopping season (what, you haven’t started shopping yet?), and maybe you want to keep your best gift ideas secret.

Meet Pinterest’s latest feature: “secret” boards, which let you hide any “pinned” items on your holiday shopping list from the world, or share them with just a few selected Pinterest friends.

Just flick the “Secret” switch to “On” to keep a Pinterest board private.

Here’s how to do it:

• Log into your Pinterest account, hover your mouse over your account name in the upper-right corner of the browser window, then select “Boards” from the pull-down menu.
• On the next page, you’ll see all your existing boards displayed in a grid—and at the bottom of the page, you should see a new, grayed-out section labeled “Secret Boards,” complete with three empty boards. Go ahead and click one of the outlines.
• Next, the standard “Create a Board” pop-up window will appear—except in the middle, where you’ll see a switch marked “Secret.” The switch should already be set to “On.” Type in a name (like, say, “Holiday shopping list 2012”), pick a category, invite anyone else you’d like peek at your picks, then click the big “Create Board” button.
• Go ahead and start pinning—and when you do, make sure to select your “secret” board (it’s marked with a padlock icon) before you click the “Pin it” button.

Now, there is a key limitation to Pinterest’s secret boards: you can only have three of them at a time.

If you already have three secret board and you want to create another one, you’ll have to expose one of your existing secret boards. Just click a secret board to edit it, then switch the “Secret” setting to “Off.”

Before revealing a secret board to the world, though, make sure to let any other members of your board know that their pins are about to go public.

Looking for more Pinterest tips? Click here!

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That’s the good news, anyway. The bad news? Well, read on.

Pinterest, the wildly popular social site that lets you “pin” your favorite products, fashions, and other must-have wares to your online “pinboards,” has finally converted its formerly iPhone-only app into a “universal” version that’s compatible with the iPad.

Related: 5 essential tips for Pinterest newbies

The sleek new app lets you check out the latest pins from fellow Pinterest users, browse pins by category (anything from “Animals” to “Women’s Fashions”) or popularity, and search for pins, Pinterest boards, and people.

Pinning from the web

You can (finally!) pin items from the web using Pinterest for iPad, but a key feature is missing: bookmarks.

Best of all (and, notably, unlike the Pinterest iPhone app), Pinterest for the iPad actually lets you “pin” items on the web to your various Pinterest boards.

Now, that’s great news for anyone who’s balked at the prospect of installing a “Pin It” button on the iPad’s Safari web browser—a cumbersome process under the best of circumstances.

But here’s the thing: the new Pinterest iPad app doesn’t actually let you “pin” items using Safari on the iPad. Instead, the app comes with its own, built-in—and somewhat limited—web browser.

To start pinning, you tap a menu button in the top-left corner of the app and select “Browse the Web.”

Once you do, a web address bar slides open; type in a URL (like, say, “amazon.com”) and tap “Enter” to start browsing. See anything you like? If so, just tap the prominent “Pin it” button to compose a pin.

You can also browse other pinned items from the site you’re browsing by tapping an icon right next to the “Pin it” button.

Missing in action: bookmarks

Unfortunately, the Pinterest for iPad app is missing a crucial feature from the iPad’s Safari browser: bookmarks.

That means you won’t be able to set up shortcuts for all your favorite shopping sites, nor will you be able to import your existing bookmarks from Safari.

The Pinterest for iPad app also lets you browse popular pins, or pins culled from more than a dozen categories.

Yes, you can always copy and paste web addresses from Safari to the Pinterest app, but that could get tedious quickly—as would typing in the same URLs over and over again.

Pinterest for iPad also lacks traditional browser tabs, which are great for switching back and forth between multiple websites.

Instead, the Pinterest app has “sheets” for the different boards and websites you’re browsing.

Your various sheets sit one on top of the other, and you can swipe the top sheet away to jump to a sheet beneath.

Nice, but once you swipe a “sheet” away, there’s no way to get it back. Ugh.

So, are the missing bookmarks and browser tabs on the Pinterest iPad app deal-breakers? Well, not necessarily.

After all, URLs like “amazon.com” and “etsy.com” are fairly easy to remember, and you don’t have to have a series of browser tabs open to get a lot of pinning done.

And let’s not forget that the Pinterest iPad app is, of course, free.

That said, I’d recommend giving the Pinterest iPad app a thorough test drive before deleting the “Pin It” button that you painstakingly installed on the iPad’s Safari browser.

Looking for more articles about Pinterest? Click here!

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Karen writes: Hey Ben, do you have any suggestions for how to get the Pinterest pin button to work on an iPad 2? I had no trouble installing it on my PC laptop, but the directions for adding one to the iPad don’t seem to work. Thanks for any guidance you may be able to provide.

Greetings, Karen! Sorry to hear you’re having Pinterest woes.

Probably the No. 1 question I’m asked about Pinterest is how to add the “Pin It” button to the iPad; unfortunately, though, there’s no easy way to do it.

Update [9/18/14]: Thanks to iOS 8, there’s now a much easier way to add a “Pin It” button to your iPad or iPhone.

The official Pinterest blog has a step-by-step guide on how to install a “Pin It” bookmark on the iPad’s Safari web browser—a convoluted process that involves creating a new bookmark, then manually copying and pasting several lines of jibberish (or “javascript,” if you’re really interested) into the bookmark’s address field.

The only problem is that the resulting bookmark won’t really pin anything—or at least, it didn’t when I tried it.

After a little testing, I found that the official Pinterest instructions for iPad actually will work; it’s just that the necessary bookmark code on the Pinterest blog post isn’t surviving the trip from the iPad’s copy/paste clipboard to Safari’s bookmarks menu.

I’ve reformatted the “Pin It” code you’ll need, and you can grab it here:

javascript:void((function(){var%20e=document.createElement('script');e.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');e.setAttribute('charset','UTF-8');e.setAttribute('src','http://assets.pinterest.com/js/pinmarklet.js?r='+Math.random()*99999999);document.body.appendChild(e)})());

Just tap and hold the lines of text with your fingertip, then tap the “Copy” button.

Just tap the above text on your iPad with your fingertip, hold it, then wait until it’s gobbled up by the blue copy/paste box. Once that happens, tap the “Copy” button that appears.

Update [9/9/13]: Having trouble selecting the special code on your iPad? If so, our new mobile “skin” for iPad users is probably to blame. Never fear, though; just click this link and copy it from the page that appears.

Now, tap the “share” button in the top-left corner of the iPad’s Safari interface (it’s marked with a curved arrow, to the left of the address bar), select Add Bookmark, rename the bookmark to “Pin It” or whatever you prefer (click the “x” in the first blank and start typing), and then put bookmark somewhere easy to find—say, in the “Bookmarks Bar” folder. Finally, tap Save.

Next, tap the Bookmarks icon (it’s right next to the share button, and looks like an open book), tap the Edit button, and select the “Pin It” bookmark you just created; that should bring up the “Edit Bookmark” windows.

Still with me? Now it’s time to paste that code you copied earlier.

Just tap & hold the Address field in the Edit Bookmark, then tap the Paste button to add the necessary Pin It button code.

Tap the second blank in the window—the one with the web address in it—and then tap the little “x” that appears on the right. Tap the space again, then tap the “Paste” button.

Presto! All the code you copied a minute ago should now have jumped into the bookmark. To save your changes, tap anywhere outside of the “Edit Bookmark” window.

Ready to test? Go to a page with a product you’d like to pin, select your “Pin It” bookmark, and with any luck, you should be pinning.

Note: Make sure you’re logged in to your Pinterest account on your iPad before you start pinning, or else you’ll get a rude error message that reads: “Safari cannot open the page because the address is invalid.”

So, hope that works. Still having trouble? Let us know in the comments below.

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That’s the idea behind Pinterest, a red-hot social-networking craze that’s actually showing some staying power.

Once you’ve joined Pinterest, you too can pin your favorite products, curate your own online pinboards, and discover a treasure trove of nifty things pinned by fellow Pinterest members.

So, ready to start pinning? Here’s a few tips to get you started with Pinterest, beginning with…

1. Ask your friends for an invite

You still need an invitation before you can sign up for Pinterest, but don’t worry; Pinterest invites are easy to come by. Any current Pinterest user can hand out invites to their friends, so ask around or post a request on Facebook.

Still no luck? Drop me a line and I’ll send you one.

Related: Listen to our podcast about Pinterest!

2. Add the “Pin It” button to your browser, and start pinning

There’s no better way to get the hang of Pinterest than to jump right in and start pinning—and the easiest way to pin products, pictures, or just about anything else online is to add the official “Pin It” button to your web browser.

See something on the web you want to pin? Just click the "Pin It" button on your browser.

Just visit this page once you’re logged in, then drag the “Pin It” button into your browser’s “favorites” bar (or, in Internet Explorer, right-click the button and select “Add to Favorites”).

Next, try this: visit your favorite blog or online retailer, find something you really, really want to buy, and click your new “Pin It” button.

Once you do, Pinterest will scan the webpage for product images and let you pick the best one; then, a window will appear with the photo you selected, a pull-down menu that lists all your Pinterest boards (just pick “Products I Love” for now), and a space for a description. Write a few words (like, “Now this I gotta get!”), and click “Pin It.”

And just like that, you’ve posted your first pin!

3. Create boards for your pins

What good is a pin without a board to pin it on, right?

If you’re just getting started with Pinterest, you’ll find that you’ve already got a half-dozen boards ready to go: “Products I Love,” “Neighborhood Finds,” “My Style,” “For the Home,” “Places I’d Like to Go,” and “Favorite Places and Spaces.” That’s a good start, but don’t be afraid to strike out and create some boards of your own.

You can create as many virtual "pinboards" as you like. (I still have some work to do, obviously.)

For example, I’m constantly on the lookout for new and classic Blu-ray movies to buy, so I just created a new Pinterest board—”better on blu”—devoted to the Blu-ray discs on my wish list.

Are you more interested in fashion, or gardening? How about some goodies for the kitchen—or some recipies you want to try? Board-friendly topics, all.

A few other clever examples I found on Pinterest: “Small things that work very well,” “DIY” (“do it yourself”), “Fitness,” “Everything awesome,” “Let’s find the BEST quotes of all time and put them here!”, and “I do” (think wedding ideas).

4. Follow some strangers

Unlike, say, Facebook, there’s nothing private about Pinterest. (Some would argue there’s nothing private about Facebook, either, but that’s another story.)

When you pin a snazzy-looking pair of shoes on Pinterest, the whole world (or the whole world on Pinterest, anyway) will see it—and that’s the whole point.

Indeed, only about half the fun of Pinterest is pinning your favorite products; the other half is discovering (and “repinning,” if you choose) new products, especially those pinned by complete (but hopefully like-minded) strangers.

Don’t be afraid to follow someone on Pinterest who you’ve never met. No, you won’t freak them out; in fact, they might just follow you back if they like your style. To follow someone on Pinterest, click their name on one of their pins; then, on the following page, click the red “Follow All” button.

Want to browse Pinterest from your iPhone, or even pin an iPhone photo? No problem.

Another option: rather than following all of someone else’s pins, you can follow one or more of their specific Pinterest boards instead. Again, just click a Pinterest user’s name, then click “Follow” on the boards you’d like to keep tabs on. You can also click the name of a board from a single pin and click the red “Follow” button.

5. Pin photos from your iPhone

Pinterest has its own free iPhone app, good for browsing pins on the go or—even better—pinning photos you’ve taken with the iPhone’s camera. Just snap a picture, add a caption, select one of your boards, and click the “Pin It” button. Done! (There’s still no official Pinterest app for Android phones, unfortunately—or at least, not yet.)

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Santa’s Bag & Hanukkah Gift List are essentially two versions of the same holiday-shopping app.

Santa’s Bag & Hanukkah Gift List (99 cents each)
This pair of handy apps (which, by the way, were built by the same developer) will let you set a shopping budget, add pictures for each person on your shopping list and keep track of whether a particular gift has been bought, wrapped, or given. There’s even a place where you can jot down those fleeting gift ideas that always manage to slip your mind just when you need them.

Pic2shop (free)
Finding the best price on a gift for someone you love is icing on the cake. I use this app to scan the bar code of something I’ve found in a brick-and-mortar store and immediately find out where I can buy it for less. Most of time (you guessed it), you’ll find cheaper prices online. You can also use Pic2shop to keep track of great gift ideas while browsing the aisles; just scan the bar code and tap a button to save the item to your wish list.

Share your shopping ideas with fellow Pinterest users by “pinning” your picks to a virtual pinboard.

Pinterest (free)
Here’s a site I never knew I needed. Once you sign up (Pinterest is still in “invitation-only” mode, but feel free to ask us for an invite), your “profile” is like a collage of themed bulletin boards. See a product online (anything from, say, a cell phone to a sweater) that would make the perfect gift? Just “pin” it to one of your boards using a bookmark in your browser, or with the free iPhone app.

Once you start pinning, your friends and “followers” on Pinterest can “like” or “re-pin” your picks; likewise, you can browse and favorite the pinned products of the Pinterest users that you’re following.

Related: Visit the here’s the thing Holiday Gift Guide on Pinterest

Simple Soiree ($1.99)
Holiday parties can be exhausting to plan, but this easy-to-use app helps me keep track of tons of miscellaneous details, from the RSVP list and the menu to the glass-to-guest ratio and which guest brought which gift.

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