From Pinterest…Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

The concept is easy and addictive.  Looking from the outside in, you’d say “I don’t get it”.  Once you’re in, your hooked.  You create categories of pinboards for your interests.  Then you browse through pinterest.com for things you like. You can add your own original content, or add a browser extension that creates a “Pin-it” link.  Once you see something on the web you like, “Pin-it”.

They’ve taken the Google+ signup strategy – make the site exclusive, you’re put on a waiting list, and they allow Pinterest users to send out invites.  Once signed up, you’re asked about your likes. Pinterest matches you up with a group of like users that you must un-follow or they’re automatically added to your account. Not a bad way to start.

I contend that the “Share it” features on webistes will soon include Pinterest along with Facebook and Twitter.

The hot topics on Pinterest today: Baking, Fashion, Beauty, Style, Quotes, Wish lists, Travel and Crafts.  I setup my Pinterest boards with testosterone filled categories: Sports, Cars, Technology.  Give it a look http://pinterest.com/stevekhart/  As a professional in the industry, I have to try everything.  Welcome to Pinterest.

1) Facebook   This is a must have for any Facebook user.  The iPad layout makes it easy to use and follow your friends.

2) Yelp Looking for a good place to take your car, go out to  eat, or any local business, then Yelp is your must have app.  Yelp provides user reviews and details about the business.

3) Flixter  (from you iPad)

Going to the movies, then you can’t live without Flixster.  The Flixster app gives you all the box office movies in your area. You can set your favorite theaters for the ones close to your home.  The Rotten Tomato rating and users reviews will help you in selecting the best movies.

4) Skype  With the addition of FaceTime from Apple, Skype has become less important. It is still in my top list of apps for its text and video chat features.  Remember, not everyone has FaceTime and FaceTime only works when connected to WiFI.  Give Skype a try.

5) Calculator Pro  A simple but useful tool.

6) Stop Watch  Another Simple but useful tool

7) Pandora  For the best in personalized internet radio on your iPad.

8)  Zite  Best news reader customized to your reading habits.

9) HBO GO  If you’re an HBO customer, get all the HBO shows directly on your iPad.

10) Zillow  The best in real estate monitoring and shopping.  Housing, apartments, and land.  Make use of the advanced filtering to power up this app.

12) Words with Friends  If you like Scrabble, and who doesn’t, then connect with fellow Scrabblers and play Words with Friends.

13) News app  A shameless plug for the Orange County Register.

14) Find My iPad  It will happen and you’ll be glad you have this app.

15) Any game  Come on, have a little fun.  There are a lot of motion sensor games that will give you a new appreciation of the capabilities of the iPad.

For the developer or techie here are a few others

1) Testflight  Tesing iOS apps, then this is your test partner.

2) UUID Viewer  UUID Viewer is a simple app to allow access to your iOS device information that is most often needed to allow your device to be added as a development item

3) DropBox  With a free Dropbox account and the Dropbox app for the iPad, you can export and import files easily via Wi-Fi and 3G access.

To have a personal message sent to that special someone, use this website: http://www.sendacallfromsanta.com .You can personalize your message to be traditional, or get a little funky with some the the pre-canned message options.  Either way, its pretty funny.

Your message can be sent to a phone number, email address, or share it on Facebook or Twitter.

Here’s a sample:

Brought to you by Google Voice services.

This new iPhone app allows Viddyographers to post a 15 second video. Like Twitter, followers can view the video.  The sign up process is simple and posting your video can be a bit challenging.  The Viddy app allows you to apply canned video effects (8 or so). When choosing a video effect, it also applies a soundtrack. 

You can find it in the itunes store. Best of all, it’s Free!

This is the description from iTunes:

Viddy is a simple way for anyone to capture, beautify, and share amazing videos with the world. Capture key moments of your life, instantly produce it into a beautiful video, and share it with those who matter most. We’ve imagined a better way to experience mobile videos:

+ Instantly create visually stunning clips using our cinematic production packs.
+ One-click sharing to the social web, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
+ Meaningful feedback from those who matter most — friends, family and more.
+ Realtime video discovery and exploration from a vibrant community.
+ An endless source of creativity, inspiration and personal expression.

Viddy is a life-streaming movie studio — on the go. Stay tuned as we roll out new features, premium production packs, additional apps and services. Enjoy!

Find me on Viddy, my profile name is Stevekhart.

It’s a relative simple idea…get paid to wear t-shirts.  Tshirts4hire.com has come up this the unique advertising solution:  Hire people to wear your advertisement on t-shirt.

As it reads on their website: “Tshirts4hire seeks to unite businesses with people through an expressive and innovative marketing and advertising medium: the clothes you wear. Founded on the premise that clothing is a powerful communication and networking tool, our goal is to unite businesses and entrepreneurs in a mutually beneficial manner.”

Well, I had to give it a try (wearing the t-shirt).  After a simple “get paid to wear a t-shirt” sign up process, I filled out my profile. I noted that I worked in the Internet industry and stood out (6’7) in a crowd making me an ideal for any advertiser.

Weeks later I received an email from Howard at tshirts4hire.com asking if I would like to participate by wearing one of their t-shirts (for a small payment). I agreed and told them I wear a 2XL.  They mailed it to me a few days later. We agreed on a day that I would wear their t-shirt.

The t-shirt has their logo on the front and a simple description on the back…

The basic message was to text “ICU” to 62626. In doing so, you’d receive an text about getting more information on tshirts4hire.com. Give it a try.

I got more questions about the shirt than people actually texting “ICU”, which is okay since the point is to advertise.  I definitely receive a few strange looks and even a “did you lose a bet?”  response.  The shirt and I did what we needed and advertised the heck out of tshirts4hire.com.

Give it a try. What do you have to lose?  Sign-up to advertise or wear a t-shirt at www.tshits4hire.com and let me know what you think.

Well, now there’s a site that will help you fulfill your dreams of getting rich…$5 at a time.   Fiverr.com is a marketplace for people to share things they’re willing to do for $5.

Need a girlfriend for a week on Facebook?

This guy will sell you his soul…

While there are a ton of funny or bizarre things people will do for $5, there are some actual practical offers.

Lots of logo creators… 

Even some commercial content…

Anyone can create a offer on Fiverr.com.  Just sign up and post away.  The money exchange is all handled through PayPal. You can even leave, or read, reviews of the offer. Offers, or gigs, are divided up into categories or you can search for something specific.  Use the ‘popularity” and “rating’ filter links to see which gigis people like best.

What’s the most bizarre or funny Fiverr you’ve come across?

So I  started downloading applications.  There are a ton of them in the “market place”. A few pretty cool ones, but the best is Google Sky Map.  It turns you phone into a personal astronomer.  Want to know where Uranus is? (insert joke from a 7 year old here).

Using your Android phone orientation sensors, just hold the phone towards the sky and the screen displays the stars and planets regardless of cloud coverage. It uses the device’s compass, GPS, and accelerometer to see the constellations, planets, and stars.

And best of all, it FREE!

What’s your favorite Droid or iPone app?

The overall show was uninspiring. The major manufactures had little to offer in new designs. There were a few new concept cars and most of the major auto manufactures were there.  Ferrari, Lamborgini, and Nissan were absence. Ford, Cheverolet, Audi, Honda, BMW, and Porsche had very good showrooms.

We went on a weekend which may have been a mistake. We showed up early, but it got crowded fast. Now I love kids but…there were 1000′s of 5 year olds lined up to sit in cars while their parents took the cutest pictures. I guess the playgound at McDonalds was closed. 

 Here’s a slideshow of my favorite cars.

Standouts:

2010 Cheverolet Camaro

2010 Jeep Concept Car

2010 Fisker Hybrid - Irvine California

2010 Toyota

2010 Volvo Concept Car

2009 Austin Martin Convertable

2010 Spyder

check out the 2008 LA Auto Show pictures

- Steve Hart

Hot Prints

What’s the catch?  They will insert removable ads in between the album pages.  Also, there is a 1 album a month limit.

Try out there Facebook App:  http://apps.facebook.com/hotprints/entry.htm

You will get one FREE photo book per month (including shipping) sponsored by Hot Prints select advertising partners. You can also buy your book for $2.99 with no advertisements.

Dont worry the advertisement will be a removable insert and will NOT share the page with any of your photos. (offer subject to change)

Instead of  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=615109271

You can now have  http://www.facebook.com/stevekhart

You can sign up for a username starting at 9:01 p.m. PDT on Friday, June 12, 2009, by visiting http://www.facebook.com/username/. After selecting one for your application or company name, you will see a green check mark indicating that the name is available before you actually claim it.

Consisting of at least five characters (alphanumeric or full stop) the ability to register your http://www.facebook.co.uk/username will become available on 12:01am EDT on Saturday June 13th, so if you really want your name (and it happens to be John Smith) then I’d get there quickly as they’ll probably be gone pretty quick in this Facebook vanity URL land rush.

To stop people from getting a load of names this will only be available to accounts that are already open and active, and you will also need to be careful about what you choose because they will not be able to be changed after selection.

-Steve Hart