Pinterest

Pinterest's new offer: It's business, not personal

"It's business, not personal."

That's the message from Pinterest today. Taking another step to cash in on its growing popularity, the company began allowing users to transfer their existing accounts to business accounts.

As Liz Gannes points out smartly, this represents a change in the company's terms of service. But it's hardly a shocker given the company's blistering growth. In September, Pinterest made it onto Comscore's monthly ranking of the 50 most visited Internet sites as it surpassed 25 million visitors for the month.

The company's moves are an invitation to … Read more

Limits of using Square at Starbucks

Thursday's CNET Update has a tall order:

Today's tech news roundup explains how to pay with Square Wallet at Starbucks and how it's different from the Starbucks app. Small businesses have been taking hands-free payments with Square Wallet for several months. But Starbucks, which recently invested in Square, is still requiring you to scan your phone screen at checkout. Also in today's show:

- Pinterest users can finally pin in private. Users can create three "Secret Boards" for personal use, or to share with select users.

- Amazon uncorked its wine store, delivering to … Read more

Pinterest lets you make boards private with Secret Boards

For the holidays this year, Pinterest is giving its users a gift that's rarely found on the Internet: more privacy.

The social-bookmarking site today began testing private boards that can be seen only by you and whomever else you choose. It's one of the company's most frequently requested features, Pinterest Software Engineer Evrhet Milam wrote in a blog post today.

The test is rolling out gradually to all Pinterest users and lets each user create up to three of these "Secret Boards," which can be set up on the Web and on mobile.

These boards … Read more

Shopping site Fancy pokes at rivals, touts mobile success

Social-media and e-commerce site Fancy may not have Pinterest's 25.3 million users or even Fab's 8 million users, but what Fancy lacks in user numbers, the company says, it's making up in mobile traffic and, most importantly, sales.

Fancy, which recently raised another $26.4 million from investors, released some new numbers and announced its new gift card offerings today, touting its mobile success while taking the opportunity to ding its competitors.

Fancy has more than 2 million registered users now, and while that's much less than wildly popular social-media site Pinterest or growing e-commerce … Read more

Pinterest lets select 'top-level' domains verify their accounts

Pinterest is now letting users announce to the world they're legit. The social network announced today that it is launching a new feature for users to "verify" that they own the Web site posted on their Pinterest profile.

The pinning site is joining the ranks of other social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, in letting select users show they are professionals in the field they're pinning. For now, the verified status is only for "top-level" domains, which means Web sites like www.pinterest.com rather than www.pinterest.com/darakerr.

When users visit verified … Read more

Pinterest pierces Top 50 most-visited sites list

ComScore released its list of Top 50 most-visited Web sites in the U.S. for September, and besides the usual big hitters, Pinterest made its debut appearance on the list.

Using its Media Metrix survey service, research firm ComScore found that Google was the top site in September, with 187 million visitors, and was closely followed by Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook.

"September also marked the first time that popular social-media site Pinterest cracked ComScore's Top 50 Properties ranking as it surpassed 25 million visitors for the month," ComScore Executive Vice President Jeff Hackett said in a blog … Read more

Access Pinterest posts from an app with Pin for Pinterest

There seems to be a general trend to develop apps that replace browser access to popular sites. Pin for Pinterest lets you leverage your Pinterest addiction in several new ways. Not only does this app negate the need to surf through a Web browser, but it lets you quickly access Pinterest and provides the ability to move through content easily. While there's a full version available at cost that allows you to upload content for Pinterest, the free app gives you the browsing app needed for casual surfing of Pinterest content.

Pin for Pinterest is easy to use. The … Read more

AOL's twist on e-mail: You've got stacks

Thursday's CNET Update is checking your away message:

Just when you've given up all hope of having an organized inbox, along comes AOL with a new e-mail client called Alto. Today's tech news roundup looks at how Alto manages multiple accounts and sorts messages into stacks. The service is in beta test now (so you have to sign up for an invite to try it), but it could be open to everyone by February.

In other news, Yelp is cracking down on companies that pay for reviews. If Yelp sees that a business is trying to inflate … Read more

Pinterest rolls out user blocking, flagging, and reporting

Despite Pinterest's clean image, some smut does work its way onto the site -- and now the company is doing something about it.

The social network announced today that it's rolling out a new feature that lets users report and block questionable activity. People will be able to block other users, flag certain pins, or report an entire user profile for review.

Here's more from a blog post by Pinterest software engineer Dannie Chu:

Blocking prevents both of you from being able to follow each other's boards as well as like, repin, and comment on each … Read more