Pinterest solves my recipe problem

 
If you cook, I'm sure you've got this problem: You find a recipe online that sounds great. So you print it, or read it off your iPhone. Once you've made the dish and want to make it again, you either have to find the print out, or search for it again. 
 
I've been thinking that it would be great to have a place online where I can easily store all of these recipes I find. That’s where Pinterest.com comes in. 
 
The idea is simple, you create "boards" and "pin" things that you find online on those boards. I created boards for recipes I use all the time, recipes I want to try and a board for parts to build a new bike. 
 
The friend who sent me the invite (Pinterest is invite-only at the moment - email me if you'd like an invite) warned me that Pinterest was as big a time suck as Facebook. I didn't believe her at first.
 
When you set up your account, you select some categories that interest you. Then when you go to the Pinterest homepage, you see a bunch of stuff that other users have pinned. If you like something, you can "repin" it to one of your boards. 
 
Within minutes of pinning a recipe for Crock Pot Moroccan Chicken, a number of other people pinned it onto their boards. I repinned a couple recipes that I'd like to try as well. 
 
Although it's incredibly handy for recipe discovery and archiving, Pinterest isn't just for recipes. You can pin almost anything you find on the web, with the use of a Pin It bookmark. The only requirement is that the page has to have an image or video. You can get around that by saving the page to your desktop and then uploading it as an image. I haven't tried that yet.
 
I can see this working really well for projects that you're planning around the house. Although, one thing to keep in mind is that (as far as I can tell) there is no privacy. What you post is public for the entire world to see. 
 
Facebook and Twitter authentication provide an easy way to login, share your pins, and find friends. There is an iOS app, but it's not very iPad friendly at the moment. It works great on the iPhone, however.