Tech for Luddites

Today’s T3 includes tips for sharing pins between multiple Pinterest accounts, a new app for searching through Outlook email, and a time-limited deal on Tile Bluetooth trackers.

1. Multiple Pinterest Account Pinning

One of my goals for February is to use Pinterest more because I keep reading that it’s the best social network to help drive traffic to your website. So I enrolled in a course (which I’ve just barely started) and am creating Pinterest-specific images for some of the most popular T4L posts and new ones going forward. I’m also spending some time on the site every day, both to pin things to the T4L boards and to study how other accounts are using it.

It’s not going particularly well. 🙁 There are so many things I don’t like about the platform that I’m seriously considering writing a post called “All the Things I Hate About Pinterest.” 🙂

But until then, I have found a workaround for one of the biggest issues I have with the site, which is the need to manage multiple accounts completely separately. I have two accounts: a business account for Tech for Luddites and a personal one for Elizabeth Kricfalusi. With most of the other social networks I use—Facebook, Twitter, Instagram—I can manage multiple accounts without having to log out of one account and then log into the other one. (You can’t do this in Twitter on the desktop, but you can do it in the mobile apps or by using Hootsuite on the desktop.)

Where this really causes me problems is when I’m logged into my personal account but not currently working with it, and then when I’m browsing the web and I find an article I’d like to pin to a T4L board. I have to then open a separate tab to log out of my personal account and log into T4L. (And vice versa, of course.)

NOTE: I am aware of group boards but that concept doesn’t work for me for this type of sharing. If I could set myself up as a contributor but attribute all pins to T4L I’d be fine with that.

So here’s my workaround for now. For both accounts, I have created a secret board called For EK (For T4L) where I pin items I want on the other account. (Technically, I could have created both boards on just one of the accounts and made the other one a co-pinner, but conceptually I like this setup better.) Then when I switch to the other account, I can go to that board and repin them to the appropriate boards.

It’s not ideal, but it’s doable.

2. New Outlook Search App

I don’t find Outlook difficult to search at all, and the idea that Gmail is better than Outlook at anything is laughable to me. But according to this article, a new experimental app from Microsoft called Email Insights will make searching Outlook (.com or desktop) as easy as searching Gmail (which the app can also search).

Microsoft’s Email Insights finally adds some useful search smarts to Outlook (PC World, 02/14/17)

3. Time-Limited Deal: Save on Tile Trackers

Until Saturday, February 18th, get 30% off a 4-pack of Tile Bluetooth tracker devices. The trackers are little plastic squares that you can attach to things like key rings, toys, remotes, luggage or anything else that tends to disappear from view. You simply install the Tile app on your mobile device and pair it to the tracker. Then when you’re looking for the item, use the app to make the tracker play a sound making it easier to find. You can also use them to find your phone by pressing a button on the tracker to make the phone ring (note this works even if the phone is on silent, but not if it’s turned off). And if you’ve lost an item somewhere else, if anyone with a Tile walks near it, you’ll be alerted to its location without sharing your own personal info.

There are two versions of the tracker: the Tile Mate and the Tile Slim. The Tile Mate is a little thicker and has a hole in it and the Tile Slim is, well, slimmer, so it fits well into a wallet or other tight spots. I have one of each and they both work well, although I will say the Slim model isn’t as loud as I’d like when it’s inside my wallet.

Four packs of the trackers are usually $100, but you can them for $70 until Saturday. You can either get four of the same type or two of each.

You may also be interested in:

Turn Off Email Grouping in Outlook

Stop the Email Threading Madness