Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Pinterest’s Chrome extension now acts as your visual search engine for the web

By

pinterest visual search browser business
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Pinterest is giving its Chrome browser extension an artificial intelligence upgrade.

The plug-in now comes bundled with the platform’s visual search tool, essentially allowing users to scan online images to find similar items. Best of all, the entire AI-powered process will take place on the site you’re on, meaning you don’t have to leave the web page you’re browsing to find related ideas and products.

Recommended Videos

Building upon its visual search tools, Pinterest added more complex object-recognition to create its visual discovery system. The tech doesn’t just recognize what’s in an image, but provides a diverse set of results by tapping into the 100 billion ideas housed on the platform. For example, if you take a photo of a blueberry, it will offer recipes that include the fruit, beauty ideas, and tips for growing your own blueberries.

The machine learning system currently powers recommendation and ecommerce features on the platform, including Instant Ideas and Shop the Look. It is also an integral part of Pinterest Lens (currently in beta), which lets users snap photos of objects to find similar items.

Users can access visual search for the web by downloading the Pinterest browser plug-in for Chrome. Once it’s installed, you’ll notice both the previously available save button and the new magnifying glass icon that indicates the discovery tool when you hover over an image online — clicking it will surface related items and ideas. You can also zoom in, as you would with visual search on Pinterest, to pinpoint specific objects, products, patterns or colors in the image. Additionally, to search for items pertaining to the entire web page, just right-click the background and choose “search.”

Aside from its benefits for users, expanding the tool’s reach could also help improve the machine learning system itself. The deep learning AI requires more data to help it to recognize and contextualize a wider array of images. Whereas Pinterest users have been using the tech to scan photos and objects on the site since late 2015, setting it loose on the entirety of the web will only boost its capabilities.

Pinterest visual search for the web is now available to Chrome users globally. The company promises to bring the update to its plug-ins for other browsers soon.

Topics
Saqib Shah
Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more