Finding Useful PDFs Online [Site Review]

PDFse.com offers a Google-powered search devoted exclusively to PDF files and ebooks. An extremely simple and stripped-down interface allows users to locate PDFs by search or by browsing a tag-cloud of previous searches.

A meander through items in the genealogy and genealogy-resources tag-cloud included varied things like an LOC-authored guide to local history and genealogy publishers, a USGS guide to using Geological Survey maps and resources in Genealogy, and familysearch.org's file on Jewish Genealogy Research.

If you're looking for PDFs with instructional or overview information, PDFse seems to be perfect. Various tests searching for actual PDFs of books didn't fair quite so well... books known to be present online did not show up despite using varied search parameters. Best to stick to archive.org and googlebooks for actual books, but for all else PDF-wise, give PDFse a try.

So Fresh and So Clean!

A mini round-up of applications that have caught my eye, and seem to be (potentially) useful for genealogists of different stripes:

* del.izzy: A handy site that lets you search your delicious bookmarks. Adds a functionality missing from delicious' own search, in that de.lizzy allows you to search the page content of sites you have saved in your bookmarks.

* GuardarComoPDF: Don't let the foreign language scare you off. This site allows you to create a PDF document from any .doc, .txt, .rtf, .jpeg, .xls, or .ppt file, without having to own a program such as Adobe Professional.

* Earfl: Another weak and weird URL, but an interesting service: make a phone call, speak like you're leaving a voicemail message, and after you hang up, your recorded "message" is available online, and can be embedded on a website. Quick, get your great-aunt Winnie on the phone!

Mad love to MakeUseOf which helps me help you stay abreast of things...

PDFGeni

[Via MakeUseOf]

PDFgeni is a new (still in beta, and still lacking navigational links kind of new) search engine that focuses on indexing and serving up PDF content found on the web.

The interface allows you to preview PDFs, which is great, especially when compared to Google's notoriously mangling "View in HTML" PDF preview option. This is accomplished using PDFMeNot, a classic app for those unwilling to submit themselves to the often hellish implications of launching Adobe Reader.

I fiddled with the search engine, and it has a long way to go before it gets marks for polish. Quoted search terms don't function correctly, and the design is a murky with some AdSense overload, but I think this search engine can be very useful as a portal into the sometimes underutilized world of PDF content.

I searched around on my current research dilemma, Acadian genealogy, and found some items of interest that I hadn't run across before. It's definitely worth giving this site a shot.

Try out PDFGeni here.