PDF files are great if you want to share a lot of information in an easy to read format. And in theory, visitors to your web site can easily download the files to their desktop or open them in a web browser. But the truth of the matter is that opening PDF files using the Adobe Acrobat plugin for Firefox or Internet Explorer can be a bit of hassle. It often takes a long time to open the file, and their browsers are rendered pretty much useless while they wait.

Enter PdfMeNot. Like Scribd, DocStoc, and Issuu, PdfMeNot instantly converts PDF files into Flash media that can be quickly loaded in any web browser. You can either embed the Flash image on your site or offer readers a download link to the original PDF file. And you can convert files that are already online by entering a URL or upload files from your desktop.

PdfMeNot, which was developed by the folks behind BugMeNot and RetailMeNot, has a few tricks up its sleeve that other services lack. For example, if you want to view any online PDF as a Flash image, just enter http://pdfmenot.com/view/ before the URL. For example, http://pdfmenot.com/view/http://test.com/document.pdf.

The coolest trick comes in the form of a browser bookmarklet. All you have to do is drag this boomarklet to your browser toolbar and any time you visit a site with links to PDF documents, click the bookmarklet. Every PDF link on the page will be converted to a Flash link, saving you the frustration of dealing with PDF documents online.

PdfMenot is in private beta until Thursday. Until then, you can login to the site with the username "stateless" and the password "system."

[via ReadWriteWeb]

For those of us who hate giving out our email, our address, our name, social security number, blood type, political affiliations and favorite brand of cereal just to get into a site we will only use once, or to download an app, bugmenot.com has been the killer app of anonymity on the web for ages. The folks at BugMeNot.com have just launched their new service for coupon codes, called RetailMeNot. Sure, coupon code sites are not anything new, but to find one as well done as BugMeNot is rare, so I am looking forward to using this site for all kinds of coupons online. I love that they have the most recent and popular listings right on the homepage. There is also a bookmarklet for those who bookmark coupon codes frequently.

BugMeNot is not new. in fact, it's one of the first extensions I installed when I first switched to Firefox back in the great pop-up flood of aught four, and I'll bet the same is true for half our readers. However, today I heard about a new release of BugMeNot—the first in a great while—and realized I've never taken the opportunity to properly pimp it as a Browser Tip, so here goes: BugMeNot is a Firefox extension that will save you time that would otherwise be wasted registering on, and divulging your e-mail address to, most popular members-only web sites. It uses a database of usernames and passwords submitted by generous users at bugmenot.com to log you in. All you have to do is right-click on the username or password field and click on "BugMeNot." The new version has some menu improvements, including a new BugMeNot Accounts menu that lets you choose among five different accounts to log in with.

[Via Boing Boing]