Last year, PDF search engines were just breaking ground on the Internet.  Back then, we were only able to find and review 3 PDF search engines—and all three were in beta. Needless to say, you couldn't be particular about your tools or your search habits when there wasn't much to choose from.

Fortunately, more than a year later, that has changed. Thanks to the continued development of online document management, essential tools, like document search engines, are gaining ground.

Now you can find more than just 3 PDF search engines.  Here are a few more that we reviewed to add to the list.

Your daily online habits can be hard to break.  

This is especially true when it comes to checking in on your Gmail. Gmail’s huge storage space and integration with Google Docs and Spreadsheets have made  it one of the most popular email clients online.

Gmail has become such a big part of everyday life that most users can’t imagine life without it anymore. If you have a Gmail account, then you already know that all it takes is one habitual click here, an automatic sign-in there, and one memorized password in a box. 

But as all Gmail users know, Google Mail isn’t infallible. There are rare times when the server is down and other times when there is a technical glitch in the system.  And when that happens, Gmail withdrawal symptoms can be difficult to endure.

So how can YOU survive the day without checking in on Gmail? Believe it or not, it is possible.

Here are some ways in which you can survive the day without checking in on Gmail.

No one can deny the importance of digital documents, and in particular, the PDF format.  It has effectively replaced paper in the most dramatic way possible and is still gaining mainstream popularity among web surfers, office workers and students alike.  

So it comes as no surprise to see a growing trend of PDF plug-ins, tools and services popping up on the Internet. PDF tools are now letting users interact with the format more freely and cheaply without tying them down to a specific software application. It’s just as easy to find a hassle-free PDF solution online as it is to find an MP3 file or a YouTube video.

If you’re looking for one, here are 12 cool PDF plug-ins, tools and services that are setting the latest PDF trends online.

Big news this week as Adobe issued a security update on Tuesday that patched up 29 vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat.  

According to a Computerworld.com article, most of these bugs, which affected the latest versions of both applications, were used to take remote control of personal computers. Affected versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat include 9.1.3 and earlier across the Windows, Mac OS and Linux platforms.

Now for the most part, Adobe had only one sure fire way to staunch previously exploited PDF vulnerabilities: disable JavaScript.  Well after the fourth exploit this year, Adobe is doing something about it. The PDF innovators are tightening up their applications with a few defensive tweaks.

Let’s say you’re searching for something online in the PDF format.  You type in the title (if you knew the file you were looking for) or the subject (if you had no clue what was out there on the subject) and perhaps, even type in “filetype:pdf” (for those who are seasoned Google users). 

Then, depending on the popularity of your search topic, you’d get over 10 billion relevant results, each listed by title. When combing through the actual PDF file results, you would essentially have 2 options: click on the “View as HTML” button or download the PDF to view it. 

While the former stripped out the PDF’s formatting that left gaping holes in the text, the latter was something akin to buying a car without test driving it. You had to blindly download the file (sans scanning, sans security) before previewing just exactly what was in the file. Neither option was ideal, but they were  good enough for getting the job done.

Cue in Google’s new third option: “Quick View”.

For those of you needing a few tools to add to your list of online apps, Acrobat.com, Adobe’s online document sharing and processing service, is offering both presentation and spreadsheet applications.

The services, as of this writing, are still in Adobe Labs, so some features and functionalities are still limited. But they can still get the job done when in a tight situation.

Here’s a rundown of what you can find.

If you’re a desktop user, you may be used to having everything set on your computer in such a way that everything can be done quickly and efficiently. You’re probably so used to your desktop setup that you don’t even think you can gain the same productivity by working online. We beg to differ.

Now don’t get us wrong. Getting things done online isn’t easy. There are so many distractions that can take your attention away from the task at hand. Before you know it, you’ve spent hours on websites like Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube. But it takes a different type of website to convert that online distraction into online productivity.

In recent years, PDFs have become a great medium for keeping printable records of transactions, procedures and work flows to ensure your digital content is safely communicated between two parties.

The authenticity, reliability and portability of PDF documents, are now compelling big tech giants to include PDF technology to their web applications in one form or another.

Google, which has a huge presence on the internet itself, can’t ignore the huge acceptance of PDFs by Internet users. In recent years, Google has been paying special attention towards enhancing the capacity of search engines to index and read documents in the PDF format.

Moreover, Google has also enabled the use and creation of PDF documents. Take for example the online PDF reader for Google Book Search and Google Patent Search. This allows users to read PDFs directly and conveniently. And even GoogleDocs has been improved with PDF integration. You can upload PDF files from your hard disk or a URL.

However, it isn’t enough, is it? What about other Google apps?

Well, believe it or not, here’s a simple trick you can use to turn your Google Reader into a PDF creator. 

When the PDF became a standardized format in 2008,it served as the backbone for other PDF subset standards that mainstreamed certain uses of the PDF. Examples include the PDF/X (professional printing and publishing), the PDF/A (digital archiving) and soon, the PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility).  

The new subset standard,PDF for Universal Access (PDF/UA) is slowly, but surely, going through the standardization ranks. The PDF/UA subset standard may still be relatively unknown right now, but people will know about it soon enough.

Are you looking for a PDF reader for you iPhone? Have you tried other readers, but still looking for another solution? Then look no further than Readdle, a pioneer in creating document related applications for the iPhone and iPod since 2007. They just recently released PDF Expert 1.0, a much awaited super PDF Reader for the iPhone.

Last week, you read about the advantages and disadvantages of Flash—about its versatility, its application on the Web and its integration with Acrobat.

Yet, despite the fact that Flash based web applications, PDF documents and websites are now more interactive, colorful and dynamic than ever; they still struggle with one important feature--Search Engine Visibility. Webmasters with Flash content on their websites have always been presented with SEO challenges.

Due to the lack of search engine friendliness, most developers and webmasters have avoided using Flash content on their websites and web published PDFs.

Let’s take a more detailed look at a few SEO disadvantage points of Flash as well as a few strategies that are improving the visibility of your Flash content for Search Engines.

Before the release of Flash, websites and web pages used to be very simple, dull and boring containing plain text, static images, and the occasional video. From videos to games and from interactive widgets to presentations; Flash is being used everywhere.

As the current leading solution for delivering interactive content, Flash has even pervaded into the PDF sphere. Adobe has made it simple for anyone to incorporate Flash components within a PDF file with everyday applications like Acrobat 9.  

Interested in creating an interactive PDF with Flash for your website? There are a few things you should know first.

In this two part blog posting, we take a closer look at Flash: its impact on the Web, its integration with Acrobat and finally, its visibility with search engines while in the PDF format. So let’s take a look at how Flash has changed the PDF scene.

Where digital documents have made data portability easier, they have also created confusion among their users because most digital documents are complex, unpredictable and platform dependent.

However, the PDF format has given an entirely new definition to the term "digital documents".

Here's a look at some of the benefits of the PDF that have made it a superior file format and  that have changed the definition of what a digital document is.

Adobe CEO, Shantanu Narayen, talked  with US managing editor, Chrystia Freeland, in an interview posted up last week on the Financial Times website. 

What's Adobe's position in the tech field right now? How does Adobe handle itself and its competition during the recession? Where is Adobe heading?

Read on. 

So you knew that Word has a Thesaurus, but did you know that you can format an entire article with a quick command? Probably not.

In fact, there are a lot of features in Word 2007 that can do more for you and your Word docs than you realize.

Here’s a quick list of some of the lesser-known, yet useful and interesting, features in Microsoft Word 2007. While you might not need all of these some of them may turn out to be quite handy.