Turning a PDF Into a Word Document - Or Just Getting the Text

You can convert your PDF into text without having to drag your cursor over all of the text to copy it, then paste it into Word. Even when you do that, you may bring over mystery characters, like ' or / that you didn't intend, and you'll find yourself either Find/Replace All, or removing them by hand.

Here is how you convert your PDF into Word - from a Mac using Adobe Acrobat Professional CS3. The process may be slightly different for you depending on which software version or type of computer you're using. But here's a general direction you can go:

Open your PDF in Adobe.
Go to File, and select Export > Word Document
Type in the file name, and click Save.
Open your new document while in Word, and voila.

BUT - this method will keep some of the layout of the PDF. This means, if any copy was in boxes, or if there were images, those may be brought over into the Word document. So if you want straight text, you'll want to export your PDF into a Text file. That's the cleanest way. You will get text. Unformatted text. Yes, you will lose bolding and italics and such, but you'll have your text to manipulate easily.

Getting Straight Text from a PDF
Open your PDF in Adobe.
Go to File, and select Export > Text > Text (Plain)
Type in the file name, and click Save.
Open your new document in Text (if on a Mac) or Notepad (if this works on a computer using Windows aka a PC)

Good luck! If you get other results, chime in the Comments and let us know.

Coffee Cup for iPod. Yes, that's right.

Found this on StyleHive, and hived it in my StylHive. A coffee cup speaker base for your iPhod. No batteries required. Runs on the MP3 player power. My question is, how dusty would it get on the inside, and how tricky is it to clean? And, you couldn't get to the dial very easily when you want to change the tune. Hmm.

If this fits your fancy, buy from the MoMA Store.

If you're website's been stolen...

Like if it is being hosted on another host under another domain name that you've never heard of, let alone given permission to, here's what Vertical Response did, who is a major and trusted enewsletter provider:

http://blog.verticalresponse.com/verticalresponse_blog/2007/10/someone-tried-t.html

You need to be a sleuth. Quiet and stealth-like as you backtrack.

First, check the WHOIS Directory. This tells you who owns a domain, the domain that is hosting your stolen site. Or even if they are hotlinking (aka robbing you of your images while sucking your bandwidth), you can check here for some clues. This can be made private, and numbers can be falsified, so it's a chance.

If an email was involved, like with Vertical Response, see if you can track the IP address who sent it, or call your host or enewsletter provider to see if they can help you track it down.

If there is a phone number or any type of contact information, use it. But be nice. They could suddenly dissapear.

Oh, and to get tipped off that this actually happened, set up a Google News Alert for your domain name and see what people are saying about you. Or try Andiamo Systems which is another system, but I've never tried it.

ps: If your website has been stolen, tells us about it via Comments!

pps: hi Vertical Response! I know you just Andiamoed this article. :)

How to Kill a Great Idea :: The Flame and Fizzle of Friendster

Here's a great article at inc.com on why and how Friendster, one of the leaders of the social networking scene, flamed and fizzled out. Lessons on why you need to stop and fix a problem, why coders and programmers should maybe not be PR stars, why big partnerships don't always mean golden eggs, and what happens when too many big cooks get in the kitchen. Oh, and I don't think he (Johnathan Abrams, the founder) started with a business plan.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070601/features-how-to-kill-a-great-idea.html?nav=mostpopular