Latest news with #PDF
Fast Company
12 hours ago
- Fast Company
This is the best online file converter—and it's totally free
We were supposed to be finished with files by now. For years, tech companies (well, certain tech companies) tooted their horns about a future in which files didn't matter. You don't even need a file manager of any sort, they told us—and, in fact, we won't even let you see the file system on your devices at all. Just tap-a-tap-tap, don't worry, be happy. Right? Yeah—not so much. Here in the year o' 2025, files absolutely still matter. Whether you're saving a PDF or document, wrangling an audio or video file, or trying to get that weird image format your iPhone-totin' friend sent you into some reasonably standard state, files are an inevitable part of our digital lives. And dealing with 'em, suffice it to say, can be a real pain in the patootie—especially when it comes to the timeless act of converting something from one format to another. With the tool I've found for you today, though, that tired tech task won't be a groan-worthy chore anymore. Get ready for the quality-of-life upgrade you never knew you needed. File conversion, minus the headache Ordinarily, when I find myself facing a daunting file conversion task—be it moving an image file from one format to another, converting some awkward audio file into a more standard MP3 setup, or even freeing a document someone sent me from its silly DOCX shackles—I end up searching for a free online conversion tool. And the site I stumble onto is inevitably slow, overloaded with ads, and at least slightly questionable when it comes to security. Oh, and it also usually has some sort of arbitrary-seeming limit on the size or number of files I can process before it starts trying to charge me some exorbitant fee. No more. ➜ My fellow frustrated file wrangler, allow me to introduce you to a nifty new site called Vert. Vert is a completely free and open-source online file conversion tool. It processes most files locally in your browser, almost shockingly fast and efficiently—and without any limits or any ads. ⌚ It'll take you 20 seconds to start using: Just pull up the Vert site in any browser, on any device you're using. Click the big 'Drop or click to convert' box to select a file from your device—or drag and drop a file from the device into that area of the page, if you'd rather. Vert will then show you a confirmation screen where you can see your file, select your end format, and consider a few other simple options. ✅ And that's pretty much it: Just click or tap the 'Convert all' button, and within a split second—yes, really that fast!—you'll see the downward-arrow download button turn into a solid color. That's your indication that the file conversion is finished. And all that's left is to click or tap that button to download the final result. Told ya it was easy, right?! Vert runs entirely in your browser —no downloads or installations whatsoever. It's completely free to use, with optional donations to aid the development. And the app performs almost all of its processing locally on your own device, without any data ever being seen by anyone else. The one exception is a video file, which does get uploaded to a server. But Vert promises that video files always are deleted after exactly one hour. (And since the entire tool is open source, anyone with the right know-how can see exactly what it is—and isn't—doing to confirm.) The final deadline for Fast Company's Next Big Things in Tech Awards is Friday, June 20, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today.
Tom's Guide
3 days ago
- Tom's Guide
You can mark up PDFs in Chrome on Android — here's how
When you're browsing the web in Chrome on your Android phone, you want the experience to be as seamless as possible. To that end, visiting a website containing a PDF has been something of a bugbear, with the browser insisting that you download the file and open it in a PDF viewer. But that's now a thing of the past. As you're about to discover, Chrome now lets you view PDFs directly in the browser. That means no more clogging up your Downloads folder or tapping more times than necessary. And if that wasn't good enough, you can now annotate those PDFs too. One day, we hope you'll be able to fill in forms as well. So, let's take a look at how you can view and annotate PDFs in Chrome, while also covering what to do if you still want to download a PDF. Here you will discover how to get the most out of PDFs within the Chrome browser. Browse the web as normal using Chrome on your Android phone and tap a PDF link if you see one. The PDF will instantly appear in the browser. With the PDF open in Chrome, you can navigate it in the same way as you would any webpage. For example, you can scroll up and down, pinch open and closed to zoom in and out, or touch-and-hold text to select it. You can also tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen, select Find in page and enter a search term to look for text in a PDF. To annotate the PDF, tap the blue button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. You will, by default, be able to instantly use the pen to draw lines on the screen. This icon is the one furthest to the left at the bottom of the screen. If you tap the pen icon, you can select a different color or use the slider to change its thickness. You also have access to a highlighter — tap the highlighter icon which is the second from the left. Once selected, just find text or a part of the PDF that you would like to highlight and move your finger across the screen. If you have made an error with your annotations, you can tap the Eraser icon (third from the left) and swipe your finger over the lines you've drawn or text you've highlighted to remove your marks. You can also tap the Undo or Redo icons (the next two along). As a bonus, you can tap the eye icon to hide or show your annotations. When you are finished annotating the PDF, select Save Copy in the top-right corner and you can upload the document to Drive (or any other location you choose — select the Location dropdown menu). You can also tap and change the filename. Select Upload. You may not actually want to work with a PDF in Chrome but, don't worry, Google will let you download it. There are two ways. Just tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of the screen and select the Download icon in the toolbar at the top of the menu (it looks like a downward arrow). You cannot view PDFs in Chrome if you are in Incognito mode (you can enter Incognito mode if you tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the screen and select New Incognito tab). When you try to open a PDF in Chrome in Incognito mode it will automatically prompt you to download the file so give it a name, select the destination folder and select Download. And there you go. You now know how to open and annotate PDFs in Chrome on Android. There are other ways of getting the most out of a PDF, though. You can learn how to sign documents on Android, for example, and how to save to a web page as a PDF. You may also want to discover how to scan documents on Samsung Galaxy phones, too. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Korea Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Korea Herald
South Korean civil groups deliver solidarity aid for democracy in Myanmar
Two South Korean civil society leaders visited the Thai-Myanmar border town of Mae Sot to express support for Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and deliver financial aid for wounded resistance fighters, the Resource Center for Asian NGOs at Sungkonghoe University said Wednesday. Park Eun-hong, director of the Resource Center for Asian NGOs at Sungkonghoe University, and Jeon Yae-rin, deputy leader of the Democracy School without Borders, met with members of the People's Defense Force on June 13. The PDF is a civilian militia formed in response to the military coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Feb. 1, 2021. The grassroots resistance has continued for over four years in pursuit of restoring democracy in Myanmar. During their visit, Park and Jeon delivered financial support for the treatment of injured PDF fighters and shared an educational video about key issues in South Korea's democratic development. The video was produced using compensation funds received by former Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon and other pro-democracy activists, which were donated to the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Fund under the Beautiful Foundation. On June 14, the pair also visited the Sunshine Care Center. Around 120 injured individuals are receiving treatment at the makeshift medical facility under dire conditions, without proper medical personnel or equipment, according to Park. "South Korean society, which once overcame martial law and authoritarian rule, must show greater concern for the suffering of the Myanmar people and the violence of the military regime," Park said. "Even a small gesture of solidarity can be a great source of strength for Myanmar citizens." Mae Sot, located in western Thailand near Myanmar's Karen State, has become a critical refuge for civilians and resistance fighters fleeing military persecution since the 2021 coup.
Business Wire
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Wire
Rapid Finance Releases Breakthrough AI Tool to Slash Loan Application Processing Times
BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Rapid Finance, a leader in small business financing and enterprise lending solutions, today announced the launch of SPADE (Smart Processing and Data Extraction), a powerful AI-driven module integrated into its flagship data automation platform, Lynx. Designed to automate and accelerate loan processing, SPADE cuts document processing time by over 95%, enabling financial institutions to serve small business clients with speed and precision. SPADE cuts document processing time by over 95%, enabling financial institutions to serve small business clients with speed and precision. Share SPADE leverages advanced machine learning to extract key data from complex, inconsistent and handwritten loan applications submitted in PDF format. Manual processing is often labor-intensive, taking almost 20 minutes or more per application. With SPADE, this process takes as little as 20 seconds, delivering faster service to lenders and their small business customers. 'Small businesses are the heartbeat of our economy, and they deserve a lending process that moves at the speed of their ambition,' said Will Tumulty, CEO of Rapid Finance. 'With SPADE and Lynx working together, we're giving our partners the tools to process applications faster, more accurately, and with less overhead, ultimately transforming how they serve their business banking customers.' In addition to fast data extraction, SPADE offers smart features like automatic document classification, with upcoming capabilities such as company social media sentiment analysis. Fully configurable and extensible, SPADE enhances the already robust Lynx platform by turning unstructured documents into decision-ready data in real time. SPADE consistently matched or exceeded human-level accuracy during internal testing, processing most documents in 15–20 seconds. This performance empowers lenders to significantly scale operations without compromising precision or compliance. As a native module within Lynx, Rapid Finance's end-to-end data automation platform, SPADE seamlessly plugs into existing workflows. Lynx enables institutions to ingest, validate, enrich and review applicant data in real time, making smarter, faster decisions. About Rapid Finance Since 2005, Rapid Finance has been helping small businesses thrive by providing fast, flexible, and technology-driven financing solutions. Through its scalable Lending-as-a-Service platforms, Rapid Finance empowers both small businesses and enterprise partners. Learn more at
Android Authority
13-06-2025
- Business
- Android Authority
Gemini in Google Drive gets right to the point with automatic PDF summaries
Andy Walker / Android Authority TL;DR Gemini can now read PDFs in Google Drive and create a summary card for quick viewing. The feature comes with buttons users can click to make Gemini take action on the PDF, such as creating a draft proposal. The update is rolling out now to all Workspace users. Google Drive has been getting a lot of Gemini love recently. Google added the ability for Gemini to browse your files and even watch videos for you. Now, Google is rolling out a new feature that gives users instant summaries of their PDF files. Google introduced PDF summary cards, which are a new AI-driven feature that proactively summarizes PDF content when a file is opened in Google Drive. The summaries themselves include clickable actions like 'Draft a sample proposal' or 'List interview questions based on this resume,' two examples Google gave in their announcement. These actions launch Gemini in a side panel so users can get started on tasks without having to leave the document. This isn't the first time Google has tried to integrate Gemini with PDFs. We've had simple overviews for a while now, but the actionable AI suggestions, and the new card layout, are brand new. Users can double-click any PDF to see the summary card. It appears within the overlay preview window instead of opening in a separate browser tab. Google has been sticking Gemini into everything, from summarizing reports in Docs to drafting replies and email templates in Gmail. It can organize tasks in Calendar and analyze a spreadsheet in Sheets. Those are all great, but PDF summaries in Drive could be particularly useful for everyone's productivity. PDF summaries in Drive could be particularly useful for everyone's productivity. You don't need to use the new AI summaries of your Drive PDFs. You can update your Drive settings to continue opening PDFs in a separate browser if that is what you prefer. The feature supports over 20 languages at launch. It is available to Google Workspace customers on Business Standard, Enterprise Standard and Plus, and users with the Gemini Education plan. It is also available for anyone with the old AI Pro or Ultra add-ons.
