The register

Everything published, with its status shown plainly. Entries lead with the problem they solve in the words an engineer in that field would use, because that is what somebody searching actually knows.

Sorted by what you are deciding

Filter by status when what matters is how far along something is, by field when you are looking in your own area, and by year when you are establishing a timeline. Those are the three questions people arrive with, and none of them is answered by an alphabetical list.

Read the status, not the headline

A provisional filing and a granted patent are both real and are not the same thing. The status word on each entry is drawn from a fixed vocabulary and links to the glossary, so nothing here depends on a reader and a writer sharing an assumption about what a term means.

Questions

What does "patent pending" actually mean?

That an application has been filed and is waiting to be examined. It is not a patent, it confers no enforceable rights on its own, and it may never become one. It does establish a date, which is often the point.

What is the difference between a provisional and a filed application?

A provisional establishes a priority date and is never examined or published as a patent; it expires after twelve months unless a full application follows and claims its date. A non-provisional is the real application — it is examined, and it is what can become a granted patent.

I am looking for prior art. Is this useful?

Yes, and you are welcome to it. Everything published here is a public disclosure with a date, and each entry leads with what the invention does and what it solves rather than with claim language. If you are working in the same area, that is the fastest way to tell whether it is relevant to you.