Picasa 2 introduces Gmail-like features such as stars and labels and links into online photo-sharing services.Google Inc. is
stepping further into the management of digital photos as it launches an update
to its Picasa software.
The new version, called Picasa 2, will
be the first release of the software since Google acquired Picasa Inc. six months ago. Picasa, of Pasadena, Calif., introduced its namesake
application for finding, editing and sharing digital images in 2002.
While Picasa 2 adds a range of features
for photo editing and organizing, it also introduces Google-like touches to the
application.
These include two organizational
features copied from Google's Gmail service. The first is the ability to
highlight a "star" icon to organize photos and narrow searches. The other lets
users create labels so instances of a photo can exist in multiple places.
The update also replaces a
Picasa-branded service for buying digital prints with the Picasa Marketplace
that connects to popular photo-sharing sites such as Ofoto Inc., Snapfish,
Shutterfly and Walmart.com, said Lars Perkins, the general manager of Picasa.
Directly within Picasa, users can
upload photos to the online photo services and then be taken to the services'
Web sites to order prints. Picasa does not receive any revenue from the services
and plans to integrate with other sites, Perkins said.
"It's a marriage of client software
with Web services, and it's the first part of our strategy to make the marriage
work," Perkins said.
Click here to read more about Google's Blogger update,
which included a partnership with Picasa.
For photo editing, Picasa 2 has added
12 visual effects options, including sharpening and color tinting. It also
provides one-click tools for fixing common problems. These include "fill light"
for adding light to dark areas and a tool for straightening the horizon in an
image.
"What we're trying to do is to give
users tools to take ordinary pictures with ordinary flaws and to be able to
easily fix them," Perkins said.
Picasa 2 also provides the ability to
back up photo albums to either a data CD or DVD and to create a gift CD that
creates a slideshow of photos.
The new version adds support for RAW
data files, a high-resolution format used by leading digital camera makers.
After buying Picasa, Google made the
software available as a free download. Picasa 2 also will be free, and it
supports Windows 98 and higher.
