Google Gives Away Digital Photo App

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Last week Google acquired Picasa which enables users to easily manage and share digital photographs. Now you can download Picasa from Google for free (version 1.6). Before Google acquired Picasa its software was listed for $29.

Picasa's image management software is now available as a free download.

One week after announcing that it had snapped up Picasa, Google is promoting the acquired company on its home page, encouraging users to "download Picasa from Google" for free. On Tuesday, Google's home page was offering downloads of the Picasa version 1.6 software, which allows users to transfer, organize, edit, print, and share digital photos. The download is 3.6MB in size and compatible with Microsoft's Windows only, according to information posted on the Google site.

The download is 3.6MB in size and compatible with Microsoft's Windows only, according to information posted on the Google site. Google, in Mountain View, California, revealed that it had bought the software maker last week for an undisclosed sum. At the time, company representatives would not disclose when or how Picasa's technology would be further integrated with Google's offerings. Google said it had already incorporated some of Picasa's technology for publishing and sharing photos into its Blogger service last May.

Download: Picasa 1.6

News source: PCWorld.com

Updates

According to the article at MSNBC, the new iPod will also contain the following features:

Longer battery life (50%) through more efficient method of power conservation.

Increased averaged play time, now at 12 hours.

Multiple On-The-Go playlist support

Ability to delete songs off the playlist

Users will now be given a choice to play their tunes at 25% slower or faster.

Lower price: $399 for 40GB, and $299 for 20GB. The 15 GB model has been discontinued.

Personally, I am hoping that some of these new features will be made available to existing users through firmware updates. I guess we will just have wait and see...

#1 jmc777 on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:18

I can confirm that "The download is 3.6MB in size and compatible with Microsoft's Windows only, according to information posted on the Google site.".

(3 replies) #2 WishX on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:18

They should have acquired ACDSee or InfranView or ThumbsPlus. Then we're talking photo apps!

#2.1 [M] on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:26

i agree!
ACDSee and IrfanView are good! dunno bout ThumbsPlus though

#2.2 chacho on 20 Jul 2004 - 22:07

ACDSee has gone bloat recently, best version was a while back. IrfanView is just a viewer, not an organizer/editor/etc as Picasa is, and looks much crappier as well.

#2.3 LampkinsMateSteve on 21 Jul 2004 - 08:33

Irfanview is free anyway?

#3 Saadu on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:27

Love it. Click Timeline

But i wish someone would make that Longhorn type photo sort where you can see photos like a matrix. I guess we'll have to wait for longhorn but thats like 2-3 yrs away.

(1 reply) #4 shao on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:33

how long before they move the photo timeline / sharing purely online via a googlised photobucket style service? not long methinks..

roll on photo analysing / index, and ad delivery systems based on what's shown in the images.

#4.1 imtoomuch on 20 Jul 2004 - 17:30

I had the same thoughts. I doubt Google acquired this software without a plan on how to make money off of it.

(2 replies) #5 webweb on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:42

2-3 Years away for Longhorn? It'll be released in Q1-Q2 of 2006. That's just 1-5 to 2 years away.

#5.1 Lurchybaby on 20 Jul 2004 - 16:48

with that kind of lead time, you don't think the release date will slip slightly?
Case in point, XP Service Pack 2

#5.2 gflores on 20 Jul 2004 - 18:20

They'll make the release date... after they remove X number of features

(1 reply) #6 Monkeys4me on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:47

Hmmmm... they don't mention whether this is the full or the 15-day trial version of Picasa. I've sent an e-mail to their support dept to find out.

#6.1 jmc777 on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:52

It's the full version.

#7 antny_uk on 20 Jul 2004 - 15:52

I think i'll stick to Adobe Photoshop Album Starter edition, seems similar but already have Adobe set-up

#8 el22 on 20 Jul 2004 - 16:01

Quite good program, particularly in eye candy

(4 replies) #9 wuzz on 20 Jul 2004 - 16:08

best album program i have ever seen ... with 1 big error - NO ZOOM!

#9.1 Starman on 20 Jul 2004 - 17:05

Uh, there's zoom.

#9.2 Mav Phoenix on 20 Jul 2004 - 18:18

Where?

#9.3 aoeu on 20 Jul 2004 - 19:20

QUOTE (#9.1)

Would you mind to tell us poor little souls where the zoom function is?

#9.4 Jstphish on 21 Jul 2004 - 00:45

Yeah, maybe if you crop an image, but besides that there isn't one.

(1 reply) #10 five04 on 20 Jul 2004 - 16:53

welcome to last week.

#10.1 chacho on 20 Jul 2004 - 22:10

go away.

#11 chorpeac on 20 Jul 2004 - 16:55

can you resize the pictures?

#12 Starman on 20 Jul 2004 - 17:06

I'm very impressed with this app. Especially since I could use something to keep track of my wallpapers and such. I use iPhoto on my Mac to handle my digital pics.

(2 replies) #13 altermind on 20 Jul 2004 - 17:14

WHY did they get this... they don't need it!!!

google.. don't diversify to much.... we don't need another yahoo

#13.1 chacho on 20 Jul 2004 - 22:09

as long as their pages dont get bloated and full of flash/image ads for worthless "Personal" services (i.e. bull****), and they keep their navigation simple (i.e. not yahoo), im fine with diversifying...

#13.2 Jstphish on 21 Jul 2004 - 00:47

maybe because they are going to incorporate searching within images for things into Google search or something like that. I garauntee Google is going to use something from this application to improve their search engine.

#14 Azadre on 20 Jul 2004 - 18:44

This application is very neat, I am glad I didn't dismiss it because of its description. I am guessing it is comparable to a Winodws version of iPhoto.

#15 Evil2000 on 20 Jul 2004 - 20:59

Yeah, I knew Picasa before Google acquired them. Great Program imho. Their Red-Eye-removing-tool rocks

(1 reply) #16 Outlandishtrendz on 20 Jul 2004 - 21:04

old news so last week

#16.1 Jstphish on 21 Jul 2004 - 00:50

Thank you Captain Obvious.

(2 replies) #17 EChristoperJ on 20 Jul 2004 - 21:08

If anyone wants that iPhoto look for Picasa just use the below skin. I've used it for the past three months with out a problem.

Picasa w/ iPhoto skin

Picasa iPhoto Page

Download here

#17.1 Lurchybaby on 20 Jul 2004 - 21:48

(with the exception of the first link) the links are farked

#17.2 Jstphish on 21 Jul 2004 - 00:48

They work fine for me.

#18 angrybrit on 20 Jul 2004 - 21:37

Thank you Google!

#19 chacho on 20 Jul 2004 - 22:08

me wonders how much google paid...

#20 SimplyPotatoes on 20 Jul 2004 - 22:43

it is good to see google offering many services now, i hope they add on support for single click mailing of photos from one's albums through gmail, with all the space this transition should be seamless and extremly nice. I continue to be impressed with google, i have seen so many e/companies start out great like this and continue to grow more, eventually ruining what their original goals were.

#21 angrybrit on 20 Jul 2004 - 23:56

Something I forgot to mention. They need to snatch up Webshots too.

#22 hifigecko on 21 Jul 2004 - 00:46

Google should have acquaired M$,haha.

#23 kawai on 21 Jul 2004 - 02:49

ACDSee 5 (not 6) is still better

i have like 17000 pictures, acdsee is really fast, plus i can go fullscreen and browse the pictures

(1 reply) #24 swordsman74 on 21 Jul 2004 - 03:39

Okay - two potentially major issues for me...and here I was hoping I had finally found a free, non-bloated alternative to my father-in-law's iPhoto...

1. Can't print wallet-sized photos? It goes from 3x5 to contact sheet (thumbnails). C'mon guys - Microsoft has this in their Printing Wizard in XP... You know if they have it built in, everyone else should have had it in their software by now!!

2. If you use the "watch folders" option to have it auto-import files saved in your My Pictures directory, t saves a "Picasa.ini" file into each folder that it finds some images. Even though it is a hidden file (I display those) - that practice bugs me. I don't like software that spreads itself all over my hard drive like a disease. If I choose to not use the software beyond this first try, I still have to go through my folders and delete all the stoopid .ini files!!! I would be more upset if I had chosen the default option which is to search all of the folders in all of my hard drives...

I sure do like the eye-candy and the red-eye tool and in many ways it will make my wife alot happier to use this for managing my son's photos, but these two issues may make me continue my search for a high-quality freeware photo app.

(and before anyone tries to tell me I spelled "stupid" wrong, it was intentional)

#24.1 kitchenutensils on 21 Jul 2004 - 14:09

you've got good points there, my only reponse to that though is (correct me if im wrong) it makes it slightly faster

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