Google Updates Picasa Beta and Web Album

August 9, 2006 – Last week, Google Inc. updated the beta versions of its photo management software, Picasa and Picasa Web Albums, adding Mac support and PhotoVu compatibility.

The photo management program Picasa beta, powered by Google, automatically organizes all images on a user’s desktop, including photos and video, up to 250MB. The program can "find the pictures you forgot you had," states the Picasa website. When users move photos to different folders, the program recognizes the changes.

Users can also store one image in multiple folders through Picasa Web Albums that has direct links to a user’s Gmail account and printing functions.

In addition to Windows compatibility, Picasa supports Mac computers with two new uploading tools. The added Picasa Web Album Exporter coordinates with the Apple program iPhoto. The standalone version can support a drag-and-drop function in Finder.

Picasa Beta and Picasa Web Albums also now include PhotoVu digital frame compatibility. With RSS technology, users can combine digital PhotoVu frames with images from the Web Album, according to a Photo Marketing Association article.

"[People] need a photo management solution that is fast and efficient, and we’ve found that Picasa is ‘best in class’ when it comes to the speed of accessing and organizing large volumes of photos," said PhotoVu representative Mark Van Buskirk to PMA.

The beta version is free. For an annual fee of $25, users can upgrade their account to 6GB of storage space.

Google Picasa is available for download at http://picasa.google.com/index.html. Picasa Web Albums is available at https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=lh2&passive=true&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2F.