Announcing the release of Picasa 2.7 for Linux

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 6:04 PM

Posted by Dan Kegel and Lei Zhang, Software Engineers

It's not quite Godot, or even Duke Nukem Forever, but the long wait for Picasa 2.7 for Linux is finally over.

If you're still using Picasa 2.2 for your Linux machine, you'll want to update to get all the 2.7 goodness, including web album upload and download, folder hierarchy views, better raw support, localization in many languages, and more. Check out the download page for a full list of improvements and known issues. If you have questions after installing, please visit the FAQ or support forum.

For those interested in the open source aspect of Picasa 2.7: we did contribute a few dozen Wine patches to support Picasa 2.7, mainly to improve Wine's support for non-English languages, but also to fix a number of bugs.

Thanks to all the Linux users who helped test the beta version!

More good news for mobile

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 10:30 AM

Posted by Joe Walnes, Software Engineer

We built the mobile version of Picasa Web Albums to support as many devices as possible; you can use it to see your favorite pictures on almost any Internet-capable phone. That said, having a high-end mobile device has the potential to make your photos really shine. That's why we launched an optimized-for-iPhone interface a few months ago, which took special advantage of its large, high-resolution screen.

Now we've got some exciting news for those of you with newer Windows Mobile touchscreen devices: Today, we're launching another specially-optimized mobile interface, one tailored just for Windows Mobile 6 touchscreen devices. You can enjoy Picasa Web Albums slideshows, community photos, and all of our other mobile features using an interface that takes full advantage of the advanced browser in Windows Mobile 6. To see the new interface, just visit picasaweb.google.com on your Windows Mobile device.

To make things even more interesting, our Windows Mobile 6 interface also includes support for viewing your favorite photo albums even when you have no network access, thanks to the new beta release of Google Gears for mobile. We're very excited about the possibilities that mobile Gears technology will ultimately enable for Picasa Web Albums users. Being able to store your photo collection in the Internet 'cloud' and also having that data copied on your local device will allow for some nifty scenarios, like having the ability to flip through your photos much faster, or being able to show off your favorite pictures in spots where the mobile Internet doesn't reach (like an airplane cabin, subway car, or overseas trip, for example). And with Picasa using the latest version of Gears you can now add a Picasa icon to your Program Files folder and have instant access to your favorite photos offline or online.

If you're a software developer, we'd encourage you to visit the code.google.com blog to learn a bit more about our recent Google Gears for mobile announcement.

Thomas: not your average bear

Tuesday, April 1, 2008 4:09 AM

Posted by Thomas the bear on behalf of the Picasa team

It has been speculated that Google has a history of leg-pulling around this time of year. In the spirit of silliness, we wanted to share a warm and fuzzy true story about how a bear named Thomas made Picasa his home.

As you may know, Picasa has many helpful keyboard shortcuts to save you time and clicks. But there's one shortcut you may not have heard about: the Thomas shortcut.

Back in 2004, the innovative photographer and photoblogger Noah Grey was working with the Photos team on developing Picasa. He contributed a great deal to the design and evolution of the software, but one of Noah's most unforgettable contributions can be seen by pressing Control-Shift-Y while in Picasa. Continue pressing it, and watch what appears all over your screen. Given to Noah as a gift by an old friend, this bear has had a special place in Noah's life for over 15 years; and Noah decided to return the favor.

That's Thomas. And that's his bear. And that's how he became part of the Picasa story.

Taking your favorite shots further with photo books

Thursday, March 27, 2008 5:53 PM

Posted by Miriam Schneider, Associate Product Marketing Manager

In what could be considered the next evolution of scrapbooking, photo books are quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to creatively glorify your pictures.

One of our main goals in developing Picasa and Picasa Web Albums has always been to provide an open platform for you to do whatever you want with your photos. That's why with Picasa Web Albums as a launch pad, you can easily create stunning photo books using services such as Shutterfly, Photo Works, Kodak, Tabblo and Allbeli. These sites, among many others, can help you can turn your favorite photos into a professional looking, customized photo book -- sure to please any gift recipient.

For some, the art of photo book-making can even become a more serious endeavor, as the folks over at Blurb can attest. They have just announced Photography.Book.Now, a competition that celebrates creative self-published photography books. Those of you who have a creative book to share can submit it by July 14, 2008. This contest also includes a half-day symposium exploring the modern photography book movement. If you're interested, Blurb is reserving 50 spots especially for Picasa users at one of the Photography.Book.Now symposia. Just email your name and email address to info@photographybooknow.com, including Picasa Symposium Reservation in the subject line to reserve your spot.

Photo books are great for storing your family vacation photos, maintaining a portfolio of your artwork, creating a recipe book... the possibilities are endless.

Sleep soundly: Back up your photos

Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:31 PM

Posted by Mark Muse, Consumer Operations Strategist

Has it been a while since you backed up your photos? Wait, have you ever backed up your photos? Your computer will fail sooner or later -- that’s just how it goes. What matters are the steps that you’ve taken to prepare for that day.

Picasa doesn't automatically back up or even store your photos. It's more like a play list, in that it takes photos that already exist on your hard drive, and displays those photos without moving or altering them. So if your hard drive is suddenly beyond repair, Picasa won't be able to help you recover your photos. It's up to you to back them up.

In the Picasa Help Group, our most experienced users recommend backing up your photos to an external hard drive whenever you make changes. They even suggest keeping another backup in a separate location in case of fire or flood. The level at which you protect your photos really depends on how valuable they are to you. But one thing is certain: they are valuable, and they do need to be protected.

The good news is that Picasa makes it easy to back up your memories. You can always upload your photos to Picasa Web Albums - choose 'Slowest upload - largest size' in the upload dialogue box to secure your photos in full resolution. In terms of offline options, there are a couple of ways you can go about it, both located under Tools > Backup Pictures:

1. Back up to an external hard drive: For larger collections, this may be the way to go. Once you’ve initially backed up your entire collection, Picasa will then only back up the recent changes that you’ve made. This saves you time, and ensures that your entire collection will live on. Using an external drive with Picasa’s backup feature is also a great way to migrate to a new computer.
2. Back up to CD or DVD: Burning your photos to CD or DVD is a convenient option. Should your hard drive ever fail, or should a power surge hit your external drive, you will thank your lucky stars as you recover all of your photos and edits.

So take a few minutes to secure all of those memories that you’ve spent so much time editing and organizing -- it's worth it.

Quick tip: super-fast full-screen previews

Friday, February 29, 2008 10:00 AM

Posted by Todd Bogdan, Software Engineer

If you spend a lot of time in Picasa, here's a keyboard shortcut that may come in handy: When you're in Library View, move your mouse cursor over any picture thumbnail, hold down the 'ctrl' key, and then press 'alt.' You'll instantly get a full-screen view of that picture.

Obviously, this wee bit of trickery isn't meant to replace a full-screen slideshow -- the moment you take your finger off the 'alt' key, you'll be returned to the regular Library View. But it's a great way to quickly jump in and out of full-screen zoom so you can preview pictures in detail. This trick also works on the current photo when you're in the Edit Room.

If you're looking to quickly compare a few adjacent thumbnails with the benefit of a full-screen view, simply scroll the mouse wheel when using the ctrl-alt key combo. (This is especially handy if you've just imported a clump of similar photos and want to quickly decide which to keep.)

Need a hand? Visit our user group!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:42 PM

Posted by Mark Muse, Consumer Operations Strategist

We do our best to continually patch bugs in Picasa and keep our Help Center comprehensive and up-to-date, but nobody's perfect. We know that folks are bound to come across bugs, stumbling blocks, or tricky technical questions when using our products. Thankfully, we've got a place where our most experienced users gather: the Picasa Help Group.

This community is comprised of power users, photo fanatics, and Google staff who actively share their expertise to help solve both simple and complex issues. If you run into an issue when using our products, it's likely that somebody else has asked the same question -- and, quite often, asked that question in our community forum. There have been over 20,000 questions and answers delivered in our help group over the past few years, so a simple keyword search will often retrieve the info you need in milliseconds, which is obviously much faster than our support team could ever hope to type.

If that doesn't work, don't hesitate to post a question or report in the "Tips and Advice" or "Something broken?" areas of our help group. We're thankful to have a band of super-knowledgeable Picasa users (tip o' the hat to "Onion," "Rhubarb," "Don L," "rcbrown," "AlexanderK," "Jim2," "jazzman," and all the rest) who do a great job answering questions quickly. They're the real stars of the group. Check out some of their thoughtful advice:

• Are you transferring photos to a new PC? This discussion should help you out.

• Having trouble connecting to Picasa Web Albums due to a proxy? Check out this post.

By the way, if you ever notice a little "G" badge next to some members, that's us... Google staff. While we can't respond to individual questions nearly as often as we like, we do keep a close eye on these Groups. One of the major ways we prioritize bug fixes or UI improvements is by listening to the feedback in this channel.