In a world where everything seems to be getting smaller and smaller, we still believe that bigger is sometimes better. On the photos team, we know this is definitely true. That's why we're happy to announce LifeSizeTM on Picasa Web Albums, an easy way to create and print larger-than-life versions of your photos, all from the comfort of your own home. LifeSize uses intelligent shape detection software to find the subject in your photo and automatically determines its approximate real-life height based on background scenery, surrounding objects, and the ratio of the subject's foot-to-navel length and the navel-to-head length. Check it out and make your own really, really big photo at picasa.google.com/lifesize.
We launched Picasa for Mac in Google Labs just over a year ago, and it's grown up fast. With the 3.5 launch, Picasa for Mac matched the features of Picasa for PC, and today we're excited to announce the next milestone: Picasa for Mac is now available in 35 languages. For the first time, Mac users who speak languages other than English can take advantage of Picasa's free photo-editing and organization tools, plus lots of new stuff that's been added recently: adding name tags, creating collaborative albums, and geotagging photos using Google Maps. For an in-depth overview of all the new features available, check out our launch blog posts for Picasa 3.5 and 3.6 or the Picasa Help Center.
To get Picasa 3.6 for Mac in your language, download the newest version from picasa.google.com/mac/ or from your local Picasa site. When you load Picasa for the first time, it displays in the same language as your operating system, and you can always easily change your language settings in System Preferences.
More than ever before, people are sharing and storing their photos online. But until recently, you had to edit your photos using client software on your computer. Today, we're excited to announce that Google has acquired Picnik, one of the first sites to bring photo editing to the cloud. Using Picnik, you can crop, do touch-ups and add cool effects to your photos, all without leaving your web browser.
We're not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we'll be working hard on integration and new features. As well, we'd like to continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.
We're very impressed with the Picnik team and the product they've created, and we're excited to welcome them to Google. We're looking forward to collaborating closely with them to improve the online photo editing experience on the web. In the meantime, we encourage you to head to Picnik, import some of your photos from Picasa Web Albums, Flickr or Facebook and try your hand at photo editing in the cloud!
We're happy to announce that Picasa 3.6 for Windows is now available in 38 languages, so people around the world can add name tags to their photos, create collaborative albums, and geotag their photos using Google Maps. For an in-depth overview of all the new features available in these international editions, check out our launch blog posts for Picasa 3.5 and 3.6 or the Picasa Help Center.
To upgrade to Picasa 3.6 in your language, download it from picasa.google.com or from your local Picasa site. When you load Picasa for the first time, it displays in the same language as your operating system, and you can always easily change your language settings under Options.
Posted by Roger Trias i Sanz, Panoramio Software Engineer
Since we know the Picasa community takes great photos of beautiful places, we're happy to announce that you can now easily upload your photos to Panoramio, a Google-powered site for exploring places through photos. Photos you upload will be shared with the Panoramio community and with the world on Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Search, and more.
To upload a photo to Panoramio, click the "Upload to Panoramio" link below the location map next to a photo in Picasa Web Albums. You'll need to sign in or create a Panoramio account to upload. Photos must be shared publicly in Picasa Web Albums and have a location set to be eligible for upload to Panoramio.
Note that Panoramio creates a duplicate copy of all uploaded photos, so if you choose to delete a photo in the future you'll need to delete it from both places.
Thanks for sharing your favorite place photos with Panoramio!
While thousands of lucky fans get to experience the excitement of the Games live and in person, most of us will only be able to watch from afar. This year, we've created a special Picasa Web Albums gallery so people around the world can get a front row seat to all the action. Whether you're at home or in Vancouver, you can peruse the best user-submitted photos of the Games from Picasa and recent photos from Google News. Click any user-submitted photo to see the full screen version or check out other photos from the album.
Wherever you are in the world, we'd love for you to submit your photos celebrating the Games. Simply upload your pictures to Picasa Web Albums, tag them with "wintergames2010", and make them public. You can even add a location geotag so people can see exactly where your photos were taken. If you're uploading photos from your mobile phone, you can use "wintergames2010" as the email subject and we'll recognize those as well. We'll select the best photos and feature them for the world to see at picasa.google.com/explorethegames.
While you're at it, check out some of the other great stuff Google is doing for sports fans. See it all at www.google.com/games10, including slope-level Street View imagery featuring snowmobile-captured ski runs on Whistler Mountain, an iGoogle gadget with real-time medal counts, news, event results, and schedules, plus much more.
For many of us, the best part about taking photos is sharing them with others. Today, with the launch of Google Buzz, we're giving you a new way to share and view photos online, and start conversations about the things you find interesting.
Google Buzz is built right into Gmail and is fully integrated with Picasa Web Albums. Any photos you upload to and share from Buzz are automatically stored in a new unlisted album in your Picasa Web Albums account, so you can view them from either site. It's easy to upload multiple photos at once from Buzz - just click "Insert: Photo" from a new post, select "upload files," and click "Add photos to post" once they're fully uploaded. Since photos are meant to be viewed fast and full-screen, clicking a photo in Buzz opens an embedded viewer designed to give you an optimal viewing experience.
Getting started with Google Buzz is easy. Just head over to Gmail and click the "Buzz" link below "Inbox" -- Buzz will be linked to your Picasa account by default. Any public photos you upload to Picasa Web Albums will automatically create a new Buzz post populated with the photos. You can also email photos from your Gmail account to buzz@gmail.com, which will automatically upload them to Picasa Web Albums and create a new Buzz post.
Check out the video below for a run-down of some of the stuff you can do with Google Buzz:
Visit buzz.google.com for more information, or head to the Picasa Help Center to find out more about how Buzz and Picasa Web Albums work together.
P.S. Keep in mind that Google Buzz is rolling out gradually, it might be a few days before you get it for your account.
