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Picasa Editor's Review

Picasa is a nice stand-alone graphic utility developed by Google. Actually the product is the creation of Picasa Inc., a company which was discovered by Idealab. Google bought all the rights of this product from Idealab. The first version delivered through Google was 1.618, which was far from being a prefect product. But because it was free, the product got better and better and version 3 is the latest version.
Picasa can be installed on all major platforms such as Windows, Linux and Mac. The main important feature of this product is the scanning function. From the first use, the application will scan all your hard drives and will find all the pictures from your computer. You will surprised how many pictures you just forgot that you have them. All the pictures found will be automatically organized into albums selected by date. If your pictures are saved in folders, Picasa will take the title from every folder by default and use it as the title of the album.
Besides the scanning function, you can also import pictures from different locations, including digital cameras. Although the albums, that include local pictures, are made based on the date of creation of every picture, if you import them from your camera, the date displayed will be the one of the importing moment, not the one of the creation.
Picasa works with all major image formats such as JPEG, GIF, BMP, PSD, and movie files and is compatible with most digital cameras. Picasa is basically compatible with all other photo sharing products and digital cameras.
The editing tools are very basic and includes cropping (standard or custom), removal of red-eye, and enhancing--even switching from color to black and white. The good thing about the using of any effect or filter, is that you can see the results instantly, without having to wait until the preview renders. The multiple levels of the undo function makes it very easy to com back to the original form, if you don't like the result picture after applying several effects and filters.
If you make a comparison between the displaying time of the Windows Explorer thumbnails and Picasa thumbnails, you will see that the gap between both of them is huge. Picasa can do this almost instantly. But there is a price for this. Users with older computers will encounter problems. That's because Picasa uses a lot of memory when displaying these thumbnails.
From Picasa, you can update your blog immediately (if you're using a Blogger.com account), you can create picture collages, you can Geo-tag images in Google Earth or you can upload images to photo albums.
You can also e-mail photos with Picasa's built-in client and order photo-lab quality prints. You can also print prints at home if you have the necessary gear.
The only backup solution is to burn the pictures in CD or DVD. This can be made with a built-in writer which allows you to select the pictures with or without an integrated slideshow function and with or without the Picasa application. The application will automatically calculate the amount of CD, or DVD discs that you need in order to write all the pictures that you want.
The AutoFix button usually works well and the results are remarkable. It doesn't matter if you want to apply the auto contrast or the auto color, the results occur instantly on the picture.
Pluses: beautiful and intuitive interface; Autofix function; the scanning function; the undo function; the Timeline viewer;
Drawbacks / flaws:
In conclusion:Because of its beautiful and intuitive interface and because of its basic editing tools which are very well implemented, Picasa is one of the best in its field.

Picasa Publisher's Description

Find the pictures you forgot you had. Picasa organizes your entire collection while you watch, scanning the images on your computer and automatically sorting them by date. Move and re-name pictures from inside Picasa.
Want to clean up messy folders and move pictures around on your computer’s hard drive? Simply drag and drop pictures from one folder...

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Picasa is a discontinuedimage organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharingwebsite, originally created by a company named Lifescape^[3] (which at that time was incubated by Idealab) in 2002.^[4] In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa from Lifescape and began offering it as freeware.^[4] 'Picasa' is a blend of the name of Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, the phrase mi casa (Spanish for 'my house') and 'pic' for pictures.^[4][5]

Native applications for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X (Intel only) were available from Google. For Linux, Google bundled Wine with the Windows version to create an installation package. For Mac OS X 10.4 and later, Google also released an iPhoto plugin and a standalone program for uploading photos.

On February 12, 2016, Google announced it was discontinuing support for Picasa Desktop and Web Albums, effective March 15, 2016, and focusing on the cloud-based Google Photos as its successor.^[6] Picasa Web Albums, a companion service, was closed on May 1, 2016.^[7]

• 1Version history
• 2Features
  • 2.1Organization and editing
• 3Other Picasa applications

Version history[edit]

Windows[edit]

As of January 2015, the latest version of Picasa is 3.9, which supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, and has Google+ integration for users of that service.^[8] Version 3.9 also removed integration with Picasa Web Albums for users of Google+.^[9]

Linux[edit]

Since June 2006, Linux versions have become available as free downloads for most distributions of the Linux operating system. It is not a native Linux program but an adapted Windows version that uses the Wine libraries.^[10] Google has announced that there will be no Linux version for 3.5.^[11] Currently, Google has only officially offered Picasa 3.0 Beta for Linux.

On April 20, 2012 Google announced that they were deprecating Picasa for Linux and will no longer maintain it for Linux.^[12]

To use latest version of Picasa on Linux, Linux users can use Wine and install Picasa for Windows.^[13] Linux users can use other programs to upload to Picasa Web Albums, including Shotwell and Digikam.^[14]

Mac OS X[edit]

On January 5, 2009, Google released a beta version of Picasa for Mac (Intel-based Macs only).^[15] Also, a plugin is available for iPhoto to upload to the Picasa Web Albums hosting service. There is also a standalone Picasa Web Albums uploading tools for OS X 10.4 or later.^[16] The Picasa for Mac is a Google Labs release.

Features[edit]

Organization and editing[edit]

For organizing photos, Picasa has file importing and tracking features, as well as tags, facial recognition, and collections for further sorting. It also offers several basic photo editing functions, including color enhancement, red eye reduction, and cropping. Other features include slide shows, printing, and image timelines. Images can also be prepared for external use, such as for e-mailing or printing, by reducing file size and setting up page layouts. There is also integration with online photo printing services. Other simple editing features include adding text to the image. Picasa supports Google's WebP image format as well as the JPG format and most Raw image format (RAW files). A user can view and edit RAW files and save the finished edit (as JPG, or other forms) without any changes to the original RAW file.

Keywords[edit]

Picasa uses picasa.ini files to keep track of keywords for each image. In addition to this, Picasa attaches IPTC Information Interchange Model (IPTC) keyword data to JPEG files, but not to any other file format. Keywords attached to JPEG files in Picasa can be read by other image library software like Adobe Photoshop Album, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, digiKam, Aperture, and iPhoto.

According to the Picasa Readme, Picasa can parse Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) data. However, it cannot search local files for existing XMP keywords.^{[clarification needed]}

Searching[edit]

Picasa has a search bar that is always visible when viewing the library. Searches are live, so that displayed items are filtered as one types. The search bar will search filenames, captions, tags, folder names, and other metadata.^[17]

Picasa also has an experimental feature that allows searching for images that contain certain colors with the 'color' operator.^[18]

Viewing[edit]

Picasa has no separate view window. There is only an 'edit view' with a viewing area. Fullscreen view is available in slideshow mode, by holding down the ctrl+alt keys while in 'edit view', or by pressing the Alt Gr key. This feature is also available through the context menu of Windows Explorer, and provides a way to start the Picasa editor as well.

Backup[edit]

In Picasa 2 and earlier versions, changes to pictures made in Picasa overwrite the original file, but a backup version of the original is saved in a hidden folder named 'Originals' in the same folder as the original picture (.picasaoriginals on Mac OS X).

In Picasa 3, changes to pictures made in Picasa are saved to a hidden file picasa.ini in the same folder as the original picture. This allows multiple edits to be performed without altering the original image. Viewing the picture in Picasa or using the Picasa Photo Viewer will apply modifications on the fly, whereas viewing through other programs (such as Windows XP's Photo and Fax Viewer) will display the original image. Changes can also be made permanent using the 'Save' function, where the original file is backed up in a hidden folder .picasaoriginals located in the same folder as the original picture and the modified version is written in its place.

Face recognition[edit]

On August 15, 2006, Google announced it had acquired Neven Vision, whose technology can be used to search for features within photos such as people or buildings. Google applied this technology for face recognition, and this functionality was launched on Picasa Web Albums on September 2, 2008.^[19]

Neven Vision incorporates several patents^[20] specifically centered around face recognition from digital photo and video images.

Geotagging[edit]

Since June 2007, Picasa can write geographic coordinates to Exif metadata, thus geotagging an image.^{[citation needed]}

Since version 3.5 of Picasa,^{[citation needed]} Geotagging may be done directly inside Picasa.

The geotagging functionality is described in the Picasa User's Guide.^[21]

Other Picasa applications[edit]

Picasa Web Albums[edit]

Besides Google+, Picasa also integrated with Picasa Web Albums, an image hosting and sharing web service. The service allowed users with a Google account to store and share their photos on the service. Users with a Google+ account received unlimited storage for photos of a resolution less than 2048x2048 pixels; all others received unlimited storage for photos of a resolution less than 800x800.

Hello[edit]

Hello by Google's Picasa was a free computer program that enabled users to send images across the Internet and publish them to their blogs. It was similar to an instant messaging program because it allowed users to send text, but Hello focused on digital photographs.^[22] Users could opt to view the same pictures as their friends in real-time. One of the advantages claimed at the website is that photos could be shared through firewalls.

The service was canceled at the end of 2006, and users were instructed to try the Picasa 'Blog This' functionality for uploading pictures to their blogs.According to the official website,^[22] the Hello project was shut down on May 15, 2008.

Discontinuation[edit]

On February 12, 2016, Google announced that the Picasa desktop application would be discontinued on March 15, 2016, followed by the closure of the Picasa Web Albums service on May 1, 2016.^[23] Google stated that the primary reason for retiring Picasa was that it wanted to focus its efforts 'entirely on a single photos service' the cross-platform, web-based Google Photos. While support for the desktop version of Picasa is ending, Google has stated that users who have downloaded the software, or who choose to download it prior to the March 15th deadline will still be able to use its functionality, albeit with no support from Google.^[24]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'NEWS! - Lifescape's Picasa aims to be your digital 'shoebox''. Imaging Resource. 2002-11-18. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
2. ^ ^ab'Picasa Release Notes'. Picasa Resources. Google. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
3. ^Lifescape's Picasa aims to be your digital 'shoebox'. By Michael R. Tomkins, The Imaging Resource (Monday, November 18, 2002 - 15:49 EST). Published on imaging-resource.com under 'Comdex Fall 2002 Show'.
4. ^ ^abc'Google Picasa', Obsessable (obsessable.com), 2009.
5. ^Squires, Michael (September 3, 2008). 'Google is watching more than streets with the addition of facial recognition software'. Digitaljournal.com. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
6. ^'Google kills off Picasa to focus its efforts on Google Photos PCWorld'. PC World. 2016-02-13. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
7. ^ELYSE BETTERS, Pocket-Lint. 'Google is shutting down Picasa: What'll happen to your photos and videos?.' May 2, 2016. Retrieved Jan 26, 2017.
8. ^'New features In Picasa 3.9'. Retrieved 2012-03-12.
9. ^'Google+ Photos Replaces Picasa Web in the Navigation Bar'. Googlesystem.blogspot.com.au. October 11, 2011.
10. ^'About Picasa for Linux'. picasa.google.com. 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
11. ^Claburn, Thomas (2009-09-22). 'Google Releases Picasa 3.5'. Informationweek.com. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
12. ^'Spring-cleaning ... in spring!'. Google Official Blog. 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
13. ^'Using Picasa 3.8 in Linux'. Webupd8.org. 2010-04-10. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
14. ^'How to export and import pictures to Picasaweb using digiKam'. 2011-02-15. Retrieved 2013-01-10.
15. ^Jonathan Seff, MacWorld. 'Google releases Picasa for Mac beta.' Jan 5, 2009. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
16. ^'Introducing Picasa for Mac (at Macworld!)'. Googleblog.blogspot.com. January 5, 2009.
17. ^'Search and Locate: Search by keyword, filter, or color'. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
18. ^'Feeling Blue? Search for Photos Matching Your Mood'. Malektips.com.
19. ^'Introducing Picasa 3.0 (and big changes for Picasa Web Albums)'.
20. ^'Google, Neven Vision & Image Recognition'. Searchenginejournal.com.
21. ^'Add geotags in Picasa'. google.com.
22. ^ ^ab'Hello'. Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
23. ^Sabharwal, Anil. 'Moving on from Picasa'. The Official Google Picasa Blog. Google, Inc. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
24. ^Sabharwal, Anil. 'Moving on From Picasa'. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

External links[edit]

• Picasa Release NotesArchived 2016-07-06 at the Wayback Machine