Picasa2 running on Ubuntu
Picasa is a computer
application for organizing and editing digital photos. In July 2004, Google
acquired Picasa from Idealab and began offering Picasa for free download.
There is native support for Windows XP and Windows Vista, as well as a beta
Linux version, available through Google Labs. There is also a Mac iPhoto
plugin or a standalone program for uploading photos available for OS X 10.4
and later.
Features
Organization and Editing
For organizing photos, Picasa has file importing and tracking features, as
well as tags 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.
Keywords
Picasa uses picasa.ini files to keep track of keywords for each image. In
addition to this, Picasa attaches IPTC keyword data to JPG files, but not to
any other file format. Keywords attached to JPG files in Picasa can be read
by other image library software like Adobe (Photoshop, Album and Bridge),
Digikam and iPhoto.
According to the Picasa Readme, Picasa can parse XMP data. However, it
cannot search local files for existing XMP keywords.
Searching
Picasa has a search bar that is always visible when viewing the library.
Searches are live in that displayed items are filtered as you type.
When a word is typed into the search bar, an image will be displayed if
that word is all or part of a keyword, or part of the file name. If the
searched word is part of a folder name, all images in that folder are also
displayed (but not necessarily images in subfolders, unless the word also
exists in a keyword or filename.)
Typing multiple words uses the "AND" boolean function similar to
Google's image search. To search multiple words using the boolean
"OR", simply search each word one at a time.
Backup
Picasa does not overwrite photos when changes are made. Instead, it lists
all the changes made and puts the list in a separate file. Whenever the image
is opened in Picasa it will check the list and apply the changes that the
list tells it to. If you open the photo in any other program, though, the
image will not have the changes applied to it. To see the changes when using
the photo in other programs you must 'export' the photo. In Picasa 2, a new
feature has been added to allow users to save changes made to the pictures in
Picasa by overwriting the actual picture file. However, a backup version of
the original picture is made and saved in a hidden folder named
"Originals", which is located within the same folder as the
original picture.
Image Recognition
On 15 August, 2006, Google announced they had acquired Neven Vision whose
technology can be used to search for features within photos such as people or
buildings. Google has stated that this technology will be applied to
searching for photos within Picasa at some stage in the near future.
Neven Vision incorporates several patents specifically centered around face recognition from digital photo and video
images. Neven Vision's technology has been voted among the top finishers in
both the FERET 1997 and FRVT 2002 independent tests comparing the world's
best face recognition technologies.
Other
Picasa Applications
Picasa Web Albums
Picasa Web Albums is a photo-sharing web application from Google, often
compared to programs like Flickr and Zooomr.
It allows users with accounts at Google to store and share 1 GB of photos
for free. Users can purchase more storage space, which is shared between
other Google services. To a total of 10 GB of storage for a $20.00/year fee,
40GB for $75 per year, 150 GB for $250 per year, and 400 GB for $500 per
year. Users may upload pictures either via a web interface, Picasa 2.5.0 or
later, on Microsoft Windows, using the Exporter for iPhoto or Uploader on Mac
OS X, or F-Spot on Linux. In both paid and free accounts, the actual
resolution of the photo is maintained (even though a smaller resolution photo
may be displayed by the web interface), and the original photo can be
downloaded.
PWA uses an "unlisted number" approach for URLs for private
photo albums. This allows a user to email a private album's URL to anyone
s/he wants; the recipient can view the album without having to create a user
account. The Picasa help files say that private albums are not searchable by
anyone except the user.
On October 11, 2006, the "Test" name was removed, in favour of
purely Picasa Web Albums.
No ads are shown on Picasa Web Albums, in either free or paid accounts.
The Terms of Service permit Google to use the uploaded photos to display on
the website or via RSS feeds, and also for promoting Google services
royalty-free.
Picasa Web Albums was first leaked on June 6, 2006. When introduced, it
came with 250 MB free space. On March 7, 2007, it was upgraded to 1 GB.
Hello
Hello by Google's Picasa is a free computer program that allows users to
send images across the Internet and publish them to their blogs. It is
similar to an instant messaging program because one can send text, but Hello
focuses on digital photographs. You can select to view the same pictures as
your friends in real-time.
Hello's unique and very popular Bloggerbot IM service was canceled at the
end of 2006, and users are instructed to try the Picasa 'Blog This'
functionality for uploading pictures to their blogs.
Picasa Wordpress Widget
Picasa wordpress widget is a wordpress plugin which allows users to
publish random photos from picasa albums on their blogs.
Version
History
Windows
As of August 2007, the current version (2.7 Build 37.23) is a 5.13MB
download, for Windows 2000/XP/Vista only.
Version 2.0 (build 18.84) is still being offered for Windows 98/ME, as a 3MB download,
for a limited time. There are no versions of Picasa for Windows 95 or NT.
1.618 (build 5.35) July 2004 - free download version offered since
Google's acquisition of Picasa
2.0.0 (build 18.77) January 18, 2005 - myriad of new features including improved
search functions, an automated photo collage maker, massively enhanced photo
editing functions and further integration with Picasa's Hello and Google's Blogger
services.
2.0.0 (build 18.84) June 8, 2005 - bug fix release
2.1.0 (build 27.60) September 19, 2005 - new features including international
language support, one-click photo blogging, CD cover printing, improved RAW
handling and improved support for external drives.
2.2.0 (build 28.20) January 30, 2006 - 25 additional languages are supported,
new network drive support, and bug fixes for IE7 support and CD Burning.
2.5.0 (builds 32.01) June 12 2006 onwards - beta versions including Picasa Web Albums
support last version (build 32.97) started rollout on November 14 2006
2.6 (build 35.94.0) December 7, 2006 - new autoupdate behavior for Windows Vista
support, new CD/DVD-burning engine, improved upload reliability to Picasa Web
Albums, and added support for 18 new languages,
2.7 (build 36.37.0) April 24, 2007 - new RAW processing engine, new color
engine for "tuning" fixes, added support for Google Photos
Screensaver, and improved BlogThis! reliability,
2.7 Build 36.40 May 3, 2007 - support for more cameras, updated version
number for international installs
2.7 Build 36.60 26 June, 2007 - added support for geotag, supposedly
fixed problems with showing up some video files.
2.7 Build 37.23 21 August, 2007 - support for more languages, fixes
several bugs.
2.7 Build 37.29 13 September, 2007 - Added
support for RAW pictures from the Canon 40D, fixes several bugs.
2.7 Build 37.32 02
October, 2007
- Fixed a case where corrupted AVI files could cause a crash.
Fixed a case that would result in a "This account is not enabled for
Picasa Web Albums" error.
See version history at Picasa Changelog and the release notes.
Linux
As from about early June 2006 Linux versions
(2.2.2820-5) became available as free downloads for most distributions of the
Linux operating system. It runs with Wine.
Mac OS X
Picasa Web Albums is available for Macs. A
plugin is available for iPhoto to upload to the Picasa Web Albums hosting
service (currently not working with iPhoto '08). There is also a standalone
Picasa Web Albums uploading tools for OS X 10.4 or later.
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