Digital Home Thoughts - News & Reviews for the Digital Home

"A little over two years ago, we launched Picasa Web Albums to make publishing photos online easy. Now Picasa Web Albums hosts billions of online photos from around the globe, with users adding millions of new snapshots every day. Each of these photos records a different moment, or a different perspective, but one thing they all have in common is that in each case, the person behind the camera wanted to share their experience with a friend, their extended family, or maybe the world. Today, we're rolling out major technology upgrades to both Picasa and Picasa Web Albums. As you might have guessed, these are largely focused on how we share and enjoy our photos with others."

I honestly thought that Picasa was an abandoned product - Google hadn't released a significant update in so long I was sure it was a dead product walking. I'm so glad I was wrong! Picasa 3.0 is currently in beta and available for download. Although I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, the features in it look really exciting: the text tool (pictured above), the collage tool, the heal tool, and the movie making tool all look like great additions. After the break, there are two walk-through videos that highlight some of these new features. Read more...

"It’s true: We’ve launched a new free version of Picnik! With the help of advertising, everyone now has access to Picnik’s multitudinous Effects, Frames, Touch-up Tools, Shapes and Fonts. And we’ve set aside some extra delicious goodies for our lucky Premium users. Not to mention, with St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, we've got all the Irish-themed shapes up that you could ever want! So come on over, check it all out, and let us know what you think."

The new version is awesome. I had only seen the previous on a friend's computer and the new version is faster for sure (although it could just be a difference between our computers). The fact that it is free makes it quite nice too. I am not sure I would give up Paint .NET yet, but the fact that it works inside of a browser makes it a great option.