Okay, I have no idea what the game plan will be with Picasa, but the fact
that it's now connected with Google tells me that it's something way cool.
My guess is that they'll make money from it when users purchase prints from
this service? But the fact that this fantastic program is free for
the taking, with no hidden spyware, is one of the amazing features of the
Internet!
I have tons of photos on my hard drive, as well as tons of photos I've moved
off to CDs and DVDs. Trying to keep all these images and graphics organized
can be a nightmare. Then I discovered Picasa and downloaded my own copy...FREE...thanks
to a previous notice I received from Google.
Not only does Picas do a terrific job of searching out all the images on your
hard drive, but it also has a way cool interface, as well as a simple photo
editor to enhance your photos and a pile of other great features.
When you first open it, it will search your entire computer and provide you
with thumbnails to every graphic or photo file it finds on it. (Ahem, and
you'll be amazed at what you'll find!)
Then it will take you a little time to better organize your files.
It took me hours to drag them from the master file into subcategories and
I'm still not quite done adding keywords. But what a fantastic, searchable
catalog of images I now have.
This program is so easy, anyone can use it. Click an image and click Edit
and you'll be able to easily crop or enhance images with a click.
From there you can click one of the buttons on the bottom to send the photo
to a printer, out via email, export it, order prints or send it as a greeting.
And you can even use it as your import software to pull photos from other
devices, such as your digital camera or via a scanner. (And you'll notice
that I even have paid money for JASC's Photo Album, which I no longer use,
thanks to Picasa and Google. And this was all free! Amazing!)
Picasa as two other very cool features, that I, unfortunately, can't show
you due to the fact that it fills my screen and takes priority over the video,
so I can't snap a screen shot. Many photo programs have a slideshow, which
Picasa also has. But an incredible cool feature is their Timeline.
You just click the Timeline button along the top and you suddenly get a circular
list of all your photo files. But more amazing is that you can grab the circle
area and literally swing it so it swings back and forth to help you
spin over to the folder you want. That's neat enough. But when you land on
a folder, the main image related to that folder is superimposed as a watermark
in the background. I wish I could show you, because it looks so neat. But
you'll just have to get yourself a copy to check it out.
So how do you get your copy? Just hit their web site, download it and kiss
the next couple days goodbye!
http://www.picasa.com/picasa/
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