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Free photo hosting from Google
Jun. 13th, 2006 09:15 pmHere's another one of those Google products that I've been eagerly waiting to launch so I can tell you all about it. I've wanted this one just as much as I wanted Google Calendar!
Picasa Web Albums is a photo hosting service that's fully integrated with our photo organization product Picasa. We've got a blog post that explains it all here.
There are already some really good services like this out there, so what does Web Albums have to offer? Fist off, 250 megs of free storage. Not enough? Pay $25/year and you'll get another 6 gigs.
Secondly, it features a simple yet elegant user interface like you've come to expect from Google. And it's fast! Pictures load in a jiffy, and they're nice and big and easy on the eyes. (Note: when Google launches a product its allotted bandwidth tends to get hammered by the public, so if you try it out in the next couple of days and it happens to be running slow, give it a little bit for the initial hype to die down.)
Third, and most important, it's completely compatible and integrated with Picasa. Picasa isn't required to use Web Albums, but it's a slick and easy program for basic photo manipulation and organization. They're two great tastes that go great together.
There are a couple of features that Web Albums doesn't have (at least, not yet), and I'll bet the product gets dinged for these omissions. It doesn't have a search feature as of now, so discovering someone's content isn't easy unless someone gives you a link. Secondly, we don't have tagging (Google calls it labeling) -- which is one of Flickr's most popular features. I can never share what any Google team is working on, but I can say that Google's products tend to launch with a basic version and then get new features integrated into them as we learn how our users are actually using the product. So stay tuned!
Much like Google did with Gmail, this product will be invitation only at least for a while. If you'd like to try it out, visit http://picasaweb.google.com and get on the invitation list as soon as possible. No, I don't have invites to share.
Oh, and want to check out my album? It's at http://picasaweb.google.com/pwilcox
Picasa Web Albums is a photo hosting service that's fully integrated with our photo organization product Picasa. We've got a blog post that explains it all here.
There are already some really good services like this out there, so what does Web Albums have to offer? Fist off, 250 megs of free storage. Not enough? Pay $25/year and you'll get another 6 gigs.
Secondly, it features a simple yet elegant user interface like you've come to expect from Google. And it's fast! Pictures load in a jiffy, and they're nice and big and easy on the eyes. (Note: when Google launches a product its allotted bandwidth tends to get hammered by the public, so if you try it out in the next couple of days and it happens to be running slow, give it a little bit for the initial hype to die down.)
Third, and most important, it's completely compatible and integrated with Picasa. Picasa isn't required to use Web Albums, but it's a slick and easy program for basic photo manipulation and organization. They're two great tastes that go great together.
There are a couple of features that Web Albums doesn't have (at least, not yet), and I'll bet the product gets dinged for these omissions. It doesn't have a search feature as of now, so discovering someone's content isn't easy unless someone gives you a link. Secondly, we don't have tagging (Google calls it labeling) -- which is one of Flickr's most popular features. I can never share what any Google team is working on, but I can say that Google's products tend to launch with a basic version and then get new features integrated into them as we learn how our users are actually using the product. So stay tuned!
Much like Google did with Gmail, this product will be invitation only at least for a while. If you'd like to try it out, visit http://picasaweb.google.com and get on the invitation list as soon as possible. No, I don't have invites to share.
Oh, and want to check out my album? It's at http://picasaweb.google.com/pwilcox
