Beginning today, Picasa users can choose to edit their photos in-line using Picnik. You no longer have to leave the site to edit your pics using your favorite (and mine!) photo editor. Simply choose “Edit” on any picture in your album, and choose “Edit in Picnik.” This announcement comes just a few short months after Google purchased the popular photo-editing giant, and is one that many of us have been waiting for.

When you save your edited photo back to your PWA album, you can either replace the old image or save a new copy. If you’re not a fan or user of Picasa, never fear! Picnik “will retain its own branding and web presence.” The application remains free to use. However, subscribers who pay a small fee will receive access to more advanced editing tools and additional stickers, fonts and photo effects. Picasa will automatically detect whether a user is a subscriber or free user. Your capabilities will adjust accordingly – without your having to do anything.

It will be interesting to see what else Google has in store for Picnik. Will we be seeing this integration on other Google-owned properties?

Google Introduces Picnik on Your Picasa Albums

Google has stepped up their game yet again with today’s introduction of Google Buzz. Buzz is touted as a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting and share updates, photos, videos and more. It’s built into Gmail, so there’s nothing to sign up for, install or configure. Buzz makes use of your current contact list within Gmail, so you already have a built-in set of friends, as well.

You can choose to share publicly with the world or privately to a small group of friends each time you post. Connect other sites you use, such as Picasa, Flickr, Google Reader, and Twitter. This lets your friends keep up with what you’re doing around the web in one tidy little place. Don’t feel you have enough connections in Gmail? Google Buzz will suggest new contacts for you. Buzz will recommend posts from people you’re not directly following, usually from places your current friends are having conversations. If you’re not interested in a particular recommendation, just click the “Not interested” link.

Over on ReadWriteWeb, they are making a case for Google Buzz replacing FriendFeed. The author makes some very valid points, which focus on Google’s already built-in userbase, as well as the fact that they are working hard to integrate mobile applications. The article is compelling, making one wonder if Google Buzz will, indeed, bring about the end of FriendFeed. I still maintain that both services are quite different, offering different things to their users. I don’t see Buzz as replacing or killing FriendFeed. However, I could be wrong. It’s happened once or twice before!

Google Buzz will be rolled out everywhere within the coming days. If you don’t already have it showing up in your Gmail, you will soon. Keep an eye out for a Buzz link under your Inbox. Check it out… try it on for size. Let us know what you think of the newest offering from Google. Is it a bunch of hype? Or… is the buzz about Buzz on target?

The Buzz About Google

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I’ve had a couple of eStarling digital frames in the past, and been very happy with them. When the folks at eStarling sent me their newest product to review, I was more than happy to take a look – especially since it features a touchscreen! The frame also boasts 802.n networking capability, and automatic firmware updates.

The eStarling TouchConnect Digital Photo frame has a 10.2″ LCD screen, which allows you to see your pictures with nice clarity. There is 2GB of built-in Flash memory, with the ability to add an external SD memory card for more storage. Using the touchscreen, you can quickly set up wireless connection and passwords.

Probably the coolest part of this frame is the social aspect. Yes, you can pull in photos from places such as Flickr, Facebook and Picasa – much like with other similar frames. However, with the TouchConnect, you can grab photos right from within your Gmail.

Provide the credentials of any Gmail account that you choose, and let the TouchConnect do the rest. Forward your photos to that email account, and they’ll show up in your picture frame. Likewise, you can email the photos from your cellphone directly to the frame, as well!

Also, subscribe to any photo RSS feed that interests you, and those pictures will automagically show up on the TouchConnect, as well. Send the RSS feed in question to the Gmail account that you set up with the frame, and they will be fed directly onto the screen.

I have to thank the folks at eStarling again for sending this to me to take a look at. I’ll go a step further than just reviewing it – I’ll be keeping this little gadget right on my desk here in my home office.

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eStarling Touchscreen Digital Picture Frame Review

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Last year, my parents lost a lot of digital photos in a hard drive crash. It was very tragic, because they had not backed up any of those photos. They had the Picasa software to help them with the backup, but I had never explained how to use it. I have apologized many times. Picasa is now a free program, and can help save your photos, should some disaster or failure ever occur.

This is a free program for Windows or Linux. Allegedly, Google is also working on a way to port it over to OS X, as well. Ponzi and my Mom both love Picasa. It’s very simple to use. Mom recently wanted to know how to upload photos to the web. I told her “well, just push the web albums button”. Yeah, that’s all there is to it. You can upload an entire folder full of photos through the Picasa client, right to your free Google photo account. Google gives you a Gigabyte of free space, just for this purpose.

You can also log into your Picasa account online, and upload photos directly that way. You can change several different options in your account. Choose your album cover. Change the look of your layout. Heck, you can even embed a slide show using any or all of your photos. It’s also easy to re-download albums should you ever need to.

As far as I’m concerned, Picasa whips all the other photo applications’ backsides. It’s an amazing program, and I sincerely hope you’ll give it a try.

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Upload Digital Photos to Web Albums for Free!

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Yes, Photoshop Elements works on Vista. It’s a good little program, with an ok user interface. There are also other good programs out there to quickly and easily edit your photographs… even some free ones!

Adobe Photoshop Elements combines power and simplicity so you can do more with your photos. If you’re looking for a user-friendly photo editing program that is great for most levels of computer users, this is an excellent choice. It has very little learning curve to it, unlike some of the more high end programs. Personally, I use PhotoFilter. It is for more advanced users, but it’s an awesome program. I’ve also used Picasa for many years. If all you need to do is basic cropping, maybe some red-eye reduction, then Picasa is definitely the way to go. Best of all… Picasa is free now that Google owns it. That’s right, you heard me. FREE.

There are many good free (and pay) photo editing software out there on the market. The chatters are throwing out programs like Gimp, Paint.net, and even Photoshop Proper. Decide what you need to do with your photos, and do your research before buying any picture editing software.

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Adobe Photoshop Elements on Vista

Does anybody out there use Google’s Hello? Hello!? Yeah, Hello – the photo-sharing IM service that integrates seamlessly with Picasa and Google’s Blogger service. Here’s the problem I have with Hello: none of my friends use it. My real question is: why isn’t Picasa pushing people to use Google Talk, instead – and why isn’t Google Talk incorporating Hello technology? Argh.

Google to Google, Dust to Dust