Organize and edit your photos the smart way

Aug 4, 2009 07:18 GMT  ·  By

Google has released new versions of Picasa for Mac OS X and Windows, its software application designed for organizing and editing digital photos. Version 3.0.6, released on July 30, 2009 mainly fixes issues such as one where applying the 'Retouch' edit created a 0kb new file, or an issue where Picasa for Mac caused very high CPU usage for some users. Various crash fixes are also incorporated in this release.

As originally thought out by Idealab, Picasa doesn't store images, but only represents the actual directories containing photographs on one's computer, saving them space, as well as eliminating the risk of bad manipulation. The application handles a user's iPhoto Library in the same way, with a small variation made for the way in which the latter organizes the photos.

Basically, if you make edits in iPhoto, each album or event in your iPhoto Library will contain an “Originals” folder and a “Modified” one. The software is able to scan the photos and videos in both of them, and can display a single, collective folder with the most recent version of each file. The main features of Picasa include the ability to organize, edit, create and share photos as described below.

Organize - Manage your photos in one place, and find photos you forgot you had. Edit - Eliminate scratches & blemishes, fix red-eye, crop, and more. Create - Turn photos into movies, collages, slideshows, and more. Share - Upload seamlessly to Picasa Web Albums to share with friends, family & the world.

Picasa system requirements include Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, an Intel CPU, at least 256MB RAM and 100MB of available hard disk space. Mac OS X users should note that Picasa for Mac doesn’t have an automatic update control, meaning that, when an update is available, users are simply prompted to accept or decline.

Download Picasa for Mac OS X (Free)