14 DAY TRIAL // Google has just released Picasa for Mac. Currently in beta for Apple computing platforms, Picasa is a program that helps you manage, edit, and share your photo collection. Best of all, the software doesn't do with storing images, but only represents the actual directories containing photographs on your computer's hard drive, offering endless editing and managing options with an intuitive user interface.
“Last year we had a blast at Macworld demonstrating all our Mac products, but as Mac users, we also know that the best part of Macworld is new product announcements,” Stuart Morgan, software engineer of the Google Mac team, explains. “This year, we're getting in the spirit by making a little announcement of our own: we're happy to say that Picasa, Google's photo management software, will be joining the ranks of the free Mac OS X applications from Google!”
The utility doesn't store any of your pictures. It simply scans your hard drive and displays the photo files it finds. In this way, Picasa folders represent the actual directories containing images on your computer's hard drive. The applictaion handles the iPhoto Library in the same way, with a small variation made for the way in which the latter organizes your photos.
Basically, if you've made edits in iPhoto, each album or event in your iPhoto Library will contain an “Originals” folder and a “Modified” one. Picasa scans the photos and videos in both of them, and displays a single collective folder with the most recent version of each file.
Boasting some impressive control capabilities, the tool can find and display up to one million pictures (!) from any place on your Mac. Editing options range from retouching to adding text and watermarks. When the work is finished, users can upload easily to Picasa web albums.
According to the Google Mac Team, a few minor features like geotagging and webcam capture aren't functional yet. After all, Picasa for Mac is only in its early beta stages. But despite other, minor issues, Mr. Morgan trusts users will “find plenty to like in this first beta.” “[...] We're excited to get this release out into the hands of the Mac community at this year's Macworld!” he says. “We're looking forward to making Picasa for the Mac even better, and to hearing what you think.” According to the same blog post, Picasa engineers will be at the Google booth's demo stations throughout Macworld.
To download the Google-developed photography software, use this link.
Download Picasa for Mac Beta (Free)
Readers are encouraged to watch the YouTube video demonstration below, to "draw a better picture" of Picasa on the Macintosh.
Introducing Picasa for Mac (beta) Video