Google Launches Picasa 3.0 Beta

Yesterday Google launched a beta version, Picasa 3.0, of its photo management software, claiming it can break down "barriers between your home PC and your online albums."

Every day seems to bring a new announcement from Google. No sooner was its new Chrome browser out of the block than the company announced a public beta of Picasa 3.0, its photo management system, along with a redesign of Picasa Web Albums.

According to a blog by product manager Mike Horowitz, Picasa 3.0 includes a “new ’sync to web’ feature that automatically updates online albums when you add or edit photos on your computer.” There will also now be tools to edit and retouch photos.

As to Picasa Web albums, it now includes “a new ‘name tags’ feature that helps organize your growing photo collection by people. Opt-in to name tags, and our technology automatically groups photos containing similar faces. Instead of asking you to painstakingly label pictures one-by-one, name tags lets you rapidly tag many photos at once. By doing so, you can easily find that photo of your cousin from two years ago; create a slideshow of you and your best friend, or share an album with everybody who appears in the photos.”