More storage, more photos, more fun

Posted by Matt Steiner, Engineering Lead-Photos Team

With Picasa Web Albums, you automatically get one gigabyte of free storage. As some of you may have noticed, we recently changed the way storage works so you can continue to share and store images even after you fill up that free gig.

In the past, each image and video you uploaded counted toward your free 1GB. Now, uploaded images that are 800 pixels or smaller and videos that are 15 minutes or less in length no longer count against your free storage limit. This means you can upload and store unlimited photos and videos at the above sizes -- for free!

800-pixels is a good size for sharing pictures on the web, but if you prefer uploading your images at a larger size for better quality (archival or print), and you are nearing the 1GB limit, you can always purchase additional storage for as little as $5/year. To check your available storage amount scroll to the bottom of your home page or view your settings.

For those of you who’ve already purchased additional storage, any existing 800-pixel images or videos shorter than 15 minutes will no longer count toward your storage limit, so enjoy the extra space and post away!

We hope you enjoy the change, and we’d love to hear what you think.

Showcasing photos from people you care about

Posted by Ping Chen, Software engineer

Over the past few days, we’ve been testing a new Picasa Web Albums layout that does a better job of of updating you with new and inspiring photos. Based on the positive response we’ve received, we’re now rolling out this new homepage for everyone.

This new design centers around photos that are interesting to you. We wanted to give you faster access to the newest photos from your family and friends along with some great photos from the talented Picasa community.

When you log in to Picasa Web Albums, you will not only see your own albums, but albums that have been shared with you, the latest public albums from people you follow, and featured photos from the Picasa community right on your home page.

Go to picasaweb.google.com now to begin exploring your new homepage.

Easier uploads to Picasa Web Albums

Posted by Shuangfeng Li, Software Engineer

We’ve made sharing and storing your images in Picasa Web Albums even easier by improving the image upload process. Now you’ll find a smoother upload flow, the five-at-a-time limitation has been removed, and you can upload HD video, too.

To get started from Chrome, Firefox or Safari click the Upload button, select an album and then choose the images and videos you want to upload. After your images have uploaded, you will see large thumbnails where you can easily add a caption, zoom in or delete right from the upload screen.

If you use Internet Explorer, you can continue to use the basic uploader or use the plug-in for drag-and-drop bulk uploading.

Another easy way to upload to Picasa Web Albums is from Gallery on an Android device. For example, with Android 3.0, Honeycomb, you can capture an image or video with your tablet's camera and upload directly to Picasa Web Albums to share with friends.

We’re always working to improve Picasa Web Albums, please share your feedback in our forum. Happy uploading!

Where in the world are my photos?

Posted by Ping Chen, Software Engineer

For some of you, many of your memories are based around a place. It could be a cherished family cabin, an iconic landmark or a trip to an exotic locale. In Picasa Web Albums, you can leverage the GPS technology built into many cameras and mobile phones to tag where your images were taken. This makes sharing images of your trip to Yellowstone even more interesting by showing where inside the park they were taken.

Until today, you could manage the visibility of geographical information at the account level - you chose whether to display location information for your entire account. Now, you can control whether or not to include location information for each individual album rather than at the account level. Whenever you add a new album, location information will not display by default. Existing albums will follow your previous selection. You can easily change this setting for existing and new albums by checking or unchecking the box below the map on your album.

This way, you can show your friends the geographical location of the photos in your Yellowstone album, while keeping the location of a favorite beach your secret.

As always, we'd love to hear what you think. Please share your feedback in our forum.