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On Monday, Google finally released a public beta of Picasa for the Mac. Picasa is a free desktop app for importing, editing, organizing and sharing digital images–particularly digital photos.
Picasa for Macs is a free download from “Picasa.google.com/mac/”:http://picasa.google.com/mac/. You need an Intel Mac running OS 10.4 or later.
Picasa has been a popular photo app on the Windows side for years. It shares some features with iPhoto, and adds some unique killer features. These include the ability to sync your Picasa desktop and Picasa Web Albums edits, screen captures, create and edit movies within Picasa, add text/watermarks to photos, manage folders on your computer, a collage creation, screensaver creation, and Facial-recognition technology. Privacy and sharing settings can be adjusted for individual photos, collections or for your entire library.
Preliminary tests show Picasa to be as fast or faster than iPhoto and easy and elegant to use. We’ll test further and review Picasa in detail in the future.
Google also offers Picasa Web Albums, which is an excellent web service for sharing and organizing photos. This has been Mac-compatible for years. There is an iPhoto plugin if you want to use Picasa Web Albums without necessarily using the desktop version of Picasa. “Click here to download this.”:http://picasa.google.com/mac_tools.html
Also, the new version of iPhoto ’09 looks amazing. News about Picasa for Mac has been swept under the rug with the announcement of iPhoto ’09.
Picasa Web Albums integrates tightly with Google’s Blogger service, along with many other blog platforms and web services. Picasa Web Albums is very easy to use, uploading is a breeze, and photos are nicely displayed online. Picasa Web Albums offers up to 1GB (“enough space for 4,000 wallpaper-size photos”) of photo hosting for free.
Flickr is still more popular and has deeper social network components then Picasa Web Albums. Again, we’ll do a detailed comparison in the near future.
iWeb also received minor updates for Macworld. In iWeb, it’s now easier to upload websites and website changes to MobileMe or to your own server via FTP with a single click. Like iWeb ’08, iWeb ’09 uploads only your changes when you publish, so you’ll enjoy quick site updates.
iWeb will now notify your Facebook friends when you update your site. Simply link any iWeb site to your Facebook account. Following an update, iWeb adds the changes to your profile, alerting your friends and providing them with a handy link. It’s now also easier to add web widgets to your site that update automatically.
iDVD didn’t appear to get any new features beyond performance and stability improvements. iMovie once again supports DVD chapter makers and titles for use with iDVD ’09, which is very welcome news.
“Learn more and pre-order iLife ’09 here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/product/72885
iLife ’09 looks like an awesome upgrade. Too bad it won’t be released until the need of the month. Fortunately, Apple has an iLife ’09 up-to-date program. If you’ve purchased a qualifying computer on or after January 6, 2009 that does not include iLife ’09, you can upgrade to iLife ’09 for US $9.95 plus tax.
*Apple will administer this program, including collecting the $9.95 and shipping the iLife ’09 DVD.*
More information about this is forthcoming. Please check “our blog”:http://blog.smalldog.com on or after Monday, January 12 for additional details!
Featured updates:
* Easily create sophisticated animations with *Magic Move.*
* Add dramatic object and text transitions using *new visual effects.*
* Visualize your data with *new styles and animations* for 3D charts.
* Dramatically *reduce file size* without compromising quality.
* Create dynamic flowcharts and diagrams using *connection lines.*
* Choose from *eight new Apple-designed themes* (44 total).
* *Open, save, and email Microsoft PowerPoint files* from within Keynote.
Get the most out of the photos, movies, and music on your Mac with the latest versions of iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iWeb, and iDVD! It has lots of new features, which we’ll highlight below. *Note that iLife ’09 includes all five applications which are not available for purchase separately.*
On a related note, the Mac Box Set was announced as well: this is one package that includes Mac OS X Leopard, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09 for $169.99 (You’ll save over $100; Leopard alone is $129.99!) Also available in Family Pack: $229.99
This will ship late this month; reserve your copy below!
Single User Edition:
http://www.smalldog.com/product/72889
Family Pack:
http://www.smalldog.com/product/72890
For several weeks we’ve known that AT&T would finally be introducing the iPhone in Vermont mid-January. The time is almost here. We’ve heard from various AT&T affiliates that the iPhone will be launched in Vermont next week. To commemorate this long overdue occasion, we’ve put all “iPhone 3G”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/iPhone_Accessories|Cases
cases on sale. Every single one. They’re $5 – $10 off, or with a free FM transmitter.
“You can see all iPhone cases by clicking here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/iPhone_Accessories|Cases
We offer dozens of iPhone-compatible speakers, clocks, chargers, and FM transmitters as well. Most of these are listed “in the iPod Accessories category.”:http://www.smalldog.com/category/x/x/x/iPod_Accessories
Regarding iPhone 3G cases, I like the “Contour HardSkin in black.”:http://www.smalldog.com/wag18611/ It makes the phone easier to grip, gives a shock protection, and is relatively low-profile.