by Michelle Lentz on March 2, 2010
Google has acquired Picnik, the Seattle-based photo-editing app that lives in the cloud. I always sort of thought of Picnik as Photoshop Elements that I could access from anywhere.
I’m a bit surprised by this news, as I feel like I’ve seen Picnik everywhere in the last year, including BlogHer and CES. In fact, one of those recyclable shopping bags with a big Picnik logo is sitting right next to me.
My first thought when I heard Picnik was acquired by Google was, “What about Yahoo?” Picnik is integrated into Yahoo’s Flickr photo-sharing app, where it offers online photo editing inside the Flickr wrapper. I use it all the time, actually. So this is interesting cross-contamination between Google and Yahoo. Obviously Google is hoping to really ramp up Picasa, and as Picasa shares so seamlessly with the other Google tools, this makes sense. If everyone I know (and several years worth of photos) wasn’t already on Flickr, I’d probably move to Picasa.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Picnik blog post on the matter sounds more happy than sad.
What does this mean for Picnik? It means we can think BIG. Google processes petabytes of data every day, and with their worldwide infrastructure and world-class team, it is truly the best home we could have found. Under the Google roof we’ll reach more people than ever before, impacting more lives and making more photos more awesome.
What does this mean for you Picnikers? Nothing is changing right away, but Picnik now has more potential than ever before. The team that built Picnik from the grass up will continue making advanced and powerful photo-editing easier, more intuitive and more fun, so stay tuned to hear about all the cool new stuff we’re working on.
The Official Google blog also reiterates that nothing is changing. In particular, they address the Yahoo/Flickr question without mentioning it by name, saying that they’ll support “all existing Picnik partners.”
We’re not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features. As well, we’d like to continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks.
__
Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
by Michelle Lentz on August 5, 2009
As a blogger, I use Flickr a lot to find relevant images that correctly portray what I’m trying to express in my words. That means I’m often mired in Flickr search. Yesterday, the Flickr blog announced a redesign of their search page.
The page now allows you to search based on keyword through the individual images/videos, as well as search for groups and people. As always, you can search through the entire text associated with an image or just the tags. You can also change the view from Small and Medium (Small is shown in the screenshot) to Detailed view, which is similar to the old Flickr search results. Small view resembles CompFight, which I occasionally use to search for Creative Commons-licensed photos. In Small and Medium view, every photo has an i button in the lower right corner. Clicking the i provides a pop-up with detailed information, such as date, location, and number of comments.
The right-hand column now provides a new perspective as well.
On the right side of the page we try to provide a new perspective on your search. Based upon how our members are tagging their photos and participating in the Flickrverse, you’ll see links to the groups, photographers, tag clusters and places that are most closely related what you’re looking for. We hope these will occasionally provide a little extra inspiration for your search.
My only complaint is that there is no easy way to search Creative Commons-licensed photos. You still need to go into Advanced search, click the appropriate checkboxes, and then Search again. I’d love it if Flickr would add a CC button to the main search page.
__
Cheers!
Tweet Michelle @writetechnology, send her technology news at michelle[at]writetech[dot]net, visit her wine blog when you’re thirsty, and drop by her day job.
by Michelle Lentz on June 10, 2009
by Michelle Lentz
If you’re not familiar, Eye-Fi offers memory cards that upload your photos directly to the Internet via a Wi-Fi connection. According to a post on VentureBeat this morning, they’ve now launched the Eye-Fi Pro.
The Eye-Fi Pro is aimed at professional photographers and serious enthusiasts. It’s a 4 GB file and it supports JPG, various video, and the format that will make many people happy – RAW. New options include geo-tagging photos, uploading via Peer-to-Peer (no router needed), and easier access to Wi-Fi hotspots. There is also Selective Transfer to choose which photos will be automatically updated. Nikon and Casio are offering Eye-Fi connected cameras as well.
Eye-Fi connects to 25 online sharing sites, including Flickr, and costs around $149.
Hmm … maybe I need one of these to take to Alaska with me.
___
Vote and Promote! http://bit.ly/reallygoodejob
Vote for Michelle and then tell all your friends!
More information at http://www.rainbowgoode.com
by Brian Solis on January 1, 2009
by Brian Solis
Happy New Year!
Comscore released its list revealing the top Social Networks and Social Media properties for 2008 (note, these numbers to not include December traffic). Google’s Blogger.com blogging platform is clearly dominating, however Facebook continues its meteoric rise and appears on track to imminently earn the number one spot. Myspace appears to have leveled off a bit, but is still in third place. Wordpress comes in at a close fourth, demonstrating the continued growth of its blogging network. Windows Lvie Spaces and Yahoo! Geocities trail in a distant fifth and sixth place, however, Flickr shows a strong position at number seven. Scribd deserves a mention as it continues to grow as a premier social network for the sharing and discovery of documents.
Total Unique Visitors (000) as of November 2008
1. Blogger – 221,503
2. Facebook – 200,189
3. MySpace – 126,168
4. Wordpress – 113,661
5. Windows Live Spaces – 86,760
6. Yahoo! Geocities – 69,159
7. Flickr – 63,866
8. Hi5 – 58,069
9. Orkut – 46,446
10. Six Apart Sites – 45,606
11. Baidu Space – 40,276
12. Friendster – 31,325
13. 56.com – 29,171
14. Webs.com – 24,230
15. Bebo – 24,149
16. Scribd – 23,524
17. Lycos Tripod – 23,350
18. Tagged.com – 22,300
19. Imeem – 21,889
20. Netlog.com – 21,1777
Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook
