Maybe Picasa for the Mac

Whilst visiting MacWorld, Duncan Riley of TechCruch noticed that the staffers on Google's stand were wearing t-shirts with the logos of Gmail, Google Earth, Google Desktop, Picasa...

Just a moment he thought, and asked outright about whether Picasa was coming for the Mac, to which he got one one inexperienced employee's response of "Picasa for Mac is under-development and will be launched later this year."  He tried probing other staffers for more details, such as the release date, but was met with a collection of silence - and "smiles like Cheshire cats".  Read what you will in to that!

Update: Google Operating System picked up on the same blog post, and augments it with a useful table showing the various Google installed applications (Toolbar, Desktop, Earth, Sketchup, Picasa, and Talk) and when they became available on Windows (where all are available), on Mac (yet to get Picasa or Talk), and Linux (already has Picasa, but no Sketchup or Talk either).

New PicasaWeb uploaders v1.1 for the Mac

Google have announced updated Mac file uploaders, for uploading to Picasa Web Albums, specifically adding supporting for iPhoto '08.

They also note that they have redesigned the internals of the uploaders - they now use the public Google Data API interfaces and the Objective-C GData Library.  Additionally they install using Google Updater.

Objective-C Library for Picasa Web Albums

Greg Robbins, a member of the Mac team at Google, has updated the open-source Objective-C Client Library to add support for the Picasa Web Albums GData based API.

His suggestions for how you might want to use the ability to upload images from any application to your web albums include:

• sharing images of your avatar from an online world
• uploading images from a security camera, so they can be monitored like any other RSS feed

Even more cool (Mac) applications are underway

Greg Robbins, a well known Mac developer in Google's Kirkland office writes a fair sized post on the Google Mac Blog, in which he notes the Mac applications he's been working on at Google:

Though I had worked in large and small companies prior to joining Google, the rapid pace of development here still amazed me. Within weeks, I was helping the Mac developers working on Google Earth get it talking with Sketchup, making Google Video player keep itself up to date, and turning a photo uploader that had been an impressive, experimental 20% project into a polished, easy way for Mac users to take advantage of Picasa Web Albums.

So, a reminder there that the Picasa Web photo uploader started out as a 20% project, but was embraced and turned into a full product.  He then goes on to note that:

Of course, even more cool applications are underway.

I'm sure Mac users are anxiously waiting to see what those could be! 

Picasa and the Mac

Google is reminding its users that it really does quite like the Mac, and so has created a Mac Blog.  They've also put together a page that showcases Google's software downloads for the Mac which includes the Picasa Web Albums Uploaders, which were introduced at the beginning of August.

Picasa also got a further mention on Google's blogs, with an entry on Helpful Resources, which talks about the U2U (User to User) groups which provide support for a number of Google products - including Google Desktop, Toolbar, Picasa, Maps, Calendar.

Picasa on Mac via Crossover Office

Codeweavers, who provided the expertise to get Picasa working on Linux, have released a (time limited) beta of Crossover Office for Mac. This is their commercial version of the same Wine technology that Picasa on Linux uses, so it is not at all surprising that using it allows Picasa to also run on the (Intel based models of the) Mac.

Such a development of course raises the question as to whether Google will make the same arrangements on the Mac as they did on Linux, so that Picasa becomes a fully supported (and zero-cost) application on that platform.  (Whilst the beta version of Crossover Office is free, once the beta expires the full version will cost $60 - which is lot just to run a free photo organizer!) 

Picasa (web albums) integration with the Mac

Whilst there is no news on a full version of Picasa for the Mac, Google have released a set of uploaders that allow Mac OS X users to upload photos to Picasa Web Albums, either directly within iPhoto or using drag-and-drop from a standalone application.

For iPhoto users
The Picasa Web Albums Exporter lives right inside iPhoto. Select photos, choose Export in the File or Share menu, and upload them directly to your web album.

For a standalone application
Use the Picasa Web Albums uploader -- just drag photos from the Finder and click the Upload button.

Requirements:

• - You must have a Picasa Web Albums account to use the Exporter or Uploader.
• - Requires OS X 10.4 or later.

The Google Blog post announcing the Mac uploaders notes that this started as a 20% time project. Its been worked on by Ted Bonkenburg, Greg Robbins, and Mike Morton.

Good comments on the uploaders from TechCrunch and Factory Joe amongst many others.