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Google Photos gets updated with improved sharing features
Google is adding three new features to its Photos platform that are designed to make sharing pictures easier. The first is to tackle the problem of wanting to share a cool image with your friends in a living room setting. Currently, you'd be forced to pass your smartphone from person to person, but that's all about to change. Now, as long as there's a TV with a Chromecast plugged in, a user can push the shots straight to the big screen. Rather than just mirroring the device's display, however, the feature enables you to choose what you want your friends and relatives to see. That way, if you'd rather not run the risk of sharing an inappropriate notification or not-safe-for-work background image, you can run the show as if it was an old-school slide projector.
Google Photos will now automatically surface pictures you took in years past
The revamped Google Photos service that was introduced at I/O this year is already one of our favorite ways to manage our ever-growing image collections, and Google keeps on adding features to make it better. The latest is a new tool that lets you walk down memory lane, so to speak. The Google Photos "assistant" will now show you cards that contain images that you shot on the same day in years past, letting you reminisce about whatever exciting things you took pictures of way back when. It's not clear yet if this new feature will show you every single photo you snapped on a given day or just a curated selection, but either way it sounds like a smart way to surface images that you may have forgotten you ever took.
Google Photos lets you tell it when your pictures were taken
Google just announced that it has pushed live a host of user-requested features for its Photos service. These include the ability to edit an image's timestamp, rearrange the image order in albums, change an album's cover photo and remove inaccurate results from searches. What's more, the company is also launching an improved community product forum, staffed in part by members of Google's Top Contributors program, that will help confused Photos users better navigate the site.
Google clarifies what's going on with Google+ Photos
Facing a backlash from angry Google+ users (what, both of them?), Anil Sabharwal, the head of Google Photos, released a statement on Tuesday clarifying Monday's earlier announcement about the fate of Google+ Photos. According to Sabharwal, Google will still effectively "shut down" Google+ Photos in lieu of the company's new Google Photos service. However, Sabharwal noted that the older service will still allow users to share, comment and +1 photos and videos as they always have. They will also remain on the Google+ service for the foreseeable future and accessible via the Photos tab of the Profile page.
Deleting Google Photos won't stop your phone from uploading pictures
Google Photos is pretty amazing. Not only does it offer free, unlimited back-up space for your photos and memories, it also automatically creates collages, slide-shows and movies from your uploaded library. I loved it from the first moment I installed the app--but if you don't, watch out: uninstalling Google Photos won't stop your phone from uploading pictures to your account.
Google lets you hide unwanted web notifications
When you launch a Google service like YouTube or Gmail on the web, there's always a little bell icon in the corner hiding a bundle of notifications. For many people, this feed is a complete mess and full of alerts for services they rarely use. Well, now Google is making it a little easier to focus its notifications on the tools that really matter to you. As Android Police notes, it's now possible to hit the settings cog and toggle alerts for Google+, Photos and YouTube individually. Never use Google's social network? Now you can remain blissfully ignorant whenever someone adds you to a circle or gives your post a +1. Likewise, if you only care about knowing when people have replied to your YouTube comments, it's now much easier to keep those notifications front and center. At the moment only a handful of Google services are supported, but if enough people start using it, we suspect it'll only be a matter of time before the company bundles in all of its web properties.
Google Photos cuts out Plus to make the app we really wanted
The most striking part of the just released (on the web, iOS and Android) Google Photos is how familiar it feels if you've already been using Photos in Google+, or before that, Picasa. The biggest change I noticed early on is that by separating Photos from its attempt to launch yet another social network, Google is starting focus on stuff that both benefits its users, and that it does well: cloud storage and using information to narrow down searches. Now, it's a perfect fit for how most people use cameras everyday, from the ones in their phones to point-and-shoots (but maybe not your DSLR). With unlimited storage and machine learning that can link photos by the people in them or where they were taken it's ready to make sense of your massive image library.
Google Photos offers unlimited storage for mobile and web
Google today launched a standalone, unlimited photo and video service called Google Photos. Google Photos is a free -- and, again, unlimited -- storage, sharing and editing service, and it should be available today on Android, iOS and the web. However, do note that the unlimited storage only counts if you're okay with a little compression -- your photos will be downsized to 16-megapixels and your videos will have to be 1080p or worse. You can certainly upload original resolution photos and videos too, but they'll count against your Google Drive storage limits. Update: The Photos app is out, and we've given it a test run, check out our impressions right here.
Google is reportedly separating its photo service from its social network
Love Google's services, but not a fan of its social network? Good news: the Mountain View company may be spinning Google+'s photo features into their own product. According to Bloomberg sources, Google is hoping to attract new users by making some of its social network's best features available to consumers who aren't interested in Google+. The company has already made Hangouts available sans Plus to some business customers, but wouldn't confirm or deny if the reported photo spinoff was really happening. "Over here in our darkroom, we're always developing new ways for people to snap, share and say cheese," a Google spokesperson told us. Well, that's certainly cheesy.
Your Chromebook now sends photos to Google+ in the background
To date, Chrome OS has only backed up photos to the cloud as long as you left the Google+ Photos app open; that's a hassle on the frequently limited screen real estate of a Chromebook. You won't have that headache if you grab the updated Photos app, however. The new version automatically uploads snapshots from your SD card in the background, even if the app is closed; you can move on to email knowing that all those vacation pictures will be safe. It's a simple addition, but it should make a big difference if you're planning to go on photo safaris this summer.
Picasa, Blogger to get renamed: now with more Google?
Google's reportedly trying to put all of its product eggs into one self-branded basket. According to Mashable, two of its most popular services -- Picasa and Blogger -- may go under the branding knife and come out the other side looking like 'Google Photos' and 'Google Blogs.' With the exception of the latter's planned UI overhaul, both services should function exactly the same. The move -- alleged to take place within the next six weeks -- would unify the search king's user offerings ahead of the public launch of Google+. And if that social service's rumored July 31st launch date pans out, we could be seeing this overhaul very soon. But don't expect crown jewel YouTube to receive similar treatment, that site's brand equity already sent its ugly step-sister -- Google Video -- to the grave.
