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Google acquires Picnik, boosts its cloud offering for photos

Google acquires Picnik, a startup that focuses on Web-based photo editing tools.
Written by Sam Diaz, Inactive

Google, which already dabbles in the photo software business with Picasa, today announced its acquisition of Picnik, a Seattle-based startup in the Web-based photo-editing space.

The software, which is free and doesn't even require registration, uses Web tools that will nicely integrate with Picasa, assuming that's what will happen. For now, Picasa's browser-based editing tools are very basic, with more of an offering on Google's client version of the software.

As Google builds its cloud portfolio of services and offerings, it only makes sense that it would bring in a company like Picnik to enhance Picasa and offer better integration with photo-hosting sites, including Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket and, of course, Picasa for the Web. But what does all of this mean for Picnik? They say it best in a blog post:

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.

Google, in its own post, and Picnik both said users won't see any big changes right away. Picnik is still open to new users and nothing happens to the accounts of existing customers.

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