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Google Rising

By Ted Baker

Real Estate Technology with Carmody and Associates LLC

March 02, 2010 12:29 AM

Some interesting movement in the BlueNowhere this week.

Google Logo Google has acquired Bitnik, Inc - the Seattle based owners and providers of Picnik.com – the “photo editing made fun” folks.

I have written about the Picnik.com services before. You can upload your photos and edit them right in your broswer with some powerful and fun tools. There are free services and some enhanced tools available with their premium membership.

Picnik.com is a great site for ActiveRain members who need to do quick post processing or cropping of listing photos – online, easy and without adding any software to your computer. They also facilitate photo sharing and provide many fun effects for your personal family photos.

Google, of course, already offers excellent photo sharing and editing with Picasa. But that service requires that you download the current version of the Picasa software. This acquisition broadens their offerings and adds more established customers to their services.

The trend of corporate acquisition will continue as it is faster and easier to acquire a competitor or an innovator than it is to find, hire and facilitate more engineers for in house development.

Read news coverage <here> and read the story on the Picnik company blog <here>

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Ted Baker

Carmody and Associates LLC - Winter Haven, FL

MidFloridaMediation.com

UPDATE: (not exactly on point, but speaking of Google...)

Google is constantly updating and expanding their services.

Cheryl Johnson provided an excellent post about Google Buzz recently. I commented on Cheryl's post but it was a couple of days after the fact, so it may have been missed and there were some useful links. I will repeat the comment here so that Gmail, Buzz and Chrome users get the links to enhance their experience.

Anything from Google interests me because there is generally a synergy with other Google products I use - so it is useful right out of the box. A Gmail account (or two, three, four) is the key to open the door.

Here is a link to Google's little video about the Buzz Product. <link>

And, of course, if you use Chrome as a browser, there are extensions available that take you directly to your Gmail account. Remember the synergy thing I mentioned... Link for Chrome extensions for Gmail.

By the way, if you are a Gmail user - be sure to watch the Gmail blog for new giggles and grins. Did you know that Gmail can remind you to add the attachment before sending if you have used language in the text of the message suggesting that you meant to attach a file?

Mar 02, 2010 12:52 AM

Leslie Prest

Leslie Prest, Prest Realty, Sales and Rentals in Payson, AZ - Payson, AZ

Owner, Assoc. Broker, Prest Realty, Payson,

I love Google. I just bought a Droid, and it synchs to my gmail and calendar. I've used picnic- it's interesting that Google has taken them over. I don't get what to do with Buzz- I'll check out Cheryl's post.

Mar 02, 2010 07:07 AM

Marcia Hawken

WILLIAM RAVEIS - Naples, FL

Naples Luxury Specialist

What ever happened to Microsoft. Google just keeps getting better and it is almost a no brainer to go with their new products. Have not checked out Buzz yet, but know they will get it right. Thanks for the excellent post~

Mar 02, 2010 11:48 PM

Glenn Roberts

Retired - Seattle, WA

Google has been very innovative since their formation, while Microsoft is seemingly bogged down in playing catch-up. But I find Picasa slows my computer down (okay, I should upgrade). I'll look into picnik and see if it helps me. Thanks.

Mar 03, 2010 12:18 AM

Rebecca Levinson, Real Estate Marketing and Online Advertising Consultant

Real Skillz-Clear Marketing for Your Real Estate Vision - Lake Geneva, WI

Hi Ted,

Buzz is my next venture...I've been busy, but I am a little wary over some privacy concerns that had surfaced. I already allow Google to parse my email's content and show me ads because I use Gmail. I have used their social search, and now Ill take a look at Google Buzz. I will be sure to take a close look at the privacy settings.

I did know about Piknik have a premium membership. You are right, Google will continue to acquire and develop....www domination seems imminent.:)

Mar 09, 2010 03:40 PM

Google Rising

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