Google Picasa Web Albums “Test” launched

Picasa Web Albums has launched.

Currently it is only a limited “test” release, and invitations are available from Google. To signup for an invitation, goto http://picasaweb.google.com/ and enter in your Gmail user name. Invitations are sent out on a first-come first-serve basis.

In the near future, Google will enable users to send out their own invites for friends and family.

Picasa Web Albums is Picasa’s newest feature, designed to help users post and share their photos quickly and easily on the web.

• One-click web upload using Picasa’s new “Web Albumâ€? button
• Free storage space to post and share approximately 1000 photos, with the option to upgrade to more space
• High-quality photos, automatically resized and optimized to fill available screen space
• Pre-loaded images enable quick scrolling using arrow keys, and mimic a desktop experience of “flippingâ€? through photos, even on the web
• End-to-end photo management that makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer

Picasa offers 250MB of free storage for your images, but more storage is available for purchase if needed.