Will Picasa become Google Photos?

There are signs Picasa Web Albums could be renamed Google Photos.

Google's Picasa Web Albums

Google Operating System noticed several references to the term in the code that powers the Web site.

Among the examples: "This photo will be available to view and share in Google Photos, Google's free photo hosting service." And: "By submitting this form, you're alerting the Google Photos team to inappropriate content on this page."

Poring through a source code may sound like a dodgy way to predict the future, but programming code snippets can be revealing. Some wording in the Apple iPhone developer kit indicated a change might come to the company's .Mac online service, and sure enough, it became MobileMe earlier this month.

Picasa also is the name of software Google offers for free to perform basic photo editing and to upload photos to the Web site.