YouTube and Picasa services are available right from the TV in Panasonic's flagship TH-PZ850U.
(Credit: Masa Fukata, Panasonic)
We detailed Panasonic's full plasma lineup earlier this year, but having just returned from a press event devoted to the flagship TH-PZ850U series, it feels incumbent to reiterate some of the cool new features of these expensive sets.
The coolest? A demo at the event proved that the 850Us can stream YouTube videos, right on the TV screen with no PC required. The TV's "Viera Cast" interface allows you to search YouTube by keyword, sort videos by popularity, or access your own list of favorite videos, for example. During the demo we were treated to a video of a laughing baby, the (no-surprise) current champ of the popularity list. According to Panasonic, the entire catalog of YouTube videos is available on the TV, although it may take a day or two for a new one on the site to appear on Viera Cast. The TV can also access Picasa, Google's photo sharing site, so you can view digital photos stored at your (or someone else's) Picasa account directly on the big screen.
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Google says the "BlogThis!" button in Picasa uses the button API.
(Credit: Google)Adobe Systems is getting all of the attention today in the digital photo world with the launch of Photoshop Express. Google, meanwhile, continues to add features to Picasa, Adobe's main online rival.
Google has released a new application programming interface (API) for Picasa that makes it easier to transfer pictures from Picasa to other applications, both online and offline.
Developers can use the Picasa Button API to make custom buttons that can open image files in local applications and upload selected image files to the Web via Google's Picasa Web Uploader service.
"Using the web uploader, you can make user interfaces that feel more like sending an email and less like 'Wait an hour to upload...'," Michael Herf of Google's Photos Team wrote in a blog posting Wednesday.
Yahoo Photos will be shut down in 99 days for some users, but Yahoo released tools Wednesday to let members move their pictures to alternative sites.
Yahoo Photos members now can migrate their pictures elsewhere.
(Credit: Yahoo)In a blog posting Wednesday, Tim Anderson, the senior product manager of Yahoo Photos and Flickr, encouraged the Yahoo Photos users to move their photos to Yahoo's other photo site, Flickr. But the company also will let members move their photos to four other sites: Snapfish, Shutterfly, Photobucket and Kodak Gallery.
Look at the options carefully before you switch. Some are offering perks such as free prints, and others don't support some Yahoo Photos features such as tags. And don't be in a rush: The site won't shut down until September 20, and international users likely will get even more leeway.
Conspicuously missing from the migration list is Picasa, the photo-sharing site run by Yahoo archrival Google.
The site was misbehaving on Wednesday evening. When I tried to move my photos, I got an error message: "Wait! There's a problem. We're sorry about this, but we couldn't start your migration for a very technical reason that you probably don't want to know."
Members also can buy archival CDs--which might not be a bad idea no matter in any event given that most folks are backup shirkers.
"We've watched photography gradually change from a tool for simply recording life events (seen enough baby/wedding/graduation/vacation photos, anyone?) to a social tool for sharing and connecting with others. That's why we believe it's time to shift our focus towards Flickr," Anderson said.
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