Google Picasa Web Albums

Google Picasa Web Albums limited beta test has launched, but you need an invitation which you can sign up for using your Gmail username. The free account comes with approximately 250MB of space, or 1000 photos, or for $25.00 per year, you can get a subscription to an additional 6GB of storage – room to post and share approximately 25,000 photos.

Picasa Web Albums features:

* One-click web upload using Picasa’s new “Web Album” 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 “flipping” through photos, even on the web    

* End-to-end photo management that makes it easy to download uploaded photos back to your computer

Micro Persuasion points out that "Picasa Web Albums doesn't even come close to becoming a Flickr killer. While all albums have feeds, and comments, there are no tags nor are there groups. So it's basically lacking any community. It's a straight uploading product that's similar to Apple's iPhoto/.Mac linkup."