Download Google Picasa for Mac 3.0.0 Beta

Google has released the first beta of Picasa for Mac and you can click this link for Intel Macs. The Mac version of Picasa has the same look and feel as the Windows and Linux versions of the program and allows you to easily manage, edit and put photos online. The program offers several options for importing and adjusting photos, including straightening the horizon, fine-tuning the contrast, and creating a crop. Picasa for Mac is still under development and not all features are included in the program:

Picasa for Mac looks and works almost exactly like Picasa on other platforms. It can keep track of photo files scattered across your hard drives, and will automatically account for new photos as you add them to your system. Picasa for Mac also features non-destructive editing, so you can explore different photo adjustments and effects without worry.

In building Picasa for Mac, we’ve tried to make sure it “plays nice” with iPhoto. Picasa takes a special read-only approach to editing photos stored in the iPhoto library, duplicating files as needed, so your iPhoto library isn’t ever affected when you use Picasa. Avid iPhoto users who currently use our Picasa Web Albums plugin for iPhoto can of course continue to do so, though features like automatic web sync, photo collages, and more are only available in the Picasa application.

As you’ll notice on the download page, Picasa for Mac is initially being released as a Google Labs product — it’s very much a beta. Some smaller features like geotagging and 3rd-party printing aren’t functional, yet, and you may well stumble across other rough edges as you use this beta. [break]