Picasa Web replaced by Google+ Photos?

Holders of Google accounts, including members of its upcoming social network Google+, may have noticed a change in their “Photos" link: it no longer points to their Picasa Web albums when they are logged in. Instead, the Photos link will send logged-in Google account users to their Google+ Photos section, which shows images from their circles and from their Android phones, and photos where they have been tagged. “You can still go to Picasa Web Albums, but you have to bookmark the old URL or manually type it in the address bar. Google+ Photos lacks many of the features from Picasa Web Albums: Picnik integration, batch editing, entering an album description, ordering prints, creating album maps, moving photos to a different album and more. The interface is more user friendly, but it’s not yet a full-fledged photo sharing app," said a blog post on enthusiast site “Google Operating System". Such a development may give rise to speculations that Picasa may soon “officially become Google+ Photos." A separate article on tech site The Next Web said the move may involve phasing out Picasa and folding it further into the Google+ suite of tools. But it also noted that when a user is logged out of his or her Google account, the Photos link will still lead to Picasa Web Albums. “So it would appear that Google is switching services intelligently, based on whether or not you are logged in, and whether or not you have a Google+ account," it said. — TJD, GMA News