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I've already posted that Picasa 2.5 is out of beta, but now it's official.

"I have 80,000 photos in Picasa, Google's free photo organizer, but most of my friends haven't had a chance to see them yet. That's why I'm so excited about the new version of Picasa that came out today. It has a feature called Picasa Web Albums that lets you post and share your photos online for free with just one click. You can show the world (or just your friends and family) what kinds of pictures you've been taking. And best of all, you can even download your friends' online photos right back to Picasa," says a Picasa engineer.

Since it was launched, Picasa Web Albums has added new features. Now you can add your friends, view their recently uploaded photos, link to your friends' albums on the homepage of your album. You can also embed photos and albums into blogs, even though this feature still needs some work (embedded photos are too small, embedded albums should display random photos). And, best of all, Picasa Web Albums doesn't need invitation anymore.

If you have a Google Account, you can try it at http://picasaweb.google.com. If you don't have a Google Account or you just want to see a sample, visit this album. </img> </img> </img>