Google to buy Seattle's own Picnik

Word today is that Google is buying up Seattle-based Picnik.com.

More on the Picnik blog and the Official Google Blog

You may recall we've talked about Picnik on this blog before, first in Fall 2007 when they had announced Premium features. Since then, I've enjoyed meeting CEO Jonathan Sposato at various events around town and have enjoyed watching Picnik grow.

The team has been nominated for a 2010 WTIA Industry Achievement Award-- the awards are this Thursday. Will Picnik win one last award for their online photo editing software as Bitnik, Inc? Certainly the acquisition will be the talk of the town for a few days.

Congratulations to the entire Picnik gang!

Updated 1:00PM: to include additional information, link to Google blog, and a look back at previous posts.

Disclosure: I have a personal relationship with a Google employee. This person didn't contribute to this -or any- report, nor would this employee probably even read this blog. *sigh*

Picnik Update: New premium features and Flickr support

If the camera adds ten pounds, there's a new way to give your digital photos a diet. You may recall my review of Picnik a few months back on Portland's Morning News -- well now the online photo editing site has gone big-time! Launching its 1.0 product (no more beta!) and adding a set of Premium features that for most users will rival the functionality of Adobe's Photoshop -- the guys at this Seattle-based startup aren't wasting any time.

TechCrunch has a review of the Flickr / Picnik integration. Now Flickr users can do more than crop and rotate images stored on the Yahoo-owned photo sharing site.

I'll be reviewing Picnik Premium in the coming weeks, and posting an interview with head picniker Jonathan Sposato soon, but for now, take a peek at Picnik and let me know what you think. The new tools will give you, like me, a new excuse to put off a trip to the gym and with the holidays just around the corner -- sign me up! ;-)