Mountain View (CA) - Google has updated Picasa, its free photo management application for Windows XP and Vista. The new version adds support for 38 languages and offers a new album display feature that allows album owners to open their albums those viewers who were granted access through their Google Account.

The new album sharing feature gives Picasa users more control to determine who can view their online albums. In addition to the existing "unlisted" and "public" display levels that allow anyone with an album URL to view pictures, a new option called "Require sing-in to view" enables access only to those viewers whose email address was added to a "Shared with" list.

To add viewers to the "Shared with" access list, Picasa users need to click the Share button in the folder or album header within the application. Clicking the 'x' icon next to an email address in the "Shared with" list removes access for a visitor.

Google said approved viewers are required to sign in with their Google Account to "verify their identity" prior to viewing photos. Those without a Google Account will be prompted to create such an account when trying to access albums that are set to a "Require sign-in to view" status.  Google said it will roll out the updated application over the next few weeks via Picasa's built-in auto-update feature that will automatically download and install the software. Users can also manually download the most recent version.

Google acquired Picasa more than four years ago four years ago. Since then, the application was transitioned in to a free service and received major changes, such as an integration with Google's Picasa Web Albums, a free online photo sharing service that competes with other services such as Flickr and Photobucket. One of the more recent updates brought face recognition features to the table. Other notable features include name tagging and rating, screen capture, retouch and basic image editing as well as support for popular .RAW formats, including Canon's .CR2 and Adobe's .DNG.