I received an email this morning, announcing Picnik was closing. My heart stopped! That’s my favorite, quick, photo editing program. I know lots of people who use it. I’ve introduced lots of people to it who have taken a shine to it.

After taking a deep breath to calm down, I read the announcement . At first it looked as if they were going to be merging with Google+ – which they still might, that’s unclear. But for now, everyone can use Picnik and all it’s premium features for free, up until it closes on April 19th. I’d recommend planning ahead, create as many images for your stockpile as you can in the event a similar option doesn’t present itself right away.

Ironically that happens to be my dad’s birthday which seems to be a magnet for tragic events and bad news – Waco, Oklahoma City, a close friends death. Granted, Picnik closing isn’t nearly as tragic, but still, I feel like I’m losing a very good friend

Once Picnik is gone, what options will we have? What image editing programs do you use?

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Since joining Google in 2010, we have been creating editing magic in Google products while continuing to keep Picnik awesome. But now we get to focus on even awesomer things. Picnik will be closing on April 19, 2012.

Your photos liberated
Amazing photos are created in Picnik, so we have launched a new feature, Picnik Takeout, that easily downloads your photos to your desktop in convenient zip files. You may also elect to copy your photos to Google+ where you can store and share your creations. You may request your photos at any time and use this handy tool as many times as you like until our closing date of April 19, 2012. Learn more.

Premium Refunds
To our primo Picnik Premium members, we’ll begin processing a full refund of your current membership fee within a week of this announcement. By “in full” we mean the whole darn thing. Yep, this means even if you are on your very last day of an annual membership, we will refund you the entire $24.95. Just because we want to say thanks.

Now the Good News – Free Premium for ALL!
To express our gratitude for your support over the past 5 years, Picnik Premium is free for everyone! Use Picnik in all of its premium glory, for free, from now until our actual closing day. Touch-up, Textures, Advanced, and more are all free for you to use!

We have been incredibly proud of building a product that is used and beloved by so many of you. We continue to be amazed and humbled by the photos you create and we are immensely grateful for all of your support, creativity, and passion.

We are excited by the photo-editing fun we have already brought to Google products, like Google+, where you can find many of your favorite Picnik effects in Creative Kit. We encourage you to visit Google+ and give it a whirl.

Please visit the Help Hub for more information on our wind down, and check the Picnik blog for updated information on our April closure.

It’s been awesome,
Team Picnik

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Again, what options do we have? What editing programs do you use? Suggestions?

I found one that may be a nice Picnik alternative – FotoFlexer – check it out and see what you think.

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

January 18th is setting up to be a day to remember. Websites around the web are joining forces by participating in a massive internet strike. Websites will be striking in different ways, but the message will remain the same.

I believe Boing-Boing said it best (but thousands are talking about SOPA and the blackout) – I have borrowed from them and have Gayla-fied the following:

On January 18, sites around the Internet will “go dark” in opposition of SOPA and PIPA. These are the pending US legislation set to create a punishing Internet censorship regime and will essentially export the internet to the rest of the world.

Haven’t we lost enough jobs and businesses to other countries?

U.S. based websites could NEVER co-exist in a SOPA world. Websites would not be able link to another website unless they conducted in depth due diligence to ensure absolutely NO links used by the other site infringed on copyright material.

SOPA in simple terms means shit rolls down hill and quick!

In order to provide a single link to another URL on sites like YouTube, LiveJournal, WordPress, Twitter, Blogspot, or Facebook (just to name a few, but the list is Internet Wide), webmasters would be REQUIRED to CONFIRM no infringing link existed (or would ever exist, because content is permanent), ANYWHERE on that site.

Creating a single link would literally require checking millions upon millions of pages, to verify links weren’t impinging on the ability of five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers to maximize their profits.

Simplified: What that means is those adorable videos of little kids singing or dancing to their favorite Beyonce song would become a CRIME punishable by hefty fines and from what I’ve read, up to 5 years in jail. (correct me if I’m wrong)

If webmasters, bloggers, entrepreneurs and internet based businesses fail to take this precaution, finances could be frozen, ad brokers would be forced to pull ads from websites, and depending on which version of the bill goes to the vote, domains belonging to those listed above would be confiscated. For those with domains hosted on non-US servers would have their IP address added to a US-wide blacklist that every ISP in the country would be required to censor.

Piracy is wrong, but what’s even worse is corporations and the government ripping away how people share their love of products, services, and entertainers. The internet is the new “word of mouth”. Imagine how insane this effort would be if the almighty hand of Big Business and the Government tried to silence the voices of people exchanging views, good or bad, over ANYTHING that bears the symbol of copyright.

That’s what this means!

For almost 14 years, I have earned my living on the internet. I have raised my children without the aid of welfare – without the support of their father and I have PAID much higher taxes to the very government that is setting up to attempt direct attack on my entire livelihood.

I refuse to stand by quietly!

Big Corporations “haven’t just declared war on Boing Boing and Reddit and the rest of the “fun” Internet: they’ve declared war on every person who uses the net to publicize police brutality, every oppressed person in the Arab Spring who used the net to organize protests and publicize the blood spilled by their oppressors, every abused kid who used the net to reveal her father as a brutalizer of children, every gay kid who used the net to discover that life is worth living despite the torment she’s experiencing, every grassroots political campaigner who uses the net to make her community a better place — as well as the scientists who collaborate online, the rescue workers who coordinate online, the makers who trade tips online, the people with rare diseases who support each other online, and the independent creators who use the Internet to earn their livings.”

My site readership may be small peanuts by comparison, but my corner of the Internet will go black in support of this effort. I will align with my mentors, my heroes, my sources of entertainment, and all the others that are standing up to shield my life as I know it from this disgusting act of greed.

Here’s How it Works and How You Can Participate:

Step up and do whatever you can to send a powerful message to Congress. The blackout will begin at 8AM EST and end at 8PM EST.

Ways You Can Join the Strike:

1. Black out your website for 12 hours with this page’s HTML, or by putting this Javascript into your site’s theme. Tucows is doing this and so is BoingBoing.
2. Other tools to strike. Some other ways to strike:
   • Zachary Johnson’s blackout page
   • ProtestSOPA.org
   • CloudFlare’s Stop Censorship app
   • SOPA Strike WordPress Plugin (The one I’ll be using)
   • Know of another tool? Tweet it to #StrikeTools
3. Don’t be silent that day. Tweet all day from your official company account using (#SOPASTRIKE) Share news on sites like reddit. You will get much love in return from your users, and the bigger the action you do, the more love you will be feeling
4. Follow SOPA Strike on twitter for news as the strike draws near.
5. If you are shy or wish to refrain from blacking out your entire site, you can show your support by blacking out your site logo and by adding STOP SOPA messages wherever you can.

If you wish to show your support by using a simple graphic on your site, I’ve created a few images you are welcome to use. I’ve placed them on Flickr to provide easy access and sharing. You may access them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12419199@N08/sets/72157628912679837/

Finally, show your support and allow me to thank you with the best internet currency I know – by sharing! I will be tweeting, sharing, stumbling, tumbling and bookmarking as many links as I possibly can from January 18 right up to the day SOPA goes for vote. So make my effort easier -

Leave your comment and link below and I’ll be by for a visit.

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

As a fan of SUCCESS Magazine, I believe anyone with an entrepreneurial dream can benefit from this publication. I was recently made aware of a program that I will be participating in and hope you will too.

Darren Hardy, publisher of SUCCESS Magazine, is releasing a program on www.success.com called Designing the Best 10 Years of Your Life–Your Strategic Plan for Achieving Lifelong Goals.

Over 8 weeks Mr. Hardy will guide people through the development of a comprehensive life plan complete with all of his proprietary documents, worksheets, video and audio material–everything provided in his previous $1,500 single-day workshop. The program and complete system with all the support materials will be given away for free.

The program kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday, January 5th, but anyone can join at any time.

This program promises to be jam-packed with information to help you unearth your greatest dreams, desires and inner potential.

You’ll learn how to accelerate your life faster, go farther and live grander than you ever dared imagine.

Simply register with your e-mail address in the upper right corner of this page (http://DarrenHardy.SUCCESS.com) and the 16 installments and all the supporting resources will be sent to you over the eight-week series.

I look forward to participating and engaging in conversation with others who do. Are you ready to make a change?

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My Comment Commitment: If you leave an approved comment on any of my posts, I will visit your blog and “share it” in some way whether on StumbleUpon, Twitter or Facebook depending on if I can find a nice fit.

Originally posted 2010-01-05 01:54:13.