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Google Photos is corrupting older images but here’s how to fix it

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It appears that Google Photos is having a bit of a moment. It seems that it’s corrupting some older images stored on the service dating from 2013 to 2015, according to reports from users. The phenomenon shows up as what looks like digital tears (as in rips through the image, not liquid that comes from your eyes) across the image, as you can see in examples posted to the Google support forums.

Quite a few people have reported the issue. As well as post on Google support, there are also a number of Reddit threads with more examples. There is some good news, though. It looks like Google is already on the case and some users have had their images fixed without them having to do anything. But, if you’re facing this issue and it doesn’t get automatically fixed, there is a way to do it yourself.

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Google flags medical photos of children as “sexual abuse,” sending parents under police investigation

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Two fathers from two US states recently went under police investigation over “sexual abuse.” The reason: Google Photos’ algorithm flagged photos of their children, closed their accounts, and automatically reported them to authorities.

The thing is: none of the dads were involved in such despicable crimes. Both cases took place in the middle of COVID-19 lockdowns. The parents photographed their children in order to send the photos to the doctors, but Google couldn’t tell the context which caused them a lot of trouble.

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It’s time for Google Photos spring cleaning with app’s new import and organization tools

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If you find it time and energy-consuming to organize your photos (I know I do), Google has just made it a little easier. The company is launching several tools that will make the app cleaner and easier to navigate. At the same time, organizing your photos should become simpler, too – but you can also easily digitize and import your old prints. So, let’s dive right in and see what’s new.

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Google Photos expands its print options and delivers photos straight to your door

Google Photos seems to be serious about its printing service. After relaunching it in 2019 and introducing a test subscription in 2020, Google Photos has now expanded its services even further. You can order as many prints as you like, choose from a bunch of options, and have them all delivered straight to your door.

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Funny video shows what Perseverance Rover’s Google Photos account would be like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBojOHu4ERo&ab_channel=Google

It’s already been six months since NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars and shared its first photo with the Earthlings. Boy does time fly! Since then, the rover has taken nearly 128,000 photos and counting. To honor the six-month anniversary of the landing and all those images, Google has published a cute and amusing video. It imagines what it would be like if Perseverance used Google Photos to look back on its memories from the past six months.

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I hate Google Photos, but I fear I won’t be able to live without it

I hate Google Photos. But I fear I won’t be able to live without it.

I called the Google Photos photo sharing and management app the Turkey of the Year in my 2020 USA TODAY round-up of the apps and gadgets that screwed over consumers last year. Reason: Google Photos was free for all, but starting June 1st, Tuesday, it switches to a paid model after 5 years of bait and switch.

Get people to put as many of their photos up there, and once they’re locked into a system, start charging a monthly fee to access them.

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PSA: Google’s free cloud photo storage ends in 2 weeks – Here are eight alternatives

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Last November, Google announced that its free unlimited photo backup was going to end and it would all fall under the free shared 15GB get you with Google’s other services, like Gmail and Google Drive. Now, it’s almost upon us, with the service set to shut down on June 1st. You can, of course, upgrade to Google One (although there’s no “Unlimited” package), but what are your alternatives?

Well, none of the alternatives are really free, either. Not for unlimited storage, anyway. But with Google shifting over to a paid-only option with minimal free storage, the advantage they once had is now gone. Here we take a look at a few of the competing services for you to check out and see which best fits your needs.

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New Apple service lets you transfer your iCloud Photos Library to Google Photos

Apple has launched a new service that lets you automatically transfer your photos, videos and albums from your iCloud Photos library over to Google Photos. Transferring them does not remove them from your iCloud account, but instead sends a copy of them over, allowing you to use your Google Photos storage as a backup for your iCloud.

There are some caveats, though. While the usual .jpg, .png, .webp and .gif files will transfer just fine, along with some raw formats, there are other raw formats that cannot be transferred, along with shared albums, smart albums, photo stream content, live photos and certain metadata.

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Google Photos “High Quality” not as high quality as originally claimed, Google “warns”

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Google has reportedly sent out an email to Google Photos cloud storage users promoting they eat up their 15GB of free storage and buy into the paid accounts by uploading Original Quality images instead of letting Google create its High Quality versions of images, showing a rather drastic comparison image to argue their case.

The argument is at odds with statements made when the service launched in 2015, that its High Quality images offered “near-identical visual quality” to the originals. With Google having recently taken the decision to end its free unlimited photo hosting, one can’t help but think that this is simply gaslighting to get more money out of people for Google One subscriptions that don’t really need it.

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