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After one year, Google Photos has 13.7 petabytes of pictures
Google Photos just had its first birthday, and in celebration the search giant is looking back over the year to see how Photos did on its first journey around the sun. They report that 200 million people use Photos every month, and their automated assistant has generated over 1.6 billion animations, collages, and movies for the entertainment of users. The biggest figure here? Google is now holding 13.7 petabytes of picture that would have had to occupy space on devices.
13.7 petabytes is a massive amount of information. In fact, it’s more data than could fit on a 10 petabyte hard drive. Even a 13 petabyte hard drive would be overwhelmed by this amount of data. It’s so much data that if petabytes were eggs, and you went to the grocery store to buy a carton of petabytes, you would have to buy a carton larger than the standard dozen-egg carton. If you’re still having a hard time wrapping your head around this figure in spite of my helpful comparisons, then just imagine 182.2 years of HD-TV video playing 800,000 full-length movies back to back.
While Google has our attention with this birthday announcement, they’re also pointing out a few of their favorite tips and tricks that you can use on the app. They point out that not only can you search by names, but you can also narrow down pics and look at just those that contain two specific people. Resist the temptation to search for yourself and your ex, because that route will only end in a hangover, and you have plans for tomorrow morning. You can also search by emoji, change which folders sync up from your mobile devices, and create a shared album so that a group of friends or family can all upload photos to a common location.
What do you think of Google Photos? Do you use it on the regular, or does it creep you out to know your photos are being consumed and digested by a soulless information leviathan? I for one embrace the beast and can’t imagine life without it, but let us know your take in the comments below.