You can download Apple's new Photos app for your Mac right now
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If you're a Mac user tired of managing your giant digital photo collection in iPhoto, this is your lucky day. On Wednesday, Apple released an update of its Yosemite operating system that includes Photos, its new, iOS-like photo management app. If you're not sure you want to quit iPhoto just yet, you won't have to — Photos is a new program, not an update, and you can use both side-by-side, at least for now, though the default program will be Photos.
Photos also has some new and improved photo-editing tools, and can manage all your Apple-tied photos through a new iCloud Photo Library, which stores full-resolution copies of your pictures online, making lower-res versions available for viewing on your storage-challenged iPhone or iPad. (Apple will also let you manage the iCloud Photo Library through a Windows app.) To download Photos, update Yosemite in the App Store. To learn more, you can watch The Verge's Dan Seifert's tour of the app below. —Peter Weber
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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