TED partner Google is newly operating a separate search site: SearchMash.
It was unveiled a few days ago, has a very simple homepage (no ads) and
produces roughly the same results as the main Google search. But it
also displays the top three relevant images, and has a few Ajax features that let
you for example click the URL of a search result to get a menu of
options, drag the results to re-order them (paving the way to a possible
collective refinement of the search), or view more results without
having to move to another page. SearchMash has attracted both criticism and praise, but it’s clearly mostly a playground for
developers to test new ideas using Google tools and technologies in different ways. The creation of this new, separate, un-branded sandbox reveals – despite the "chaos by design" recently eulogized by Fortune – that Google’s main page has become a very delicate object, which doesn’t allow for experimentation anymore.

On another note, Google is rumored to be considering a purchase of video-sharing site YouTube.