So this is just a mashup page using most of their API's, but without any real smartness to what is shown... so it ends up looking and feeling like a mashup from 5 years ago.
Poor execution unfortunately. A better thing to do from the outset would be: If nothing is found close that box and put it at the bottom. That would be something fractionally better than pretending it's meaningful to search for patents or use SketchUp on meaningless things.
If you view it as a way to expose the less popular Google services then it's probably great performance-vs-effort-wise. As a useful service probably not but who said Google won't improve it?
First thing I typed in, reflexively, was "shit." To great unexpected effect.
Measure popularity of shit on the web. Explore shit in 3d. Buy all kinds of shit stuff. Make a photo album about shit. Watch videos of shit. Plan your shit events. Start a shit discussion group. Find shit nearby.
"Schedule a date with Emacs" --- algorithms say the darndest things.
But more seriously, the execution isn't that great. They could at least filter the products that don't produce useful results. At the moment, product search is only advertising its incompetence by telling me it found nothing. Also, given the built-in obviously-fill-in-the-blank screenshots and text, I'm not actually inclined to use their products.
Plus, for what "X" are both "Patents about X" and "Date with X" meaningful statements?
I was hoping I would see a beautiful visualization of what people across the world love. Instead it poured out a bunch of information. Why does this seem typically Google?
It is interesting: the hosting is indeed by an IP address that points to Google's 1e100.net, but the domain's registrant is not Google, rather an individual. Moreover, the name servers are hosted by fabulous.com. Go figure...
I think most people are projecting a bigger ambition onto this than is accurate. This is not Google's revolutionary attempt at visualized search, it's a cute way to showcase all the diverse products in Google's portfolio. "What do you love? Here's what we can do for you regarding that." It's just a marketing micro-site.
Execution may be poor, but this is definitely something Google has needed to do for some time. They have many services which serve niches but the popularity of those services is, in part, bounded because no-one knows about them!
I think they could have done much more with wave - I would have got far more benefit from it if they linked it to my gmail in some inventive and unintrusive way ... I'd like to see them rework it because I think it's a really great product ...
I also think they could do something more with search by customizing results based on browsing history ... Maybe this +1 button should be contained within the browser and marketed more as something which stores previous results which can be called up by search (as well as sharing with 'friends') - could be a back door into social searching which they so badly need ... They could take up the mantle of delicious, and make it more social ...
Poor execution unfortunately. A better thing to do from the outset would be: If nothing is found close that box and put it at the bottom. That would be something fractionally better than pretending it's meaningful to search for patents or use SketchUp on meaningless things.