Google Updates SearchMash with Flash

SearchMash, Google’s sandbox web site for new search ideas, now has a Flash-driven version with some helpful features but a few drawbacks as well. Clicking through results (or navigating with a keyboard) brings up instant thumbnail previews of web sites, videos, and images, and rolling to the left edge brings out a recent search toolbar. As with the Ajax-based SearchMash site, the lack of ads is a nice side benefit, but the combination of Flash and framed results can make link-grabbing difficult, and many users might be annoyed at having to click twice to reach their result. Still, SearchMash might make a decent tool for finding a web site you remember seeing or for quick-look image browsing. This version of SearchMash requires Flash 9 for viewing.