It's a small world...

Search is pretty much done. So says Google. Sure, they'll continue to get incrementally better, but until it knows what you're searching for and delivers it before you ask for it, it's still gonna be search. All that's left is to deliver the actual results a little differently, provide a little niche that can grab a few users every now and then.

That's what Tag Galaxy is attempting. OK, it's limited to Flickr images, and may be a little slow at times, and not a complete index, but what do you want then you're trying to slog through the millions of images tagged on Flickr? What they do is present the search results (and maybe more importantly, the search refinement process) in a unique way. You start off with an initial tag -- a keyword representing an image you are looking for. It then it finds related tags and presents the whole search process as planets (or satellites) around a central object -- complete with celestial texture overlays on the orbs. The size of the sphere represents the relative quantity of shared tags. You refine your search by clicking on any additional tag you want to add until you have your search terminally defined. When complete, click on the central orb and you'll be presented with your selected images pasted on a 3D sphere like a mirrored disco ball. You can spin the gallery with your mouse and click on an image to enlarge it.

Is this the end of Google? Hardly, but it's another search site worth looking at...once...