Serendipity35

Google Labs is always experimenting with new features and tools. Most of us won't ever get to visit inside the Googleplex in California, but you can play with some of the things in their labs.

There is an interesting experimental area where you can actually join an experiment and you'll see that feature whenever you do a Google search. You can only join one experiment at a time but you can give Google your feedback. Maybe it's something you can with your students. You might try an alternate view for search where the results are viewed on a timeline or map.

If you want to try out some of the other new tools that are past experimental testing, you can start with accessible search for visually impaired users.

Try the Music Trends tool to see what Google Talk users are listening to right now or the broader Trends site for what people are searching now.

You probably already use a few of the lab "graduates" like Google Earth or Scholar. One that I really like is the Google Alerts which can email you search alerts based on keywords. You can set a vanity search for your name or family members. Actually, it's not so vain - it's useful to know if your name comes up in a blog post or on a site. I have one set for this blog's title and URL so that I know if someone links to us. They are good for monitoring a news topic, mentions of your school, references to an area you're researching or just you favorite celebrity or team.