Google has launched a Flex version of their Searchmash website. The site includes image previews from Snap, similar to what I used to have on this site (I took them down because they were too annoying on the mouse over of links). Using them on the right hand side of the page is a nice touch.

There are a few interesting things about this Flex application. First of all, for video searches you can play the videos right in the search results, without having to visit the site. A nice touch, though the way they've implemented it it could be done in an HTML page as well (the videos play on the right side of the results - it would be neat to play the search results themselves).

The second interesting thing that they've done is embed Google Maps in their Flex application. I haven't had time to figure out how they've done this (are they overlaying the HTML over the Flex application, or have they built a Flex version of Google Maps), but either solution would be really cool.

In any event, nice to see a company like Google jumping on the Flex bandwagon, even while sites like TechCrunch question the use of Flash and Flex.