Is Flickr rolling out a new search interface?
I just noticed this while searching for pictures of the UFO Pod Village in Taiwan. It looks like Flickr is testing out a new search interface as this is only showing up on some machines.
The new interface has a bar where you can set different filters. Additionally, there options to set the image sizes returned. Useful metadata such as groups, places and tag clusters are shown on the sidebar to the right. I find that Explore has become less useful in finding interesting pictures and I think that this new interface will greatly improve the discovery experience.
Verdict: I like it!
It looks like Flickr posted about a beta test in their forums back in April. Disclaimer: I have not participated in the beta test nor signed a NDA regarding this feature.
Update: It looks like Flickr rolled things out for everyone today.