A quick refresh on some recent Idealab history:
1. Google acquires Idealab’s solid photo management tool (and instant messaging platform) Picasa.
2. Idealab announces the oh-so-transparent Snap.com and beta of local-referral service Insider Pages at Web 2.0.
3. Now, according to Pamela Parker over at ClickZ, Yahoo! will rebranding Idealab’s X1 – regarded by some as a better desktop search tool than Google’s – as Yahoo! Desktop Search.
It wasn’t so long ago that idealab’s investors were suing the incubator for mismangement and rushing for the door. Now, it appears, the company is once again bearing fruit (though certainly not [yet] on the scope of its blockbuster hit of old, Overture Services).
Congrats to Bill Gross and team for finding a (near-term) role as innovator and arms dealer to the Search Giants… a position that’s likely to be profitable for some time to come.