Seems more like a parlor trick than a useful tool.  How are users
supposed to take advantage of this technology productively?  If I were
Google, I wouldn't 'graduate' this one from the Labs.

I'm guessing this is just a side prize of what they are integrating
into their browser.  Synonyms are a very powerful tool when you are
looking for an idea and not just a string.  I think AdSense is probably
taking greater advantage of this than we are, but it's nice to know
that it might be useful to us in the future.

I wouldn't say this is just a parlor trick.  It seems like it has great
potential as the next Thesaurus - it's not limited to the meanings of
words, but can also find similarities among the objects they describe.
And it would make agreat memory aid:  Can't remember all the noble
gases?  Just type in {neon, helium, argon} and it spits out the rest
(albeit with a lot of garbage at the end of the list).  It's a pretty
useful tool.

-I agree, its another resource  and a future browser implement that we
can use in the future.

It's useful when you can't find a good search term. I was looking for
battery manufacturers, and of course searching for the words "battery
manufacturers" just finds pages that contain those literal words.
Plugging "duracell energizer rayovac" into Sets instantly produced the
list I was looking for.

The trouble with regular searches is that you have to figure out words
that will appear in your results. This is sometimes pretty awkward if
you're working on a vague concept. Searching "by example" is extremely
powerful, and Sets comes in handy as a memory-jogger in lots of cases.

Of course it's useful. I am a librarian and can see that it would be
extremely handy for deriving alternate search terms to use in research
databases, particularly when one isn't familiar with the professional
jargon.  And on a more personal note, I have already used it to
discover authors and musicians I might like based on sets of those I
already know and enjoy.

cases.