Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is shutting down Google Labs. Google Labs is the company’s internal hub for testing product ideas. Google is shutting down Google Labs so that they can prioritize their product efforts. Google currently has about 56 ideas in Google Labs as of right now. Some of them include Google Body, Google Correlate, Google Scribe, Page Speed Online, Google Transliteration, Google Reader Play, App Inventor for Android, Google Share Spaces, and Fast Flip. [SiliconFilter]

Google Image Swirl recently launched and it makes searching for images more fun. When you search for a monument or any other image and click on it, a tree form of other images show up. Google Image Swirl graduated from Google Labs. When searching for an image, twelve other thumbnails show up. You’ll see several different images at various angles. Image Swirl uses technology from Similar Images and Picasa Face Recognition to determine what other thumbnails come up. There are currently about 200,000 queries that are supported. The announcement was made by Google Product Manager Aparna Chennapragada and Google Researcher Yushi Jing.

Google Labs has started a new service called Fast Flip. Many publishers and content owners will not be thrilled because clicking on a news article keeps the user within Google News. Screenshots of other websites appear on the frame in the left. The Fast Flip homepage has screenshots of recent and popular news articles.

However a large share of publishers agreed Google News to use their logos and images as part of the new user interface. Fast Flip is mobile-friendly too. Google will even share the revenue of contextual advertising with the selected publishers. This is the first time that Google will be sharing revenue for news content.

Krishna Bharat, the creator of Google News, described Fast Flip as “a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles.”