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As you all know, Google is constantly testing new user interfaces but this one is a bit more extreme that some of you may notice yourself if you land on it.
Here, the top bar, where it has search tools and settings has changed. They removed the gear icon to access settings, called it outright "settings", right aligned it with the "tools" option.
Here is a screen shot from Rohan Ayyar on Twitter:
I do wonder how many searchers know that the gear icon in the current Google search interface will let you bring up your Google search settings. Renaming it to "settings" probably will drive more users to try it out.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
