The Digital Inspiration blog reports that Yahoo is launching Yahoo! Alpha. Ironically, it's called Alpha (beta). You can try it here on their AU domain. It's unclear if this is only going to be an Australian product or if Yahoo will roll it out more broadly. Regardless, you can use it now if you're in the Northern Hemisphere.
Yahoo! Alpha is basically a tool that lets you create your own custom search engines. It's similar to Google Co-op. However, the big difference is that you can utilize any Yahoo Search tool, not just the big web index. Further, it pulls in results from other sites like Flickr or Wikipedia in tabs much like A9 Opensearch or Searchmash - Google's own test site.
Windows Live has a similar program called Macros. Rollyo is the pioneer in this space. Oddly enough, it too leverages Yahoo's web engine. (Microsoft is an Edelman client.)
Search engines, just like all other online content, will be impacted by the Long Tail (which they actually helped to create). The search engines are wise to let people ride off their system to create verticals, which they can monetize with search ads. Competition in the vertical search space is good for users and advertisers.
