Google Search Fade-In: Privacy Issues

Ever wonder what the real reason could be for Google's Search fade-in effect? There have been arguments back and forth on aesthetics and animations etc.

My theory is that it allows Google to track your searches and build a better profile of it's users. How you ask?

Well - Google's "Web History" feature can be switched off making sure that your search habits are not tracked. However, if you are logged in to any of Google's services (like GMail, Picasa etc.) and then use Google search, your queries CAN be tracked..

Typically when I hit google.com and if I noticed that I'm logged in, I click "sign out" immediately and THEN search. But because of the fade-in effect, most people would type their search request in and later realize they were actually logged in. It's a pretty clever (and sneaky) way to make people search and not realize they are indeed logged in and therefore identifiable.