The nine new Search Options tools are: past hour, specific date range, more shopping sites, fewer shopping sites, visited pages, not yet visited, books, blogs and news. These features have been rolling out gradually and will be available globally in English by the end of the day.
You can try them yourself by searching Google and clicking "Show options" in the blue bar just under the logo.
Personally, I think this move is indicative of the hot-breath-on-the-collar feeling the Googligans are experiencing since the debut, and apparent success of (Microsoft’s) Bing.
More information on these new features can be found on the blog.