It looks new to me - not seen that format from Google before.

Looks new,

what size was it?

Where was this spotted by the way!?

Google and its ethics..

Is it only publishers who are barred from placing images next to ads?

I posted yesterday here link to my blog where I described [blog.milandinic.com] this, but moderator deleted that thread. Page I saw it is this [sitestartups.com]. It is 250×250 unit, probably image type (there is that google_ad_slot not google_ad_type so I'm not sure, but after refreshing images are always showed). And it is not flash but normal JavaScript (see that I'm marking text)

Anand84, Google isn't "placing images next to ads." These are simply a variation on "image ads" and rich-media ads--types of ads that Google has offered to all publishers, or to selected publishers in beta tests, for several years.

I haven't tried 'em yet, so I don't really know, but Google now has a tool for building display ads - maybe that's the type of ad that results.

I posted yesterday here link to my blog where I described this, but moderator deleted that thread.

As outlined in the forum charter [webmasterworld.com], you are not allowed to "post links to your own site [...] or own AdSense examples."

I've seen this type of ad before, they've probably been testing these (and others) on a relatively small scale for a while now.

Slide-show-type AdSense was spotted last Octover, too.
It had been published by the same company as one dime saw.
(Sorry I can't show you the screenshot here.)