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Here’s the latest action:

Google’s fireworks — This has been an impressive week for Google, and it shows in the 4 percent-plus jump in Google’s stock price earlier this morning (though it has tapered in the past hour). The main driver was its stellar earnings report. But here are the side-shows:

Video: It announced a video-conferencing product acquisition this morning (see our story).

StumbleUpon lookalike: Google also released a tool that looks a lot of like StumbleUpon, the site that delivers Web sites for you based on what you’ve told it you find interesting. Google’s tool centers on a recommendation button on its Toolbar that looks like a pair of dice:

Google explains: “Click on the dice, and we’ll take you to a site that may be interesting to you based on your past searches. If you want another, just click the dice again and we’ll show you a new one. We’ll give you up to 50 new sites per day that might be of interest. If you prefer to get your information at a glance, we’ve added a recommendations tab that you can add to your personalized homepage….We’ll give you a page of recommendations that are updated daily.”

Froogle tossed — Google has relaunched its shopping engine, changing its name to the bland Google Product Search. (We think Froogle is a cool name, and should be kept for a discount version of Product Search.) Google didn’t do much marketing of Froogle. With the relaunch, they’ve changed that: In your main search results, Google will sometimes feature an item from its Product Search if it matches your search query exactly (contained atop the regular results in a so-called “onebox” area). Notably, however, there’s no change from the prior policy of using only products submitted to Googlebase. So Google is forcing merchants to play in its system — unfortunately, not trawling the Web for items objectively, the way that made Google so popular in the first place. (See our story here on this). Google is also prioritizing merchants using Google Checkout, thereby penalizing those relying on PayPal. This is another Big Company move that undercuts its image of impartiality. Too bad. (See more thorough analysis at CNET and SearchEngineLand), which obviously got previews before it was released.

Google phones will be out by the end of this year — Apparently, they’re launching with Orange and HTC, featuring Google search and email built in. They’ll sport the Texas Instruments 3G platform and EDGE, but not GPS. (Details here)

There is, however, some non-Google news:

Twitter spun out — Evan Williams, who runs Obvious, the parent of Twitter, they messaging company that is all the rage lately, says Twitter is being spun out into its own company, Twitter Inc, with a CEO in Jack Dorsey.

Mitt Romney gets private equity support — The former Bain Capital chief, Mitt Romney has raised about $257,525 from buyout professionals in the first quarter, way more than anyone else, according to PEHub.

Web 2.0 Pyramid Watch — Cambrian House, a Canadian company creating a place for people to sell their business online, is moving to Mountain View, Calif., and its latest scheme is to give a share of stock in the company to anyone who signs up for his service, according to the SF Chron. He plans to ultimately sell the company or have a public stock offering. “We really are built to flip,” he said. “I’m the only guy who says that out loud. I don’t know why everyone lies.”

Digg releases API, an answer to MySpace News — News-ranking site Digg has released its API, which gives developers tools to build other products around Digg’s data, and also to integrate it into existing sites. You can use the API to request very specific information about news stories and videos submitted to Digg, digging activity, comments, and users. This comes just as MySpace has unveiled its own Digg-like news service (see our previous coverage), built after acquiring Newroo.

Flickr has integrated Imagekind — This gives Flickr users a way to create prints of their photos, or sell them to others online. Techcrunch has story.
(Our coverage of Imagekind.)

(Updated with comments from Simeonov)

A venture capitalist says he has caught wind of a project at Google to make its own phone, and has details from an “inside source.”

There have long been rumors that a Google phone is in the works, but nothing has been confirmed. Simeon Simeonov, of Polaris Venture Partners, says his source has told him that it will look like the following:

* Blackberry-like, slick device
* C++ core w/ OS bootstrap (some version of Linux?)
* Optimized Java running on the C++ core (similar to what Andy did at Danger)
* Vector-based presentation courtesy of Skia’s technology
* Many services, including VoIP

He continues:

This type of phone architecture is similar to the ideal mobile stack I’ve written about previously. It is interesting that Google is going with vector-based presentation, a la Flash Lite, as opposed to DHTML/AJAX.

There’s more to the post, which is worth reading. But dissecting it closely, we find difficult to tell say how much Simeonov has pinned this down. In his post, he appears to search for confirmation himself, referring at one point to a Skia acquisition, which he says “ties together the Google Phone story for me.” But it is clear something is going on. Whether Google’s working mainly only on a mobile operating system (no hardware), or actually comes out with its own hardware, you’ll still be able to be able to call it a Google phone.

We’ve contacted Simeonov and Google for comment, and will update if necessary (Update: see below).

He says the Google phone team of about 100 is led by Andy Rubin, founder of the mobile software company, Danger, and of a company called Android that was acquired by Google.

In January, Engadget said it was leaked a photo of the phone (thumbnail above).

[Update: We just got off the phone with Simeonov, and he expressed surprise at how freely some blog posts have interpreted what he wrote. The scope of his insight is limited, he admitted. What is clear, though, is that Google is working on a complete phone stack, he said. "Whether it will be a Google branded device or whether Google will go to people and get that stack, just like Windows Mobile...or Palm OS, embedded in other devices, is unclear, but signs are leading to the former."

Why does he think Google will want to dictate the hardware too? Look at Apple, he says. Apple's selling point for its iPhone is that it controls both the hardware and software completely, and if you're a partner or user, you have the option of being on board or not, he explained. Microsoft, on the other end of the spectrum, says 'We sort of control the software, but you can mess with it in other ways -- for example, by taking out the IE browser, and putting in Opera."

He said Google itself may not even be sure about where it is on the spectrum between Apple and Microsoft, because it is in a complex dance with multiple players, such as with carriers about ad revenue share and distribution. On the one hand, Google has a great brand, but it's not like Apple, where its brand is associated with hardware. However, Simeonov says "it doesn't feel Googlish" to forgo the hardware, and let its operating system be loaded on any device. Screens vary significantly across mobile devices, which means Google's ability to deliver ads will vary, as would the user's experience. Google will want to set a high bar, which is why Simeonov is thinks it more likely to be full-fledged all-Google phone. "But this is pure speculation," he concludes.]

[Update II: Google's Michael Kirkland just got back to us, with the standard response: "Google doesn't comment on market rumor or speculation."]

The latest roundup of Silicon Valley tech stuff:

YouTube myth debunked; idea really came from HOTorNOT — Remember the Pez dispenser story eBay fabricated to drum up a catchy media story about its founding? Turns out, the same thing happened at YouTube. The founders, Chad Hurley and Steve Chen told us and many others that their idea for YouTube came during a party, and their frustration at not being able to upload videos of it. Now Time reveals the truth, based on its own conversations with the founders, was much more complicated:

Chad and Steve both say that the party did occur but that [third co-founder Jawed] Karim wasn’t there. “Chad and I are pretty modest, and Jawed has tried to seize every opportunity to take credit,” Steve told me. But he also acknowledged that the notion that YouTube was founded after a dinner “was probably very strengthened by marketing ideas around creating a story that was very digestible.”

No company, of course, is ever founded in a single moment, and YouTube evolved over several months. Chad and Steve agree that Karim deserves credit for the early idea that became, in Steve’s words, “the original goal that we were working toward in the very beginning”: a video version of HOTorNOT.com.

DFJ backs Indian electric carmaker — The Silicon Valley venture firm helps pump $20 million into India’s only electric carmaker, the Reva Electric Car Company.

Jason Calacanis looks into advertising — Like media entrepreneur John Batelle, who moved from Industry Standard to FM Publishing, entrepreneuer Jason Calacanis has also realized the advertising industry is what really drives money in the media industry. So Calacanis, who previously formed media companies Venture Reporter and Weblogs, moderate successes, apparently wants to hit it big finally. Now at Sequoia, looking for his next big idea, Calacanis posts from his blog:

I’m looking for two full-time researchers in Los Angeles (i.e. folks who could work with me on a daily basis) and I’m trying to dig deeper into statistics and testing. Specifically, I want to deepen my knowledge around advertising using A/B and multivariate testing…

The Google mobile phone? — The Observer of London writes that European phone giant Orange is in talks with Google to create a mobile phone, and held preliminary discussions. There’s a lot of hype on this story; note it is poorly sourced, and note also the reference to “preliminary.” Google has good reasons to talk with everybody, but no reasons to get into the hardware business. Sure, it will deliver its search capability to anyone who wants it. Yes, it bought Reqwireless, a mobile browser company earlier this year, but the stated reason was to acquire talent, and don’t forget Google has been fixing its search for mobile phones for some time. Google bought Android, which supposedly tinkered with a mobile operating sysem. But Google is likely want to develop just that, to provide its search and other software in more sophisticated ways over a phone. Finally, phone theorists will point to Google’s purchase of Switzerland’s Endoxon, announced yesterday, which makes software to display maps on computers and mobile phones. But a hardware phone? Don’t think so.

The rush toward copyright violation prevention technologies — Yesterday, we wrote about a new start-up Attributor that is fingerprinting audio and video files to help content owners stop pirating. MediaHedge is another entrant in this area.

Text messaging people in other cars — Using the license plate of cars to text people occurred to us a few days ago while driving. After a few seconds deliberation, though, we dropped the idea, thinking it was silly: The only times it would be used, we realized, would be to send hate messages (an unprintable version of “your driving stinks”) or obnoxious come-on messages from guys leering at cute babes. Yet, coincidentally, just a couple of days later, we see that a company is indeed trying this long-shot idea.

News-ranking site Digg has upgraded video and podcasting features — See details here.

Linksys’ Internet iPhone — Linksys, the Cisco-owned unit that makes routers for homes, is selling new phones that enable calls through eBay’s Skype service and Yahoo’s Messenger. The phones carry the iPhones trademark is owned by Cisco, and thus raises doubts that the supposed Apple phone — rumored to be coming, perhaps next year — will carry the same name. What’s wrong with “iPod Phone”?

Google to deliver 3D images of moon, Mars and other planets — Details of the agreement with NASA here.

MySpace made available on Cingular — Details here.

Tom Perkins to publish memoir, beginning with HP scandal — The big-name venture capitalist, founder of Kleiner Perkins, who blew the lid off the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal, is writing another book. Gotham Books will publish his memoir, “Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins,” in fall 2007. It will begin with his resignation from the HP board. The Merc has details.