Joe Kraus of JotSpot announces on the official Google blog that Google has acquired them.

Nothing like some conspiracy to start off your working day.

It’s funny how a whisper can sometimes push a hurricane; expect one to swirl up by Monday. The rumor, as was whispered into the ear of a DM News reporter, is that Google is about to undergo a major corporate restructuring just as they prepare to release AdSense for Audio.

Evan Williams and other Odeo employees buying control of Odeo back from their VCs is definitely an interesting piece of news because it’s not that common, and it says something interesting about what some companies are experiencing right now.

With Google’s proposed Googlunaplex and Google Mars, it’s understandable that Techcrunch got all excited over the weekend at rumors Google had purchased the private space ship SpaceShipOne.

So if the rumor is true, and Google acquires Youtube… what about Yahoo and Facebook? And why the flurry of activity now? This would be out of character for, especially, Google — who have generally made little acquisitions though recently they inked a huge “partnership” with MySpace.

TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington rates his own rumor at about 40 percent likely, just so we get that out of the way. The “completely unsubstantiated” rumor is that Google is finalizing talks to acquire web video phenomenon YouTube.

Perhaps it’s the sudden memetic success of MySpace that has everyone around taking shots at its founders. Or perhaps it’s the sudden multimillion-dollar success of the site that has turned its founders into seedy party boys with shady associations. Only a few seem to know for sure, but it’s fun to wonder.

Google is still advertising for vertical market account executives and strategists in Chicago, but the travel position has triggered the “Google enters travel sector” talk.

As the company continues to tack upon the seas of Windows Live, Microsoft has been predicted to have a stop scheduled at the shores of social media.

I’m guessing that, were Nostradamus to write a book called Predicting for Idiots, one of his first guidelines to a budding prophet would be “keep it vague, young apprentice.”

As you can well see, I stay away from the rumor mill both here and at the Corante Web Hub. So when everyone got in on the Yahoo! buying Digg talk, I steered clear.

It’s funny, even when Google denies a rumor, it still makes the news.

Lots of people have been downloading the chatter about Google possibly buying the Napster music service, but Google said it’s not happening.

So the Google PC/Cube didn’t materialize at CES.

Andy Abramson’s sticking his neck out there with a mighty big rumor on his blog that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is about to step aside as its day to day operations head to make room for Bill Clinton.

A December article from the New York Times suggested Google showed a passing interest in a $200 computer. IP Democracy’s Cynthia Brumfield referenced a report from the Times, which cited Google’s discussions…

The Oslo-based maker of the Opera web browser may have been acquired by Microsoft, which may have beaten Google in bidding for the company. Maybe.

When it comes to market capitalization, Google is definitely a prima donna of substantial girth; the next aria it sings could be a swan song for the Norwegian-made Opera browser.

After visiting Google’s Search Blog this afternoon, one begins to understand how the rumor mill works. It would seem the all the hubbub surrounding the possibility (pretty much a sure thing) of the Google Base seems to be attracting a slight amount of attention.

Latest rumor, as reported on Jason Kottke’s site: Weblogs.com sold to Verisign? Note: this is different than weblogsinc.com, which WAS sold to AOL yesterday.