18 Doughty Street, a UK political Internet television station, has announed that it has 100 camcorders to give away to people with strong views and first hand knowledge of a pressing problem.

According to the site:

• We want doctors to report regularly on their experience of the NHS…
• Ex-servicemen to talk about overstretch in the armed forces…
• Residents of a crime-ridden estate to send us reports on the failure of the system to keep them safe…
• Trade unionists to talk about competition from emerging economies…

The site is not focusing just on the UK, and is interested in getting views from around the world.

If you would be interested in submitting regular 60 to 120 second reports to appear on 18 Doughty Streets internet television station, you can contact them via their site.

Wizzard Software has announced that they have entered into a licensing agreement with Voice Factory International to add thousands of hours of audiobooks to the Switchpod Network. Switchpod.com will offer this extensive collection of classic books for digital download in podcast format at absolutely no cost to the consumer.“Adding digital books to the Switchpod Network introduces classic literature to people of all ages in a fresh and exciting format,” said Danielle Lewis, Marketing Director for Wizzard Software. “This new element of the Switchpod Network will also establish thousands of hours of classically enduring content for our sponsors.”

Over 100 books in all, Switchpod.com will offer the following titles at the launch of this new service including: The War of the Worlds РHG Wells; The Tale of Flopsy Bunnies – Beatrix Potter; A Christmas Carol РCharles Dickens; The Three Musketeers РAlexandre Dumas; The Republic РPlato; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde РRobert Louis Stevenson; The Holy Bible: King James Version; The Hound of the Baskervilles (featuring Sherlock Holmes) РArthur Conan Doyle; followed shortly thereafter with The Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

PodShow has officially announced that the company has raised a second round of venture funding from new and original investors, totaling $15M.

The Company has been working to provide broader and more reliable distribution on the Internet while initiating plans to move its content into the home and across all mobile devices.

‚ÄúThis new investment will help us more aggressively respond to the increasing demand of our global audience to find one place where they can create, consume and directly relate to the best in independently produced and mainstream media‚Ķ and more importantly‚Ķ to join the show!” says Ron Bloom, CEO and co-founder of PodShow.

Podshow, the podcasting network co-founded by former MTV VJ Adam Curry, shown right with cross-dressing lesbian podcaster Madge Weinstein, is holding a podcasting Un-Expo in Ontario, California, at the same time as the Podcasting and Portable Media Expo.

The company’s Talent and Marketing team is spending two days holding an Undition, for podcasters interested in possible PodShow programming consideration.

According to Podshow, “we are asking passionate and interested podcasters to take the time to complete the below form, and email jointheshow@podshow.com, so that we can evaluate and set up some time to meet on Friday and/or Saturday.”

Palm, one of the world’s leading providers of smartphones, has partnered with VoiceIndigo for its mobile portal. This alliance will enable mobile users of Palm Treo 700p and Treo 700w smartphones to discover, listen, and share podcasts.

With VoiceIndigo, Treo smartphone users will have quick access to podcasts including NPR, BBC, the Onion, Infoworld and others.

“When we recently redesigned our mobile portal, we selected and partnered with those companies that could provide the best solutions for Treo mobile users, who increasingly want news and entertainment on-the-go,” said Audrey Muller, product manager, web applications, Palm, Inc. “For mobile podcasting, we selected VoiceIndigo as our exclusive partner because it provides our users with the easiest and most complete way to manage and listen to podcasts on their Treo smartphones.”

Microsoft recently announced that it’s Zune portable media player would retail for $249.95 and come preloaded with a variety of free video content.

The player will ship with these music videos pre-loaded:

• 30 Seconds to Mars, ‚ÄúThe Kill‚Äù (Virgin Records)
• BT, ‚Äú1.618‚Äù (DTS Entertainment)
• Chad VanGaalen, ‚ÄúRed Hot Drops‚Äù (Sub Pop Records)
• Coldcut featuring Roots Manuva, ‚ÄúTrue Skool‚Äù (Ninja Tune)
• CSS, ‚ÄúLet‚Äôs Make Love and Listen to Death From Above‚Äù (Sub Pop Records)
• Fruit Bats, ‚ÄúLive: The Wind That Blew My Heart Away‚Äù (Sub Pop Records)
• Grandaddy, ‚ÄúElevate Myself‚Äù (V2)
• Hot Chip, ‚ÄúOver and Over‚Äù (Astralwerks Records)
• Kraak & Smaak featuring Dez., ‚ÄúKeep Me Home‚Äù (Quango Music Group)
• Kinski, ‚ÄúLive: The Snowy Parts of Scandinavia‚Äù (Sub Pop Records)
• Paul Oakenfold, ‚ÄúFaster Kill Pussycat (Featuring Brittany Murphy)‚Äù (Maverick Records)
• Serena-Maneesh, ‚ÄúDrain Cosmetics‚Äù (Playlouderecordings)

The Zune digital media player and online service will be available to consumers in the U.S. on Nov. 14, 2006.

But why wait? You can check out most of the videos right now…

Podcast Ready has announced the launch of feedCaster, a free software widget that lets podcast subscribers record and leave audio or video comments on a podcast.

The feedCaster widget allows site owners to provide a feedback forum for podcast subscribers, who can deliver their own audio or video podcast using their microphone and webcam. The feedCaster will automatically determine if the viewer has a camera or microphone and prompt the user through recording and posting a comment.

Podcast producers are able to use the widget to promote their content and register subscribers on social networking sites like MySpace.com, AIM Pages, TagWorld and their own podcast site.

Dalet Digital Media Systems, a provider of media management tools, today announced enhanced support for HD Radio and simplified Podcast distribution.DaletPlus Radio Suite users can now “click and cast” any audio asset from their digital audio library. Format conversion and associated metadata insertion are automated and the resulting MP3 file is pushed to a predefined directory over the LAN or WAN.

This automated content publication is designed to simplify content distribution and syndication and illustrates the multiplatform “create once, broadcast many” philosophy that drives Dalet products.

Podcast Ready,has announced that the latest release of its controversial myPodder podcast client now has support for Apple iPod models, as well as all other universal mass storage-compliant MP3 players. The application lets iPod users manage their podcasts without iTunes.

The myPodder application has been the source of some controversy as Apple has requested that Podcast Ready stop using both their company name and the myPodder name in the marketing of portable media players.

myPodder is available for free download for Windows, Apple and U3.

Podango has assembled Who’s Who of moderators for The Podcasting Unconference 2006, being held Podango’s booth on the exhibit hall floor at this year’s Podcast & Portable Media Expo. The Unconference is featuring a collection of podcasting experts leading discussions on a variety of topics.

Discussion leaders include the Paul Colligan, Evo Terra, Rob Walch, the hosts of MommyCast, Robert Scoble, Scott Sigler, John Federico, John Furrier, Expo host Tim Bourquin, Podcasting News’ Elisabeth Lewin and many others.

A schedule is available at the Podango site.