At the 2006 NAMM Summer Session, a meeting of musical gear manufacturers and retailers being held in Austin, Texas July 14-16, CAVS introduced a unique iPod dock/karaoke station.

The CAVS IPS-11G Karaoke Station, is a turbo-charged iPod dock that does all the usual docking chores…..plus karaoke.

The New York Times Company’s International Herald Tribune (IHT) is beta-testing a service that lets users select articles to receive and have them automatically translated into a custom podcast.

The service uses text-to-speech technology to convert news items into a podcast.

“Articles are read by the latest text-to-speech technologies using professional readers whose recordings are converted into language dictionaries,” according to IHT. “Some lesser-known words and names may be mispronounced. This service is in beta, and we appreciate your patience as we continue to make improvements to the voice quality.”

The latest episode of Xolo TV, a video blog, features an interview with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel recently introduced her own video podcast, Chancellor Angela Merkel – die Kanzlerin direkt.

The interview , in German with subtitles, is a milestone for both the vlog and vlogging in general.

88SLIDE, a video podcast described as The Daily One Minute Trivia Challenge, is now available on all AMP’D mobile phones.Each day, host Rachel Rhodes takes viewers to an interesting location, asks a daily info-challenge trivia question and answers yesterday‚Äôs question.

Viewers that answer the trivia question correctly have a chance to win an iTunes gift card and other prizes.

A new company promises to be the first podcasting supergroup, bringing together two influential pioneers of podcasting, Doug Kaye (IT Conversations, The Conversations Network) and Michael Geoghegan, right, (Reel Reviews, Grape Radio, and the DisneyLand Podcast).During the Gnomedex 6.0 conference last weekend, Kaye announced the launch of GigaVox Media, Inc., a for-profit partner company of the non-profit The Conversations Network. Kaye describes the relationship between GigaVox and its non-profit sister as a “hybrid business model” where the two sides work in parallel: “together with complementary objectives.”

Kaye will remain at the helm of The Conversations Network as founder and CEO, and will now serve as CTO at GigaVox Media. Michael Geoghegan will be the CEO of GigaVox Media.

A new site, Okay to Play, has launched that features “comparison charts which help podcasters make educated decisions regarding audio advertising sales companies, podsafe music, recording hardware, and more.”Currently, the site offers charts on podcast flash players, portable audio recorders, podcast advertising companies, and music providors.

According to a recent survey, podcast usage among B2B technology buyers is significant and growing. 41% of survey respondents claim they have listened to podcasts on more than one occasion, while 13% stated that they “frequently” download or listen to them.The KnowledgeStorm and Universal McCann survey was completed by more than 3,900 business and IT professionals, representing a variety of job titles, vertical industries and company sizes.

“The objective of this study was to explore the impact new forms of media, concepts of Web 2.0 initiatives, such as podcasts and blogs, are having on content consumption and purchasing influence within the B2B marketplace” says Matt Lohman, director of market research, KnowledgeStorm. “This is one of the first surveys focused specifically on the B2B audience and it clearly shows that podcasts, blogs and other new media types are viable mediums for reaching B2B technology buyers.”

PodTech, a technology podcasting network, has announced that it has acquired Geek Entertainment TV, a technology video podcast. Geek Entertainment TV’s Irina Slutsky and Eddie Codel will be joining PodTech and working with Robert Scoble.

“We‚Äôve been talking for a few weeks and actually signed the contracts today,” according to PodTech.

Matt Mullenweg, the creator of WordPress, a popular blogging tool among podcasters, had announced preliminary plans for WordCamp, a WordPress conference to be held August 5th, 2006 in San Francisco, California. The goal of the conference is “To figure out the next generation of publishing on the web.”

“The idea is a one day BarCamp-style free conference with a party that night,” said Mullenweg. “There will be free BBQ for lunch, WordPress t-shirts, and a full day of both user and developer discussion. ”

According to Mullenweg, “BarCamp-style is a code phrase for last minute.”

In related news, there is now a WordPress community podcast.

Former Senator John Breaux today announced the launch of a Ceasefire on Health Care podcast, designed to further spread the results of the Ceasefire on Health Care campaign.

“Health care will be a pivotal issue in the 2006 midterm and 2008 presidential elections,” said Senator Breaux. “We want the podcast to avoid the partisanship and rhetoric that normally surrounds this topic and provide concrete, incremental reform recommendations and findings that policymakers and the public can consider.”