City of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has introduced the Citycast, a new podcast designed to share information on important services and programs offered by the City of Boston.

The first episode of the City of Boston podcast is focused on Aim for Peace, Boston’s gun buy back program, and a new anti-violence song by four talented local hip hop artists.

Nokia has officially introduced the beta release of the Nokia Podcasting Application, designed to make it easy to discover and download podcasting content on the go.

Available for the Nokia N91 and other Nokia S60 3rd edition devices, the lets users find and download supported audio and video podcasts directly to Nokia Nseries phones.

“Podcasting is a rapidly growing communications medium with more and more people accessing and creating them every day. Many news agencies, for instance, already offer podcasts on a wide range of topics,” says Tommi Mustonen, Director, Multimedia, Nokia. “We’re adding our support by creating a mobile application that makes it easy to discover and search for podcasts, download podcasts over the air, and subscribe to automatic updates.”

Mobasoft has introduced a free version of its MyChingo audio comment system that will record up to two minutes of audio. MyChingo provides an audio comment system to bloggers and podcasters without requiring them to download software or purchase expensive equipment.“We’ve seen how much added value the audio comment system has created for our members,” says Michael Bailey, creator of MyChingo, “and we’re eager for other people to try it out, so now they can play with it for free and see the features it has to offer.”

“We wanted to add a more personal element to the digital medium,” says Bailey. “MyChingo gives podcast listeners and blog readers an opportunity to be heard. With just a microphone, they can record and send a comment with a few clicks.”

iPod software developers Coolgorilla wants you to get with Parisian babes.

They’ve released a new free iPod French Translator that promises to help.

“Want to ask the stunning Parisian Brunette if you can buy her a drink?” they ask. “Easy! Simply select the phrase from the Menu in English, play the French translation and you‚Äôre away!”

CNN has expanded its podcast offerings into video podcasts, launching six free CNN video podcasts that can be viewed online or downloaded to portable media players.The podcasts join several audio podcasts that CNN offers, including an hourly News Update and a twice-daily Business Update.

Apple today released Shake 4.1, the first Universal version of its compositing software and cut its price from $2,999 to $499.Final Cut Studio editors can now take advantage of Shake for 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilization for the price of a plug-in. Shake continues to be the tool of choice for major motion-picture studios and leading effects houses to create award-winning visual effects including this year’s Oscar winner, King Kong.

“At just $499, Shake is now priced as low as a plug-in for Final Cut Studio,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of Applications Product Marketing. “Now Final Cut Studio customers can retouch their shots with Shake’s optical flow technology or add photo realistic visual effects to their productions, even on a shoestring budget.”

The Montel Williams Show has announced that it will be offering free commentary and original content as a podcast starting June 26.Montel Anytime will include commentary from the show’s producers, follow-up interviews with guests and new material from Williams. It will also draw on the talk show’s guest experts for advice.

Melanie McLaughlin, who executive-produces the show with Williams, says Montel will be the first nationally syndicated daytime talk show to offer podcasts, which will be available each Monday and available for download.

We’re on location at the Corporate Podcasting Summit, being held June 20 ‚Äì 21 in San Francisco. The event, described as Enterprise Podcasting 101, is intended to provide podcasters and businesses the latest information on business podcasting. We’ll have highlights from the Summit over the next few days.

At the Corporate Podcasting Summit, Dana Gardner, principal analyst of Interarbor Solutions and producer of BriefingsDirect announced their plans to include full-text transcripts of their sponsored podcasts. The announcement reflects the reality that podcasts have to be found to be heard, and that can be difficult without text that can be indexed by search engines.

“Studies of listener behavior show that they prefer to know a lot about an audio program before downloading and subscribing,” said Gardner. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, giving the audience a chance to peruse a text transcript of a podcast in a blog or on a web site actually prompts more listeners to then opt-in to get the full audio production.”

NYC Transit has launched TransitTrax, a podcast service for New York city Transit riders. The service will provide riders with the latest news, service advisories and security initiatives.TransitTrax podcasts range from MTA New York City Transit Lost and Found to If You See Something Say Something, a podcast about transit security.

Unfortunately, NYC Transit doesn’t appear to be providing a comprehensive podcast feed that will let users get all the information. This will make it more difficult for riders to keep up with their podcasts.