My Top Podcasts - Part 2

Unlike the podcasts I went through in my previous post, the following aren't broadcast on the radio and are only accessible through the internet.

John Pienaar's Political Review podcast. The week's events in Westminster are mulled over by 5 Live's Chief Political Correspondent and a guest (often a political reporter for a national paper). It's informal yet informative and best of all, concise - normally 15 minutes.

The Guardian's Media Talk podcast is a round table discussion on the week's events in the media. This is the commercial rival of BBC Radio 4's The Media Show. There's much more banter, gossip and rumours in this podcast which makes it an easy listen. The presenter and guests are Guardian and Observer journalists and occasionally they'll have interviews with some of the industry heavy weights.

The Guardian's Politics Weekly podcast undoubtedly has centre-left leanings, as you'd expect from a political discussion by Guardian journalists. Well worth listening to if politics is your thing - an intelligent insight into politics from some of the Guardian comment writers including Polly Tonybee. It also has a BBC Radio 4 equivalent, The Weekly Political Review.

Prayer from Taizé podcast. Taizé is a Christian community in France which I've blogged about in the past. It comprises of highlights of the past week's prayer services from the church Taizé. I'm often reminded of the amazing times I've had by the beautiful singing.

I also enjoy the BBC Match Of The Day Magazine podcast, even though it's aimed at children. They're expertly produced by a good friend of mine.

So as the above shows, it's not just the BBC who produce superb podcasts. Give them a go and let me know what you think.

Today's top story on BBC Radio Oxford...

I'm coming to the end of a two week placement at BBC Radio Oxford which has been superb. Getting my hands dirty, covering stories for breakfast.

Today I had the top story in the bulletins thanks to an unusual source - my Dad!

He found a small story in the Guardian (I've since learnt he reads the finance pages of the Guardian every morning!) about Toyzone, a toy shop retailer, going into administration. This morning he suggested it as a possible story as one of the company's toy shops is Pied Pedaller in Thame (Oxfordshire). It later transpired that Toyzone's HQ is in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. Definitely a story. Fortunately my fellow journalists agreed, and it led the bulletins...

CLICK HERE AND THEN CLICK PLAY

Searching for the next big engine online

I've recently heard about a UK search engine that I think could be big in 2008.

http://www.everyclick.com/ is a search engine where users make money for charity every time they search. The user chooses which charity they want to raise money for and 50p in a pound raised goes to their charity. The money is raised thanks to advertising on the site.

I asked Anthony Mayfield, from digital marketing company Spannerworks, whether he thought everyclick had the potential to be big. He quickly dismissed the possibility - I assume because it doesn't search the same number of webpages that Google does. But the site is starting to get more coverage for example in the Guardian. And everyclick.com aims to raise £1 million in 2008 as it expands to the States.

Hopefully you'll hear much more about everyclick this year and maybe even start using it. But until it has the power to search as many sites as Google and co, I fear it may not be as successful as the charities will be hoping.