As I uploaded the podcast interview from yesterday, I showed Mike PodServe, the first of our Big in Japan tools we put out for folks to start playing around with. Big in Japan is an integrated set of tools for prosumer bloggers & podcasters. We’ll make it easier for you to create & manage multiple feeds, get stats, etc. We’ll be showing off some of Big in Japan this weekend at Barcamp Austin & SXSW. Mike is thinking about doing some podcasting for TechCrunch, so he played with the app a bit and reviewed it today on his site. PodServe makes it simple for you to create, list, host and manage a podcast feed. Just upload your mp3, and PodServe walks you through the steps of creating a podcast, listing it in Odeo, iTunes, iPodder, etc. We also have special features like social podcasts and public podcasts, which Mike focused on in his review:

Second, PodServe also allows “social podcasts”. A channel can be created that allows a number of podcasters to submit files, and all will be included in the feed. The third notable feature is really interesting. Users can create full public podcast channels that anyone can add their content to. Two great examples are Brian’s Naked Conversations Discussion (podcasts discussing Robert Scoble and Shel Israel’s new book) and Alexander Muse’s Elevator Pitch Podcast, which is a podcast that any company can use to submit an elevator pitch. I’m considering using the service to create something similar to the Elevator Pitch Podcast for use by TechCrunch readers.

You can read more about Big in Japan on Alex Muse’s blog. Alex is the brain behind Big in Japan, and he’s done some really great work on it. Rodrigo Franco is the lead developer. Scott Ryan has helped immensely. Dan Cederholm did the design work. Merlin Mann contributed some really great ideas that we can’t wait to implement as the project develops.

Technorati Tags: alex+muse, barcampaustin, biginjapan, dan+cederholm, merlinmann, mikearrington, podserve, rodrigo+franco, scott+ryan, simplebits, techcrunch