Got the whole podcast thing down? Using your smartphone to listen to music, catch your favorite radio shows? Don't skip on your hometown news. Many local newspapers offer services to let you listen to podcasts of news stories, read aloud so you can take them with you wherever you go.

Some examples:

Cleveland Plain Dealer's customizable podcast: www.cleveland.com/pdaudio

Boston Globe's page one podcast: www.boston.com/news/podcasts/

Washingtonpost.com's themed podcasts with audio and video: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/mmedia/podcastfront.htm

Each includes links and/or instructions for setting up an RSS feed so you can get your news when you get the rest of your daily audio jolt. Not sure whether your newspaper offers audio? If there's no obvious link on the homepage (and nothing printed on the actual newsprint page), try searching "audio" or "podcast" on the paper's site.