HowCast was founded by a team of former Google and YouTube employees and raised $8 million in venture funding before it launched. The iPhone app is a great way to learn new things on the go and it's a lot of fun.

Last time we wrote about HowCast it was co-hosting the Summit of the Americas with the US State Department. Not bad for a brand new company.

For a How-to experience that's audio-free and more easily scannable, check out the iPhone app of WikiHow. For a broader view of the How-to world online, check out the ReadWriteWeb How-to Multi-site Custom Search Engine.

The quick way to submit a question is to use the widget you can find here. But there are plenty of other resources available if you are interested in learning more about the Summit of the Americas, starting with the America.gov Townhall page or the Howcast Townhall page. The America.gov site in this case links to the Howcast site, which pulls together all the links, how-to videos, and forum posts about this summit, with additional media on their branded YouTube page. The videos and other US State Department media are located on their own YouTube page, and finally there is not one but two professional sites covering Summit of the Americas activities in general.

We have covered how Obama's administration has harnessed YouTube in the past, and it looks like they are taking advantage of that channel again, linking to the Howcast Townhall site directly from the official White House blog. It definitely appears as if they are sincere about leveraging the technological infrastructure that is out there in order to drive engagement for events like these. With any luck, that is what is going to happen, as the issues discussed may lead to lasting decisions about how the democratic nations of the Americas combine to combat these global issues.