Hubdub is a startup news forecaster that allows users to track news stories, predict their outcomes and compete with other news junkies. In theory, this predicting process turns you from being a passive news consumer into an active news participant. Think a fantasy sports league for news. Although an Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) startup, the site will be targeted at US news initially because of the size of the market. And apparently there is also an election going on or something? HubDub is currently in private beta, but aims to go into a public beta in late January. Funded by some seed angel capital right now, HubDub could well move into a real fantasy league model, assuming people really are as passionate about news as they are about sports, which is, well, debatable. [TechCrunch UK has more on this].