WOW! We discussed the future of bmugwest!:

1. John Riley created a facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12409253079
2. everyone was encouraged to create a facebook page of their very own.
3. David M. discussed ning http://www.ning.com
4. Lorca mentioned Plaxo http://www.plaxo.com as a way to backup/share your addressbook and keep track of the various social media sites.
5. also discussed was http://upcoming.org, http://laughingsquid.com/squidlist/events/, and http://craigslist.com as ways to "Get the Word Out" about the monthly meeting.

6. Very Important is the fact that we need to get (more) vendors and/or speakers for the monthly meetings so that they don't descend into simply two hours of Q&A, frequently dominated by a few members sometimes seeking what amounts to personal techsupport, a la the old bmug helpline clinic in Berkeley, from the entire group.

7. Speaking of the old bmug, several members brought up the idea that maybe a new name is in order. whaddya think? (we DEFINITELY need a need LOGO for the facebook page).

ps. we also discussed the "mupromo.com" deal that ended the next day. its over now but a few of us thought it was a good deal in that it included Parallels, itself a $70 product to run Windows on any intel Mac, amongst 10 other products.

it was a phoney meeting.

Lorca:
GrandCentral http://grandcentral.com. aggregate all your phone numbers (and voicemail) under a free, new number by GrandCentral. Numerous options to route calls to cell, work, home numbers as well as voicemail. telemarketing/phone spam protection. call screening and more. was recently acquired by Google.

prepaid cell phone options. for new and/or low usage cell phone users. don't spend $40-50 month when you use you cell phone for less than 3-5 hours a month. monthly usage costs can be as low as $5 month but usually $8-15. upfront costs, to purchase the phone, can be as low as free but usually costs $50-100. pricing/network info: http://cellguru.net/prepaid_compare.htm be sure and check the user reviews of any phone you might want to buy at http://phonescoop.com and/or http://gsmarena.com Lots of people, including Adam Engst of http://tidbits.com fame, like http://virginmobileusa.com (they use the Sprint CDMA network) which has its own comparison chart at http://web.virginmobileusa.com/about/why-choose-us and ways to earn "free" minutes by watching ads. you must spend at least $15 every 3 months (18 cents a minute, can be as low as 10 cents a minute if calling other Virgin Mobile users) and you can only use the phone in North America. T-Mobile http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/phones/prepaid.aspx has better phones (and the "quad band" 850/900/1800/1900 phones can be used worldwide. T-Mobile uses their own GSM network. T-mobile will "unlock" your phone for free so that you can use a cheaper per-minute rate SIM when you are overseas after you've had your phone for at least 3 months.). you can spend anywhere from $10/month on up -OR- $100 which gives you 1000 minutes (10 cents a minute) that don't expire for a year. Virgin Mobile has their phones available at the Virgin Megastore downtown on Stockton/Market T-Mobile has their phones available a block away at 3rd/Market. for the more adventurous: http://ebay.com and others have a broader selection of already unlocked GSM phones (want a RAZR? ~$100 new and unlocked on eBay)

UPDATE: LA Times story on prepaid: Message for cutting cellphone bills: prepaid calling
Consumer Research article
Ron:
demoed http://apple.com/iphone

We watched the last 'Breen's Bungalow' available, September 2006

John Riley showed Clipmarks a news aggregator, iSquint and PodTube both free apps which allow you to save YouTube videos to your Mac.

Lorca showed FuturePhone a free service which allows you to make 'free' calls to international landline phones. you ARE charged for the call to Iowa but if you have 'unlimited' long distance on your landline or cell phone this shouldn't be an issue. calls can last as long as you want. no sign-up or registration is required.

Lorca also showed Google services for your domain name whereby you can have google host your website and email for free. AOL offers a 'free' domain name of your choice (caveat:they own it) with up to 100 free 2 GB email addresses at that domain. AOL® My eAddress. additional previously discussed 'free services' from AOL include XDrive a 5GB FREE storage space, and AIMphoneline a free local voicemail service.

Ron mentioned two browser plugins, Flip4Mac and Perian, which make viewing Windows Media files and .avi files easier on a Mac. also discussed was using RealPlayer as an alternative.

Eric offered up GizmoProject as an alternative to Skype (Skype for Mac just got updated to 2.0) also mentioned was that Firefox 2 has been released.