My favorite thing about JUG meetings is getting a reasonable preview of a new technology in an hours time. I travel a lot with work now and don't get to attend AJUG meetings as often as I'd like. I really miss getting that monthly preview.
Shekhar Gulati is taking this concept to a new level on his blog whyjava.wordpress.com
He is kicking the tires on a new technology every day for the next 30 days and blogging his impressions. So far he has tackled Bower, AngularJS and Flask.
I found his posts on all 3 technologies interesting and well written. Bower was nowhere on my radar, and I only vaguely knew what Flask was.
I will definitely be following his progress.