Ripple Gateway Question

[hashnash]

I just created a ripple account, but cannot connect to any gateways (site says "coming soon"). I'm a bit confused as I've read people talking about connecting to gateways like bitstamp.net, etc. What am I missing?

(Sorry, I know it's not strictly bitcoin but I'm trying to think of something to get out of this newbie corner).

[master.yoda]

You have to 'trust' bitstamp for a certain amount of bitcoin/usd in order to transfer that given trusted amount to your ripple account. Note, you cannot transfer anything to your ripple account until you have itleast 300 XRP(ripples) in your account. If you need ripples either wait for the next give away from opencoin, hope someone will donate you 300 ripples by asking nicely on the forums or trade someone bitcoin/litecoin for a given amount. If you go that route do your home work on the current rate. Last I checked it was 1BTC=15-20K Ripples. Good luck.