Note to all: I have to run out of the house to the office for the chat, but luckily the office is right down the street, so if I'm a little late getting things started, someone tell a few bad pirate jokes

OK, so a pirate walks into a bar

that's all there is to that one, no punchline to speak of

weak!

yeah, you could say that again

OK, here's a good one

too bad if you've heard it

What Star Wars character is secretly a pirate?

Arrrrr 2D2

heh heh

so what's new in the world of Groovy?

Hey Ryan

hi ryan

got a new joomla template for the new site and tinkering

trying to balance life, work, and play - the usual.

Hey Chris

hi

what do you think of joomla?

As a name for a company?

amazingly expandable.

No, that was directed to Steve :)

too expandable in my eyes.

heheh

I'm doing a project right now with Civic Space

I need a crash course in the back end stuff

that didn't sound good

heh heh

lol

yeah we use WP now, joomla allows for many different features to be added

all hail WP

we have WP running in joomla

for blog posts

that's cool, you can run it within joomla

so what are you looking to get out of joomla?

just got a google analytics invite, so I am trying to add that to the site to make some sense of our true stats

I love analytics

check out blogbeat when you get a chance too

joomla can add different layers other than blogging. longer "magazine" style posting

I use Analytics, Blogbeat, and Feedburner to track my statss

lol Ryan

true

I just hit my 400th post last night

very nice.

not too shabby since the middle of Nov.

have some good interviews lined up for the site too

A few authors, and entrepreneurs (sp?)..

I've been so freaking busy the past few weeks I'm afraid I've been neglecting my blog

there he is!

Mr. Trout!

Hey hey! Sorry I'm late - was sleeping (needed it BAD)

sleep is for the weak

;)

What have I missed (any "good" pirate jokes?)

no, no good ones

Oh man, I was hurtin....

a bad repeat from last week

sad

Well, we don't have a topic tonight, it's wide open, so go nuts

Sec (goingback on reading the room)

Well, I'll start

OML launched a very rough beta version last night

My programmer was pretty beat up by the time I squeezed the last changes out of him, a few hours before he had to make a 5am flight to Vegas for a tech conference

Yeah I just jumped on to take a look at it

There is a TON of stuff we need to add, but the very very basic build/buy an Offset is there

I love all the testers we have though. I've gotten a few emails back and people have come up with some great suggestions

what's your first Offset Ryan?

Okay, I'm done. Man, you weren't kidding about those pirate joked. Okay, now off ot check out OML

Okay, not up. I guess that is what you mean by beta. Right. (still waking uop)

If anyone wasn't on the private beta testing and wants to kick the tires around, feel free

you can make an account and buy and build Offsets

so what kind of Offset will you be building?

OffetThePresident.....

Jason, how are your subscriber #'s on GB.net? growing steady?

OffsetMyGuantanimo

heheh

Yes the are. It isn't totally steady in the small picture (huge sign ups some weeks, just a few others) but the overall trend his up

those are good offsets

how long do people stick around for?

Doing that has just been so much fun. I've really been getting a lot out of it lately and and started to think a little bigger about it. Do some new stuff with the technology

I really want to start a Green Entrepreneurs Club

It depends. About 80% of free trials become paying members and then some people will stick around for 3 or 4 months and then others have been on for one year plus, ever since they have joined.

have you thought about sending out a monthly newsletter with the best posts, maybe some discounts on online green stores?

you'll push the best content to them, they'll get more value out of it, and might stick around longer

I realized recently that I need to get way better at integrating better technology. For instance, I really need to let people build out their profiles a lot more. Like when I set up the "Business Description" field I set the max to 150 words. Like why did I do that!? This is the Internets, there should be no limit. And I want to add fields where they can add the three things they are looking for and the three things they can offer, and what community member would they recomend post to others, and lots of other stuff like that

You should really morph it into a social network, there are a ton of open source software packages that let you set things like that up

I was just thinking about something along those lines

Like currently the discussion has been about 90% of the product. But if I can add in some really cool functionality to the profile pages I think just going through those could become a big part of the overall experience

don't cobble something together, get a system that does everything, blogs, forums, IMs, etc...

make it customizable and more of an online representation of their biz

Shea- you'll have to send over a list of them when you have a sec:-)

Sure. I'm using Civic Space on a project right now

Right, more of an online presentation of their biz. Looking back I'm sort of embarassed the current profile page I am offering them.....

it lets you build blogs, but you can even allow your users to easily setup their own blog

if you have an engaged audience, you can have a big network of bloggers all bouncing off one another

sounds good shea.

It sounds cool for sure.

I have briefly checked out Linked In but to a whole lot of degree. There

I love open source man

another place I dropped the ball. I should totally be all offer similar sites (My Space, Facebook, etc) and see how they do things and apply best practices

I want to start a green http://www.asmallworld.net

Secretly, I'm an elitist at heart

A kind and benevolent one, but an elitist nonetheless

;)

The thing is until just fairly recently GreenBusiness.net has just been a fun little side project. Now it's really growing like crazy and I'm starting to see where it could lead

heheh

Where's the green Bohemian Grove? That's what I'm going to build.

you would cut out some who could be beneficial in the beginning

I'm not saying that's what Jason should do, and I'm only 3% serious.

but once it got going it would create an appeal because it was a select community

and then I've recently starting thinking way out like some sort of World of Warcraft type thing but only, ah, green...someone....or something...

A small world has an open network surrounding it called a Big World

have you ever heard of Second Life?

I haven't

the second coming?

no, it's a virtual platform

like Worlds of Warcraft in that you walk around as an avatar in a virtual world

but Second Life is all about what the community and it's users create

Or, much more likely, build a green room here: http://hive7.com/welcome

Yes, have heard of Second Life for sure but haven't checked it out yet

it has a fairly easy to use editing tool and custom scripting language that allows it's users to build amazing things

there are coming up on 150k users now, with it's growth speeding up every month

It has a lot of potential for green stuff, I've thought about building a wind farm and making a virtual movie showing how wind power works

what is Hive7 Jason>?

Not yet Ryan, but you will be able to

if you want to change the stats now, just make different version #'s

new Offsets that is

"but Second Life is all about what the community and it's users create" That's a lot more of what I am thinking but I want to tie it into raising money for the 30,000 kids in Africa everyday that die from preventable diseases (including hunger). Something between that and TheHungerSite.com. Basically a virtual world where people can work to make the real world a better place (while interacting, having fun, listening to music, etc)

Hive7 is sort of like Second Life but it happens right in the browser. You can build/create your own room and invte others in. I thought about suggesting it for tonights chat but (once again) haven't tested it out yet so didn't want to recomend it until I had

Hive7 sounds cool, let me know how it runs when you test it

Jason, you should check out SL, it's free and I can show you around

I'm secretly a gamer

I totally will.

shhhh...

So that sort of thing is my big think stuff (the concept is definitely out in left field, I know) and my closer terms goal is making GB.net as kickass as possible for it's current and new members.

Love video/computer games

That was a link for you Ryan

you'll need to do the math by hand though

sorry, that's what 4 seconds on Google will get you, I'd have to bill you beyond that

;)

Not to be all GreenBusiness.net all the time but if any of you would like to check out the pages for GB.net and e-mail just what you think, that would be awesome. I've lost a little (lot) of perspective and am curious to see what somebody totally new to the site thinks of the whole layout/concept/copy, etc

Hive 7 looks like it is more geared towards highschoolers (not a bad thing...) but second life looks a bit more customizable...

SL is 100% customizable

I'll check it out for you. I have been interested in what goes on over there...

I know that Michael was thinking about joining up

one warning though, it's broken into PG and R rated lands. If you are in R rated lands, you will see references to sex

with it being so free and easy to use, it's been taken up by cyber sex afficinados

Oh, GB.net is a great thing to have Steve

There was the first bit of contention on the GB.net boards the other day

it was exciting

That's awesome Steve, thanks. Yea, Hive7 is a little teeny boppy for me but I like the way you don't have to do a download/install/registration. I like the fact that you can just hop in

Yea, we have a very intense discussion going on about what and "evil" company is and wheter a person should be recomending non-green services on the board when there are known green alternatives.

said by the person who was the said green alternative, pretty narkily said too, IMHO

a little smacking down was thrown around and it reminded me, for but a brief moment, of every other forum I've been a part of

GB.net is downright tame and civil in comparison

;)

we need more flame wars

that's what we'll do Jason, to really drive up traffic. I'll make up two identities, then we'll have them really go at it on the forums

I want to build a little website that times how fast you can type your first and last name

Actually, I try very hard to avoid those! :-) It happened a couple of times back when we were a discussion list and everytime (including this one) in lead to a rush of people cancelling their memberships. Not a ton, but 3 or 4 times the average....

seems like something that would catch on with the BoingBoing crowd

you have to be a member

Plus, we're all on the same team. Like I know you and the other two guys involved in that are totally awesome people working your butts off to make the world a better place.... though I do think Vlad came out swinging hard. I'm totally chalking it up to his PASSION for making a difference....

cha-ching!

I do take exception to the idea that non-green businesses are evil

They are supposed to be Ryan

You get a big commission on everyone you sell, forever.

So it's worth it if you build a good one

No, they aren't supposed to be hard to build, but if you want to build a stat based one, you do have to do the legwork to track down the stats

did you get my email about the difference between Stat and Price based Offsets?

nice, that's a good one

Offset My Office is another good one, I think Andrew Luter got that one

the short version...

a stat based Offset is what you are doing

you figure out how much energy, land, and trees are used for a particular item or activity, by finding stats

"I do take exception to the idea that non-green businesses are evil". I totally hear that, though I do think that some business are evil. Wal-mart for instance I think the 5 Waltons at least are very bad people (not to go all negative. I just do think that some businesses are that bad)

you cite the stats, build it accordingly, and put it up for sale

price based is WAY easier

you build it based on price per unit

I build Offset My Coffee as a Price based stat

I built it so it's four cents a cup

I do think some corporations are bad for sure, I'm with you there Jason

Man, Pete Cashmore is going to go gaga over OffsetMyLife. Revenue sharing, community building, the whole bit

yup, figuring people who drink coffee won't bat an eyelash at four cents a cup

I hate to ask and sound dumb, but who is Pete Cashmore?

I look forward to reading it on all the Web 2.0 blogs I subscribe to.

was wondering the same thing.. never heard of him

Oh, sorry. No reason to feel dumb. He's not huge or anytthing but he does have a well read blog that I love

nice, and you told him about OML?

Not yet!

I like the web 2.0 show. Other blogs I read are:

I misread that, I read it as Pete Cashmore is going gaga, not is going to go gaga

great blog

and of you all read Brad Feld?

He wrote that he's subscribed to 700+ feeds

made me feel silly with my paltry 140

rentacoder

hey chris

Hello...

I love that Musings website, that guy is super cool!

What's the URL?

sheagunther.org

lol

Any yes, SheaGunther.org was going to totally be my last (and certainly not least) one

How about you guys. Any good Web 2.0 blogs you read?

:-)

i don't kjjnow about web 2.0, but here are a few good ones

yup

yeah just click up on files and transcripts

Looks like I have a lot of surfing to do...

that's all for now, I could keep going all night with that

woot.com

anyone ever use woot.com?

No, what is it?

Woohoo - Loot!

Yep, cool concept

they sell one thing, at mega discount, a day

they have a limited number of items most of the time, so when they sell out, they are done for the day

Chris, going to let you take over. this EDT changeover is killing me. Bye all.

the next day, new item

'night Steve

That's cool...

Take it easy

See ya Steve.

Oh, and one last blog (sort of)

Looks like woot could be my next best friend.

So I signed up for a free trial of GB.net and haven't gotten an email or anything

woot has crazy deal sometimes, flatscreen TV's and digi projects retailing for 5k for sale for 2k

Do I need to create an account Jason?

or digital cameras retailing for 220 for 125

or a bag of random crap for 5

it's fun to check it every day

Hey Chris, really? Yep, you can do that from here:

Yeah bookmarked...

The confirmation page was supposed to link right into that page. Then once you sign up for the forum itself you'll redeive a confirmation e-mail and after you respond to that you should be all set

ok

Hey Shea, I'm thinking one of the retailers on GB.net need to do a fair trade/organic/green woot!

Bring down the price of those goods (which can be expensive) and get a little buzzzz going...

That would be a good idea

shhh... let's do it ourselves, that's a great idea

retailers would be super excited to sell their products on the site for a day, they can clear backstock and they get a lot of exposure

Oh, I mean, uuhhhhh that market is definitly, uhhh.....saturated. It's a terrible idea

Yeah, great idea.

heheh

ok, this part of the transcript will be blacked out

nice

haha

terrible idea Jason

Sweet I'm an insider!

I'm so stupid

everyone else agrees that it's a terrible idea right?

Anyone want to buy me out now?

*looks around* yes...

/pay $5 Chris

LOL!

ideas are great, it's all in the execution

yeah

so who can build it first

that is true

and....

Go!!!

Weeee

done

Done!

Go to greenwoot.com

I liked easyonthegreen.com

Me too.

(asonjay, etslay alktay afteray hetay hatchay aboutay hetay reengay ootway hingtay. Iay hinktay itsay aay oolcay ideaay anday antway otay akemay itay appenhay. hatWay oday ouyay asay?)

easyonthegreen.com is a sweet domain

I think we should totally find a current retailer (even though this is the worst idea ever) to drop ship stuff and we just focus marketing baby

:-) sounds good eh

(now I sounds Canadian)

Summer?

forget about tieing yourself to one retailer, open it up for sale, the right to feature an item that day

A yes, Summer

and take a cut of every sale

I'll take 3%

put it up for auction maybe, the right to sell an item, make the price what the market will bear

Ah yes, that makes a lot more sense (I'm so stupid <hitting self in head Chris Farley style>)

oh nice.

No way hoser. That was NOT a Canadian dig. Take off

obviously retailers would have to establish some sort of contact with green woot to bid, but once they are registered they can big with freedom

I love the Canadian National Anthum!

I'm actually one more Republican president away from becomeing a Canadian

Anthem

no way man, they suck up your money in taxes

I love "The Anthem" by Good Charlotte

I'm going offshore oil rig style

I heard your taxes go towards clubbing seals

buy me a decommissioned oil rig and retrofit it as a green fortress/getaway

which may not be as bad as killing people... but still

I call dips on Presidency of Green Fortress (yes!)

There are missle silos for sale

It'll be sorty of like Asteroid M (one we won't be in space) (oh, and we're not mutants)

that's another one of my "If I get really Rich" dream

s

I have lots of those realy rich dreams...

you can buy a missle silo for less than a mill, put another few millino into it, and you have 100k sq feet of underground space

build a nice house on top and don't tell people about the silo underneath until a few hours into their visit

When you show them the guest room.

ONLY we won't be in space - is what I meant. X-men? Anyone? Bueller......Bueller......Bueller..

that would be a cool site, "What would you do if you were Rich?"

nice

If you built mega solar collectors, you could pipe sunlight down into the sile

silo

For sure.

Is that where the tar sands are?

Well, that about wraps up the Official non-official Topic of Nothing: a Freeform wide open discussion on Green Biz in general

You all are, of course, welcome to stay, but I have a project I have to jump on, so I will say goodnight and good luck.

Thanks for being such a great host! I'm outta here as well.

let's schedule it Ryan, let me know when you are free

Ryan what do you use to record your interviews?

I'm out too - later all!

We are just getting into doing some interviews...

Yeah.

What do you use for audio editing?

Yeah it is a cool program. Can't beat the free.

not yet. We are getting things ready for a refresh of the site on Earth Day. We will do interveiws in person as well as over the phone.

We are trying to get some video tours and interviews together as well.

and perhaps a regular podcast.

I have found that it takes time to get all the ducks in a row and get the technology working just right.

It has been nice to share duties at GG with both Michael and Steve. Lot of learning on my part as well.

It sure helps the site move along.

We have set up interviews with a few authors, green product manufactuers, a few CSA farmers...just a bunch of green types.

MIchael and Steve are hosting a booth on Earth Day in Ithaca, NY ans we hope to have coverage from that event.

I will be sure to check it all out.

That's cool. How was that?

We could do that for sure.

I will add it tonight.

That sounds like fun.

Cool, any video?

So what do you do for a living? Or does the site pay your bills?

Cool. I would love to get to Toronto someday.

Wow. Sounds like an adventure.

I hear ya.

Cool.

Side project. I am a certified arborist and work for a nursery. I hoe that this could someday be a full-time gig.

hope that is.

it is a good job, I can't complain.

That could get old...

The green web scene is a mix of my favorite things to do. Technology and Green Living.

Lots of cool things coming out every day it seems like.

got the link up.

cool.

Mac or PC?

Mac at home PC at work.

The Mac is lots of fun.

Cool. I like the whole open source deal. Linux is real cool.

http://www.e-owensound.com/ looks like a cool place.

Catch you later. Yeah that would be great.

cool.

Well, I will contact you with questions about the podcasting... Thanks for chatting.

cool.

I will let you know whe we get ready for our first one.

that would be cool.

skype...

I will get a hold of the guys and we can all get on skype together.

recyclemeister

that my skype name

Thanks. Take care.