Get to Know Me

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Welcome! I'm the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Society of American Florists (SAF), a non-profit organization that serves the entire U.S. floriculture and ornamental horticulture industry. SAF members include floral retailers, wholesalers, importers, manufacturers and suppliers. Read more...

Blog Technology
Ready to geek out? I developed this blog from scratch by downloading the free, open source Joomla content management system (CMS), configuring and installing it on a VMWare Fusion virtual server ($70) that runs on the free open-source Linux (Debian), Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) on my Apple Mac Pro desktop computer ($2,900) in the family room at my house over a Cox Business static-IP broadband cable connection ($104 a month).

PluggedIn Column from Society of American Florists' (SAF) Floral Management Magazine

Save Some Coin - Go Paperless

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The following article is reprinted from the April 2009 Plugged In column of Society of American Florists' (SAF) Floral Management Magazine. SAF's Floral Management is distributed to more than 11,000 SAF members and is the floral industry's premier floral business practices publication.

Want to save trees and money at the same time? Use less paper. This month, we demystify the idea of a paperless office with practical strategies and solutions.

The Pros of Paperless

Going paperless will help you:

  • Save on paper costs, toner and ink. A ream of paper costs $6; toner for most laser printers goes for around $80 for each cartridge and ink for inkjets is at least $15 per cartridge.
  • Reduce clutter. Never buy another file cabinet. Start saving documents as electronic files on a hard drive - as Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) files or Microsoft Office formats such as .doc, .xls, and .ppt. (Most accountants recommend saving records for seven years.)
  • Lose less stuff. Making your files digital makes them searchable. Need to know how much you charged the Hyatt for an outdoor event in August? Search by "Hyatt and August."

Read more...
     

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Association Publications

Association Publishing: Top 3 Publishing Technologies for 2009

The following article is a reprint from the November/December issue of Association Publishing, a publication by the Society of National Association Publications (SNAP) and is a follow up of SNAP's Purpose/Process/Politics Conference Session - "Reshaping the Landscape: Learn 60 New Technologies in 60 Minutes."

The first order of business for progressive association publishers in 2009 will be investing in technology to manage massive amounts of electronic data. As website become the primary communication vehicle for associations looking to deliver more interactive - and storage hogging - content such as audio, video, and online presentations, publishers are seeking out inexpensive, high-performing solutions. So what technologies should your association leverage in 2009? Here are three that top the list.

Read more...

Upcoming Speaking Gigs

ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership

Association Technology Conference
Feb. 10-12, 2010 Washington DC

Case Study: Weaving Great Technology into Operations on a Tight Budget

Georgia State Florists Association

GSFA Convention 2010 "Old Roots, New Growth Through Education and Determination
March 12-14, 2010 Macon, GA

How Florists Can Leverage Social Media to Boost Business

 

 

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Check out SAF's new video channel on YouTube at www.youtube.com/SAFVision. All videos were shot using Flips and edited in either the Flip editing software or Apple's iMovie. Check this space for the latest movies I upload to the channel!

How Would You Describe SAF?

Why You Need to Play in the SAFPAC Tournament

Feedback on SAF Educational Sessions at Convention

Your Growth is Our Business

Attend SAF's Congressional Action Days

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exploring encoding and publishing video using Microsoft Silverlight PDF Print E-mail
Technology - Website Development
Written by Renato Cruz Sogueco   
Friday, 26 February 2010 20:07

For the past few weeks, I've been exploring how to encode and publish video on the Internet. Although I think it's cool to publish potential association (SAF) content or personal videos on YouTube, there are limits in time unless you partner with YouTube -- which is also an option but in either case, you're still using a third party system. The bottom line for me is that I truly believe video is it, on the Web, and then eventually if not already, on mobile devices.

First I explored Adobe's Flash Technology. They have a suite of products that allow you to do this:

Adobe Flash Media Encoder: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaserver/flashmediaencoder/

Adobe Flash Media Server: http://www.adobe.com/products/flashmediaencoding/

Awesome stuff. Easy to use and was able to encode and publish test files. I was ready to go with any further delay until I watched the iPad launch.

Like most geeks, I was glued to Steve Jobs' introduction of the iPad. Crazy reality distortion field happening during the announcement but what struck me was how Apple was intentionally displaying pages on the iPad WITHOUT Flash -- all you saw was the cube with the question mark. Yikes! And it was Jobs holding the iPad. Then of course, Jobs confirms all this by saying in the press that Flash is a deadend. Really? 80 percent of the Web video is Flash. Youtube, Hulu.com, etc., some big names out there. But Jobs must know something cause he's Jobs.

Anyways, I started looking for alternatives. Not much. Really only viable product is Silverlight.

Check this out: http://silverlight.net/

It pained me to buy the Expression Encoder 3 Web suite considering most of Adobe's stuff was free: http://www.microsoft.com/expression/

Learning any new Microsoft product seems like you need a diploma nowadays but the initial encoding is complete. Just at a point on learning how to publish and stream. I'll keep you posted.



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What’s the Best Way to Spend Autumn in Virginia? Wine Tasting with Concordia University Alumni! PDF Print E-mail
Alumni Activities - Concordia University
Written by Renato Cruz Sogueco   
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 12:24

IMG_1549.jpgAutumn in Virginia this year is truly turning out to be a vintage fiery show and this provided the perfect setting for a wine tasting with fellow members of the Concordia University Alumni Association - Washington DC chapter. Our small, but boisterous group included familiar friends Chapter President Therese Morin, Zoran Kahric, Dinesh Mehta and his wife Meera, my own beautiful bride Patricia and new Alumni friends including Rikka Batulan, Soufiane Mebtoul and Harry and Joy Reichel. Click here to check out the full photo gallery of the tour.



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