SBR Foam (Styrene-Butadiene Rubber)
SBR foam is a closed-cell copolymer known for its similarities to natural rubber, making it highly versatile and effective in various specialized applications. When blended with natural rubber, its performance can be further enhanced. SBR foam is particularly valued for its flexibility, excellent shock and sound absorption, high abrasion resistance, and strong barrier properties against air, dust, and moisture.
​
Limitations

• Poor resistance to flames, ozone, hydrocarbon solvents, and oils
• Challenging to process compared to some other materials

Common Uses

• Cushioning and padding
• Sealing and waterproofing
• Gaskets
• Tires
• Automotive interior components

EVA Foam (Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate)
​Popular choice across industries due to its affordability, versatility, and comfort, but it's important to match its properties with the demands of the specific application.

​Common Uses of EVA Foam
EVA foam is a versatile material widely used across many industries due to its lightweight, flexible, and cushioning properties. Key applications include:

• Footwear: Commonly used in shoe soles and insoles for comfort and support.
• Sports Equipment: Found in padding for helmets, protective gear, and floor mats used in gymnastics and martial arts.
• Medical Devices: Used in braces, splints, prosthetic liners, and padding for medical equipment and wheelchair cushions.
• Crafts & DIY Projects: Popular for arts, crafts, and hobby materials due to its ease of cutting and shaping.
• Construction: Applied in flooring underlayment, carpet padding, and soundproofing materials.
• Marine & Water Sports: Ideal for flotation devices, surfboards, and boat bumpers due to its buoyancy and water resistance.
• Packaging: Used to protect items during shipping and handling by providing cushioning.
• Toys & Recreational Products: Found in foam puzzles, building blocks, and soft play equipment.
• Electronics: Used in protective cases and gaskets for shock absorption.

Limitations of EVA Foam
Despite its benefits, EVA foam has certain drawbacks that should be considered:

• Non-Biodegradable: As a plastic-based material, EVA foam does not break down naturally and poses environmental concerns.
• UV Sensitivity: Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light can cause degradation and reduce material lifespan.
• Chemical Content: Some products may contain potentially harmful chemicals, depending on manufacturing processes.
• Limited Grip: Can be slippery on certain surfaces, which may affect performance in grip-sensitive applications.
• Compression Over Time: EVA foam may lose its cushioning ability with prolonged use or heavy pressure.
• Low Breathability: Not as breathable as some alternative materials, which may be a concern in applications like footwear or padding.
• Heat Sensitivity: Not suitable for high-temperature environments as it can deform or degrade under heat.

Polyurethane & Melamine Foams (AKA Acoustic Foam)
PU foam, known for its flexibility and cushioning, is widely used in mattresses, seating, and insulation. Melamine foam, on the other hand, is valued for its sound-absorbing and cleaning properties, as well as its heat resistance, making it suitable for applications like acoustic insulation and cleaning products.

Common Uses:

• Soundproofing: Used in recording studios, home theaters, and podcast rooms to reduce echo and improve sound clarity.
• Industrial Noise Control: Installed in machinery enclosures and manufacturing plants to reduce ambient noise levels.
• Commercial Spaces: Applied in offices, restaurants, and auditoriums for improved acoustics and noise reduction.
• Transport: Used in automotive, aerospace, and rail interiors for cabin noise reduction.

Limitations:

• Flammability: Polyurethane foam is flammable and requires chemical treatment for fire resistance.
• Durability: Both foams can degrade over time, especially when exposed to UV light or moisture.
• Cost: Melamine foam is more expensive than polyurethane.
• Not Soundproof: Acoustic foam absorbs sound but does not block it—true soundproofing requires additional materials.
• Fragility: Melamine foam, in particular, is brittle and can crumble or tear with rough handling.

XPE Foam (Cross-Linked Polyethylene Foam)
Chemically cross-linked material known for its lightweight, water resistance, thermal insulation, and cushioning properties. Its cross-linked structure enhances durability, making it tougher and more resilient than standard PE foams. It’s widely used in environments that demand both protection and insulation, while also being non-toxic and safe for sensitive applications.

Common Uses:

• Thermal Insulation: In HVAC systems, roofing, and underfloor heating.
• Sound Insulation: In automotive, construction, and appliance industries.
• Packaging: For delicate electronics, medical equipment, and industrial components.
• Automotive: Used in car interiors for insulation, padding, and noise reduction.
• Sports & Leisure: Exercise mats, yoga mats, and camping pads.
• Medical & Childcare: In baby play mats, protective padding, and medical supports.

Limitations:

• Flammability: Standard XPE foam is flammable unless treated with flame retardants.
• Limited UV Resistance: Prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause degradation unless UV-stabilized.
• Not Biodegradable: Like other plastic-based foams, it poses environmental concerns.
• Cost: Higher cost than non-cross-linked PE foams due to the cross-linking process.
• Limited Adhesion: May require special adhesives or surface treatment for lamination or bonding.

EPDM Foam (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Foam)
A closed-cell synthetic rubber known for its excellent weather, ozone, and UV resistance. It maintains flexibility across a wide temperature range, making it a top choice for outdoor and industrial applications. EPDM foam is also valued for its sealing, insulation, and cushioning properties.

Common Uses:

• Weather Seals & Gaskets: In windows, doors, and enclosures for automotive and construction.
• HVAC Systems: Used for insulation and vibration dampening.
• Roofing & Waterproofing: As padding or sealant in roofing systems and expansion joints.
• Electrical Enclosures: Protects against dust, moisture, and environmental exposure.
• Automotive: Door seals, trunk seals, and under-the-hood insulation.
• Appliances & Equipment: Vibration control and air/dust sealing in machines and devices.

Limitations:

• Poor Oil & Solvent Resistance: Not suitable for applications involving petroleum-based products.
• Low Flame Resistance: Requires treatment for use in high fire-risk areas.
• Limited Adhesion: May require surface treatment or adhesives for strong bonding.
• Cost: Slightly more expensive than general-purpose foams like PE.
• Lower Tear Strength: Less resistant to physical tearing compared to some other rubber foams.

Poron foam 
High-performance, microcellular urethane foam developed by Rogers Corporation originated in 1832. It is known for its exceptional energy absorption, compression set resistance, and consistent cushioning performance. Unlike many other foams, Poron retains its shape and function over time, even under prolonged stress or compression. It’s widely used in precision applications that demand durability, comfort, and reliable sealing.

Common Uses:

• Electronics: Gaskets, seals, and impact protection in smartphones, laptops, and wearables.
• Medical Devices: Padding and support in prosthetics, orthotics, and braces.
• Footwear: High-performance insoles and padding for shock absorption and comfort.
• Automotive: Vibration dampening, gasketing, and interior cushioning.
• Industrial Applications: Sealing, spacing, and impact absorption in sensitive equipment.

Limitations:

• Cost: More expensive than standard foams like PE or EVA due to its advanced properties.
• Not Ideal for Outdoor Use: Can degrade under long-term UV exposure unless specially treated.
• Lower Water Resistance: Being open-cell, it may absorb moisture, making it unsuitable for wet environments unless sealed.
• Limited Chemical Resistance: Sensitive to oils and some solvents.
• Custom Processing Needed: Requires precision cutting or die-cutting for certain applications, increasing manufacturing complexity.

• Youtube
• Ustream
• WOWZA
• CDN streaming
• Twitch
• Facebook
• ​Twitter

If you need to organize a live stream or webcast for your event, talk to us and find out why we’re one of Malaysia’s leading video streaming agencies.

​You know how you know Google is Google at an event as large as DSE? Well, they had one of the biggest booths there, but their branding was consistent throughout their entire booth area. All-white kiosks and walls displayed content that was bright and engaging, and scattered across the floor were colorful chairs that matched the iconic logo. When exhibiting, make sure your brand’s theme is consistent across all your design materials, from banners and images to freebies and more.

​ If you want to be remembered, put your name on your product, your booth, your freebies and anything else people can see or hold. See Samsung and Planar? Of course you do—their names are plastered all over their exhibits. They don’t take their instantly recognizable brand names for granted. They make sure you know who and what you’re looking at. Don’t make people search for your company name as they walk by your booth—they certainly won’t ask.

Because the company culture influences everything and everyone in it, a well-developed company culture creates positive changes across the board. Managers who have developed their company culture report improvements in many areas, including:

Productivity
A well developed culture gives dramatic, sustained increases in productivity and performance. A 10% increase is minimal. While you can  expect productivity to rise to somewhere between these two points, continuous improvement is the norm. Theoretically there is no limit—if you keep working on the culture.

Morale
High morale is a key to success. It is closely connected to trust, purpose, team loyalty, pride, and faith in the leadership—all qualities that improve as the culture develops.

Costs
Employees know cost control is important. As the culture builds, people take responsibility for costs. With widespread   focus, administrative and operating costs drop well below industry norms.

Profits
Often the underlying reason for improving the company culture is profits. Because the developing culture creates  across-the-board improvements, increased profits are inevitable.

Safety
The keys to safety are  trusting, open relationships. In a safe work culture, people speak up openly about  unsafe
situations, they don't stand silent  when someone violates safe  practices, they constantly look for ways to improve safety, and they  take personal responsibility for creating and maintaining a safe  workplace.

Supply Chain
Supply chain efficiencies depend very much on cooperation between multiple functions and levels. As the culture develops, relationships, cooperation and communications improve. The supply chain becomes more efficient, streamlined and responsive to rapidly changing customer needs.

Injuries and Claims
This is a complex area, closely related to attitudes and relationships. As people see each other in new ways, lost-time injuries and worker’s compensation claims drop. Sometimes this is quite sudden and dramatic.

Insurance Rates
Along with a safer workplace, with   fewer injuries and claims, come lower insurance rates.

Customer Service
As the culture builds, managers  learn to better manage the quality of everyone's experience, inside the company, and with outsiders such as customers, clients, suppliers, and other corporate entities. Customers who like you, return more often, buy more, and recommend you to others.

Retention
When you have a great place to work—where people can satisfy their needs—they just don't want   to leave.

Absenteeism
It is common sense that there will be less absenteeism when people like their jobs. They also develop a new attitude    
towards their fellow workers and to the problems that their absenteeism creates for them.

Recruiting
A well-developed company culture,  clearly stated in promotional materials, is a powerful recruiting point. Companies  with an open, participative workplace, where people enjoy working, and have  broad opportunities for growth and creativity, attract top candidates.

Employee Morale
At the root of morale are trust, a clear purpose, team loyalty and support, and faith in leadership and the success of  the organization these increase as the culture develops.

Employee Motivation
When people can fulfill their desires around work they are highly motivated.

Union-Management Relations
You will see a move away from adversarial relationships and towards cooperation. You will have few grievances and low workers compensation costs. I have clients where grievances dropped to zero.

Openness to Change
A striking increased openness to change and the desire to make things work. As trust and responsibility increases, employees initiate significant improvements in operations.

Involvement
When the leaders show that they   want everyone involved, people step forward in creative and productive ways.

Leadership
Developing the culture trains managers in people leadership skills and gives them a clearer sense of their role. Many managers say that the culture development process was the most important  experience in their career.

Meetings
With improved openness and trust, people participate more in meetings so they become more energetic, focused, and creative.

Mergers
Smoother mergers and acquisitions,  with higher success rates. People get involved and make them work.

Cooperation
By definition, a developed culture  increases cooperation, collaboration, and motivation.

Teamwork
Expect improved teamwork and communication  between people, divisions, and levels.

Relationships
The culture change process improves  relationships between people, levels, and departments.

Responsibility
Problems are solved where they  happen, or by  those affected. They are not passed up to management.

Every day someone asks me how much it costs to build a mobile phone application, a website, or an e-commerce site. As a co-owner of Crowd Interactive, and the CEO of an online 360º performance review service called ClearGears, I'm acutely aware of the costs associated with building and running online businesses.

Here are a few guidelines to help get your head around your overhead:

Informational websites are cheap, often free: You're in luck if your site is informative rather than interactive. You can build a Wordpress site in a matter of hours if you're not picky about design, and in weeks if you hire a designer. You probably do not need a web development company to build an informational site. You can probably hire one person to design and build your site.

Development is expensive: Mobile and web applications and stores are interactive and more expensive. Smart web development companies will bill for their services like a law firm--for time and materials. The more time it takes and the more people involved in building your system, the more it costs. Some companies will charge a fixed fee--and then they deliver late and lose money.

To build an online store or application from scratch expect a team of 4 developers to spend at least 6 months designing, implementing, testing and launching it. At $50 per person per hour, working full time each month, the monthly cost is $32,000 per month. In this case you would pay $196,000 over six months.

Development doesn't end: Development costs don't decrease after launching. They can actually increase. Consider Amazon.com, Zappos.com, or even Facebook. All of these companies spend millions each year on innovating and changing their site. Innovation aside, the changing nature of Internet--and how we access it--forces companies to constantly update their sites. As browsers and hardware change, your site must also change.

Business growth requires more development: When you first launch an online store the volume of sales might be low enough to handle sales with an email sent to one or two people. But once you start handling hundreds or thousands of orders and returns, you'll need a custom solution.

Customer service is expensive: The best online sites also have the best customer service. In fact, customer service may help you grow faster than a sleek design or adword marketing. Customer service is also people-intensive, so you will need to pay staff to answer phones, respond on the Facebook wall, and even write hand-written notes to new customers.

Success is expensive: By some estimates, Facebook spends over $1 million per month on electricity. While your business may not become as large as Facebook, you will have to consider the extraordinary people, hosting, power, and equipment costs that come with running a popular site.

With all these expenses, you're going to need to get resourceful.

Some strategies to reduce costs:

• If you're just starting out online, use a templated system like Magento, Shopify.com and BigCommerce.com. Implement custom designs on top of those. Use the templated system until you've established a following, great customer service, and business viability. Build a custom site from scratch later.
• Build a following through blogs and real customer service. Winning business is not about SEO, paid search, or a glitzy ad campaign. Early on, it's all about connecting with and impressing one customer at a time. In practice this means hand-written thank you notes, sending people info that you think they'd enjoy, and reaching out to them for advice.
• Don't spend on traditional print marketing. Spend on online marketing exclusively. When you do think it's time to advertise, skip the posters, radio ads, and other traditional marketing. Instead try to get in front of customers with helpful blog posts, paid online search, and Facebook.

Some cost-reduction strategies to avoid:

• Don't have your friend/husband/neighbor who is a designer build it for you for free. Building an online business is a massive endeavor. Unless you're formally becoming business partners, don't ask friends and family to build your site or application, because you'll probably ruin both your business and your relationship at the same time.
• Don't rely on unpaid interns to build your online business. You want three things in your technical partners: competence, stability, and accountability. You may have a really sharp intern, but if you're not paying them and they plan to leave at the end of the summer, then you won't have stability or accountability.
• Don't put the cart before the horse. If you're selling stuff, don't load up on inventory until you have traffic to your site.  The great thing about the Internet is that you can sell inventory you don't even have yet. You can measure clicks and orders to determine how much of each product you should carry, and only after collecting some real data should you start holding much inventory.

Keep all this in mind before you quit your day job to join the startup gold rush. For online startups, cash is king, and your access to it can determine your success.

Arshad Chowdhury, a serial entrepreneur who is passionate about improving life at work, is CEO of ClearGears, a software as a service business that replaces traditional reviews with real-time, social feedback. Prior to developing ClearGears, Chowdhury led two culture-first ventures: a web-consulting firm called Crowd Interactive, and a fatigue-management company called MetroNaps. For more insights, read Arshad's blog and follow him on Twitter.


BY ARSHAD CHOWDHURY
This article is written by a member of our expert contributor community.

Web or Visual design can be costly for designers; 
not only its process is time consuming, its tools involve hefty monetary investment too. Designers on budget are often hit with the same dilemma – powerful machine and lesser software, or settle with an average machine so you can purchase more design-related software, but in trade you suffer for the epic system lagging.

Graphics editors, code editors, file sharing and transferring tools, document and spreadsheet editors all cost money. These are future expenditures hard to anticipate. If you’ve went all-in into getting the best laptop, chances are it leaves you pretty limited in terms of budget for software. To give you an idea – Adobe Design Standard (comes with Photoshop, Illustrator and inDesign) costs about USD $1299; Adobe Photoshop alone costs about USD $699.00.

Way out of budget?
No worries, good news is, you still can get projects kick-off without spending a dime. Sounds familiar somewhere? No we are not talking about download pirated software.

In today’s post, we are going to give you a guide of all Windows software you may need on your laptop or desktop, and all of them are free. We’ll also throw in our recommendation as well as more free alternatives to give you more options, so let’s dive into the heaven of free software and see what they have in stock for you!

Web Browsing Software
Don’t look at me like that, I know all web browsers are free, just want to make sure that you have all awesome browsers in your garage!

For web browser, we think the Google Chrome is the best browser for now. Why? Faster browsing, cleaner user interface, better HTML5 and CSS3 support, and awesome Chrome extensions are rising more and more these years.

Besides, as the mobile has taken over some acres of the land of Web Design these years, it’s really important for you to have Opera Mobile Emulator to test your website on mobile browser settings.

Recommend: Google Chrome
More Alternatives: Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera Web Browser, Opera Mobile Emulator, IETester

Graphic Editing
There are a lot of graphics editors released to challenge the realm of Photoshop these years, but the GIMP stands firm on top of them, mainly due to its extensive features.

From photo enhancement to digital retouching to file format support, GIMP will let you feel that it’s the best alternative to the Photoshop. Its cluttered interface might be a bit complicated at first, but it’s far better than the pain of having software with fewer features.

Recommend: GIMP
More Alternatives: Paint.NET, Chasys Draw IES, FastStone Image Viewer,Picasa

Vector Design
There’s a time when you just need to create some perfect shapes that form awesome icons, logos or buttons, and the job can be well done with Inkscape.

Inkscape includes capabilities similar to Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw, with the support of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Its main features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns and grouping, basically everything you need for drawing vector graphic!

Recommend: Inkscape
More Alternatives: Serif DrawPlus, Creative Docs.NET, Alchemy, Pencil, InsightPoint

Coding
Code Editor is one of the software you shouldn’t spend a buck on it, as there are just too many awesome code editors in the web!

For advanced coder, Notepad++ is your friendliest companion as it does not contain any complicated plugin or feature that drags the execution time and even your computer speed down. In short, it’s lightning fast.

If you would like to seek coding guidance from the editor, both Komodo Edit, Aptana Studio 3 and NetBeans IDE could be your good master. Also check out our list for CSS Editors.

Recommend: Notepad++
More Alternatives: Komodo Edit, Aptana Studio 3, NetBeans IDE, Bluefish, RJ TextEd, TotalEdit, ConTEXT, Geany, Sublime Text, Editra

FTP / File Transfering
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software helps you to transfer files from one host to another host over a network, such as your computer to your client’s website.

Filezilla makes sure you don’t spend any money on FTP software in your entire web design career. It not only allows you to browse the directories and upload multiple files real fast, but also provides secure connection to ensure that everything you do in the software is safe.

Recommend: Filezilla
More Alternatives: WinSCP, Cyberduck, FTP Rush, Core FTP Lite, Free FTP

Notetaking & Productivity
I’ve heard so many designers telling me the moment that the great ideas slipped through their mind, just because they didn’t take note of it. You probably don’t want this kind of incident happen in your life, and Evernote could prove to be a great helper in securing your precious ideas.

As its slogan says, Evernote helps you to remember everything, in everywhere. You can not only store text note but also audio note and even webcam note as well. What’s really awesome here is you can sync the documents to other devices of any Operating System such as Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and more!

Recommend: Evernote
More Alternatives: Memonic Desktop, AllMyNotes, RedNotebook, EssentialPIM, KeepNote, Tomboy, WikiPad, Zim,CintaNotes, Personal Brain


Mind Mapping
You got to believe this: you need a mind map to organize, manage, and even spawn your ideas. Mind map makes you clear about what you’re doing, what you should not do, and what you can improve.

Most of the time we draw the mind map though papers and pen, that’s fine, but what if you want to carry the notes to everywhere, or you want to link certain ideas to the website? You need the mind mapping software, and XMind could be your best companion, as it got basically everything you need for doing a mind map, and the user interface is even intuitive.

Recommend: XMind
More Alternatives: Freemind, Freeplane,Blumind, SciPlore

Documents And Spreadsheets
From Text Document, Spreadsheet, Presentation and Database, OpenOffice is your reliable partner to assure your client’s confidence about your professionalism. The user interface is also intuitive enough that you can produce a presentation directly after the installation. Forget about Microsoft Office!

Libre Office 3 and Lotus Symphony 3 are relatively new but they also include certain awesome features as well, so do remember to check them out and choose the best for your office works!

Recommend: OpenOffice
More Alternatives: Libre Office 3, Lotus Symphony 3, SoftMaker Office, KOffice, GnomeOffice

File Sharing
Many of the computer users are still using the mail services like Gmail to send file(s) to other user. The method is fine, but now we are in the era of cloud computing, why don’t have a place in your computer, where you or your client can just put the file into a folder, and it will sync automatically on the other side?

Dropbox is the elf that allows you to share files with ease. The fact that this software is so awesome is that it actually requires no professional knowledge to setup the environment, it’s foolproof! Probably saved you tons of time on explanation part.

Recommend: Dropbox
More Alternatives: Box, SpiderOak, Ubuntu One, Windows Live Mesh, Wuala,TeamDrive, ZumoDrive, Tonido

Screen Capturing
They say a picture worth thousand words, and screen capture tools gotta help you capture any picture that you think it’s worth thousand words. There are a lot of screen capture tools in the web, but I found the Jing from TechSmith (the same company that forged SnagIt) particularly useful.

Jing allows you to not only capture screen, but also record 5 minutes of screen activities. After the capture, you can also put text, arrow, and frame to give the graphic some annotation, and that’s pretty much everything I need from a screen capture tool.

Recommend: Jing
More Alternatives: ZScreen, PicPick,Greenshot, DuckCapture, Shotty, PrtScr

Fonts Management
As a web designer, type is a big deal for us, as it’s one of the most essential elements that define the aesthetics of the web design you crafted, therefore knowing every type in your computer is important for you to choose the best one for your design.

While Nexus Font is not a font creation tool, it proves useful to provide you a glimpse of every font installed in your computer, making it possible for you to actually study, consider and choose the best font for your design.

Recommend: Nexus Font
More Alternatives: Cfont Pro, Dp4 Font Viewer, FontViewOK, Font Xplorer

Author: Alvaris Falcon

Online selling & auctions are great places for entrepreneurs and bargain shoppers alike. Online selling site or auction sites are like giant flea markets; they provide a forum for buyers and sellers to find or sell just about anything.

There are many ways to approach online auctions. For many, selling items on Internet auctions sites is a hobby and a good way to supplement their income. For others, it is a job and way of life. For buyers, it’s a great way to find good deals on rare, unusual collectibles or everyday items.

Here is few top sites you may look in to to kick off you business:

INTERNATIONAL SITE

eBay
www.ebay.com

Amazon
www.amazon.com

Webstore
www.webstore.com

Onlineauction.com
www.onlineauction.com

Quicksales
www.quicksales.com.au

Overstock
www.overstock.com

Webidz
www.webidz.com

Cqout
www.cqout.com

uBid
www.ubid.com

ePier
www.epier.com


MALAYSIA SITES

Mudah
www.mudah.my

Lelong
www.lelong.com.my

MyBarang
www.mybarang.com

Shoppy
www.shoppy.com.my

Autoworld - Car Selling Site
www.autoworld.com.my

Hope the above resources able to assist you search to selling online, if you have any good site that come across your mind and would like to suggest, feel free to leave at the comment. THANK YOU!!!