All Blog Posts (93)

So if I write on your wall who sees that?

"So, if I write on your wall, does that mean just you see it, or is it just my friends, or is it my friends your friends and their friends?"

The above snippet of conversation between mother goose and 16 year old daughter will either make immediate sense to you or be in the same category as "going on holiday in a caravan with your mother in law" i.e. totally incomprehensible.

If it makes no sense then you are obviously not a Facebooker as it refers to who can see what you have po

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Added by Ian Birkby on August 11, 2009 at 12:19pm — No Comments

"It's a great scheme, you get out more than you put in, honest"

For hundreds of years the idea of a perpetual motion machine has been the scientific equivalent of the Bernie Madoff investment strategy.

Unfortunately, the first law of thermodynamics always comes back to bite you. It's not possible to get more out than you put in because, unlike the Securities and Exchange Commission, on this planet, friction always does its job to work aga

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Added by Ian Birkby on August 11, 2009 at 12:11pm — No Comments

High Strength Alumina Matrix Composite released by Morgan Technical Ceramics

Looks like a significant step forward in the Alumina Bioceramics area by Morgan. "Morgan Technical Ceramics has developed a new bioceramic material for surgical implant devices. Vitox AMC is an alumina matrix composite material which can withstand high shock without fracture and exhibits exceptionally low wear rates compared to alumina, metal or polyethylene alternatives. As a result it is ideal for less invasive surgeries, thereby reducing patient trauma and improving post operation recover… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on July 27, 2009 at 8:58am — No Comments

Become a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining

The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in England covers materials disciplines from clay and ceramics to metals to nanotechnologies, plastics and rubber etc, plus some functional specialities such as packaging. You can see more at the website http://www.iom3.org. There are 18,500 members at all levels from students to CEO’s working in materials industries all over the world. IOM3 are inviting senior people in relevant industries to join directly at Fellow level. There are sub… Continue

Added by Martin Hardwidge on July 25, 2009 at 2:53am — No Comments

Masteel Starts Social Network

Our 'web-savvy' friend over at Masteel UK, JohnWinterton, has started a social network for the company. We love to see engineering/manufacturing companies fully embracing Web.2.0, Good luck guys, it looks like you'll have a great place to field questions and generally interact with potential clients and end-useers. Here's the link to Masteel's social network. Masteel are global suppliers of high qu… Continue

Added by AZoNetwork on July 9, 2009 at 2:25pm — No Comments

AZoM Twitter - Follow for Real Time Updates

Stay informed of the latest AZoM happenings by following the AZoM Twitter. Just search for "AZoM" and follow for the latest updates of interesting stuff that we have added to the site.

As soon as we know, yo

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Added by AZoNetwork on June 17, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

You'd be crazy to build that out of iron…….

I've recently had the great joy of being on AZoM duties in the wonderful city of Bristol in the South West of England.

A famous old port city with a less than salubrious past in relation to slave trading, the locals do their best to remove this from their conscience by the consumption of bizarre blends of cider such as "Old Bristolian

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Added by AZoNetwork on June 5, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

A Sticky Situation

Glue "Why do we have to use nails and screws, why can't we just use glue?"

As with many utterances from an inquisitive ten year old there are usually, two responses, the first one is the "nerdy Dad" angle which involves a sit down across a desk a powerpoint presentation and a Q&A session.

Response option two, which is usually preferred by the "Dad already on th

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Added by AZoNetwork on May 5, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

The GFC moves from Wall Street to Materials Street - Bayer and Hydro feel the pain

Recent financials from Polymeric and Metallic bellwethers, Bayer and Hydro are not pretty. According to Bayer Chairman, Werner Wenning, "....the slump business at Material Science also left a distinct mark on sales and earnings of the Bayer group". Hydro, the aluminium group made a similarly downbeat comment in their Q1 2009 report, "The results reflect the deepening global economic downturn, with historically low aluminium prices and a further fall in already weak downstream markets." Lookin… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on April 30, 2009 at 2:47pm — No Comments

Small Medium Business in USA to increase online Ad and Related Technology Spend

A recent report has found that Small Medium Businesses (SMB's) in the USA are now moving away from traditional Yellow Pages type spending to spend 11% of their advertising dollars online, up from 4% three years ago. The report also indicates a significant increase in spending on related "online" services such as website activities, technology related marketing and search engine optimisation. The expenditure on such ac… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on April 30, 2009 at 2:03pm — No Comments

The Irony of Economics

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness".

Charles Dickens' tome, "A Tale of Two Cities", se

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Added by AZoNetwork on April 5, 2009 at 2:30pm — No Comments

IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report Conducted by PwC - well researched and informative resource

The IAB Report on Internet Advertising Revenues has just been released. I'd recommend this report to anyone who is involved in turning the "Marketing Supertanker" around in their organisation and who may be trying to come up with some justification for radically changing the focus of their marketing budget. A few interesting bullet points; # Revenues Continue to Post Record Results # Annual revenues have increased signifi… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on April 4, 2009 at 12:42pm — No Comments

UK Leads the way in Online Advertising - Most Digitally Savvy?

The "Internet Advertising Bureau" latest figures reported in BizReport indicate that online advertising spending in the UK increased 17% in 2008. Although recruitment was the largest spending sector at 23.8% of all oonline advertising, the technology sector accounted for a respectable 11.2%. According to Guy Phillipson, chief executive of the IAB; ""The… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on April 4, 2009 at 12:18pm — No Comments

US Online Ad spend slows but still grows - $24.5 Billion in 2009

A recent report by eMarketer in Adweek indicates the growth in th US online ad market will slow to a growth rate of 4.5%. With an indicative spend of $25.7 Billion in 2009. Couldn't agree more with the central theme; "Marketers spend more on Internet ads, while they spend less on advertising placed in other media, such as newspapers, radio and magazines. These spending shifts predate the r… Continue

Added by Ian Birkby on April 4, 2009 at 9:53am — No Comments

Social Networking more popular than Email

As a 40 something who has only recently explored the opportunities offered by Facebook, it was surprising to read in Adweek that a recent Nielsen report highlights that social networking is now a more popular activity online than email (in terms of

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Added by Ian Birkby on March 12, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

It's not all doom and gloom in the Ceramics World - Yet........

Cookson a bellwether of the material science business, have just reported their latest set of results for 2008.

At face value they appear to indicate the manufacturing world is not yet travelling in the preverbial hell bound handbasket.

Reve

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Added by Ian Birkby on March 11, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Mon Dieu! Alphonse we 'ave' it a beeg metal sausage!!!!

Location: Mid Atlantic Ocean Seabed Date: Midnight 3rd Feb 09

Top Secret CIA Langley Virginia Intercepted Transmissions below (all participants are code-worded to protect official secrets and countries of origin)

FrogSub1: "Captain, I think we' 'ave 'it something very beeg. There is a loud clanging noise coming from ze pointy end".

Meanwhile on a separate channel, but from an uncannily similar location;

BlightyBoaty: "I say Lefftennant Toff, do you have a report on

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Added by Ian Birkby on March 11, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Update on Online Marketing Intentions 2009 - Datran Media Survey

A recent survey from Datran Media elicited the views of over 3,000 marketing execs and found that a majority were planning to increase or hold their online marketing spend and pull back on offline activities such as print and direct mail.

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Added by Ian Birkby on February 20, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Materials Marketing - Navigating in the Gloom

It's pretty grim out there. Read any newspaper and everywhere you turn its doom gloom and despondency.

If you're involved in the materials business supplying goods, services or equipment, I'd guess that you're feeling pretty nervous about what the future holds. Who wouldn't, you've been bombarded with negative stories for 6 months solid.

So what are you going to do about it?

Option 1. C

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Added by Ian Birkby on February 13, 2009 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Alumina Grinding Ball With 92% Al2o3 Content

Alumina balls alumina grinding ball inert alumina ball Alumina Grinding Ball With 92% Al2o3 Content Detailed Product Description 1. The products are featured by high hardness, big density, low wear lost, good normalization, good corrosion-r… Continue

Added by Andy Wang on January 26, 2009 at 1:46am — 2 Comments