SHANGHAI ― A Shanghai dealership for Kia Motors has seen its number of visiting customers rise more than 10 percent since anti-Japan sentiment across China escalated last month amid their bitter row over a group of uninhabited islets. “We have 15-18 percent more customers recently following the China-Japan territorial disputes,” said He Renzhou, general manager at the best-selling Kia outlet in Shanghai. “Even before that, the car sales of Japanese companies had been declining. Meanwhile, Kia ha

IndustryOct. 24, 2012

Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that it expects to beat top global makers of personal computers with its new smart PC which operates on the upcoming Windows 8, named ATIV PC. The world’s largest tech firm unveiled ATIV PC at a media event in its Seoul headquarters. The new product maximizes convertibility in design, portability in use and compatibility with smartphone apps, the company said.“The vendors of personal computers will jump into the war by the end of this year to take more market s

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

The International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, the world’s biggest intellectual property association, presented a roadmap for the future of its organization during the 43rd AIPPI Congress in Seoul which ended Tuesday after a four-day run. AIPPI’s vice president John Bochnovic, who will serve AIPPI as president for 2013-2014, made the presentation based on a recent report published by a consulting firm on Tuesday. The report consisted of a strategy and recommendations

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

Many people stick to the misperception that game fiction writers are some sort of anti-social hermits who spend days and nights playing games, be it at home or in dark, sketchy PC rooms.However, the testimony of a 22-year-old Korean game fiction writer Lee Byung-ha poses powerful counterevidence to such an illusion. The young game fiction prodigy is a senior majoring international economics at the University of Heilongjiang in Harbin, China, whose mother never saw him spending hours in front of

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

In the past, games were just all about clearing the given quests. Nobody really cared about the game characters or storylines ― let’s take online games “Fortress” and “Lineage” for example.When playing these games, people focused on targeting their competitors with the given weapons to score the most points or get the items that boost their ranks within the online gaming world.However, that trend is changing and many people are now in search of games with a strong and appealing storyline, which

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

The Motion Picture Association of America wants more collaboration with the Korean film industry, MPAA chairman Christopher Dodd said in Seoul on Wednesday.Dodd was speaking at a luncheon hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea. The former U.S. Democratic Party senator said Korea was one of the U.S.’ most significant trade partners, adding that the partnership between the two nations would only deepen in the years to come. Commenting on the success of Korean films by directors Im Kwo

IndustryOct. 24, 2012

LUND, Sweden (UPI) -- Dogs, like humans, are susceptible to contagious yawning, but it develops gradually and puppies younger than 7 months seem immune, Swedish researchers say.Researchers at Lund University, writing in the journal Animal Cognition, report a developmental, age-related trend in susceptibility to contagious yawning seems to operate in both humans and dogs.Previous research has demonstrated contagious yawning in humans, adult chimpanzees, baboons and dogs, and suggests it is eviden

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

British family campaigners criticized a website that gives advice on sex acts to children as young as 13, local media reported Wednesday.The respectyourself.info website, provided by the “Respect Yourself” project, features explicit images of naked people as well as detailed information on sexual acts. The project was funded by Warwickshire Council and the EU and was designed by the National Health Service,“This is a grossly irresponsible website and a complete misuse of taxpayers’ hard-earned c

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

 A European spacecraft orbiting Mars has captured new images of one of the solar system's most dramatic geological features, scientists say.Valles Marineris on Mars is a chasm 125 miles wide, more than 6 miles deep and stretching for almost 2,500 miles, making it the largest canyon in the solar system.It is 10 times longer and five times deeper than Earth's Grand Canyon, a release from the Paris headquarters of the European Space Agency said Monday.The latest image of Valles Marineris, in near-t

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

These are the principal features, pricing and availability of the new iPad mini tablet computer unveiled by Apple on Tuesday:-- the iPad mini has a 7.9-inch (20.06-centimeter) touchscreen when measured diagonally, smaller than the 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) display on the original iPad-- the iPad mini weighs 0.68 pounds, 53 percent lighter than Apple's third generation iPad-- it is 7.2 millimeters (0.28 inches) thick, 23 percent thinner than the original iPad and thinner than a pencil-- the iPad mini ha

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012

Apple Inc.'s pencil-thin, smaller iPad will cost much more than its competitors, signaling the company isn't going to get into a mini-tablet price war.The company debuted the iPad Mini Tuesday, with a screen two-thirds smaller than the full model, and half the weight. Customers can begin ordering the new model on Friday. In a surprise, Apple also revamped its flagship, full-sized iPad just six months after the launch of the latest model.Apple's late founder Steve Jobs once ridiculed a small tabl

TechnologyOct. 24, 2012