Hanwha Q Cells to build large-scale floating solar power plant

Hanwha Q Cells, South Korea’s leading solar cell and module maker, will build a 41-megawatt floating solar power plant in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, the company said Thursday. According to Hanwha Q Cells, the company received approval from the Korea Water Resources Corporation last week and plans to begin construction of the solar farm within this year. When finished, it will be the largest floating solar power plant built at a dam. It will generate enough electricity for aro

Nov. 12, 2020

S. Korea becomes latest battleground for console wars

Video game giants Microsoft Corp. and Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. are eyeing an unclaimed territory in their latest battle for global console supremacy: South Korea. South Korea is among the major markets for the launches this week of their new devices -- Microsoft's Xbox Series S and Series X and Sony's PlayStation 5 -- a departure from previous global rollouts when South Korean gamers had to wait months for new consoles. While the e-sports powerhouse is one of the largest video game

Nov. 12, 2020

LG sweeps US Consumer Reports picks for OLED TVs

Two of the top four televisions of 2020 selected by US Consumer Reports were LG Electronics’ organic light-emitting diode TVs, according to a report on Wednesday. The LG OLED TV 65-inch C9 and CX models received the highest scores in the high definition and ultra-high definition categories, the report said. The three-dimensional sound effect offered by Dolby Atmos was also recognized. The other two best TVs were Sony’s OLED TV and Samsung Electronics’ QLED TV (Q90). Sams

Nov. 11, 2020

SK Telecom launches subscription-based console bundle with Microsoft

SK Telecom, South Korea‘s leading telecommunications firm, said Tuesday that it has introduced a new subscription service for Microsoft‘s Xbox game console in South Korea. The new subscription service bundle is comprised of the latest edition of Microsoft’s Xbox -- the Xbox Series X or Series S -- and a 5G and cloud-based game streaming service, which offers around 100 games for the game console, as well as computers and mobile devices. According to SKT, Korea is currently

Nov. 10, 2020

Netflix estimated to have record-high subscriptions in S. Korea in Oct.: data

US streaming giant Netflix Inc. is estimated to have brought in record-high paid subscriptions in South Korea last month, industry data showed Tuesday. An estimated 3.62 million viewers in South Korea presumably paid 51.4 billion won ($45.9 million) for subscriptions in October, almost twofold from 26.2 billion won in the same period a year earlier, according to the data from industry tracker WiseApp. The data showed that users in their 20s accounted for 36 percent of last month's paid users,

Nov. 10, 2020

SK Telecom launches subscription-based Xbox service in S. Korea

SK Telecom Co., South Korea's largest wireless carrier, said Tuesday it released Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox All Access service for the local market, offering gamers the US tech giant's latest game console as well as its cloud gaming service. The new subscription service bundles Microsoft's new console -- the Xbox Series X or Series S -- and its game streaming service -- 5GX Cloud Game -- launched in September for the local market in partnership with SK Telecom. South Korea is the only Asian countr

Nov. 10, 2020

Samsung Electronics’ Eco-Life Lab certified by TUV Rheinland

Samsung Electronics said Monday that its microbiology laboratory unit Eco-Life Lab has been certified by international product testing institute TUV Rheinland for finding new ways to analyze microbial activities in electronic products. Samsung Electronics has recently obtained two different certifications from∙the International Organization for Standardization: ISO 22196 for developing a measurement of antibacterial activity on plastics and other non-porous surfaces and ISO 846 for finding a w

Nov. 9, 2020

SKT expands services for foreign subscribers

SK Telecom, South Korea‘s top mobile carrier, said on Monday it is ramping up its services for foreign language customers under the slogan “Like a Local” in an effort to help break language barriers in an increasingly multicultural era. In an industry first, the company said it will offer an English language service for its mobile app where users can check their data usage, get discounts and pay mobile bills upfront. The telecoms network will also offer customer service in mu

Nov. 9, 2020

Naver, Kakao expected to show brisk performance next year amid pandemic: watchers

Naver Corp. and Kakao Corp., the two major South Korean tech companies, are expected to continue their upward trajectory in earnings projections amid the coronavirus pandemic, market watchers said Saturday. Quarterly sales of Naver -- South Korea's top internet portal operator -- and Kakao -- the operator of the country's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk -- both jumped twofold in just four and three years, respectively. Naver said its sales for the July-September period reached the highes

Nov. 7, 2020

Kakao posts record earnings in Q3

Kakao, the operator of South Korea’s largest mobile messenger platform, announced Thursday that the company had posted record-high sales and operating profit in the third quarter this year. The company’s sales in the three-month period reached 1.1 trillion won ($973.38 million), up 41 percent on-year, according to the company’s regulatory filing Thursday. Its operating profit during the same period rose 103 percent on-year to 120.2 billion won, the company added. Kakao&rsqu

Nov. 5, 2020

Call me Sammy: Samsung adds new wake-up word to AI speaker

“Sammy” is a new wake-up word for Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Home Mini speaker, according to the tech giant on Thursday. Samsung has recently added the new word to wake up its voice-activated artificial intelligence speaker, the Galaxy Home Mini, through a software update. Users can both use “Hi, Bixby” and “Sammy-ya” to activate the speaker. There have been some complaints on inaccuracy and inconvenience from calling the AI assistant Bixby, due t

Nov. 5, 2020

LG to launch new budget 5G phone in N. America

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will launch a new 5G-running budget smartphone in North America this week as it looks to compete for the growing market for the latest generation network there. The K92 5G -- LG's first budget K Series phone to support the high-speed network -- will first be available in the region Friday (US time) for less than $400, the company said in a statement. Despite the relatively low price tag, LG said the smartphone has a 6.67-inch display that features higher-en

Nov. 5, 2020

[Herald Interview] Secret behind Danish COVID-19 response: Health tech solutions

A survey in August showed that people in Denmark were happier than people from any other advanced economy about their government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. They were more satisfied than South Koreans. 　 Some 95 percent of Danes believed their government was doing a good job of handling the pandemic, while 86 percent of Koreans felt the same way about their government, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. 　 Though Denmark is also grappling with a resurgence of COVI

Nov. 4, 2020

SK hynix reaps 175% growth in Q3 operating profit despite price falls

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory provider, achieved a 175 percent on-year growth in its operating profit in the third quarter of this year, despite adverse market conditions including declines in prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. According to its earnings results announced Wednesday, the chipmaker posted 8.13 trillion won ($7.2 billion) in revenue, while obtaining 1.3 trillion won in operating profit during the period between July and September. Revenue and operating profi

Nov. 4, 2020

Mobile carriers call for spectrum auction amid redistribution dispute

South Korea's three major telecom operators on Tuesday called on the government to hold an auction to redistribute their network spectrum set to expire next year amid controversy over prices. Spectrum for 2G, 3G and 4G LTE networks held by the three -- SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. -- are up for redistribution by the government next year. In return, the government wants a price for the redistribution as high as 5.5 trillion won ($4.8 billion), a parliamentary audit showed last m

Nov. 3, 2020

KAIST develops deepfake detection tool

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed an artificial intelligence-powered tool designed to detect computer-manipulated images, the institution said Tuesday. The new Kaicatch software, developed by the KAIST research team led by professor Lee Heung-kyu, is the nation’s first deepfake detection tool, the institution said. The software is capable of analyzing both images and videos to find artificial changes that might be invisible to the human eye. The team deve

Nov. 3, 2020

Samsung announces human-centered AI vision at forum

Samsung Electronics announced human-centered artificial intelligence as the direction of its research and development on AI and introduced ongoing projects at its annual AI forum on Tuesday. Sebastian Seung, president and head of Samsung Research, said, “Today’s theme, human-centered AI, is in line with Samsung’s vision to make products and services that further enrich people’s life.” The research chief introduced the institution’s projects in the fields o

Nov. 3, 2020

LS Cable & System ‘hack-proof’ optical cable

South Korean cable maker LS Cable & Systems said on Tuesday that it is ready to begin the mass production of a new optical cable which can “block out hacking.” Using special fiber optics with enhanced coatings, the company explained the new cable is designed to prevent illegal leaks and disturbance. When an optical cable is bent in the shape of a circle, some of the light traveling along it escapes. Hackers then can steal information by connecting hacking devices and intercepti

Nov. 3, 2020

S. Koreans' time on YouTube up 20% in Sept.: data

South Koreans are estimated to have spent over 50 billion minutes on YouTube in September amid the pandemic, a 20 percent jump from a year earlier, data showed Tuesday. Mobile app tracker Wiseapp said the video streaming application was the application most used by the country's 33.7 million Android smartphone users in September at 53.1 billion minutes, compared with 44.3 billion minutes spent on the app the previous year. Wiseapp said the pandemic likely led to increased use of mobile applica

Nov. 3, 2020

S. Korean hospital develops AI-based COVID-19 mortality risk predictor

South Korean researchers developed a machine learning model for predicting a COVID-19 mortality risk in patients at the point of care. The research team at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital said in Monday’s press release the model was able to estimate poor outcomes in patients with COVID-19 for over 90 percent of the cases. The model, as described in a study published last week on Scientific Reports, is based on 10,237 patients diagnosed here between Jan. 23 and April

Nov. 2, 2020