New rental market for high-end smartphones opens in Korea

Starting Friday, consumers will have an option to borrow new high-end smartphones with slightly lower monthly payments instead of buying one.SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile operator by number of subscribers, said Thursday it will start renting out three latest smartphone series models -- Galaxy S9, iPhone 8 and iPhone X -- with lower monthly rental fees than installment payments for purchasing a new premium phone among the models. Named “T Rental,” the new program offers a 64-gigabyte S

May 31, 2018

Samsung Display's workplace report contains 'key national technologies': panel

South Korea's industry ministry on Wednesday concluded that Samsung Display Co.'s workplace environment report contains "key national technologies" that need protection from public disclosure.(Yonhap)The special panel of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, composed of governmental and industrial experts, reached the conclusion after reviewing Samsung's workplace assessment report on its four factories located in Giheung, Cheonan, and Asan. "The special panel concluded that Samsung Displa

May 30, 2018

LG to invest big in S. Korean robot manufacturer

LG Electronics said Tuesday it plans to invest 53.6 billion won ($49.67 million) in acquiring stakes in Robostar, a local robot manufacturing firm, as part of efforts to strengthen its presence in the next-generation industry.The South Korean tech giant said in a release that it "plans to buy a 20 percent stake in Robostar around mid-July," noting the stake would be around 1.95 million shares. (LG Electronics)"By the end of next year, LG will purchase 13.4 percent more of the company to raise ou

May 29, 2018

Dayou Winia’s home appliances make inroads into China

Midsize home appliance maker Dayou Winia will start selling its products abroad by tapping into its affiliate Daewoo Electronics’ vast overseas network, according to the company on Tuesday. Flagship Dayou Winia products -- including the Proud refrigerator, Dimchae Cook rice cooker, kimchi fridge Petit and air conditioner Winia -- are now on sale at more than 100 retailers in the eastern and southern parts of China.  A Chinese consumer looks at Dimchae Cook by Dayou Winia on display at a shop in

May 29, 2018

[Tech Brunch] Samsung experts say 2018 QLED TV’s blacks may be different, but still ‘perfect’

Samsung experts say 2018 QLED TV’s blacks may be different, but still Tech Brunch breaks down how complex technologies work. -- Ed.SUWON, Gyeonggi Province -- Can Samsung’s backlight-based QLED TVs offer blacks as deep as self-emissive OLED TVs? Jang Sung-hwan, principal engineer at the picture quality lab of Samsung Electronics’ visual display business, confidently says “yes” in response to the question, explaining that “the latest QLED TVs provide blacks with the best quality ever” in a recent

May 29, 2018

Will Korea send esports team to 2018 Asian Games?

For the first time, esports — competitive video gaming — is set to be incorporated as an official medal event at the 2018 Asian Games that kick off in Indonesia in August. And all eyes are on whether South Korea, an esports powerhouse, will be participating in the inaugural event.　Until recently, it was uncertain whether Korea would be sending esports players to the upcoming Asian Games due to domestic administrative issues.In order to send national athletes to the Asian Games, at least one regi

May 29, 2018

Korea, China seeking to finish joint study on bilateral electricity grid

South Korea's energy ministry said Tuesday it has agreed with China to complete a joint study to check the feasibility of connecting the electricity grids of the two countries by the end of the year.The project is the first step of the so-called Northeast Asian super grid initiative that would allow electricity generated from wind in Mongolia to be used in South Korea and Japan and throughout China.South Korea's state-run power utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. and its Chinese counterpart

May 29, 2018

Korea, Japan, China resume meeting on 5G, data roaming

Information and communication technology ministers of South Korea, Japan and China met for the first time in seven years in Tokyo to discuss ways to boost exchanges, officials said Monday.The trilateral meeting was the sixth of its kind, after the last one held in Malaysia in 2011.Since the creation of the ICT meeting among the three North East Asian countries in 2000, Korea has been seeking to hold the meeting annually, but Japan and China were not available for unknown reasons due to domestic

May 28, 2018

[Health-tech Korea] Looking into human emotions through VR

The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles highlighting South Korea’s promising startups in the emerging sectors of digital health care and next-generation medical devices. This is the 19th installment. - Ed.　Whether we know it or not, we are heavily guided by our emotions when making decisions or forming an opinion. For instance, you might unconsciously choose to buy a particular facial cream after being exposed to the product in an advertisement that used background music that you lik

May 27, 2018

[Weekender] Parking made easy via smartphone applications

From parking towers to vehicle elevators, South Koreans have found ways to alleviate the chronic parking space shortage. In particular, parking is a nightmare in Seoul, as the city’s nearly 10 million-strong population inhabit just 605 square kilometers of land and many households own more than one car. But with the advent of technologies, the struggle of finding a parking space is becoming less excruciating.Living up to its reputation as the most-wired nation in the world, Korean companies have

May 25, 2018

SKT joins state-run project to develop autonomous public transportation system

SK Telecom said Friday it will participate in a government-led research project to develop an autonomous public transportation system. The mobile operator said it will take part in the project led by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure with an aim to develop a public transportation system based on self-driving technologies by 2021. Other participants of the project include Hyundai Motor Company and Seoul National University. The 35.9 billion won ($33.2 million) project aims to dev

May 25, 2018

Samsung may seek appeal over US verdict

South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics on Friday vowed to consider all options over a US verdict that ordered it to pay its rival Apple additional damages for design infringement, including seeking an appeal.　A jury of the US District Court in San Jose made a decision that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for infringement of Apple’s design patents. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,

May 25, 2018

[From the scene] Masters of colors and sound behind meticulous tuning of LG OLED TV

PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi Province -- In a 10-cubic meter dead room levitating in a bigger cube space at the LG Digital Park, a microphone stand is set in front of an organic light-emitting diode TV to catch sweep signals of 121 sounds coming from the TV. The sound signals are represented as a linear graph on a computer monitor outside the dead room, which measures the balance of the sounds. “LG’s sound identity is to keep the original sound as much as possible, while providing adaptive sound automat

May 24, 2018

[News Focus] Blockchain x healthcare: Korean startups out to build decentralized healthcare big data platforms

Blockchain, a distributed ledger system, is viewed as a revolutionary technology with applicative value across diverse sectors. But the big question has always been: where and how can blockchain be used to bring about practical changes?　A handful of South Korea’s startups have set their eyes on healthcare data management -- creating a new blockchain-based healthcare data platform where health records can be safely stored and actively traded among stakeholders.The platform would be self-operation

May 24, 2018

SK Telecom partners with global map developers for autonomous driving map

SK Telecom said Wednesday it will form an alliance with four global map developers to launch a global standard high-definition map for autonomous driving. Dubbed the “OneMap Alliance,” SKT and HERE Technologies of Europe, NavInfo of China and Pioneer of Japan will co-develop the first global HD map for North America, Europe and Asia for autonomous car manufacturers and GPS service providers by 2020.  (Herald DB)The HD map is a digital representation of the road environment that utilizes visual a

May 23, 2018

KT launches task force to support upcoming inter-Korean ICT projects

South Korean mobile operator KT has created a special task force to support inter-Korean economic cooperation and expand exchanges in information and communication technology, following the third summit between the two Koreas last month, according to the company on Wednesday. The task force is operating directly under the president of its corporate planning division in order to support the South Korean government’s joint economic projects with North Korea and prepare a comprehensive plan for sof

May 23, 2018

[KH Explains] Still confused about AI TVs? Look how machine learning improves picture quality

It’s been five months since artificial intelligence has officially expanded its territory to TVs. But, few recognize the genuine role of AI in TVs, and are still confused about how AI TVs are different from existing smart TVs.Consumers could have a better understanding of AI TVs by looking at major features adopted by the latest lineup of new TVs by South Korean TV makers Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics for 2018.  AI on Samsung TV (Samsung Electronics)Both Samsung and LG launched new TV p

May 22, 2018

YouTube becomes Korea’s top-used app for music as well

YouTube is South Korea’s top-used mobile app for not only streaming online videos, but also listening to music, according to new survey results recently released by the Korea Internet Corporations Association.The “Mobile Service User Behavior Survey” was jointly carried out by the internet business body and Research & Research. It asked 1,000 people between the ages of 15 and 60 about their mobile service usage patterns and app preferences.According to the survey, the top mobile app activities u

May 22, 2018

Samsung to unveil future foundry tech to become world’s top 2

Samsung Electronics will be unveiling its new technologies for foundry processes at global forums, presenting the company’s roadmap aimed at becoming the global top two foundry business after Taiwan’s TSMC, it said on Monday. The South Korean memory giant will hold the Samsung Foundry Forum in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday, and other major cities for the next five months to announce its technological roadmap for chip customers and focus on expanding its presence in the global foundry marke

May 21, 2018

Daejeon offers to partner with Adobe to bolster digital literacy

The Daejeon Metropolitan City Government offered to partner with US computer software company Adobe Systems, seeking to bolster the digital literacy of its citizens, officials said Sunday.Han Sun-hee, director-general of the city government’s science and economy bureau, suggested Adobe establish a digital literacy education center in Daejeon, in a meeting on May 14 with Adobe Systems Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen at the US company‘s headquarters in San Jose, California.　 Han Sun-hee (third fr

May 20, 2018