[Herald Interview] VMware aims to lead switch to ‘hybrid clouds’

As cloud computing grows in stature as the future of corporate IT, firms face the choice between low-cost public clouds and their own private clouds, which can offer more security and control.Increasingly, however, firms are looking to take advantage of both, and US virtualization and cloud computing specialist VMware is looking to help its Korean clients adopt such hybrid clouds. Essentially, cloud computing performs its functions -- storing and accessing data, apps and programs -- on the inter

Nov. 12, 2017

[Monitor] Premium TV subscribers surpass 30 million

The number of subscribers of premium TV channels surpassed 30 million in the first half of the year for the first time, government data showed.According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, about 30.4 million people were subscribing to pay TV channels in the first half, an increase of more than 830,000 from the previous half.More than 6 million, or 20 percent, were subscribing to KT, while 4 million were paying for an Internet Protocol television service by SK Broadband. CJ Hellovision, the cable

Nov. 10, 2017

Weeding out fake news with evolving AI

Artificial intelligence may be able to sift through the vast pool of online information and discern which news are fake and which are true -- or closer to the truth.A research presentation on the topic was made Thursday at KAIST, a public research university in Daejeon.Cha Mi-young, a professor at the KAIST School of Computing, proposed a future where artificial intelligence trained through deep learning can tell fake news apart from real.Professor Cha Mi-young of KAIST School of Computing (Yonh

Nov. 10, 2017

Kakao to focus investment on building AI ecosystem

Kakao, the firm behind South Korea’s most widely-used mobile messenger KakaoTalk, will ramp up efforts to build a new business ecosystem built on artificial intelligence, its chief executive said Thursday.　“We view AI as not a passing trend but a foundational part of technology and infrastructure,” Kakao CEO Jimmy Rim said during the firm’s third-quarter earnings call.“The fundamental value of KakaoTalk is communication,” he said. “Through our AI engine Kakao I, people will be able to chat via v

Nov. 10, 2017

Korea tech giants win CES 2018 Innovation Awards

South Korean tech giants' products won honors from the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 Innovation Awards, industry sources said Friday, proving their competitiveness in the global market.Samsung Electronics Co. said 36 of its products were named "Innovation Honorees," including two "Best of Innovation" honors for its TV and refrigerator. The awards are granted by the Consumer Technology Association, which organizes the annual CES. The upcoming event is slated for January. Shown in the composite i

Nov. 10, 2017

Apple expected to beat Samsung in Q4 smartphone shipment

US tech giant Apple Inc. is set to beat Samsung Electronics Co. in the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter, industry data showed Friday, helped by the robust performance of the iPhone X.According to the data compiled by industry tracker TrendForce, Apple is expected to take up 19.1 percent of the market in the October-December period, higher than Samsung's expected 18.2 percent. The South Korean tech giant had retained its top spot by posting 21.1 percent in the previous quarter, foll

Nov. 10, 2017

[Newsmaker] Naver steps up attack on Google

Naver, the operator of South Korea’s largest portal website and online search engine, has officially called on Google to openly discuss its practices and activities in the Korean market, raising the stakes in an escalating war of words between the two internet giants.Naver CEO Han Seong-sook on Thursday released a lengthy statement laying out point-by-point the company’s stance on a number of issues it had raised against its rival Google including taxes, employment, traffic costs and search and

Nov. 9, 2017

Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm team up to make Centriq 2400

Samsung Electronics has teamed up with Qualcomm to manufacture Qualcomm’s new Centriq 2400 processor family, according to Qualcomm on Thursday. “The Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor family is a single chip platform-level solution built using Samsung’s 10 nanometer FinFET process with 18 billion transistors on only 398 square millimeters,” Qualcomm said in a release.The two companies have long had a strategic partnership in the foundry area, and Samsung has used its 14-nanometer and 10-nanometer p

Nov. 9, 2017

[New Samsung] Samsung Electronics ventures into health care

This is the third installment of a series of articles delving into new technologies Samsung Electronics is betting on for its new source of growth. -- Ed.Digital health care is possibly a new sector where Samsung could find a sea of new business opportunities in a world with tech-savvy, and aging, populations.Moving beyond providing electronic parts and devices, Samsung Electronics -- with a younger generation leading it -- is now looking at the digital health care market, with expectations of n

Nov. 9, 2017

iPhone 8 with swelling battery reported in Korea

A South Korean smartphone retailer on Thursday reported that a new iPhone 8 smartphone produced by US tech giant Apple Inc. was found to have a seemingly swollen battery, causing concerns about safety.There have been a number of reports related to battery-swelling problems surrounding Apple's new flagship smartphone since its global release in September. The iPhone 8 was launched in the South Korean market earlier this month.(Yonhap)"We found that a battery was swollen after opening a new produc

Nov. 9, 2017

iPhone X parts estimated at $370: IHS Markit

The combined cost of materials used to produce one unit of US tech giant Apple Inc.'s 64 GB iPhone X is estimated at $370, an industry tracker said Thursday."The iPhone X is the most expensive iPhone ever made, and it has the highest retail price tag of comparable flagship phones, catapulting the smartphone industry to an entirely new price point," IHS Markit said.  (Yonhap)"The X's superior screen and TrueDepth sensing set the phone apart and contribute to its higher cost," it added.The 64 GB i

Nov. 9, 2017

Samsung tops global market, but behind Apple in US: reports

Samsung Electronics remains ahead of Apple as the world’s top smartphone maker, but is facing fiercer competition with the US tech giant surpassing it in sales in the US market in the latest quarter, reports showed Wednesday.According to market researcher Strategy Analytics, Samsung maintained the first position with 21 percent of the global smartphone market share in the third quarter of this year, while Apple held steady at 12 percent share. “Samsung shipped 83.4 million smartphones worldwide

Nov. 8, 2017

Intuitive Surgical opens new da Vinci surgical robot training center in Korea

Intuitive Surgical, the world’s top surgical robot maker best known for its da Vinci surgical robot system, opened a new surgical innovation and training center in South Korea on Tuesday. Located inside the Sangam DMC High-Tech Industry Center in northeastern Seoul, the 3,624-square-meter facility features five training stations equipped with seven da Vinci systems and lecture rooms with audiovisual equipment for hosting live video meetingsIt also provides two open demo rooms where anyone, inclu

Nov. 8, 2017

Apple to release iPhone X in Korea earlier than expected

US tech giant Apple Inc. said Wednesday it will begin sales of the iPhone X smartphone in South Korea on Nov. 24 -- earlier than expected -- apparently due to the sluggish performance of the iPhone 8 here.The release came as a surprise, as industry watchers expected the release to take place in December. But full-fledged sales may only begin next year due to limited supplies. The price of an unlocked 64-GB iPhone X will be 1.42 million won ($1,274) here, while the 256-GB version will cost 1.63 m

Nov. 8, 2017

Apple tops US smartphone market in Q3

US tech giant Apple Inc., was the No. 1 player in the US smartphone market in the July-September period, data showed Wednesday, while its archrival Samsung Electronics Co. approached closer.According to the data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Apple took up 30.4 percent of the US smartphone market in the third quarter by shipping 12 million units. It was followed by Samsung Electronics, which accounted for 25.1 percent with 9.9 million units. (AP-Yonhap)Apple's share, however, fell from 32.5 per

Nov. 8, 2017

Global tech giants make inroads into on-device AI smartphones

Global tech giants are tapping deeper into so-called on-device artificial intelligence smartphones, which have dedicated application processors that enable machines to act more like human beings, industry watchers said Wednesday.US tech giant Apple Inc.'s iPhone X and Chinese Huawei Technologies Co.'s Mate 10, showcased recently, both claim to be equipped with a neural engine and processing unit for AI features, respectively.While the industry has yet to create a concrete definition for such fea

Nov. 8, 2017

ASEAN+3 leaders explore ways to secure job amid 4th industrial revolution

Leaders from governments, businesses and academia from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as South Korea, China and Japan gathered in Seoul Tuesday to examine ways to better secure jobs amid technological advances dubbed the fourth industrial revolution.The regional conference, the third of its kind, was organized by the World Bank and the Ministry of Employment and Labor under the theme "Enhancing Job Creation and Skills to Prepare for the 4th Industrial Revolution." (Yonhap)Par

Nov. 7, 2017

Netmarble's 2017 sales forecast to surpass W2tr

Netmarble Games, South Korea's No. 1 mobile game developer and publisher, said Tuesday its accumulated sales for this year neared 2 trillion won thanks to the global popularity of its latest game "Lineage 2 Revolution."Sales for the January-September period came to 1.8 trillion won ($1.61 billion), the company said in a regulatory filing, adding that annual sales are forecast to surpass 2 trillion won for this year(Yonhap)The operating profit for the third quarter came to 111.8 billion won, up 7

Nov. 7, 2017

SKT announces tech to speed up 5G data traffic by 10 times

South Korean mobile carrier SK Telecom said Tuesday the company has developed technology to speed up data traffic by 10 times for the fifth-generation network. Development of the technology will be crucial for commercialization of 5G, as huge data processing capabilities will be necessary, the company said. The technology enables packet switching equipment to process high-volume traffic at breakneck speed in the 5G network. In the existing Long Term Evolution network, the maximum speed for packe

Nov. 7, 2017

ETRI develops VR producing app on smartphones

Korea’s Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute said Monday it has developed an application for smartphones that will allow the production of virtual reality content without any additional hardware. The institute designed the application with VR solution startup Nextaeon and developed an enabling technology called YouVR. By downloading the app, a smartphone user can create VR content in which objects can move 360 degrees. Considering virtual reality is growing at a slower-than-expect

Nov. 6, 2017