[Exclusive] Harman CEO: Samsung will outdo Google, Amazon with AI speaker

BERLIN -- Closer cooperation with Harman International, a new Samsung Electronics affiliate, looks to be crucial for the tech giant to launch an “unbeatable” artificial intelligence device next year, with the chiefs of the two firms holding a closed-door meeting at the IFA 2017 in Berlin.On Friday, Yoon Boo-keun, president and CEO of the consumer electronics business at Samsung Electronics, held a confidential meeting with Harman CEO Paliwal at a private venue set up by Harman exclusively for di

Sept. 3, 2017

[IFA 2017] LG moving to acquire AI business

BERLIN -- As part of efforts to expand its smart home business, LG Electronics will double its investment by 2020 including mergers and acquisitions of promising artificial intelligence tech firms, said Song Dae-hyun, head of the company’s home appliance and air solutions division Saturday. At a press conference held at a hotel in Berlin, Song said LG would spare no efforts to boost its smart home business and continue investing to acquire AI and Internet of Things technologies.  Song Dae-hyun,

Sept. 3, 2017

[IFA 2017] 'Leadership vacuum deals serious blow to Samsung'

BERLIN -- Amid mounting uncertainty over the future of Samsung, with its de facto leader Lee Jae-yong in jail, the world’s largest chip and handset maker has recently lost a business opportunity to acquire an artificial intelligence technology company, said one of the top brass of the company late Thursday. In a rare speech, Yoon Boo-keun, president and CEO of the consumer electronics division of Samsung Electronics, expressed concerns about the unprecedented leadership vacuum within the tech gi

Sept. 1, 2017

[Weekender] Plugging in

Beats, melodies, or words flow into your ears uninterrupted, and no one can touch what you picture with the sounds. Earphones and headphones divide a solitude space among multitudes on a busy street, mass transit or in a room full of people. With the ability to escape unwanted noise, earphones have long become a natural necessity in modern everyday life.(123rf)Portable devices like the Walkman began to nurture the culture of earphones in South Korea in the 1980s. For decades, the compact devices

Sept. 1, 2017

Merck features textile facade based on OPV, OLED tech at Seoul Biennale

German display materials maker Merck on Friday unveiled a new textile facade concept combining organic photovoltaics and organic light-emitting diodes technologies at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. The facade concept was prepared by Merck in partnership with OledWorks, OPVIUS and South Korean chemicals company Kolon. German architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Muller as well as New York-based Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija designed the work as part of their ongoing project cal

Sept. 1, 2017

Galaxy Note 8 price to hover above 1 million won: Samsung

The head of Samsung Electronics Co.'s mobile business said Friday the price of the newly introduced Galaxy Note 8 phablet is likely to hover above 1 million won ($887).During a meeting with reporters in Berlin, Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' mobile business, said it will be "extremely difficult" to keep the price lower than 1 million won in South Korea, expressing an apology over his earlier statement.The price tag on the 64-GB Galaxy Note 7 was $850 in the United States and 988

Sept. 1, 2017

LG Electronics promote AI solutions at IFA

LG Electronics Inc. on Friday said it promoted its latest achievements in the field of artificial intelligence technology at this year's Berlin consumer electronics trade show, introducing its vision to home appliances and smartphones.The South Korean tech giant said at Internationale Funkausstellung that it plans to apply the AI technology to more products and services, and expand its partnerships with Amazon.com and Google Inc. to expand the ecosystem.In detail, LG Electronics demonstrated how

Sept. 1, 2017

Refurbished Galaxy Note 7 sold out in Korea

Refurbished editions of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, named the Galaxy Note FE, were sold out in the Korean market two months after its debut, industry sources said Friday.According to the sources, around 400,000 units of the Galaxy Note FE were sold in the country after the Korean tech giant announced the relaunch of the phablet in July. The Galaxy Note FE utilizes parts from the Galaxy Note 7, whose production was suspended last year on battery safety issues.The price tag for the Galaxy Note FE

Sept. 1, 2017

73% of mobile gamers not bothered by in-app ads: report

A majority of those who play free mobile games turned out to be indifferent to in-app adds in the form of banners or videos, considering the benefits earned in exchange of watching them, according to an industry report.Around 73 percent of gamers are happy with the ad-funded model of mobile app games, according to the “Mobile Games Research 2017” report from London-based market research firm 2VC, commissioned by the Facebook Audience Network.The report was based on more than 6,000 online intervi

Aug. 31, 2017

[IFA 2017] LG unveils camera, sound-centric V30 smartphone

BERLIN -- Hoping to reaffirm its presence in the global smartphone world, South Korea‘s tech giant LG Electronics chose Berlin to unveil its newest flagship smartphone with enhanced multimedia experience.On Thursday, the Korean handset manufacturer came up with the newest flagship V30 smartphone focused on quality of entertainment with enhanced camera and audio features to be unveiled to around 700 tech maniacs and media officials from around the world, who are visiting the city to attend the IF

Aug. 31, 2017

Hyundai Robotics launched as holding firm for heavy industries group

Hyundai Robotics Co. was officially launched on Thursday as the holding company of the Hyundai Heavy Industries Group with the aim to diversify its products and exports markets.The company started operations at its new headquarters in Daegu, 302 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where it completed a smart factory in April that converges information, communication and technology with production. Hyundai Robotics, established in 1984 as a team under Hyundai Heavy Industries, is South Korea's top manu

Aug. 31, 2017

Korea tops ICT development in 2016: report

South Korea ranked No. 1 in the level of development in its information and communications technologies in 2016, the second year in a row that it topped the global ranking, a government report showed Thursday.According to the annual report by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the International Telecommunications Union said Asia's fourth-largest economy ranked first among 175 countries surveyed last year. (Yonhap)After losing its top spot to Denmark in 2015 for the first time since 2010, South Kor

Aug. 31, 2017

[IFA 2017] Samsung proposes ‘new normal’ lifestyle for global consumers

BERLIN -- Aiming to grab the spotlight among global tech giants, Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that its presentation theme at Europe’s largest trade show for home appliances will be of lifestyles with enhanced connectivity and convenience.Two days before IFA 2017 kicks off Friday, Samsung Electronics unveiled new flagship consumer electronic products and services for the second half of the year at a series of press conferences. Calling it the “new normal,” David Lowes, chief marketing offic

Aug. 31, 2017

[IFA 2017] LG to supply OLED TV for Bang & Olufsen

BERLIN -- LG Electronics announced Wednesday its partnership with Bang & Olufsen to supply the company’s organic light-emitting diode televisions to the Danish audio system maker. Under the partnership, LG will start supplying OLED TVs to B&O from September. The audio company will add its sound technologies to the TVs to maximize their sound combined with their OLED displays’ ultimate color representation. The Danish firm will present the LG OLED TV applied with B&O sound technologies at the upc

Aug. 30, 2017

Korea to further expand free Wifi zones

The government said Wednesday that it plans to provide more free wireless Internet access zones across the country in an effort to become a "Wifi mecca." According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, a panel comprised of some 25 officials from the government, academia and telecom industry will discuss ways to build more free WiFi zones, giving citizens better access to the Internet for their portable devices. (Yonhap)The ministry said it plans to add such zones in various public locations, inclu

Aug. 30, 2017

Internet banking users up 1.4% in Q2

The number of Internet and smartphone banking service users in South Korea rose 1.4 percent in the second quarter from three months earlier, central bank data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign that a growing number of people do their banking on their computers or smartphones without visiting bank branches.In the three months that ended June 30, the number of Internet and smartphone banking service users came to 127.05 million, compared with 125.32 million in the first quarter, according to th

Aug. 30, 2017

SNS users tired out from ads, marketing: poll

Company workers use about three social networking services on average, mostly to get and share information, but a majority of them feel exhausted by unwanted information and marketing that come with the services, a poll showed Wednesday.Hunet, a provider of career education, surveyed 821 people working for firms with questions about their use of SNS. Results showed that 69.4 percent are tired out from the services, mainly from having to see needless information (27.7 percent) or from excessive a

Aug. 30, 2017

30% of state-supported infertility treatment successful

About three out of 10 infertility treatments funded partly by the government have been successful, with the number of recipients getting support increasing every year, a report from the health ministry said Wednesday.The report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to opposition party's Rep. Kim Seung-hee said the government provided fund assistance to 87,155 cases of infertility in 2016, an increase of 35.1 percent from five years ago. The success rate in 2016 was 29.5 percent, similar to 28.

Aug. 30, 2017

Closer look into Samsung’s smarter, bigger Note 8

Samsung Electronics has returned with the much-awaited Note brand complete with smarter S Pen stylus, a bigger display and a bolstered camera. The latest Galaxy Note 8, released to keep its rival iPhone 8 in check, features the largest-ever screen on a Note device that fits in one hand, the brand’s signature S Pen stylus and its new dual camera. “We appreciate the relentless passion of the Note community. They’ve been a constant inspiration to us and we designed the new Note for them,” Koh Dong-

Aug. 29, 2017

[Advertorial] Nexon helps aspiring game programmers with coding

Global game company Nexon is ramping up efforts to provide young students in South Korea who are aspiring to become programmers with more opportunities to learn how to code programs.As part of its social contribution program, Nexon has begun holding a coding competition for interested students, titled “NYPC.” Using the games it services, Nexon presents participants with relatively easy cases to solve, with open answers. Launched last year, the event aims give interested students a chance to expe

Aug. 29, 2017