The Korea Herald

[Graphic News] Korea ranks 2nd in R&D spending to GDP

Korea ranked second among OECD member countries in terms of R&D spending to GDP with 4.03 percent, according to the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2013 released last week. The nation also gained a high mark in IT infrastructure, coming second in Internet connection speed and download speed, and fourth in wireless broadband penetration.

Oct. 27, 2013

[Graphic News] Korea ranks 2nd in R&D spending to GDP

Samsung patents smart glasses

Samsung has registered a patent for smart glasses, the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service said on Friday. The company awarded a design patent for the wearable device, which is categorized as a type of “sports glasses,” in March and the registration was completed in October, according to the KIPRIS.The move follows its launch of the smart watch Galaxy Gear in September, and reflects Samsung’s efforts to strengthen its wearable technology.The glasses will likely connect to Sams

Oct. 25, 2013

S. Korean websites hit by DDos attack: AhnLab

South Korea's largest anti-virus software firm AhnLab Inc. said Friday it detected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on local companies, sounding alarm bells for their cyber security.Sixteen websites operated by 13 South Korean firms, including No. 2 portal operator Daum Communications Corp. and game developer Nexon Korea Corp., experienced cyber attacks Thursday, AhnLab said.According to the anti-virus firm, the attack was detected around 4:00 p.m., infecting around 10,000 computers

Oct. 25, 2013

Dry eyes

When there are insufficient tears to moisten the eyes for comfort, symptoms such as stinging pain, foreign body sensation, burning and production of mucus can occur. Some patients say that they feel as though they do not have enough tears. The discomfort can vary from person to person. Such discomfort worsens with prolonged reading or exposure to wind or cigarette smoke. These symptoms associated with tears, namely with the insufficiency of tears or its components, signify a condition called sch

Oct. 24, 2013

‘Mastectomy unnecessary to reduce breast cancer risk’

Angelina Jolie’s choice to undergo a double mastectomy has sparked a rise in women wanting to have the same surgical procedure, believing that it can reduce the risk of breast cancer. The breast removal surgery, however, is not a key solution to prevent the disease even for those who carry the same genes as the Hollywood star, a doctor here said.Moon Byeong-in, head of the Cancer Center for Women at Ewha Womans University Medical Center, said the chances of getting breast cancer for women who ar

Oct. 24, 2013

‘Mastectomy unnecessary to reduce breast cancer risk’

Stem cell-seeded windpipe patient healthy: report

A woman who received a donor windpipe seeded with her own stem cells in groundbreaking surgery five years ago is healthy, said a report Wednesday, hailing progress in tissue engineering.Donor windpipes are often rejected by the recipient’s immune system, while patients also suffer the uncontrolled die-off of cells, called necrosis, and bleeding.But having the stem cells come from the patient reduces the risk of attack by the immune system.The procedure performed on Claudia Castillo involved remo

Oct. 24, 2013

Study: Strokes affecting more younger people

LONDON (AP) ― Strokes are increasingly hitting younger people and the incidence of the crippling condition worldwide could double by 2030, warns the first global analysis of the problem.Though the chances of a stroke jump dramatically with age, the growing number of younger people with worrying risk factors such as bulging waistlines, diabetes and high blood pressure means they are becoming increasingly susceptible.Worldwide, stroke is the second-leading cause of death after heart disease and is

Oct. 24, 2013

Tests suggest baby born with HIV may be cured

Doctors now have convincing evidence that they put HIV into remission, hopefully for good, in a Mississippi baby born with the AIDS virus ― a medical first that is prompting a new look at how hard and fast such cases should be treated.The case was reported earlier this year but some doctors were skeptical that the baby was really infected rather than testing positive because of exposure to virus in the mom’s blood.The new report, published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine,

Oct. 24, 2013

LG CNS in feud with MS over software license fee

LG CNS, an affiliate of LG Group, has become mired in a licensing dispute with Microsoft. The conflict between the two sides began when Microsoft took issue with its operating system Windows being used on a subway train information system developed by the Korean firm. The Korean ICT firm, which developed an integrated computer system with several subsystems, supplied the end product using Windows to its business partner EPP, an advertisement company, in 2007. The ad firm installed the system at

Oct. 23, 2013

Korea needs to brace for cyber attacks

Korea should be ready for cyber attacks and their repercussions, a top global security company’s executive said. “Attackers in cyber space are getting more sophisticated,” California-based Symantec’s vice president Cheri McGuire told The Korea Herald during a conference on cyber security in Seoul last week.“They now take aim at specific organizations rather than luring victims by sending random emails like in the past.”She said the frequency of watering hole attacks, which target a particular gr

Oct. 23, 2013

Semiconductor firm hopes for chip renaissance

Kim Sang-yeol, head of Singapore-based Serial Microelectronics’ Korean corporation, has put in long years in the semiconductor distribution business. He has seen the rise and fall of the sector over more than three decades, and his one wish now is to see another heyday so that more revenue can be created for all parties involved ― including, of course, Serial and its partners. This may sound odd, since smart devices are still much in vogue, but Kim hails from an era where the semiconductor and r

Oct. 23, 2013

Semiconductor firm hopes for chip renaissance

LGE developing Chrome OS devices

LG Electronics is developing digital devices running Google’s Chrome operating system in a move to reinforce its cooperative relations with the world’s largest Internet giant. The Korean company applied on Oct. 4 for patent registration for three Chrome-based devices ― Chromedesk, Chromeone and Chromestation ― according to the Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service on Wednesday. The electronics giant firm also applied for the trademarks under the same names in several other coun

Oct. 23, 2013

Korean companies hope to boost sales of LED bulbs

South Korean electronics companies expressed optimism Wednesday that a looming production ban of incandescent lighting could boost sales of their energy-efficient light-emitting diode light bulbs.Local production and imports of incandescent light bulbs are set to be banned permanently next year in South Korea under a 2008 decision to phase out low-efficient light bulbs.Russia and Australia are scheduled to join South Korea in banning incandescent light bulbs. The United States also plans to end

Oct. 23, 2013

Samsung dethrones Apple in operating profit in Q2

Samsung Electronics overtook its rival Apple in operating profit share in the world mobile market, according to leading research institute Strategy Analytics, Monday. Despite shipping the largest volume of handsets in the world market, Samsung has been behind Apple in terms of operating profits. Samsung sells a wide range of mobile products from high to low-end, while Apple had mainly focused on a premium strategy until the California-based firm unveiled the low-budget iPhone 5C last month. Sams

Oct. 21, 2013

Global cyber security expert calls for action against malware

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, governments and businesses are increasingly exposed to evermore sophisticated cyber threats.South Korea, one of the world’s most wired economies, is no exception, becoming more vulnerable to widespread malicious codes and viruses that have the capability to shut down not only government, but also private sector networks.South Korea needs to “understand the behavior of its network systems,” meaning detecting irregular patterns flowing through its

Oct. 21, 2013

Global cyber security expert calls for action against malware

Battery war intensifies between Samsung, LG

In the race to develop compact batteries for next-generation smart devices, LG Chem appears to be in the lead ― a fact that its main rival Samsung SDI is refusing to accept.Batteries are critical for creating smartphones and tablets that can be curved or bent. Unless the battery moves the way the device does, there simply can’t be flexible devices. Despite claims from its CEO that the company already has all of the technology that LG has officially put forth, Samsung SDI has been slow to showcas

Oct. 20, 2013

SK Hynix opens R&D center in Taiwan

SK Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chipmaker, has set up an R&D center in Taiwan to reinforce its flash memory capacity, the company and industry sources said this week.The move from the world’s third-largest NAND flash memory maker was seen as an attempt close the gap with No.2 Toshiba of Japan, the sources said.“The newly created SK Hynix Flash Solution Taiwan Center is where we hope to step up cooperation with our partners and recruit more talented individuals,” said Bae Ki-hyun, head of SK H

Oct. 18, 2013

Gov't officials, civil leaders agree on online safety cooperation

Foreign and information technology ministers from around the world agreed to cooperate in securing online safety and freedom as an international conference on cyberspace finished its two-day run in Seoul on Friday.Wrapping up the conference, called the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace 2013, participating foreign and information technology ministers made commitments that were laid out in the chair's summary, released under the name of South Korean Minister Yun Byung-se, along with two annexed docum

Oct. 18, 2013

S. Korean mobile operators accept preorders for new iPhone models

South Korea's two mobile carriers -- SK Telecom Co. and KT Corp. -- said Friday they have begun taking preorders for Apple Inc.'s latest iPhone models that are expected to hit the local market later this month.South Korean customers can preorder the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c on the operators' websites. Preorders for the newest iPhone line-up can also be made at the mobile carriers' local retail stores.The 16-gigabyte iPhone 5s is priced at 814,000 won ($767), with the comparable figure for the iPh

Oct. 18, 2013

1.8M-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution

The discovery of a 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor buried under a medieval Georgian village provides a vivid picture of early evolution and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than some believe, scientists say.The fossil is the most complete pre-human skull uncovered. With other partial remains previously found at the rural site, it gives researchers the earliest evidence of human ancestors moving out of Africa and spreading north to the rest of the world, according

Oct. 18, 2013

1.8M-year-old skull gives glimpse of our evolution