The Korea Herald

Korean currency 2nd most volatile in Asia

The Korean won showed the highest volatility after the Japanese yen among Asian currencies last month, spurred by Tokyo’s outright monetary easing, data showed Tuesday. In January, the daily currency volatility rate of the won against the U.S dollar averaged 0.34 percent, according to the data compiled by the Bank of Korea. The rate roughly refers to the average daily variation compared to the previous session’s closing quotation.The Japanese yen topped at 0.7 percent, and the Korean won ranked

Feb. 12, 2013

Samsung Display drops injunction against LG Display

Samsung Display Co. on Tuesday dropped an injunction seeking a ban on rival LG Display Co. using organic light-emitting diode technology, raising hopes the two companies are moving to settle their display technology dispute.The two companies have been involved in a legal tussle over display technology since July when 11 people affiliated with the Samsung unit were indicted on charges of leaking core technology to LG.In September, Samsung filed an injunction seeking a ban on use of 18 confidentia

Feb. 12, 2013

Facebook sued over use of ‘like’ button

The widow of a Dutch programmer is suing Facebook over its use of a “like” button and other patented technology she says was developed by her husband.Patent-holding company Rembrandt Social Media, acting on behalf of the widow of Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer, has filed a suit in U.S. District Court in Virginia.The suit charges Facebook is using two of Van Der Meer‘s patents without permission.Rembrandt now owns those patents for technologies Van Der Meer utilized in creating a fledgling

Feb. 12, 2013

China reports 2 bird flu cases in humans

China‘s Health Ministry said Sunday two human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the southwestern city of Guiyang.The patients were identified as a 21-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man, who developed symptoms Feb. 2 and Feb 3, respectively.“They are in critical condition and medical workers are carrying out emergency treatment,” the ministry said in a statement. “No epidemiological connections have been found between the two cases.”The ministry said an investigation found o evidence the two had contac

Feb. 12, 2013

China reports 2 bird flu cases in humans

61% of U.S. adults have no living will

Fewer than 1-in-3 U.S. adults say they have a living will indicating whether they want life-sustaining medical care if incapacitated, a survey indicates.The survey by FindLaw.com, a legal information website, found 61 percent of U.S. adults said they have no living will, also known as a healthcare directive or directive to physicians. A living will is a document in which a person can indicate his or her instructions in advance as to what medical treatments he or she wishes to receive in the even

Feb. 12, 2013

Computer helping save lost languages

Canadian computer scientists say a computer can reconstruct lost languages by analyzing the sounds uttered by those who speak their modern successors.Alexandre Bouchard-Cote at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and colleagues report a machine-learning algorithm can suggest the most likely phonetic changes behind a language‘s evolution as words mutate and sounds shift.As an example of sound shifting, the researchers cite a recent change known as the Canadian Shift, where many Canadi

Feb. 12, 2013

Planet color may suggest alien life

The light signatures of lichens and algae reflected in a distant planet's distinctive coloring could be evidence of alien life, German researchers say.Seen from space, Earth gives off a large amount of near-infrared light reflected off the chlorophyll in plants, and similar light wavelength might be seen on distant exoplanets if they also host green vegetation, they said.However, Siddharth Hegde and Lisa Kaltenegger of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, said they thin

Feb. 12, 2013

Dogs may understand human point of view

Domestic dogs are more likely to steal food if they think nobody's watching, suggesting they understand a human's point of view, a British researcher says.Psychologist Juliane Kaminski of the University of Portsmouth has demonstrated when a human forbids a dog from taking food, the dog is four times more likely to disobey in a dark room than a lighted one, suggesting they're taking into account what the human can or cannot see."That's incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can't

Feb. 12, 2013

Brain scanning reveals the secret of long-lasting love: study

A study conducted by U.S. scientists claimed a couple’s longevity can be identified by scanning their brain.The study asked 12 volunteers who have been passionately in love for more than a year to look at their lover’s picture while conducting a brain scan through magnetic resonance imaging. The scientists found each person has a different spot in their brain that is active.When the caudate tail, the part of the brain that responds to visual aesthetic elements, is more active than the medial orb

Feb. 11, 2013

Brain scanning reveals the secret of long-lasting love: study

Scientists ‘print’ 3-D object with stem cells

PARIS (AFP) ― Scientists on Monday said that for the first time they had printed 3D objects using human embryonic stem cells, furthering the quest to fabricate transplantable organs.Once fine-tuned, the technology should allow scientists to make three-dimensional human tissue in the lab, eliminating the need for organ donation or testing on animals, they reported.Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can replicate indefinitely and become almost any type of cell in the human body.They are touted as

Feb. 7, 2013

Park’s nuclear power plan triggers safety concerns

President-elect Park Geun-hye is under growing pressure to revise her nuclear energy governance plan widely criticized as weakening safety regulations and research capabilities.Part of a sweeping government reorganization plan, the presidential transition committee proposed last month a change to the status of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. If the plan goes ahead, the currently presidential body will be degraded into a body affiliated to a newly created super-ministry in charge of p

Feb. 7, 2013

Park’s nuclear power plan triggers safety concerns

Herniation of the spinal disk

The word “disk,” which Koreans often misuse as a name of a condition, refers to the structure that connects the bones in the spine. The correct term for the condition is “spine herniation of the intervertebral disk.” Degenerative change of the lumbar disk is the most common cause of the problem and occurs in people in their late teens to their early 20s. The prevalence of herniation of the intervertebral disk increases significantly in the twenties up to the forties when people are more physical

Feb. 7, 2013

Couch potatoes have lower sperm counts

PARIS (AFP) ― Men who watch television for 20 hours per week have almost half the sperm count of those who watch very little television or none at all, according to a study published on Tuesday.U.S. researchers recruited 189 young men aged between 18 to 22, questioned them about their exercise, diet and TV habits and asked them to provide a sperm sample.Men in the top quarter of TV-watchers ― those who watched for 20 hours or more ― had a 44-percent lower sperm count than those who watched least

Feb. 7, 2013

Sleep could prevent age-related memory loss

Forgetfulness is viewed by many as an inevitable part of getting older. But a new study has found there may be a way to help stem age-related memory decline ― and it could be as simple as getting a good night’s sleep.The study, led by neuroscientists at the University of California, Berkeley, examined the relationship between memory retention, age and the quality of an individual’s slow wave non-rapid eye movement sleep.“We wanted to understand whether sleep was a chief factor in memory loss,” e

Feb. 7, 2013

Sleep could prevent age-related memory loss

LG wins patent infringement suit in U.S. court

A U.S. federal court ruled in favor of LG Electronics Inc. in a technology patent infringement suit lodged by French telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent SA.A jury in a San Diego federal court on Tuesday (local time) found LG and Apple Inc. did not copy patents, including a video compression technology, held by Multimedia Patent Trust (MPS), a unit of the Paris-based telecommunications equipment maker.The Alcatel-Lucent subsidiary filed the suit in December 2010, claiming several LG phones su

Feb. 7, 2013

Earth-like planets closer than thought?

Six percent of red dwarf stars, the most common stars in our galaxy, have habitable planets, meaning an Earth-like planet could be nearby, U.S. astronomers say.Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reported using publicly available data from NASA‘s Kepler space telescope to determine the likelihood of a red dwarf having a planet that is both habitable and Earth-sized.“We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an Earth-like planet,” Harvard astronomer Cour

Feb. 7, 2013

LG launches new Windows 8 PCs with touch features

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday it has released two Windows 8 “Tab-Books,” which combine a tablet with an ultrabook.The new Tab-Book Z160 line-up features 11.6-inch multi-touch displays that can be propped up to reveal a miniature keyboard underneath, according to LG Electronics.The new products are a follow-up to the H160 model, one of LG’s first Windows 8 PCs introduced in October, and run on more advanced processors than the earlier version.The model featuring Intel

Feb. 6, 2013

Korea’s mobile ad market triples in 2012: report

South Korea’s mobile advertising market nearly tripled last year in line with the growing presence of smartphones and high-speed Internet in the country, a report showed Wednesday.The country’s mobile ad market reached 216 billion won ($198 million) in 2012, compared with 76.2 billion won the previous year, according to the report by the Korea Communications Commission. The figure represents the amount of orders local ad agencies received from their clients.Of the total, search advertising jumpe

Feb. 6, 2013

NHN to set up new units to bolster mobile business

NHN Corp., the operator of South Korea’s top portal Naver.com, said Wednesday it plans to set up two subsidiaries as part of efforts to strengthen its mobile business.NHN said it has won board approval to inject 40 billion won ($37 million) each to “Camp Mobile” and “LINE Plus.”Under the plan, the company will hold a 100 percent stake in Camp Mobile, which will pioneer NHN’s new mobile services. NHN will also own a 40 percent stake in “LINE Plus,” which will support the company’s flagship mobile

Feb. 6, 2013

Cash-strapped Koreans turn to IT pawn shops

Tech-savvy South Koreans are temporarily abstaining from their gadgets in exchange for almost-instant cash loans thanks to a new breed of pawn shops specializing in IT products.While traditional pawn shops that deal in everything from fur coats to wedding gifts are going out of fashion, IT pawn shops equipped with modern interiors, Websites and young staff are spreading across South Korea, one of the world’s most wired nations.Kim Moo-hyun, 42, owns one of the roughly 15 so-called IT pawn shops

Feb. 6, 2013