Samsung's next flagship to feature Bixby 2.0: AI head

Gray G. Lee, head of the AI Center under Samsung Research, said Thursday the next flagship smartphone will adopt an upgraded artificial intelligence platform, Bixby 2.0. Lee told The Korea Herald that the upcoming flagship smartphone model in the second half of the year would feature the advanced Bixby platform, after a press conference to announce Samsung’s vision for AI. Samsung Research AI Center Head Gray G. Lee (By Song Su-hyun /The Korea Herald)According to his remarks, Bixby 2.0 will be u

May 17, 2018

Facebook Korea files suit challenging KCC’s W396m network slowdown fine

Facebook Korea said Thursday that it has filed an administrative suit against South Korea’s media regulator’s decision to fine the social networking giant for causing a network slowdown that inconvenienced local users.The social networking giant said it filed the suit against the Korea Communications Commission with the Seoul Administrative Court on May 13. It has also asked for a court order to freeze the execution of the penalty until a ruling is reached. The move comes after the KCC issued Fa

May 17, 2018

Samsung speeding up schedule for new flagship smartphones

South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics seems to be speeding up the schedule for new flagship smartphones slated for launch later this year and 2019, according to industry sources on Wednesday. Local part suppliers for Samsung’s upcoming flagship phones deem that the top Korean smartphone maker is preparing to unveil their flagship phones slightly earlier than previous years for various reasons, including low sales of the latest Galaxy S9 series, according to multiple sources. According to t

May 16, 2018

Korea approves first-ever AI-based medical device

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday that it has approved the first artificial intelligence-based medical device in the country. The newly approved device is the VUNOmed-BoneAge, an image diagnostics device that uses a deep learning engine to read an X-ray scan of a person’s left hand to instantaneously determine his or her bone age, or skeletal age.The device was developed by Vuno, a local medical artificial intelligence technology startup, in partnership with Asan Medi

May 16, 2018

Nexon to release first R-rated mobile MMORPG ‘Kaiser’ next month

Nexon Korea announced Wednesday plans to release its first R-rated mobile role-playing game “Kaiser” next month. The game will preopen on June 4 and officially launch on June 7, according to the game publisher.“Kaiser” is a hardcore mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, for users aged 18 and above. It was developed by development studio Pathfinder8 under the lead of producer Chae Ki-byung, the chief developer of the hit mobile game “Lineage 2.”Fastfinder8 Producer Cha

May 16, 2018

Samsung releases red, gold Galaxy S9s in Korea

Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday it plans to release red and gold editions of the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus smartphones in South Korea, providing more choices for consumers wanting to buy the flagship.Samsung said the Burgundy Red Galaxy S9 will hit shelves on May 25, with the Sunrise Gold version set to be released in early June. Both devices will come with a storage capacity of 64 gigabytes. Shown in the picture released by Samsung Electronics Co. on May 16, 2018, are the red and gold

May 16, 2018

Korean newspapers demand law forcing portals to link stories to media websites

The Korean Association of Newspapers, South Korea’s flagship newspaper union, on Tuesday demanded the government enact new legislation mandating the country’s internet portal websites, including Naver, adopt an “outlink system” for news articles displayed on their platforms.　　The union urged the government and lawmakers to legally mandate all portal sites adopt the outlink system in order to break down their centralized control over the local online news distribution system.　The demands come in

May 15, 2018

[Tech Brunch] LG focuses on robot technologies to support humans

Tech Brunch breaks down how complex technologies work. -- Ed.To a question about what kinds of robots LG Electronics aims to build, Baek Seung-min, research fellow at the company’s Advanced Robotics Lab under the CTO Division, says, “Robots that understand and help people.”The country’s leading home appliance provider is on track to commercialize the first robot for daily lives at home in the second half of this year, and Baek highlights that the whole point of making these robots is to be suppo

May 15, 2018

[Herald Interview] ‘Father of the internet’ says IoT both a ‘big opportunity and risk’

The Internet of Things, abbreviated as IoT, is discussed today as a core technology concept expected to usher in a new era of digital connectivity around the world.The IoT refers to billions of devices connected over the internet constantly collecting and sharing data, be it for an automobile or a household appliance. It’s a revolutionary concept in that objects can communicate with one another, rather than just with a human user, signaling a new level of digital intelligence.While the IoT is an

May 15, 2018

Line Plus forms new JV ‘Unchain’ with blockchain platform Icon

Line Plus, the South Korean subsidiary of Naver-owned Line Corp., on Tuesday announced the launch of Unchain, a joint venture with global integrated blockchain network platform Icon.The company expects Unchain to work in tandem with Unblock, another blockchain technology business unit established by Line Plus last month, to build various decentralized apps running on a blockchain network. Unchain CEO Lee hong-kyu (Line Plus)According to the company, Unchain will work with Icon’s blockchain netwo

May 15, 2018

YouTube emerges as top app among Korean users

YouTube was the app used for the longest periods of time by South Korean users of all ages last month, data showed Tuesday.According to Wise App’s data on the app usage of Koreans in different age groups during the month of April, Korean teens spent some 7.6 billion minutes on the video platform during the cited period.Those in their 20s spent 5.3 billion minutes on the platform. The figures for people in their 30s and 40s were 4.2 billion minutes and 3.8 billion minutes, respectively. In total,

May 15, 2018

Kakao Games applies for IPO on Kosdaq

Kakao Games, South Korea‘s online and mobile game software developer and publisher, has applied for a preliminary screening for an initial public offering on the second-tier Kosdaq, according to the Korea Exchange Monday. If the game arm of internet giant Kakao passes the screening process by the market operator KRX, it is projected to go public in the second half of 2018. Korea Investment & Securities is the sole underwriter for the IPO. The company’s value is estimated at 1.5 trillion won ($1.

May 14, 2018

LG launches AI-equipped robot vacuum cleaner

South Korea’s LG Electronics on Monday introduced its latest robot vacuum cleaner that is “smarter and stronger” than predecessors, with an improved artificial intelligence platform with 3-D sensors.The newly launched LG Cordzero R9 ThinQ features LG’s AI platform Deep ThinQ whose navigation capabilities are reinforced with 3-D Dual Eye sensors. It is the first time the company equipped the AI platform to its robot cleaners for commercialization.  Models showcase LG's newest robot vacuum cleaner

May 14, 2018

SK Telecom develops tech to boost 5G speeds

SK Telecom said Monday it has completed development of packet core for the fifth-generation network. The packet core can be likened to toll gates on expressways, which funnels voice and data traffic from smartphones and other mobile devices to the internet. In cooperation with Samsung Electronics, SKT developed 1-terabit-class packet processing technology in November, which raised the packet traffic by tenfold, according to the firm. (Yonhap)The upcoming packet core will not only connect to the

May 14, 2018

Vision AI to help find missing children

One of the biggest nightmares for a parent is losing their child in a crowded shopping mall. When a child goes missing, security guards typically go around on foot looking for the child, while mall employees sit with parents to shift through hours of video surveillance footage. Such procedures -- often slow yet time-sensitive -- can now be significantly expedited when using an advanced facial identification artificial intelligence program, claims SK Holdings C&C, the information technology solut

May 14, 2018

Samsung vs. Apple retrial to shine light on value of design in smartphone

The retrial for the 7-year-old design patent suit between Samsung and Apple will commence Monday in California, local time. The final ruling from this retrial is set to draw a milestone on how much value a component design holds in an innovative product. The legal dispute started in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung. The South Korean tech giant countersued Apple in the same year. But in 2012, Samsung lost the case and was ordered to pay more than $1 billion to Apple for infringing on three of the US

May 14, 2018

SK Broadband to provide fastest internet service as industry’s first

SK Broadband, an internet service subsidiary of SK Telecom, said Thursday the company will be the first to commercialize the fastest internet service at 2.5 gigabits per second in the country. The SKT affiliate launched Giga Premium, a new internet service for commercial buildings and households, which is applied with the latest gigabit passive optical network technology. Known as G-PON, the technology does not require additional installations of cables to provide such fast internet speed, accor

May 10, 2018

S. Korea to consider adopting US-style data-sharing regulation

South Korea's financial regulator said Thursday it will consider gradually adopting US-style data-sharing regulation to make it easier for firms to collect and use personal information.The move is aimed at meeting rising demand for new technologies such as the Internet of Things and big data analytics, the Financial Services Commission said in a statement.In South Korea, people are asked in advance if financial institutions can use their personal data. They can either agree to or reject the coll

May 10, 2018

[Graphic News] S. Korea's medical spending grows fastest among OECD members

　According to a report from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, medical spending in South Korea jumped by an annual average of 6.8 percent from 2005 to 2015　The growth rate during the period outpaced the average of 2.1 percent expansion among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, marking the highest increase of the group.　The spending growth was attributed to an increase in public expenditure on medical care with an aging population.

May 9, 2018

[Exclusive] LG revs up robot business with newest $3m investment in Bossa Nova Robotics

South Korea’s LG Electronics will invest $3 million to acquire an about 5 percent stake in US-based Bossa Nova Robotics, as part of efforts to accelerate its new robot business, according to sources Tuesday.An industry source told The Korea Herald that the Korean tech giant is going to make the investment this week to own the 5 percent stake in the San Francisco-based commercial robot developer, in a move that would expand the company’s current robot development portfolio. It will mark LG’s thir

May 8, 2018