UlalaLAB to sign cooperation contract with Indian company

UlalaLAB, headed by CEO is Kang Hak Ju, will soon be supplying its independently developed smart factory platform, WimFactory, to an influential Indian company. On Dec. 27, CEO Kang Hak Ju announced that the company “will be signing a business cooperation contract in the first quarter of next year with a prominent Indian company regarding WimFactory and related R&D.”As of August and September, UlalaLAB has already begun supplying WimFactory to Nike plants in Indonesia and China. This experience

Dec. 27, 2016

Samsung Electronics retains No. 2 spot in global research spending

Samsung Electronics Co. retained its No. 2 spot in a global ranking for industrial research and development spending for the third consecutive year, a survey by the European Commission's Economics of Industrial Research and Innovation showed Tuesday. According to the annual survey, 75 South Korean firms were among the world's top 2,500 companies that invested a large sum into research and development. A total of 837 firms based in the United States are included in the ranking, followed by 590 fi

Dec. 27, 2016

Samsung to unveil creative lab for kids, skin care at CES

Samsung Electronics said Monday it will showcase its creative lab projects for kids and skin care during the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show. The creative lab project is a startup business program that encourages a creative corporate culture and nurtures innovative ideas from Samsung employees.“Ideas in diverse areas from fashion and kids to beauty are being developed based on innovative technology and we will continue to seek additional ideas across a broad spectrum,” said Lee Jai-il, vice c

Dec. 26, 2016

Naver denies government’s unilateral influence over most-searched keywords list

South Korean internet giant Naver denied reports Sunday that it has an internal policy that allows the government to demand unilateral changes to the portal website’s “current most-searched keywords” list.　According to Yonhap News Agency, government agencies can ask Naver to delete or exclude certain trending keywords from its website, signaling potential manipulation and state surveillance of public information on the web.　Naver’s current most-searched keywords list often reflects the hottest t

Dec. 25, 2016

Naver under scrutiny over rule to remove search words if gov't requests

NHN Corp., the operator of South Korea's dominant Internet portal, has come under close scrutiny after it was found to have a rule to remove real-time search words if the government asks the portal to do so. The rule is expected to stir up controversy over whether Naver could allow the government to censor the Internet portal, although Naver claimed that it has not implemented the rule. Naver offers the Real-Time Search service, which enables users to get the most up-to-date information without

Dec. 25, 2016

[Eye Interview] A helping hand for future ‘unicorns’

As an entrepreneur and an investor, Jeffrey Lim, head of Google Campus Seoul, has seen the rise and fall of various South Korean startups.In the startup world, ideas driven by passion have immense potential, but are prone to failure. Knowing this, what concerns Lim most about Korean startups is not the quality of their ideas, but an absence of entrepreneurship and teambuilding efforts which he believes are more important considerations for budding enterprises.Jeffrey Lim, head of Google Campus S

Dec. 23, 2016

S. Korea's sea level rise faster than world average

South Korea's sea level rose at a faster pace than the world's average this year due mainly to the ground subsidence, a report said Thursday. The sea level rose 2.68mm on average this year, up 8 percent from the previous year's 2.48mm, according to the report by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.It is 34 percent faster than the world average of 2.0mm surveyed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) under the United Nations.The ministry said that South Korea's faster sea level

Dec. 22, 2016

[HERALD INTERVIEW] ‘Foldable devices to be popularized by 2019’

Foldable devices could become popular by 2019, grabbing around 20 percent share of the Korean smartphone market, said an executive of Kolon Industries, a chemical arm of Kolon Group. Kolon Industries is currently the only company in the world that can mass produce colorless polyimide, a key technology for foldable devices as the flexible film can replace rigid glass sheets. It is reportedly supplying the materials to global tech firms including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and BOE, althou

Dec. 22, 2016

SK hynix to spend 3.15 tln won to expand output of memory chips

South Korean memory semiconductor manufacturer SK hynix said Thursday it will invest 3.15 trillion won ($2.63 billion) to build a new plant at home and expand production of memory chips in China.Prices of NAND flash memory chips for smartphones and other mobile devices have shown signs of a rebound.SK hynix, the world's No. 2 memory chipmaker, plans to spend 2.2 trillion won to build a new NAND chip plant in Cheongju, central South Korea.The remaining 950 billion won will be used to boost the pr

Dec. 22, 2016

Interactive bulletin board GoTouch to enter global market via Indiegogo

Anyractive has been crowdfunding for its independently developed interactive bulletin board GoTouch via Indiegogo since Dec 13, the company announced.GoTouch already conducted a successful campaign on Kickstarter in October, through which it earned $110,000, far exceeding its goal of $30,000. Screen capture of the GoTouch Indiegogo campaignSung Hyun Lim, CEO of the company, said, “This product, which we have promoted on the top two US crowdfunding platforms, is the 2.0 version, which can be used

Dec. 21, 2016

BrilliantTS to release all-in-one smart card in first quarter of 2017

BrilliantTS, whose CEO is Bae Jaehun, announced Wednesday that it will be releasing its independently developed B PAY smart card in the first quarter of 2017. B PAY is an all-in-one, smart payment card service that integrates offline payment and loyalty cards -- including credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, transportation cards and various membership cards -- into a single card.It is equipped with a magnetic strip, integrated circuit chip, Bluetooth, a small e-paper display and a battery,

Dec. 21, 2016

Lotte to build shopping assistance chatbot using IBM’s AI solution Watson

South Korean retail giant Lotte Group said Wednesday that it will build a new shopping assistance chatbot using IBM’s artificial intelligence system Watson with an aim to provide customized shopping support to customers.Lotte signed a partnership with IBM Korea in Seoul on Wednesday, agreeing to adopt the US tech giant’s cognitive computing software for use by Lotte’s various retail and consumer goods units, including the Lotte Department Store.“Faced with a rapidly changing business environment

Dec. 21, 2016

Motel-booking app Yanolja to introduce overseas Korean guesthouses

South Korea’s leading motel-booking app operator Yanolja said Wednesday that it has signed a strategic partnership with Minda, another homegrown startup which facilitates bookings for Korean guesthouses overseas.Under the new partnership, which will involve unspecified investments, Yanolja will add some 1,600 Minda-registered lodging options around the world to its app, widening user options.With the addition, Yanolja will now operate a network of more than 30,000 motels and guesthouses in and o

Dec. 21, 2016

Note 7 unlikely to be killed off this year in Korea

Samsung Electronics’ fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 is unlikely to be killed off this year in South Korea, as there are still around 140,000 users who have not yet returned the recalled devices. According to local news reports Tuesday, Samsung may lower the battery charging limit from the current 60 percent rather than complete disable the phones like the company would do in the US.Since Samsung began recalling the phones in October, 85 percent of the total 950,000 units sold here have been returned.“

Dec. 20, 2016

Ericsson eyes 550m 5G subscribers worldwide by 2022

Ultra-fast 5G wireless network systems are set to gain a solid global presence alongside the rise of revolutionary technologies in the coming years, according to Swedish telecom equipment and services company Ericsson.Short for fifth-generation, 5G is an ultra-fast wireless network system offering around 20 times faster transmission speeds than the existing 4G or Long-Term Evolution networks. This super-fast network boasts extremely low latency -- delays caused when transmitting large amounts of

Dec. 20, 2016

Netmarble acquires US game developer Kabam’s Vancouver studio

South Korean mobile game giant Netmarble Games said Tuesday that it has acquired US-based game developer Kabam’s Vancouver studio, the creator of the hit mobile game “Marvel Contest of Champions.”　The deal, which will be handled by Ropes & Gray LLP, is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017, according to Netmarble. The financial terms of the asset sale were undisclosed.Kabam’s studio in Vancouver is best known for developing “Marvel Contest of Champions.” Since its launch in December

Dec. 20, 2016

About 140,000 Galaxy Note 7s still in use in Korea

About 140,000 owners of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones in South Korea have not returned their devices, an industry source said Tuesday, complicating efforts by Samsung Electronics Co. to end the recall program for the phablet by the end of this year. More than three months after conducting a global recall of the Note 7 over a safety risk, the retrieval rate in South Korea stood at 85 percent. Given that some 950,000 Note 7s were actually sold in South Korea, the remaining 15 percent still pose a

Dec. 20, 2016