The Korea Herald

[Weekender] Korea faces digital footprint dilemma

On Wednesday, South Korean consumer rights activists filed a lawsuit at a Seoul court demanding that Google Korea disclose whether the IT behemoth shared its users’ personal data with outside parties.The suit follows a January government fine of 200 million won ($195,000) levied on Google for collecting personal information such as Internet IDs, passwords, and resident registration numbers.The suit is also in line with a global trend that has landed in South Korea in recent years: protection of

July 25, 2014

[Weekender] Korea faces digital footprint dilemma

[Weekender] ‘Joint efforts needed for data protection’

Social media is an important digital platform to build social networks and share activities. According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency, around 55 percent of South Koreans used social media in 2013, and the number is expected to rise this year. With more personal information being exposed online, however, experts are voicing concerns about privacy issues. They say digitalized personal information can be a target for hackers or criminals, who attempt to take advantage of such data. “South

July 25, 2014

[Weekender] ‘Joint efforts needed for data protection’

SK hynix Q2 net down 28% on rising cost of debts

SK hynix Inc., the world’s No. 2 memory chip maker, said Thursday its net profit tumbled 28.8 percent in the second quarter from a year ago due to the rising cost burden of its convertible bonds.Net profit came to 673.7 billion won ($657.96 million) in the April-June period, compared with 946.7 billion won on-year, the company said in its regulatory filing.Sales edged down 0.2 percent on-year to 3.92 trillion won in the second quarter, and operating profit fell 2.7 percent to 1.08 trillion won f

July 24, 2014

LG Electronics net profit jumps 164.8% in Q2

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics Inc.’s net profit jumped 164.8 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier on strong performance of its mobile communications division led by its flagship G3 smartphone, the company said Thursday.Net profit came to 411.8 billion won in the April-June period, rising from 155.5 billion won a year earlier, LG Electronics said in a regulatory filing. Revenue edged up 0.9 percent on-year to 15.3 trillion won, and operating profit also surged 26.5 percent t

July 24, 2014

Samsung SDS to increase global ICT market presence

Samsung SDS, a systems integration business arm of Samsung Group, aims to boost its presence in global markets based on its competitive edge in the information and communication technology solutions business. As the first step toward becoming a leading global ICT firm, Samsung SDS will put more focus on improving its capability to conduct overseas projects and developing high-value-added ICT solutions in a wide range of fields, such as health care, education and security, according to the compan

July 23, 2014

Samsung SDS to increase global ICT market presence

LG Display’s second-quarter net profit up 143.3%

LG Display Co. saw its net profit soar 143.3 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, as the rising price of TV panels overwhelmed sluggish sales of panels for smartphones and tablet PCs. Net profit reached 256 billion won ($250 million) in the second quarter, compared with 105.2 billion won on-year, LG Display said in a regulatory filing. The figure also marked a turnaround from a net loss of 81.9 billion won in the January-March period.Sales dropped 9 percent o

July 23, 2014

Google made failed bid for Spotify

Internet titan Google tried last year to buy streaming music service Spotify but backed off for reasons including a whopping price tag, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.The Journal cited an unnamed source as saying that Sweden-based Spotify was asking for more than $10 billion despite being valued about $4 billion in its latest round of equity funding.Spotify is the world’s leading service for streaming music on the Internet, claiming 40 million users in 56 countries as of May.While t

July 23, 2014

Microsoft CEO sees ‘bold’ plan as Q4 tops Wall Street

Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella painted an upbeat vision of the future Tuesday, saying that the next version of Windows will be unified across screens of all sizes and that two money-losing units ― Nokia phones and Bing search ― would become profitable in 2016.The agenda, announced Tuesday as Microsoft reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, helped boost the company’s shares, which added 52 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $45.35 in after-hours trading. Five months after

July 23, 2014

Uber, a threat or wakeup call to local cab industry?

Controversy over Uber’s car-booking services is spreading like wildfire here following Seoul City’s decision to team up with related government bodies including the Korea Communications Commission to keep the U.S. firm out of the local transportation market. The city government has said it would try to stop Uber’s operations in Seoul, claiming that the services are illegal. “Seoul City will push for stricter measures, including fines for more Uber drivers, in order to ban the illegal ride-sharin

July 22, 2014

Uber, a threat or wakeup call to local cab industry?

Hanwha to release wireless excavator controllers

Hanwha Group has teamed up with robotics researchers at Hanyang University to introduce the world’s first wireless control system for excavators this year. The tele-operation system, called the Ghost, consists of three parts ― a wireless foot pedal, lever and portable controller. It enables users to remotely operate the digger from a distance of up to 100 meters.The company has now inked a 1 billion won ($970,000) deal with a Singaporean company to supply the wireless excavator controllers.“Hanw

July 22, 2014

Hanwha to release wireless excavator controllers

SK hynix to be unharmed by Toshiba’s lawsuit: analysts

SK hynix, the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker, is unlikely to be affected by the billion-dollar lawsuit filed by Toshiba Corp., according to some analysts on Tuesday.“It will take a very long time to actually verify whether SK hynix sought profit by making products that stole Toshiba’s technology,” Byun Han-joon, an analyst at KB Investment & Securities, told Yonhap. “The process will take at least years, and it will not have an immediate impact on the company.”Yoo Eui-hyung, an analyst

July 22, 2014

Samsung to build TV plant in S. Africa

Beleaguered by the challenges posed by its Chinese rivals coupled with worsening profits, Samsung Electronics is making efforts to cut costs by expanding its overseas production lines. According to recent news reports, Samsung Electronics is planning to make a $375 million investment in the Dube TradePort special economic zone, located near the city of Durban, South Africa, to construct a TV plant. “We have worked with Samsung and they identified the Dube TradePort as a space to operate from,” t

July 21, 2014

Kakao leads sticker fad

Kakao Corp., the operator of Korea’s most-used mobile messenger Kakao Talk, is aiming to expand its character business based on its stickers ― emoticons going by the name of Kakao Friends ― used in chat services. Kakao, which sells a variety of character products from notebooks to dolls, has recently teamed up with baked-goods maker SHANY, an affiliate of SPC Group, to produce Kakao Friends Bread, featuring mobile characters including Muji, a yellow radish in a bunny costume, Apeach the peach, a

July 21, 2014

Samsung mobile division execs return part of bonuses

Executives of Samsung Electronics’ mobile division returned about one-fourth of the bonuses they received for the first half of this year after the unit posted lackluster second-quarter earnings on slow smartphone sales, industry sources said Friday. More than 100 executives in Samsung’s IT and mobile division reportedly returned a combined 3 billion won ($2.9 million) worth of their regular incentives, also known as the target achievement incentive.TAI is distributed every six months based on t

July 18, 2014

LG outpaces Samsung in UHD TV panel market in May

South Korea’s No. 2 tech giant LG Electronics Inc. has overtaken Samsung Display Co. in the global market for Ultra HD TV panels for the first time in May, data showed Friday, with Taiwan’s Innolux Corp. keeping its top position.LG took up 27.6 percent of the global UHD TV panel market in May, outdoing the 22.2 percent held by Samsung, the data compiled by market tracker DisplaySearch showed. In April, LG and Samsung held 22.9 percent and 23.4 percent.While Innolux has dominated the market with

July 18, 2014

Traditional Korean medicine industry struggles to expand

For many years in the past, Koreans would seek doctors of traditional Korean medicine for herbal medicine to boost their energy levels, or to get acupuncture treatment for chronic muscle pain.The industry, however, has been struggling to expand its business into the field of dermatology and fertility medicine. Many clinics have been offering cosmetic treatments for conditions such as wrinkles and acne.“We hope to overcome this perception that traditional Korean medicine is old and not scientific

July 17, 2014

Traditional Korean medicine industry struggles to expand

Deep sleep

Sleep is not just rest, but a very important process for performing mental and physical activities. Getting enough good-quality sleep is also necessary for maintaining mental and physical health. Chronic sleep deficiency or poor quality of sleep significantly increases the risk of depression, diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease.Human sleep consists of 20-25 percent REM (rapid eye movement) and 75-80 percent Non-REM sleep. During REM sleep, the eyes move rapidly and most people experienc

July 17, 2014

300 vials labeled flu, dengue found at U.S. lab

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The same U.S. government scientist who recently found forgotten samples of smallpox at a federal lab also uncovered over 300 additional vials, many bearing the names of highly contagious viruses and bacteria. The new revelations raise serious concerns about the government’s ability to secure its collections of potentially deadly pathogens.Food and Drug Administration officials said Wednesday the undocumented collection contained 327 carefully packaged vials, listing pathogens l

July 17, 2014

Fuji Xerox Korea promises more efficiency at the workplace

Fuji Xerox Korea, a leading document management firm, said Thursday it would make efforts to solidify its leadership in the document management services market. “Fuji Xerox Korea will continuously provide a better work environment for our customers and also make contributions to society,” said Ueno Yasuaki, chief executive of the company, at a press meeting marking the 40th anniversary of its entry into the Korean market.In line with the efforts, the company, which introduced the first color cop

July 17, 2014

CrucialTec to develop fingerprint solution for mobile banking

CrucialTec, a leading fingerprint solution developer, said Thursday that it would develop a fingerprint authentication solution to be featured on financial authentication certificates for online banking services in South Korea. Once the authentication solution is developed later this year, smartphone users would be able to use fingerprint identification when accessing mobile banking services on their smartphones, instead of the conventional password-based authentication process, which is deemed

July 17, 2014