Brucellosis

Brucellosis is a highly infectious bacterial disease that can transfer from species to species and occurs across the world. It is most common along the Mediterranean Coast, Middle East, India and in central South America, but since the first reported cases of brucellosis in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in July 2002, the incidence has increased. The Infectious Diseases Prevention Act has named brucellosis a class 3 reportable disease, and bovine (cow) brucellosis is controlled as a class 2 infectious

June 27, 2013

Sunlight leads to better sleep

Sleep disorders have become a major health concern, as stress, irregular lifestyles and electronic gadgets hamper more Koreans from getting enough shut-eye. According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of patients with sleep disorders surged 60 percent from 384,910 in 2008 to 616,619 last year.The number of insomniacs increased across all age groups, except for those aged 19 and under, it added. Sleep disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, sleep deprivation and e

June 27, 2013

SK C&C eyes global smart card market

As the number of businesses around the world taking advantage of various mobile devices and applications increases, Korea’s leading IT service provider SK C&C announced that it planned to expand its business using smart card technology.SK C&C is expected to target the high demand for innovative mobile solutions especially within the financial industry ― envisioning a unified platform through which different mobile payment methods can be issued, securely authenticated and used by customers, all w

June 27, 2013

Kakao denies MAC address collection

Kakao, which runs mobile messenger “Kakao Talk,” said on Wednesday that its PC version does not gather MAC addresses, a type of hardware identification for computers. Rumors had spread among users that the company’s forthcoming PC version of Kakao Talk will collect sensitive information from users without prior consent. “Kakao does not collect MAC addresses,” a Kakao official told The Korea Herald. “We allow users to authenticate as many as five different PCs and the method is based on LAN cards

June 27, 2013

Virtual goods new opportunity for telecoms: KT chief

KT chairman Lee Suk-chae urged global telecommunications firms to swiftly jockey for the position in the virtual goods marketplace. Delivering a keynote speech at the Mobile Asia Expo 2013 in Shanghai on Wednesday, the head of the nation’s leading mobile carrier said there is no future if they only cling to services they are providing now.Telecoms should jump into the global market for distribution of virtual goods as early as possible to keep up with the fast-changing market trends, he added. A

June 26, 2013

SKT launches world’s fastest mobile network

Korea’s biggest mobile carrier SK Telecom announced on Wednesday that it had launched the first LTE-Advanced network in the world, with speeds twice as fast as the existing long-term evolution network.SKT has begun providing LTE-A service, becoming the first to commercialize among some 175 mobile carriers offering LTE networks in about 70 countries around the world, the company said. Twice as fast as the current LTE and 10 times faster than the 3G network, LTE-A makes it possible to download an

June 26, 2013

[Graphic News] Smartphone penetration rate

According to data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Korea had the highest level of smartphone ownership in the world last year backed by rising demand for the device and faster Internet networks.

June 25, 2013

Intel envisions ‘re-creation of laptops’

As the concept between a laptop and a tablet PC is becoming increasingly blurred by the constant innovation in technology, Intel Korea on Tuesday revealed its renewed strategy, which it said would best correspond with its vision of the “re-creation of laptops.”By teaming up with the renowned Korean illusionist and magician Lee Eun-gyeol this year, the world’s No. 1 semiconductor chipmaker expects to fundamentally change the concept of future computing, the company said. “Just as magic evolves ov

June 25, 2013

Galaxy S4 twice as fast as iPhone 5: report

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S4 is the fastest smartphone among the best-selling brands in the market, according to a test by U.K.’s watchdog released on Tuesday.The organization named ”Which?“ used a speed-testing system called Geekbench to evaluate the processing and memory speed of seven representative cell phone brands.Galaxy S4, ranked at the top, scored 3,188 points while Apple’s iPhone5 scored 1,664, ranking at the bottom with its score barely reaching half that of Samsung.“If a phone has

June 25, 2013

Kakao Talk collecting MAC address stirs controversy

Kakao Talk, the nation’s top mobile messenger, is generating controversy over its PC version, which collects the MAC addresses of users’ devices, according to IT sources on Tuesday.The beta version of the Kakao PC platform was released on June 20 and users can download and install the program on their desktops after going through a sign-up and authentication process. MAC, or media access control, is an alpha-numeric address assigned to each PC connected to the Internet. Collecting MAC address co

June 25, 2013

Samsung unveils Ativ Q, Galaxy S4 Mini in London

The Galaxy S4 Mini and the Ativ Q tablet were among the smartphones and tablet PCs that Samsung Electronics unveiled in London on Thursday, the company said. The main attraction was the new 13.3-inch convertible laptop Ativ Q with dual-booting technology allowing users to operate on both Windows 8 and Android 4.2.2 operating systems. Data can be synced and shared between the two, while the flexible hinge allows users to convert the Ativ Q from tablet mode to laptop mode and position the screen a

June 21, 2013