The inventory of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips has recently bounced back amid a continued slump in the global PC market, spawning concerns on chip price recovery, data showed Thursday.The DRAM inventory of global suppliers stood at 12.2 weeks in the third quarter of the year, compared with 10.4 weeks in the previous quarter, according to the data by IHS iSuppli.The increase, the first in four quarters, comes amid feeble demand for PCs that use DRAM chips as a key component.Despite

Dec. 27, 2012

PALO ALTO, California (AP) ― Engineer Dallas Goecker attends meetings, jokes with colleagues and roams the office building just like other employees at his company in Silicon Valley.But Goecker isn’t in California. He’s more than 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) away, working at home in Seymour, Indiana.It’s all made possible by the Beam ― a mobile video-conferencing machine that he can drive around his company’s offices and workshops in Palo Alto. The five-foot (1.5-meter)-tall device, topped wit

Dec. 26, 2012

It was no surprise that the state telecom watchdog on Monday handed business suspension penalties to the country’s three mobile carriers following their release of massive subsidies for smartphone purchases.The move had been widely expected as the subsidy war escalated in the latter half of this year, which left many early LTE handset buyers, who paid full price, complaining about the price fluctuations.The shipping prices of many LTE smartphones, which run on the fourth-generation communication

Dec. 26, 2012

  A wide range of smartphone applications can help make new year’s resolutions last longer, especially for popular health-related goals.For those who have decided to exercise more or lose weight in 2013, there are applications such as “RunKeeper” or “DietBet.” “RunKeeper” measures the running distance through GPS. It tracks not only the distance but also the speed and calculates the calories burned. “DietBet” offers a motivational tool with a four-week course designed to help users lose 4 percen

Dec. 26, 2012

Excessive eating and drinking disrupts the body‘s clock similar to jet lag, U.S. researchers say.Dr. Louis Ptacek of the University of California, San Francisco, who is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, said the protein PKC is critical in resetting the food clock if eating habits change.The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed normal laboratory mice given food only during their regular sleeping hours would adjust their food clock o

Dec. 26, 2012

Apple is developing a thinner, lighter fifth-generation iPad sharing some design points with the recently released iPad Mini, a Japanese tech blog is reporting.The Macotakara site also said Apple‘s next iPad Mini would feature the high-resolution Retina display many had expected on the first version, CNET reported Monday.The rumored next full-size iPad is another case of the accelerated product life cycle Apple seems to be favoring; the fourth-generation model was released last month, just eight

Dec. 25, 2012

Chinese companies are competitively releasing cheap replicas of the Lightning Cable, which is exclusively designed for Apple’s new devices including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.The Korea Herald confirmed on Monday that multiple Chinese online shopping malls are offering duplicated 8-pin Lightning Cables for about only $2 each, compared to Apple’s original Lightning Cables at $19 per unit.The discount is steeper if the cables are bought by wholesale outlets. Through Alibaba, one of the biggest onl

Dec. 24, 2012

Those who can‘t lose weight despite exercising and cutting back on high-calorie food may be drinking too many calories from beverages, a U.S. dietitian says.Kari Kooi, a registered dietitian at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, said the empty calories from alcohol can add up fast, and alcohol lowers inhibitions, meaning resistance to high-calorie foods becomes futile.“Reduce or cut out alcohol consumption,” Kooi said in a statement. “Increased alcohol consumption will lead to unwanted pounds an

Dec. 24, 2012

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer‘s snout has been immortalised in movies, books and song. But until now, no-one has offered a scientific explanation for the glow that allows the world’s most famous antlered herbivore to guide Santa‘s sleigh through the night before Christmas.In a study released Monday, researchers in the Netherlands and Norway used a hand-held microscope to examine the nasal lining of five healthy humans, two reindeer and a sixth person with a non-cancerous nasal growth.Reindeer n

Dec. 24, 2012

Kakao, the developer of mobile messenger app “Kakao Talk,” said Sunday that its now 70 million users spend almost triple the time using the app on average as they did five months ago. The average weekly use of Kakao Talk reached 302 minutes, nearly triple the 107 minutes of the first week of July. In other words, Kakao Talk users run the app for about 43 minutes every day on average. The phenomenon indicates that existing Kakao Talk users rely heavily on the app to send mobile messages, Kakao sa

Dec. 23, 2012

The Tungurahua volcano in central Ecuador keeps spewing gas, ash and red-hot rock, forcing hundreds to evacuate from their homes.The country’s Geophysical Institute says incandescent rock shot from the crater of the 5,023-meter high mountain fell about half (a kilometer) down its flanks. Explosions early Wednesday rattled windows 14 kilometers away, while rain-borne ash has been falling to the southwest of the crater.Regional emergency director Lourdes Mayorga says that about 100 families are st

Dec. 23, 2012

Patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes often gradually show symptoms of depression as their illness progresses.The link between diabetes and depression had long been suggested, but not proven, by scientists as far back as the 1680s when renowned English doctor Thomas Willis first stated the hypothesis.A team of Korean and American scientists, led by Dr. Lyoo In-kyoon of Ewha Brain Institute and Division of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Ewha Womans University, corroborated this thr

Dec. 23, 2012