The unveiling of California-based Apple’s first smart watch, the Apple Watch, on Monday has spurred mixed market reactions with some saying the digital wristwatch failed to meet expectations while others said the wearable would create an ecosystem for smart watches. One thing for sure, according to many market analysts, is that competition will shift from mobile users’ hands to their wrists at a faster pace.Strategy Analytics forecast that global smartwatch shipments would grow around 510 percen

Technology March 11, 2015

Many of Microsoft products and services, such as motion tracker Kinect and search engine Bing, share common ground as they are embedded with technologies developed by the firm’s research labs worldwide, which the firm called “the research empire on which the sun never sets.” In South Korea, Microsoft has also been pouring resources into supporting researchers in a variety of fields ranging from information technology to medical science for the past decade.Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of t

Technology March 10, 2015

Han Sang-bum, the chief executive of LG Display, was appointed on Monday to head the Korea Display Industry Association, a group for display businesses in Korea. The KDIA announced Han’s nomination at a general meeting held earlier in the day in Seoul, where it also unveiled its results of projects in 2014 and business plans for this year.  Han Sang-bum. (KDIA)“Amid fierce competition in the global display industry, I feel responsible as well as challenged to lead the association,” said the LG D

Industry March 9, 2015

BARCELONA, Spain ― Aside from running a social networking and mobile messaging service, Facebook is also a crusader of the Internet, encouraging Web firms, mobile carriers and device-makers to join an initiative to help bring the world, especially less-connected nations, online.A top official from Facebook said that handset-makers including Samsung Electronics deserve credit for the accomplishments so far in boosting the use of Internet around the world.“Handset manufacturers like Samsung play a

Technology March 5, 2015

BARCELONA, Spain ― With early reviews gushing over Samsung’s new flagship smartphone Galaxy S6 and its Edge variant, keen attention is being paid to the novel curved display that is rounded on both sides. The curved design allows users to see alerts illuminating off a flat surface, even when the device is screen-side down. Users can also color-code specific contacts to know who is calling or texting by how the notifications flash. Opinions are still mixed about the functionality of the “dual-edg

Technology March 4, 2015

BARCELONA, Spain ― CrucialTec, one of the world’s leading fingerprint sensor makers, is attracting attention at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the world’s largest mobile and communications trade show.“Since there are few biometric module makers competent enough to integrate solutions, hardware and packaging technology into fingerprint modules, many device-makers and some fingerprint sensor suppliers visit the company’s booth to discuss business collaboration,” CrucialTec CEO Char

Technology March 3, 2015

BARCELONA, Spain ― Samsung Electronics, largely buoyed by a positive response to the dual-edge display of its new Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone, is considering adopting the unique styling to its other high-end models. The Korean tech giant unveiled the Galaxy S6 and its Edge variant on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, the telecom industry’s largest gathering of the year that runs through Thursday in the Catalan capital.The Edge, whose curved display wraps around the sides of the device, is espe

Technology March 3, 2015

BARCELONA, Spain -- Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker by sales, finally unveiled its new flagship smartphones -- the S6 and its variant S6 edge -- in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday, a day before the official kick-off of the Mobile World Congress, a global mobile and telecommunications trade show.Shin Jong-Kyun, the chief executive of Samsung Electronics’ mobile business unit, delivers a keynote speech at the tech giant’s annual Unpacked event in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday. (Sa

Technology March 2, 2015

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker, said Thursday that it has started mass production of an advanced storage memory chip for smartphones called universal flash storage memory.UFS memory chips, which comes in three storage capacities of 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB, has double the capacity of current internal flash memory chips used in smartphones. Samsung’s new 128 GB universal flash storage memory chips. (Samsung Electronics)“The increased smartphone storage thanks to the UFS

Technology Feb. 26, 2015

Tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday that it would unveil the world’s first Long Term Evolution-support smart watch at a mobile trade show next week, upping the ante against rivals Samsung and Apple.LG’s new standalone G Watch Urbane, to be showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona March 2-5, enables users to make calls on the Voice over LTE networks, which is currently available on LTE-based smartphones. LG Electronics’ G Watch Unbane, the world’s first smart watch that supports Vo

Technology Feb. 26, 2015

Charles Ahn, the chief executive of fingerprint module maker CrucialTec, is certain that his firm’s business will grow exponentially this year. He certainly had reasons to be confident during his interview with The Korea Herald earlier this month. Charles Ahn, the chief executive of biometric sensor developer CrucialTec. (CrucialTec)The Korean fingerprint module producer is anticipated to achieve a turnaround after suffering from three consecutive annual losses, and more than 10 business project

Technology Feb. 25, 2015

SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest mobile carrier, said Wednesday it has successfully demonstrated a faster data transmission technology which utilizes existing bands for Long Term Evolution. The Korean telecom firm used the 4X4 Multiple-Input Multiple-Output technology developed by Nokia Networks and carrier aggregation which combine different bands to realize a 600 Mbps data transmission rate.The 4X4 MIMO utilizes four transmitting antennas and four receiving antennas for communication between

Technology Feb. 25, 2015