South Korea’s leading mobile operator SK Telecom said Monday it would start providing cookstoves for Myanmar’s citizens to help improve environmental conditions under a partnership with the country’s government. This year, the company will supply a total of 54,000 energy-efficient cookstoves for households who live in dry areas of the country, helping to decrease the use of firewood and reducing about 106,000 tons of carbon emissions from cooking. The cookstoves will also improve the quality of

Industry June 4, 2018

Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong’s trip to Hong Kong raised questions Sunday among industry insiders over its significance, with some saying that he might be preparing for more governance restructuring to complete his succession.Lee left for Hong Kong on Thursday for meetings with global business partners, according to Samsung officials, although details of the meetings have not been disclosed yet. But industry insiders remained mixed in their assessments of his trip to the financial hub of Asia, citin

Technology June 3, 2018

Starting Friday, consumers will have an option to borrow new high-end smartphones with slightly lower monthly payments instead of buying one.SK Telecom, the country’s largest mobile operator by number of subscribers, said Thursday it will start renting out three latest smartphone series models -- Galaxy S9, iPhone 8 and iPhone X -- with lower monthly rental fees than installment payments for purchasing a new premium phone among the models. Named “T Rental,” the new program offers a 64-gigabyte S

Technology May 31, 2018

In Korea, English and mathematics are deemed crucial subjects for admission into renowned universities, and the three years in middle school are considered the most critical time for studying. Understanding such educational zeal, Samsung Electronics has been running the Dream Class program for middle schoolers from low-income families to provide them with English and math tutoring by university students since 2012. The program has so far taught around 65,000 middle school students, and 18,000 un

Industry May 30, 2018

Midsize home appliance maker Dayou Winia will start selling its products abroad by tapping into its affiliate Daewoo Electronics’ vast overseas network, according to the company on Tuesday. Flagship Dayou Winia products -- including the Proud refrigerator, Dimchae Cook rice cooker, kimchi fridge Petit and air conditioner Winia -- are now on sale at more than 100 retailers in the eastern and southern parts of China.  A Chinese consumer looks at Dimchae Cook by Dayou Winia on display at a shop in

Technology May 29, 2018

Samsung experts say 2018 QLED TV’s blacks may be different, but still Tech Brunch breaks down how complex technologies work. -- Ed.SUWON, Gyeonggi Province -- Can Samsung’s backlight-based QLED TVs offer blacks as deep as self-emissive OLED TVs? Jang Sung-hwan, principal engineer at the picture quality lab of Samsung Electronics’ visual display business, confidently says “yes” in response to the question, explaining that “the latest QLED TVs provide blacks with the best quality ever” in a recent

Technology May 29, 2018

Information and communication technology ministers of South Korea, Japan and China met for the first time in seven years in Tokyo to discuss ways to boost exchanges, officials said Monday.The trilateral meeting was the sixth of its kind, after the last one held in Malaysia in 2011.Since the creation of the ICT meeting among the three North East Asian countries in 2000, Korea has been seeking to hold the meeting annually, but Japan and China were not available for unknown reasons due to domestic

Technology May 28, 2018

SK Telecom said Friday it will participate in a government-led research project to develop an autonomous public transportation system. The mobile operator said it will take part in the project led by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure with an aim to develop a public transportation system based on self-driving technologies by 2021. Other participants of the project include Hyundai Motor Company and Seoul National University. The 35.9 billion won ($33.2 million) project aims to dev

Technology May 25, 2018

South Korean tech titan Samsung Electronics on Friday vowed to consider all options over a US verdict that ordered it to pay its rival Apple additional damages for design infringement, including seeking an appeal.　A jury of the US District Court in San Jose made a decision that Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for infringement of Apple’s design patents. “Today’s decision flies in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court ruling in favor of Samsung on the scope of design patent damages,

Technology May 25, 2018

PYEONGTAEK, Gyeonggi Province -- In a 10-cubic meter dead room levitating in a bigger cube space at the LG Digital Park, a microphone stand is set in front of an organic light-emitting diode TV to catch sweep signals of 121 sounds coming from the TV. The sound signals are represented as a linear graph on a computer monitor outside the dead room, which measures the balance of the sounds. “LG’s sound identity is to keep the original sound as much as possible, while providing adaptive sound automat

Technology May 24, 2018

SK Telecom said Wednesday it will form an alliance with four global map developers to launch a global standard high-definition map for autonomous driving. Dubbed the “OneMap Alliance,” SKT and HERE Technologies of Europe, NavInfo of China and Pioneer of Japan will co-develop the first global HD map for North America, Europe and Asia for autonomous car manufacturers and GPS service providers by 2020.  (Herald DB)The HD map is a digital representation of the road environment that utilizes visual a

Technology May 23, 2018

South Korean mobile operator KT has created a special task force to support inter-Korean economic cooperation and expand exchanges in information and communication technology, following the third summit between the two Koreas last month, according to the company on Wednesday. The task force is operating directly under the president of its corporate planning division in order to support the South Korean government’s joint economic projects with North Korea and prepare a comprehensive plan for sof

Technology May 23, 2018

It’s been five months since artificial intelligence has officially expanded its territory to TVs. But, few recognize the genuine role of AI in TVs, and are still confused about how AI TVs are different from existing smart TVs.Consumers could have a better understanding of AI TVs by looking at major features adopted by the latest lineup of new TVs by South Korean TV makers Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics for 2018.  AI on Samsung TV (Samsung Electronics)Both Samsung and LG launched new TV p

Technology May 22, 2018

Samsung Electronics will be unveiling its new technologies for foundry processes at global forums, presenting the company’s roadmap aimed at becoming the global top two foundry business after Taiwan’s TSMC, it said on Monday. The South Korean memory giant will hold the Samsung Foundry Forum in Santa Clara, California, on Tuesday, and other major cities for the next five months to announce its technological roadmap for chip customers and focus on expanding its presence in the global foundry marke

Technology May 21, 2018

Koo Bon-moo, chairman of South Korea’s fourth-largest conglomerate LG Group, died Sunday at the age of 73.He reportedly had two brain surgeries last year and was hospitalized due to side effects since early this year. His family refused life-sustaining treatment and decided to carry out a simple and private funeral, in accordance to the wishes of the deceased, company officials said.“Seize opportunities to grow amid changes and build foundations for permanency overcoming the crisis.” This was th

Industry May 20, 2018