Items tagged with south korea
Goodbye Windows, hello Linux! The South Korean government recently announced that they will be switching the operating systems of all of their computers from Windows to Linux. The South Korean government has relied on Windows 7 for several years and does not plan to transition to Windows 10. Unfortunately for many users, Microsoft announced they will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14th, 2020. Many companies and government institutions have held onto Windows 7 because of its stability, performance, and compatibility with older apps. Some businesses and organizations will be granted a slight extension, but many are moving on to other operating systems. Why is the South Korean government...
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South Korean carrier SK Telink is bringing a device back from the dead that Apple first introduced nearly a decade ago. That device is the iPhone 3GS and sales will kick off again at the end of the month. The reason that the carrier is resuming sales of these long out of production devices is a practical one. The carrier found a cache of unsold iPhone 3GS smartphones at a warehouse and plans to sell the devices new in the box with all the original accessories. The device will be dirt cheap and should be appealing to those wanting a cheap backup smartphone or a "throwaway" device for a kid. They will sell for 44,000 won, which is about $41 with no contract. Even though the phones are considered...
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Do you want Skynet, because this is how you get Skynet! The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a leading research university in South Korea, came under heavy fire this week from many leading researchers in the artificial intelligence (AI) field for its work with local defense contractor Hanwha Systems. The fear was that KAIST’s expertise in AI would be used to help Hanwha create autonomous "killer robots" that would be sent out into the battlefield. The pair is working on a "Research Center for the Convergence of National Defense and Artificial Intelligence" that will be housed on KAIST's campus. Anti-killer robots campaign from 2013 (Flickr: Global...
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It helps to have nerves of steel when investing in cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, which has seen some wild fluctuations over the year. Earlier this morning, for example, Bitcoin's value dived below the $12,000 mark, dropping 17 percent to a six-week low of $11,182.71. This recent slide comes after skyrocketing to more than $17,000 less than two weeks ago. A big reason for the dip is South Korea's hard stance on cryptocurrencies. In a radio program interview, South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon reiterated that "the shutdown of virtual currency exchanges is still one of the options." The remarks follow similar ones made last week when Justice Minister Park Sang-ki stated there existed...
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Bitcoin's value dropped to below $13,000 earlier today, sliding around 14 percent after South Korea's government announced plans to ban cryptocurrency trading altogether. While perhaps a knee-jerk reaction and a temporary blip in the long run, there is cause for some concern, as South Korea is a major global hub for the virtual coin market. As such, the plan to ban cryptocurrency trading in the region is a bit of a big deal. "There are great concerns regarding virtual currencies and the justice ministry is basically preparing a bill to ban cryptocurrency trading through exchanges," Justice Minister Park Sang-ki stated during a news conference. Bitcoin has fallen below $13,000 on CoinDesk's Price...
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Apple has found itself the target of a raid by South Korean authorities on the day before the iPhone X was due to launch in the country. Apple's headquarters in the country was raided, with investigators looking for information on Apple's business practices. South Korea isn’t known as the friendliest of countries when it comes to foreign companies in the smartphone realm. The raid is sure to have some wondering if the real goal here was to try and dampen the success of the iPhone X launch. That smartphone has been selling extremely well globally and will put pressure on South Korean-native firms Samsung and LG. Apple and the South Korean Fair Trade commission have a history of butting heads...
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An anonymous bidder laid out a cool $91K and change in an online auction to put an extra-special Iron Man Limited Edition Galaxy S6 Edge in their pocket, agreeing to pay 100 times the retail price for the device due to its 66 serial number (in China six is considered a lucky number, and thus 66 is doubly so). Yes, you read that right, and no, it is not the 1st of April, not in the U.S., China, or anywhere else today on our spinning blue rock. The JD.com auction for the devilishly cool Iron Man Limited Edition Galaxy S666 Edge comes just two weeks after another one of the Edge-y Tony Stark devices sold on eBay for the comparatively low price of $35,600. Specifically,...
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We first brought you news about Samsung’s Galaxy A7 smartphone earlier this month. The 5.5” Galaxy A7 represents the third model in Samsung’s new Galaxy A series (following the 4.5” A3 and 5” A5) and is Samsung’s thinnest smartphone to date at just 6.3mm thick. We have now learned that Samsung plans to officially announce the device in its home market of South Korea on January 14. According to Phone Arena, the Galaxy A5 will also be officially introduced in the South Korea on the same date; it’s been available in China since November. The Galaxy A7 actually packs in some pretty decent specs including a 64-bit Snapdragon 615 processor with 2GB of RAM and a 1080p display. You’ll also find a 13MP...
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Every once in a while, one of our beloved gadgets has some kind of meltdown and creates a major inconvenience. More rarely, one has a real meltdown and actually causes injury. That’s what allegedly happened to a South Korean man who was carrying a battery for a 2011 Samsung Galaxy Note. Reports show the hapless smartphone user ended up with burns to his leg when the battery caught fire in his pocket. It’s not clear whether the battery was the one that came with the Galaxy Note, or whether it was a third-party replacement battery. In any event, this is the second time that a South Korean has reported a Samsung smartphone battery catching fire. But although lithium-ion batteries have...
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Yahoo! has officially withdrawn from South Korea, as of today. The move is not a surprise, as Yahoo! announced in October that it would pull all business operations from the country by the end of the year. Yahoo!’s withdrawal marks a milestone in the turnaround plan of CEO Marissa Mayer. Yahoo! Corporate Offices. Image credit: Yahoo! Customer support and all Yahoo! services ended last night in South Korea. The company appears to be shedding hundreds of jobs in the process, though an accurate tally is unclear. The move reflects Yahoo!’s sharp market share decline in South Korea. Yahoo! was competing against homegrown services, such as Naver.com, Korea.net, and Daum.net. Google...
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Kids in South Korea really love their digital gadgets. That's probably true of children around the world, but in South Korea, handheld devices are creating a "digital addiction" for millions of young ones, even kids as young as 3 years old. Instant messaging on the go, high resolution gaming in the palm of your hand, and ubiquitous Internet access are all staples for smartphones and other mobile devices, creating a culture of digital communication and entertainment that didn't exist until relatively recently. South Korea's government estimates that some 2.55 million people are addicted to smartphones, using their devices for 8 hours a day, and sometimes more, Fox News reports. "I get nervous...
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South Korea is well known around the world as a country with absolutely outstanding Internet access. But that's fixed broadband. America's broadband ain't bad given the sheer size of the country, but there's definitely improvement to be made on the wireless side. Speaking of wireless (and South Korea), we know you're probably wondering how the nation stacks up there. Well, according to a new report, the country's top mobile carrier (SK Telecom) will be launching a radically fast 4G service this month to satisfy growing demand for high-speed access from smartphone and tablet owners. They're choosing LTE for the rollout, and it'll be available in Seoul soon and nationwide by 2013. South Korean...
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Broadband speed claims by ISPs are one thing, but it is real work results that are most significant. Thus, Royal Pingdom's report on the real-world state of the Internet, in terms of speed, drew our interest. Royal Pingdom used data from Akamai to come up with its results. The data is from Q2 2010 and represents averages speeds in the country. Here are some interesting data points: China is No. 1 in terms of number of Internet users, but No. 42 in terms of speed (860kbps) The U.S., creator of the Internet, is No. 2 among Internet users but No. 12 in speed (4.6Mbps) The top 3 in speed are all Asian: South Korea (16.63Mbps), Hong Kong (8.57Mbps), and Japan (8.03Mbps). South Korea has long been...
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We're a little rusty on our "old sayings," but we're pretty sure one of them goes: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." With seemingly everyone jumping into the E-reader game these days, we guess it was just a matter of time before the consumer electronics giant known as Samsung jumped into the ring. Following the likes of Amazon, Plastic Logic and BeBook, Samsung Electronics has now announced an E-Book Reader of its own over in South Korea. Initially, at least, the reader will be sold exclusively in the company's home nation, with content provided by a local bookstore chain. The SNE-50K will be priced at around 339,000 won in South Korea, which equates to right around $270 in US dollars. The device...
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