KT gets iPhone Exclusivity in South Korea

KT have been given the iPhone exclusivity in South Korea, this is just the latest Asian country to get the Apple smartphone. KT will begin offering the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 3GS on November 28, they will also be offering the old iPhone 3G as well. Read more

IPhone cleared in South Korea: LG and Samsung’s Competition

Apple will now be allowed to sell their iPhone in South Korea, as authorities have now cleared the iPhone for sale. This is seen as a huge gift for Apple, as they will now be able to bring some competition to South Korea’s LG and Samsung. Read more

Samsung Omnia 2: Verizon Wireless makes changes

When Samsung launched its Omnia 2 handsets, we assumed that when it was released to other networks, they would all look the same. However, Verizon have always wanted to be different, so have made changes to the design of the phone. Read more

New Samsung Slider Phones: W8400 and W8700

Samsung have announced the launch of two new slider phones to the Korean market, these are the W8400 and W8700 Honey Bubble. These are mid-range handsets but still have a hefty price tag, these cell phones will be made available on the KT network. Read more

Hyundai Profits Increase by 48% in Second Quarter

Hyundai have announced that its second quarter net profits have increased by 48%, this record increase has been helped by shareholding gains from affiliates in India and China, as well as tax incentives, which helps to increase domestic sales. Read more

U.S. Cyber Attacks: Appears to be a MyDoom variant

According to a recent article from Information Week, the recent Malware attacks that targeted Web sites of U.S. government, including The White House the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security all looks as though they were a MyDoom variant. Read more

Pantech’s WPP-8000 in Korea: WiFi-enabled phone

Pantech is not the most well known cell phone maker in Korea, that is left to the likes of LG (066570) and Samsung (005930), but that still does not stop them trying to offer its customers some nice handsets. The WPP-8000 is Pantech’s first Wi-Fi enabled phone.

The new phone has been launched via LG Dacom, this is one of the largest high-speed Internet, voice and data services providers in South Korea. The WPP-8000 is not like most handsets that use GSM or CDMA, this handset uses LG Dacom’s myLG070 service.

This service gives user’s access to the Internet via a wireless LAN connection (called iHub), users will be able to retrieve information on news, stock and weather information, all at no extra cost. Do not expect much from the Pantech WPP-8000, as the screen is small and the features are not going to blow your mind.

This phone looks like one of Nokia’s (NOK) old handsets from 5 years ago, but maybe a simple design is what people still like.

Source

iriver announce P35 PMP: Personal Media Player Specs

Whenever a new iRiver is launched, it seems to get a lot of media attention and this latest PMP is no different. The P35 personal media player shows us one thing, iriver are showing its design skills off once again, and the interface is much approved over recent PMPs. Read more

New Hyundai Genesis Coupe: looking awesome in commercial

It seems like so long ago since we first laid our eyes on the awesome looking new Hyundai Genesis Coupe, at the New York Auto Show earlier this year. When watching the stunt drivers doing their stuff as well as indoor drifts, it made us all what to get in on the action. Read more

BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational: who will win?

It is that time of year again where gamers make their way to BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational. BlizzCon have invited some of the world’s best players of Starcraft to Anaheim, where they will battle their wits against each other. Read more

GNGWC 2008 and representatives of east-south Asia

Representatives from each country for a global game competition, GNGWC 2008, have been selected for the past few weeks and some countries are still having preliminaries. On September 6, Southeast Asian representatives have been selected for Atlantica, ShotOnline and Navy Field in a preliminary round held in Polytech University, Singapore Read more

Diablo 3 is Coming: Blizzard splash screen and fans connection

All Blizzard fans can think about is rumors that Diablo 3 will be announced this weekend, the reason for such rumors is on the Blizzard home page. It seems that they keep changing their Splash Screen. This weekend sees the starts of Blizzard’s 2008 Worldwide Invitational, which is being kicked off in Paris, France; it is assumed that they will host the official unveiling of Diablo III.

As yet there is no official information on this, so why does 1Up believe that this will happen. Well they have mentioned how Starcraft II was unveiled at the Invitational in Seoul, South Korea last year, and it is with that evidence that Diablo 3 could be unveiled this weekend. 1Up, believes in this so much that they have decided to give us five reasons why they assume that Diablo III will launch at the weekend.

Firstly we have that Blizzard teaser splash screen image, many thought that is was most likely for Wrath of the Lich King, it seems that there is no conclusive proof that it is for that game. DiabloFans has been doing a spot of detective work, and they have discovered a number of interesting facts. When you look closely at the image that was visible in the ice, you could clearly make out a ruin that resembled a Hel Rune from Diablo II.

However it seems that there was yet another update to the image yesterday, and you can make out a rune resembling the Akilae Tribe symbol from Starcraft II. It seems that Blizzard is really playing with our heads right now. It seems that there will be a couple more runs showing up today and Friday, so expect to be confused further.

So do you think that Diablo 3 will show up at Blizzard’s 2008 over the weekend?

GNGWC 2008: Game and Game World Championship starts in Europe

The international game contest, GNGWC, sponsored by KIPA, has been held for 3 years for the purpose of globalization of Korean online games. In this year, 4 Korean games, including ShotOnline (by OnNet), Atlantica (by NDoors), SilkroadOnline (by JoyMax), and Navy Field (by SDEnternet), have been chosen for official games. The online preliminary contests will start in July, the local final contests will be in 6 countries all around the world, and the final match will be in Korea in November.

GNGWC has become a source to find out great online games developed by medium or small sized Korean game companies, and to help them distribute the products to overseas by their own capacities in the short period of time.

Korea was the number one in the online game industries on the basis of world class IT infrastructures and game developments. But other countries such as China getting into the business lately have been improved rapidly, and Korea’s overseas marketing with licensing through local publishers has met the limitation causing its market decrease. At this moment, KIPA’s GNGWC has become the window for Korean game companies to prove their superior products internationally.

KIPA and its official sponsor KT Corporation (CEO: Jungsu NAM) established base servers in 6 different countries considering their online infrastructures in order to support localization and marketing of the games for GNGWC. This year in GNGWC, based on the administration know-how regarding international game contests, contests will be held in 6 countries, which is one more country compared to last year.

In GNGWC 2007, about 120 gamers through online preliminary contests and the local final contests all around the world competed. The official games of last year such as Lunia (by Allm), BombNDash (by Innodis), and Navy Field (by SDEnternet) have been contracted for overseas services through GNGWC 2007. As a result, those companies reached significant marketing achievements, i.e. increasing the number of new users, etc.

GNGWC 2008 will start with online preliminary contests in July, with subsequent local final contests in Europe (Leipzig, Germany), Southeast Asia (Singapore), North America (San Francisco, U.S.A.), Korea (Yongin), South America (Sang Paulo, Brazil), and Japan (Tokyo), and the final contest will be in Korea in November.

Taekmin KWON from the Digital Contents Business Group of KIPA said “Korean online game industries are currently depressed, and we need the entry for global market as soon as possible. And GNGWC will be the suitable marketing means”, and added “We will try to foster the domestic e-sports contests using foreign games for professional gamers, will try to encourage public users with Korean online games through the GNGWC.”

For more information about the GNGWC, please refer to the official KIPA website.

Verizon Business bringing Europe and India together with Undersea Cable System

Verizon Business Tuesday (May 6) joined a consortium of 16 companies building a next-generation undersea optical cable system connecting Europe, the Middle East and India.

The new system, named the Europe India Gateway (EIG), is the third major submarine cable project Verizon Business has helped launch in the last four years and continues the company’s global network leadership in delivering more capacity, reliability and speed for the data, video and voice services of its multinational customers.

The 15,000-kilometer (9,000-mile) cable network system, expected to be completed in 2010, will connect three continents at a cost of more than $700 million (U.S.). It will have a design capacity of up to 3.84 terabits per second (Tbps).

“This new cable system will provide not only a second, diverse route from India to Europe, but also direct access to our network in Europe,” said Ihab Tarazi, Verizon Business vice president of global network planning. “Combined with our other network capabilities, we will offer our customers reduced latency (the time it takes data sent from its entry point in the network to reach its destination), reduced provisioning time and increased reliability.”

Verizon Business is a leader in developing undersea cable systems. The company is the only U.S.-based founding member of the Trans-Pacific Express Cable, which will provide the first high-speed direct link between the U.S. and mainland China when activated in July. Verizon Business also is the only founding U.S. partner in an existing Southeast Asia-to-Europe (via the Indian subcontinent) submarine cable called SEA-ME-WE-4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4).

The EIG will give Verizon Business customers a second, diverse landing in France. As with SEA-ME-WE-4, Verizon Business will operate a landing station in Marseilles that will connect directly with the company’s recently expanded ultra-long-haul network in Europe.

With the addition of the EIG, Verizon Business also plans to extend its industry-leading global mesh architecture to the Middle East and India. Meshing is network design that connects undersea cable systems on land, allowing for instantaneous rerouting of traffic in the event of multiple undersea cable breaks. Currently, the company operates a seven-way diverse mesh network between the U.S. and Europe and five-way diversity between the U.S. and Japan, with expansion to seven-way diversity to Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan planned for the second half of 2008.

Verizon Business continues to expand its partnerships and presence in the Middle East and India. Verizon Business earlier this year received licenses for international and national long-distance services in India and will offer a full range of services including international private-leased circuits with multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and Internet protocol (IP) services. The company already holds an Internet service provider license in India.

“As the world’s leading companies grow their presence in emerging market regions, they know they can rely on our leading global network to support their critical business applications,” said Tarazi. “Wherever they do business in the world, our customers know they can count on us to use our outstanding network capabilities to deliver business solutions.”

Verizon Business owns and operates a global fiber-optic network that spans six continents and has more than 485,000 route miles delivering services to customers in more than 150 countries and 2,700 cities throughout the world. The company is involved in more than 67 submarine cables worldwide.

Source - Verizon

Ford’s Microsoft Sync-like technology: going to KIA & Hyundai

Microsoft has teamed up to bring what they call a “music and information system” to Hyundai and KIA cars sold in North America by 2010, now this sort of technology has been exclusive to Ford in the past with their Sync gadget, although it’s not being called Sync (it sure sounds similar).

Microsoft and Hyundai Motor Group have setup the Automotive IT Innovation Center, with Hyundai Motor Group adding $166 million and Microsoft investing $113 million to this project. Bill Gates has personally met the South Korean President to talk about the level of involvement from companies in his country. We also hear that Gates will be signing the agreement with Hyundai in Seoul. While the first product to be released in this partnership is a “voice-controlled system linking mobile devices to car stereo systems”, we also hear that in the near future, other products will be released that has multimedia and navigation features.

The first product will also feature remote firmware updates and this makes things so much easier, and less costly for manufactures. The real question here, is how comes Hyundai needs Microsoft for getting music into cars, when iPods and iPhones can be added very easily or are we missing something?

Source: Read | Via

Li-on Batteries Update: LG Chem fire loses Asus Eee PC sales

Back in March we reported that a South Korea fire at LG Chem had caused a laptop battery shortage, this was already affecting Asus, HP and Dell. Today we are hearing that Li-on Batteries will be back to normal supply by Q3 of this year, although the fire could not come at a worse time because the demand for laptops has soared this year. It was only a few years ago that I tried to buy a laptop that could play games, there was no real choice but today many laptops are as powerful as desktop computers and gaming is easily achieved on the move.

Why do you want a big bulky computer when you can have a nice smaller, more portable computer in the form of a laptop? This is why the Asus Eee PC has become so popular, as it has price and portability just right. The CEO of Asus, Jerry Shen, said that the Eee PCs could have sold a lot more than the 5 million units they achieved if there was not a shortage in supply of batteries.

Sung Fu-hsang, chairman of Simplo (world’s largest independent notebook battery maker), said on Friday that “The LG Chem problem has had a big impact on supplies, but we’re working with customers and they understand”.

The real problem will be for the smaller companies that make laptops, as the big companies will be looked after first.

Have you been affected by the laptop battery shortage?

Source: Read

LG show us a glimpse of their new slim Black Label 5 megapixel phone

LG have decided to show of their third Black Label cell phone, the handset as yet does not have a model name or number. The handset does not looks the sexiest on the market, but this slim handset comes with a host of great technical features that more than make up for it.

This slider phone comes with a 5 megapixel camera, and wants to become the slimmest slider, taking that crown for the Samsung G600. The screen has been reinforced with the casing being made from carbon fiber for looks and for strength.

The new LG Black Label will be available in Europe first and will hit South Korea later this year.

Source – T3 via Phones Review

South Korea fire causes laptop battery shortage: Asus, HP and Dell affected already

So when you hear about a South Korea fire you may read the news and think “well its miles away and does not affect me”, but this will not be the case for many computer users. The fire was at LG Chem’s Ochang laptop battery plant and this has now caused a laptop battery shortage, which has already affected Asus, HP and Dell.

The situation could get much worse as there is a rumor that customers could end up with a price hike for replacement batteries, and while Dell will not say how much this is affecting laptops they did comment by saying they are talking with other suppliers to source more batteries. The Ochang plant will start production again in around 2 or 3 months. Do you think you will be affected?

Source: Read

Last 30 News & Products: 03-27-2008

Samsung AnyCall Haptic SCH-W420 Touchscreen: 22 different feedbacks

When it comes to Touchscreen phones, Apple and LG are at the top of the market, However it seems that Samsung want a piece of the action, which is why they are releasing the AnyCall Haptic SCH-W420. Samsung have worked hard to try and make this touchscreen stand out against many of the other cell phones on the market.

So what have Samsung done to make this Touchscreen so special, well they have added a vibrating facility that has 22 different feedback settings. IS it me or does that feature just seem like a waste of time.

So if you are using the Samsung AnyCall Haptic SCH-W420 to dial a number that could have a different feedback setting to when you are sending a text message. The phone will be released in South Korea next month.

Source – Samsung via Slippery Brick

Next Page »