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Urbanista’s Seoul earbuds include a low-latency mode for gaming
Urbanista's new Seoul earbuds feature a gaming mode that reduces Bluetooth latency down to 70ms.
Seoul will turn off workers' PCs to curb excessive overtime
South Korea has a serious problem with overtime. A typical government worker puts in 1,000 more hours per year than their equivalents in other countries, which could easily affect their long-term health. Seoul's Metropolitan Government may have a simple technology-based solution, however: force workers' computers to shut down. It's launching an initiative that turns off all PCs by a set hour, giving staff little choice but to head outside.
Crytek is closing studios and paying employees late again
Crytek, the developer behind the technically impressive CryEngine toolset, and most recently Robinson: The Journey, is laying off employees and closing studios. Workers' paychecks have reportedly been extremely slow to arrive as well. No, you aren't imagining things -- the company faced similar circumstances a few years ago. But the bloodletting appears much worse this time out: All of the company's studios will be shuttered but two.
South Korea hopes traffic signs will cut phone distractions
Cities have tried a number of exotic solutions to get phone-toting pedestrians to focus on where they're going (or at least, out of the way). However, Seoul thinks there's a simpler answer: traffic signs. The South Korean capital is testing signs that warn smartphone owners in five accident-prone areas (such as City Hall or Gangnam Station) about the perils of distracted walking. In theory, those periodic reminders will have you looking up more often and spare you from smacking into a car.
PSY is finally getting the monument he deserves in Seoul
PSY's "Gangnam Style" is so recognizable, the second it starts to play people know what to do. To commemorate the track that broke YouTube's view counter, the Gangnam District Office announced that it will be erecting a statue in PSY's honor because, why the hell not? The structure will be two interlocking wrists symbolic of the song's horse-riding dance move and will contain sensors in it that will trigger Gangnam Style to play when you're standing under it. It will be built in the eponymous upscale Seoul district, so if you're ever in the area make sure you stop by and check out a ridiculous statue commemorating an even more ridiculous tune.
Uber offices raided by police in France and South Korea
Uber is under seige on two separate fronts today, as police in South Korea have arrested a pair of its executives, according to ZDNet. At the same time, Le Monde is reporting that French Police have raided Uber's offices in Paris. In Korea, the situation is a bit more serious: Seoul police charged the company's brand manager, other employees and drivers for allegedly breaking the nation's transport laws. The city previously declared that Uber's services are illegal and vowed to ban it, going so far as to issue a warrant for CEO Travis Kalanick and offer rewards to anyone who reported on it. The company is also being probed over claims it failed to register its car-hailing app with South Korea's wireless regulator. It's not clear what kind of charges the employees face.
Uber's CEO is now a wanted man in South Korea
2014's been a year to forget for Travis Kalanick, but since there's still a week to go before 2015, there's one more nasty surprise waiting for him. South Korea has indicted Uber's CEO on charges of operating an illegal taxi service in the country, which could see him slapped with an $18,000 fine, or two years in jail. According to Yonhap News, Uber, along with its rental agency, MK Korea, has broken local laws specifically preventing car-rental businesses from operating as a passenger-transport service.
Water-powered phone chargers are coming to downtown Seoul
Unless you've made a habit of carrying around a solar charger, topping off your phone outdoors can be a bit of a challenge. Well, unless you're living in South Korea. The city of Seoul just announced that it's building a series of outdoor recharging stations along the Cheonggyecheon, a manmade stream in the city's downtown area. The chargers won't draw from the city's power grid, however -- they'll draw current from a collection of hydroelectric turbines embedded in the stream. The project's developer says the stations will be able to fully charge most devices in 2-3 hours. If the five stations currently in production turn out to be a hit, the city says it will consider expanding the network. See? Low battery life is no excuse for avoiding the great outdoors. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Seoul plans to ban Uber and introduce its own GPS-based app for taxis
Uber may win some and lose some, but the battles rage on in cities where it operates. Seoul, Korea has now indicated that it would outright ban Uber, calling it illegal and harmful to taxi drivers. Uber operates its UberBLACK service there to connect professional chauffeurs to passengers via its app. That differs from UberX, UberPOP or Lyft -- the services that have faced the most bans and protests -- since those mostly use non-professional drivers. Seoul's city council called Uber an illegal threat to traditional cabs, since its drivers didn't have the usual insurance and safety controls. However, Uber told the WSJ that the city council's comments "show Seoul is in danger of remaining trapped in the past and getting left behind by the global 'sharing economy' movement." Despite that, the city must feel Uber is doing something right -- it said that it would soon launch its own, Uber-like geo-location app to connect regular taxis to passengers.
Google's Eric Schmidt slams patent wars, still has nice things to say about Apple and Samsung
Eric Schmidt's recent trip to Seoul wasn't all spontaneous Gangnam dancing. Google's former-CEO / current executive chair had a lot to say during the Korean launch of the company's Nexus 7 tablet, bemoaning the patent wars that have ensnarled the industry, telling the crowd, "literally patent wars prevent choice, prevent innovation and I think that is very bad. We are obviously working through that and trying to make sure we stay on the right side of these issues." The war for marketshare ought to be fought with the release of better products, rather legal maneuvering, according to the executive. But in spite of Apple's role in the battle -- and the company's decision to go it alone on products like its troubled Maps app -- Schmidt still had kind words for Cupertino, calling the company "a very good partner," and adding that the, "two companies are literally talking all the time about everything." The exec also told the crowd that he'd be meeting with Samsung, one of the company's "most important partners," during the trip, "as I do every time I come here."
Samsung gets green-light for $822 million R&D HQ in Korea
Samsung has received permission from local authorities to erect a 330,000 square meter, 10-storey high research and development center in Umyeon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul. The facility, which broke ground last week, is expected to cost around 1 trillion won ($822 million) and will house around 10,000 employees. The company's expecting to be able to move in by May 2015, so remember to buy a plant to take to the housewarming party.
Electronic skin lets machines sense water droplets and heartbeats, wonder why they were programmed to feel
A team of researchers at South Korea's Seoul National University have been busy developing biologically-inspired electronic skin that is capable of "feeling" subtle stimulus such as bouncing water droplets and human heartbeats. The skin's surface is covered in two interlocked arrays of 50-nanometre-wide polymeric nanofibres that act like hairs on the surface of the skin, coming in contact with one another under the strain of external force. That contact then generates a current to help the skin gauge the changes in pressure, according to New Scientist. The creators of the flexible skin say that sensor response can be repeated up to 10,000 cycles, displaying their output on a computer in real-time.
HTC shuts Seoul office, leaves Korea to the Koreans
Having already pulled out of Brazil and shut down a research building in North Carolina, HTC has now closed its office in the South Korean capital of Seoul. The move is part of the Taiwanese manufacturer's efforts to "streamline operations" and focus on selling One-branded handsets in markets where it stands a better chance of success -- rather like Nokia's geographic retreat following its commitment to Windows Phone, but here on a much smaller scale. It's not yet clear how many jobs will be lost, but HTC says it regrets the "direct impact on people who have contributed to the growth HTC has experienced in the past several years." As it stands, analysts reckon that Korean manufacturers like Samsung, LG and Pantech rule a 90 percent share of their home market, leaving HTC with just one or two points that evidently weren't worth clinging onto.
Korean government raids Blizzard over alleged Diablo III wrongdoing
Blizzard is on the hot seat as the Korean Fair Trade Commission raided the studio's Seoul office to gather evidence as to whether or not Blizzard violated the country's law. The FTC performed the raid due to allegations that Blizzard is refusing to refund players who purchased and were attempting to return Diablo III. Dissatisfied customers who couldn't log into the game were denied a full refund by Blizzard, which said that it was under no obligation to do so under the game's contract. The studio claims that it has a strict policy of "no refunds" in the country if a product is used. The players turned to the FTC for help, and the commission responded by launching an investigation. The investigation will sort through the seized documents and evidence to see if there is a possible violation of Korea's electronic commerce and commercial contracts law. The FTC confirmed that it had received "many complaints" from Diablo III players but did not comment further on the investigation. Blizzard has since vowed to increase server capacity but is not budging on the refunds.
Samsung considering Android-based digital camera
Android on a mainstream digital camera? Yes, you could live to see the day. We're at Samsung's Korean headquarters this week, where we had an opportunity to sit down with the company's research and development team to talk about the past, present and future of digital imaging. One interesting bit of discussion: Samsung is considering an "open" camera operating system. It's still early days and nothing is confirmed but, given the company's support for Android on other platforms, that OS would be a logical choice. What we know is that Samsung R&D has been researching bringing Android to its digital cameras -- a move that would be far from shocking, considering that development teams do tend to collaborate, and the company clearly has experience with the Google OS. And while there are likely to be such open OS prototypes buried deep within Sammy HQ, they're mere experiments at this point -- at least from a production perspective.What exactly would an OS like Android mean for digital camera users? It could be a major breakthrough from a usability standpoint, opening up the in-camera ecosystem to third-party developers. We could see Twitter and Facebook apps that let you not only publish your photos directly with a familiar interface, but also see photos shared by your friends. A capacitive touchscreen would let you type in comments directly as well. You could publish to web-based services, utilize apps that enable post-capture creativity or receive firmware updates directly over WiFi. That hotshoe or USB port could accommodate a variety of different accessories, like a microphone or 4G modem that could be used with several models, including those from other manufacturers. While there's nothing making Android integration impossible from a technical standpoint, there are obvious disadvantages as well -- especially for camera makers. Stability would become an issue -- your camera could need a reboot just as often as your smartphone -- and such a powerful imaging device could theoretically cannibalize tablets and smartphones, though on a limited scale. Sadly this is merely educated speculation at this point, pending a product announcement from Samsung, though we wouldn't be surprised to see it come to fruition -- perhaps even before the next CES.Update: Samsung reached out to us asking to clarify that this is simply something under consideration; nothing is confirmed yet. We've updated the post above to match.
Samsung Galaxy Player 70 Dual Core hands-on (video)
Everything Samsung seems to be just a touch better in Seoul, and the South Korean giant's Galaxy Player 70 is no exception. For starters, it ships with a dual-core 1GHz processor -- a first for the WiFi-only Galaxy Player series. The 5-inch capacitive-touch LCD offers 800 x 480-pixel resolution, and can display whatever the Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS throws its way, but it also packs a unique Korea-only punch: a DMB TV tuner, for pulling in terrestrial programming only available in Samsung's home country. There's also a requisite 8-inch retractable antenna, in addition to the standard micro-USB port, microSD card slot, headphone jack, built-in mic and stereo speakers around back. Like most Samsung portables, it's also photo friendly, with a 5-megapixel camera with flash on the rear and a VGA cam up front. The 2500mAh battery isn't easily swappable, unfortunately, since the PMP's backplate is screwed to the housing.Considering that the Player is only going to be available for purchase in Korea, the only opportunity to go hands-on at this point is at Samsung HQ, which we just happen to be visiting this week. We spent some time with the device today, and while there's no chance of this iteration ever making an appearance on U.S. shores, we certainly wouldn't mind if it did. The plastic housing has the same look and feel as most other Galaxy devices, so there were no surprises there. It does bear a striking resemblance to the Galaxy S II, though the LCD here doesn't offer contrast or color reproduction that's anywhere close to the Super AMOLED Plus display on that record-breaking smartphone. Navigating the TouchWiz interface felt snappy, as it should given the processing duo on board, and the DMB television viewer worked flawlessly -- at least once we had a chance to take it away from the rumored-frequency-jamming R&D facility. Join us past the break for a closer look at the Galaxy Player 70 -- for those of you living outside of Korea, this may very well be your only chance.
Samsung drops plan to file Apple suit in Korea, will battle in 'the global market' instead
A Samsung executive revealed to Korean Newspaper The Chosun Ilbo today that it will drop its plans to pursue Apple for patent violations in Korea, instead focusing efforts on cases overseas. The anonymous exec cited performance in his company's home country, saying "we concluded that we should engage in legal battles with Apple only in the global market, but not in order to gain more market share in Korea." The move seems logical given the company's existing share, and will allow Samsung to maintain a positive image at home, where it dominates in categories ranging from televisions to refrigerators. So Apple may be in the clear in Sammyland, but the battle will likely continue beyond Korean shores for some time to come.
The Dragon roars: Funcom spies on The Secret World's most mysterious faction
We don't care if you have the eye of the tiger -- this is the Week of the Dragon, darn it, and you're going to give respect to it or it will roast your noggin right off your neck! As part of the focus on The Secret World's least-understood faction, Funcom's released a quartet of artwork pieces to help give us an insight into the organization. Perhaps the most eye-catching are the Mute Monks, an ancient order of scary-looking muscle men who have sewn their lips shut and baptized their bodies with tattoos. These monks are the recruiting arm of the Dragon, but are by no means the only members players will encounter. The other pieces of concept art show off a temporary Dragon headquarters, a bang (cyber-cafe) that's a front for the group, and a possible outfit for a Dragon agent in the field. What are you waiting for? Check them all out in the gallery below! %Gallery-72395%
Google's South Korean offices raided over alleged antitrust violations
Google's South Korea offices have been raided once again -- this time, over alleged antitrust violations. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) stormed Google's Seoul offices on Tuesday, amid claims that the company unfairly stifles competition by making its search engine the default option on Android handsets. South Korea's largest mobile search operators, NHN and Daum Communications, filed a complaint with the KFTC in April, claiming that Android is "systematically designed" to discourage users from switching to different portals, and that Google excludes competitors by delaying OS certification for phone manufacturers that attempt to pre-load devices with other search engines. Similar charges, as you may recall, fueled an FTC investigation in the US, where anti-competitive allegations have been flying around for a few months, now. Google neither confirmed nor denied that yesterday's raid took place, but a spokesperson said the company would "work with the KFTC to address any questions they may have about our business," adding that its OS does "not require carriers or manufacturers to include Google Search or Google applications on Android-powered devices."
Apple, Microsoft meet with Turkish minister, may bid to supply 15 million tablets to schools
When it comes to the economy, things appear to be pretty shaky in the land of feta and olive oil, but at least Greece's neighbor to the east is ready to spend, considering a very ambitious (and costly) investment in its education system. Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan just completed a tour through Seattle and Silicon Valley, making stops to meet with executives at Apple, Intel and Microsoft along the way. Caglayan's stateside mission was to discuss Turkey's FATIH Project, which somehow stands for "Movement of Enhancing Opportunities and Improving Technology" and aims to equip 15 million students with tablets within the next four years. The official seems to have left with a positive impression, telling the Turkish Weekly that "upon agreement, Microsoft teams will come to Turkey to cooperate with Turkish firms on the project." He went on to say that Apple executives expressed interest in having iPhone and iPad accessories manufactured in Turkey as well. Doesn't exactly sound like a firm commitment from either company, but 15 million tablets would be nothing to sneeze at, so we'd be surprised if the tablet makers didn't end up making formal bids. With South Korea and now Turkey making commitments to improving education, perhaps we'll see a similar plan hit stateside soon?
