Are you one of those freaks of nature who prefer your fonts as tiny as possible in order to best take advantage of every last square millimeter of screen real estate? If so, point your retinas to Samsung's latest marvel, the 23-inch 2342BWX. The LCD monitor boasts a thin black bezel, 5-millisecond response time and a mesmerizing QWXGA (2,048 x 1,152) resolution. Just to put things in perspective, that's enough pixels to view two A4-sized sheets side by side with room to spare for Vista's sidebar. Sammy's expected to loose this in South Korea soon for ₩399,000 ($315), but trust us, the challenge won't be procuring one, it'll be making sure your GPU can handle it.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

It might make for good business practice, but damn if Microsoft's plan to "invest" in South Korea's software industry "as part of the US giant's drive to strengthen its presence in the country" doesn't sound a bit desperate. After all, shouldn't your software be so compelling that governments and companies fall all over themselves for the rights to use it (eh, hem: Android)? In a $60 million deal announced after Steve Ballmer lobbied met with South Korea's president, Lee Myung-Bak, Microsoft will train software designers, support venture firms, and establish a tech center in South Korea over the next three years. The Korean government will invest about $8.4 million. In separate but related deals also announced today, Microsoft entered into a vague agreement with LG -- having something to do with convergence using LG's mobile gear and Microsoft's WinMo OS -- and opened a research center with Hyundai to develop new IT products and services for automotive applications. Thumbs up, indeed.

Read -- $60,000,000 investment
Read -- Hyundai deal
Read -- LG and Microsoft

Like the i900 Omnia, eh? We sure did. Well here's its prettier, smarter cousin tagged the T*Omnia. For the most part, it's the same quad-band, WinMo 6.1 candybar with 7.2Mbps HSDPA data, WiFi, GPS, 5 megapixel cam, and nifty TouchWiz UI we've seen for months. But this hometown Korean version bumps the display to a WVGA, 800 x 480 pixels (up from 400 x 240) while slapping in a DMB digital television tuner to ensure its non-Stateside status for eternity... at least with this specific configuration. Perhaps Verizon would be so kind as to make use of that display?

Goodie! The long, excruciating wait for more information on Cowon's exceptionally sleek O2 PMP is finally over, and two of the more important tidbits you could ever want to know have been revealed. The PMP, which supports a gaggle of file types including MP3, OGG FLAC, AAC, WMA, DivX, MPEG4 and WMV (just to fire off a few), will arrive with a 4.3-inch touchscreen, SDHC card slot, 8GB / 16GB / 32GB of internal capacity, an internal speaker, TV output (up to 720p), 10-band custom equalizer, 18-hours of battery life for audio playback (8-hours for video), optional T-DMB TV tuner / e-dictionary functionality and your choice of pink, black or white motifs. The real news? An October 13th ship date in South Korea along with prices ranging from ₩294,000 ($224) for the stripped-down 8GB edition to ₩399,000 ($305) for the 32GB edition with a DMB tuner. Yanks, sadly, will have to wait.

[Via iAudiophile, thanks Ang]

It's a UMPC! It's a MID! It's a multifaceted PMP that relies on Windows CE 5.0! Whatever it is, the Nurian Avatar F1 comes touting a 5.8- x 3- x 1-inch chassis and isn't likely to stray too far from South Korea. The PMP conglomerate not only plays back MPEG1/2/4, DivX, XviD, WMV, OGG and MP3 files, it also defines words, tunes into mobile TV (DMB) broadcasts and outputs video via the component dongle. You'll also find a 4.3-inch WQVGA display, USB socket, a built-in equalizer and an integrated mic for good measure. Take a wild guess at the price, chances are you'll be in the neighborhood (minus the flight to Seoul).

[Via Pocketables]

Pucker up, jet-setters -- South Korea's own KAON Media has a new PMP on the way, and for whatever reason, we've found ourselves strangely attracted to what the KM35 has going on here. The "Anywhere TV and Internet" device runs on Windows CE (and handles fresh-out-of-cinema films very well) and features a 3.5-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, 4GB or 8GB NAND flash drive, WiFi, an SD expansion slot, optional FM tuner and your choice of DVB-T/H, ISDB-T or T-DMB TV tuners. Early estimates peg battery life at around 2.5-hours when watching live TV, though there's no word yet on pricing or worldwide availability.

[Thanks, J. Carter]

We're (so) looking forward to the day when we Americans don't have to look longingly at the amazing navigation units that pop up every month or so in South Korea, but until that fateful day arrives, we'll continue drooling courtesy of the Easycar U7. This screen-dominated conglomerate features a 7-inch LCD, DMB TV tuner, 19-millimeter thick frame and an integrated multimedia player / text viewer. All that for just ₩199,000 ($191)? Nah, we're not envious at all.

[Via Techie Diva]

Samsung already loosed a 3-channel Bluetooth speaker earlier this year, but apparently, one just isn't enough. The company has now introduced its YA-SBR510 over in South Korea, which streams audio from BT-enabled players and includes a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack for hooking up just about everything else. A tad pricey at €150 ($222), but it's a total bargain should it come bundled with that oh-so-furry rug. Sammy, care to comment?

It's with an indescribable amount of stifled jubilation that we bring to you yet another netbook: Raon Digital's Everun Note. Made official today in South Korea, the previously AMD-branded rig will feature a 7-inch LCD (1,024 x 600), Windows XP Home, your choice of an 80GB hard drive or 12GB SSD, a 1.2GHz AMD Turion CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, integrated WiFi / Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a 1.3-megapixel camera, an SD / MMC card slot and a decent array of ports for the size. Going by the papers, it'll last around 2.5 hours when surfing the web, and while a price is eluding us just now, expect it to emerge shortly as it arrives in North America next month.

[Via Pocketables]

We genuinely hope you don't value your dash very much, because a great deal of it will vanish if you opt to install KNGT's icom MK1.The full-fledged car computer wows passengers and drivers alike with its 6.95-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, on-screen QWERTY keyboard, wireless connectivity and mobile TV (T-DMB) tuner. Furthermore, you'll find a 40GB / 80GB hard drive, upwards of 2GB of RAM, a few USB 2.0 ports, a 1.6GHz Intel CPU and Windows XP running the show. You know all those threats you made when you were younger about heading out and just living in your '79 Riviera? Following through just got a whole lot easier.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Although Western Digital seems to have the portable hard drive sector all wrapped up, LG's looking to snag a bit of that market share by introducing a new line of stylish alternatives. Each member of the XD1 family possesses a 2.5-inch HDD with a SATA II interface and a USB 2.0 port, and just in case black isn't your bag, you can expect a red wine colored version as well. For now, we'll have to live without a price or release date, but you can look forward to units arriving in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes sometime in the future.

Believe it or not, JATY is far from being the first gadget maker to think of stuffing a breathalyzer into something completely unrelated (like a wristwatch), but this do-it-all navigator really has included everything save for the kitchen sink (and an N64 emulator, but you get the point). Specs wise, you're looking at a 7-inch touchscreen, 533MHz CPU, WinCE 5.0, 64MB of NAND Flash / SDRAM, an SD expansion slot, built-in GPS / T-DMB receivers, USB connectivity, integrated speakers and support for MP3, WMV, OGG, AC3, MPEG1/2/4, DivX, XviD, AVI and JPG formats (just to name a few). Chances are you'll never see this on US soil, so you're looking at a flight to Seoul in addition to ₩296,000 ($294) in order to procure one.

[Via Tech Digest]

Bringing an end to the Samsung slush fund probe, a South Korean court has fined Lee Kun-hee, Samsung's former Chairman and son of the chaebol's founder, $109 million for tax evasion. A rather favorable decision when you consider that prosecutors sought a seven-year jail sentence and a fine of $347 million. The court said that his crimes did not justify a prison term. Lee, appearing relieved by the decision, apologized again saying, "I'm sorry for causing trouble to the people," presumably while adjusting his monocle and top-hat from atop his golden chariot.

It's almost over folks -- at least, that's what we're continuing to tell ourselves. Anyways, Sammy has decided to follow in the footsteps of practically everyone else in the laptop realm by revealing a few newcomers over in South Korea. Granted, we already knew that a few of these were coming, but now we've got actual units with Photoshopped screen savers to prove their existence. Ready? Let's go. We've got the Centrino 2-based 12.1-inch Q210, 13.1-inch Q310, 14.1-inch R460, 15.4-inch R510 / R560 and 17-inch R710 on the consumer side, while the P210, P460, P461, P510 and P560 make up the business crowd. A few more lovely images are waiting in the read link, though no price / release dates accompany them.

[Thanks, Khattab]

'Tis a shame we North Americans, Europeans, Australians, et al. won't be seeing the Elantra LPI Hybrid in 2009, but those in South Korea have a reason to celebrate. Hyundai is gearing up to launch the company's first LPG-electric hybrid vehicle next July, which also happens to be the planet's first hybrid vehicle to be "powered by liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and adopt advanced Lithium Polymer (Li–Poly) batteries." Said automobile will pack a 1.6-liter Liquefied Petroleum Injected (LPI) Gamma engine, a 15kW electric motor and a continuously variable transmission, and while the outfit isn't releasing hard mileage numbers just yet, the car should prove to be around 50% cheaper to operate than a gas-only Elantra (pictured). C'mon Hyundai, we know you've got plans to take this thing worldwide -- just let it out of the bag already.

[Via FarEastGizmos, image courtesy of Autoblog]