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Netflix's first original Korean series is based on a web comic
Netflix is eager to court South Korea now that it has a foothold in the country, and it's finally readying its first original series to match ... with a decidedly technological twist. It's readying Love Alarm, a 12-episode show based on a popular Korean web comic -- no, not a book or another country's TV programming. Even the premise is appropriately techy. The story centers around a mysterious mobile app that lets you know if someone nearby is attracted to you, which invariably causes chaos.
Watch Korea's mech take its first steps with a pilot on board
That real, life-sized mech Korean company Hankook Mirae debuted recently isn't just for show. Its designer, Hollywood SFX veteran Vitaly Bulgarov, has posted a video on Facebook showing the robot taking its first steps. And, yes, it had a pilot on board. The 13-feet-tall, 1.3-ton machine was created to work in extreme conditions where humans cannot go unprotected. It won't be able to go on rescue missions anytime soon, though -- not without a power source that's portable enough.
Fusion reactor endurance record hints at our energy future
Wondering why a fusion reactor isn't powering your home right now? There are numerous reasons, but one of the biggest is simply keeping the necessary super-hot plasma in an ideal state for energy generation -- it doesn't last that way for long. South Korea, however, just edged closer to that goal. The country's KSTAR (Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) reactor team claims to have set an endurance record for operating with "high performance" plasma. The feat only lasted for 70 seconds, but that's still a "huge step forward," according to the National Fusion Research Institute.
North Korea might have hacked the South's cyber command
South Korea's cyber command, which was established back in January 2010 to fight off cyberattacks deployed against the country's military, wasn't able to protect itself from digital infiltrators. A Ministry of National Defense official told Yonhap News that hackers got into the command's computers and stole some military documents, including confidential information. The culprit? As you might have guessed, the country suspects its neighbor to the north.
Samsung considers steps to keep its ruling family in power
Samsung has always been a family-run company, and it's apparently bent on keeping things that way. As part of sweeping plans to reward investors (more on that in a bit), the South Korean tech giant says that it's considering the creation of a "holding company structure." It's not certain how this would work, but analysts believe that this would give greater control to vice chairman Lee Jae-yong (son of chairman Lee Kun-hee) and his sisters Lee Boo-jin and Lee Seo-hyun, all of whom play crucial roles in the company. They wouldn't have to worry as much about losing influence.
Japan wants the world's fastest supercomputer by 2018
Our world is in transition, with automation and digitization edging-out more humane forms of industrial labor. Some countries are actively pushing against that, but others, like Japan, are running head-first towards the future. The nation is believed to be pushing to build the world's fastest supercomputer in an attempt to revitalize its recent malaise. Reuters is reporting that officials will spend $173 million on a machine capable of achieving 130 petaflops and besting current world number one, China's Sunway TaihuLight.
ICYMI: Snap Inc. knows people want its video sunglasses
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Snap Inc. dropped a Spectacles vending machine in Southern California and the sunglasses were snapped up in no time. If you don't have the thousands of dollars handy that you'd need to pay for them on eBay, you can virtually try them on inside Snapchat by taking a photo of the ghost logo on the Spectacles site (which is what I did in today's photo. Ugh.). The video of the vending machine giggling to earth is here. The story about Samsung filing a patent for a smartphone that folds in half is here. The Nature study about monkeys being able to walk again after paralysis is here. And while there are many things to catch up on this week, we recommend reading up on President-elect Donald Trump's pick for the Environmental Protection Agency's transition team. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Note 7 debacle forces Samsung to offer next-gen discounts in Korea
In an effort to retain Galaxy Note 7 customers in South Korea, Samsung is offering a big discount on the upcoming Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 models. The company will effectively offer 50 percent off the next-gen phone, provided that Note 7 customers upgrade to the current Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge models. Samsung recently killed its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone because of fire and explosion problems. It initially misdiagnosed the problem as being battery-related, and issued replacement phones that were still defective.
Nokia wires an apartment complex with 52Gbps fiber
It's one thing to wire a house with gigabit fiber, but it's another matter to outfit an entire apartment building -- you need a huge pipeline to accommodate everyone. Nokia, however, might have a solution. It just partnered with SK Broadband to wire an apartment complex in Seoul, South Korea with fiber optics delivering aggregate speeds of 52.5Gbps. That doesn't guarantee that every user will get that speed (only "selected" customers saw those rates), but it increases the chances that you'll receive gigabit-class bandwidth in your rental.
ICYMI: This rock-armored insect could change medicine
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley discovered that an insect called the caddisfly spins strong, stretchy silk that works like a biological sticky tape. The caddisfly uses it to attach stones to its body to protect it underwater; humans are more interested in the fact that the waterproof adhesive might have medical applications. The publication Deep Look made a great video of the bug's underwater life that's worth a full watch if you're interested.
ICYMI: Wannabe spies can make iPhone screens invisible
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A phone repair store owner in Turkey is trying to copyright his invention that syncs a pair of eyeglasses to the screen of an iPhone. When the glasses are worn, the screen can be viewed perfectly. But to anyone without the glasses, the screen will only look white. However, buyer beware. The stories about this man's invention detail his claim that he's inserted a chip into the eyeglasses to view the screen, but it may be that he just removed the polarized filter built into the phone, then pointed polarized 3D glasses at it.
'Quantum Break' studio's next project isn't what you expect
Historically, Remedy Entertainment has only worked on one project at a time, releasing only a handful of games since 2001's Max Payne. The company recently announced it was moving away from that fan-frustrating workflow and was becoming a studio that has more than one iron in the fire at a given moment. Now, a few months after the fantastic Quantum Break, we know what one of the team's next projects is: creating a campaign for the next installment of free-to-play shooter CrossFire, the aptly named CrossFire 2.
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.
Beacons help pregnant women get seats on Korean trains
It's a perennial problem; do you give up the seat to the fifty-something year-old that just walked on the train, or will they be offended at the suggestion? Is that person pregnant and in need of respite, or just overweight? Chances are if you're having those internal discussions you could just quietly vacate your spot without a word, but a project in South Korea uses Bluetooth to make it more obvious when someone in need requires a seat.
North Korea steps up hacking campaign against the South
North Korea isn't letting up on its hacking campaign any time soon... if anything, it's kicking into high gear. South Korean officials report that the North has been escalating its cyberattacks, including a recent breach that compromised the phones of 40 security officials. The North also unsuccessfully tried to target the South's railway control system by attacking the email accounts of workers. These kinds of attacks were expected between North Korea's nuclear tests, long-range missile tests and joint US/South Korea military exercises, but that's not exactly comforting.
Study links North Korea to Sony hack and malware campaign
Cyber-security firms Kaspersky and Alienvault Labs announced at the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit that they had uncovered new evidence linking the massive Sony Pictures hack of 2014 with an ongoing malware attack directed at South Korea. The security firms believe that the same group has perpetrated both attacks and, though they did not specify where the attacks were coming from, their evidence does point to the group most likely operating out of North Korea.
Samsung will lend you a free Galaxy Note 5 while you're in Korea
South Korea really, really wants you to know that it's a technology hub, and it's willing to offer some unusual perks to tourists to underscore that point. The Korea Tourism Organization is teaming up with Samsung and SK Telecom to offer free Galaxy Note 5 phones to "select" visitors coming through Seoul's main airport (about 250 per week) for up to five days. The hope, of course, is that you'll be so impressed with the country's mobile technology prowess that you'll share it with your friends back home. You only get 1GB of data, but that beats paying through the nose for international roaming or local prepaid service.
LG's spending billions to make more OLED things
LG's OLED 4K TVs are jaw-droppingly gorgeous, but the price still isn't anywhere near the level it needs to be for mass consumer adoption. Hopefully the company's new manufacturing plant can help that a bit thanks to economies of scale. A Reuters report says that the South Korean firm is spending some $8.71 billion (around 10 trillion Korean won) on a new manufacturing facility for the display panels in Paju, South Korea. Perhaps this can make up for some of the losses the tech giant suffered by halting production at one of its TV plants due to a gas leak earlier this year.
'Robotic fingers' make your dumb appliances smarter
Naran, a South Korean startup, has developed a series novel devices that transforms analog, push-button devices into internet-connected tools for your smart home. The devices, dubbed "Microbot Push" are low-power Bluetooth gadgets that pull commands from an internet hub and physically push analog buttons on, say, your old blender or the toaster oven. That's a radically different functionality than conventional "wall wart" IoT-enablers -- like the Brio or Nyrius -- which simply control the electrical circuits that power your appliances. Additionally, the Microbots can either be manually activated through the associated smartphone app or be automated in much the same way that IFTTT works. Naran plans to launch an Indiegogo campaign for the devices on November 9th.
Professional 'StarCraft 2' players, coach accused of match-fixing
South Korean authorities have arrested nine people, including two professional players and their coach, on charges of fixing professional StarCraft 2 matches, according to translated reports on the Team Liquid forums. The site says PRIME head coach Park Wae-Sik ("Gerrard"), and professional players Choi Byeong-Heon ("YoDA") and Choi Jong-Hyuk ("BBoongBBoong") have been arrested and charged with manipulating the outcomes of five matches throughout 2015. They're suspected of receiving between 5 million and 20 million won ($4,400 and $17,600) for fixing the games. At least three other people have been arrested and charged with match-fixing in the same sting, and two additional people have been indicted but not arrested. One other is at large, the report says. The Korean eSports Association plans to ban Gerrard and YoDA from the organization for life, a statement translated on TeamLiquid reads.
