Dolby Laboratories Inc., a US-based audio and imaging technology giant, said Thursday it has signed a deal to supply its advanced cinema solutions to local multiplex operator Megabox for the next five years. Under the deal, Dolby Labs will provide its auditorium package to Megabox, starting with its movie theaters in Gyeonggi Province. The value of the contract was not revealed. The auditorium package consists of Dolby Labs' speakers, integrated media servers, cinema processors, and multicha

LG Electronics Inc. on Thursday added three new models to its budget smartphone lineup as the South Korean tech firm targets to expand its mobile sales. The K62, the K52 and the K42 have been added to LG's K series family and will be launched next month starting in Europe. LG did not reveal prices of the new smartphones. All three models have a 6.6-inch punch-hole display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, and a quad-rear camera setup. They all pack a 4,000-mAh battery. The K42 sports a 13-megapixe

Samsung Electronics Co. on Thursday launched two new charging accessories for mobile devices in South Korea. Samsung's new Wireless Charger Trio can charge up to three mobile devices, such as smartphones, wireless earbuds and smartwatches, at the same time. The pad has six charging coils, offering better charging surface coverage. The multi-device charging station comes in two colors, white and black, and has a price tag of 99,000 won ($85). Samsung also released a power bank that boasts 2

Caris Co. has won the New Excellent Technology certificate for its guardrail manufacturing technology that utilizes waste plastics. At the 2020 NET certificate award ceremony, CEO Yu Cheol received the NET certificate for the company’s five-layer ribbed structure guardrail manufacturing technology that uses a triple compression method incorporating waste plastics. NET-certified products are selected by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry

After the COVID-19 outbreak, South Korea saw its number of travel businesses decline by around 1,000 compared to last year. According to data from the Korea Tourism Association, there were 21,671 travel related firms operating in the country as of June. The figure fell 612 or 2.7 percent from the end of last year. The number of Korean travel companies began rising since 2015, surpassing 20,000 in 2017. The figure hit its peak of 22,609 in September last year, the data showed. (khnews@he

Elon Musk laid out five innovations for his new batteries at Tesla’s Battery Day event Wednesday, but experts and industry officials remain skeptical as the CEO failed to map out the specifics of the technologies. As part of the announcement, Musk said he would remove cobalt and maximize nickel inside the cathodes of the company’s new batteries. Cathodes are one of the four key components of lithium-ion batteries along with anodes, electrolytes and separators. A higher ratio of n

Coupang is inching its way into the computer parts industry by offering lower prices and replacing distributors and retailers. Most recently, on Sept. 17, Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards were released in South Korea via Coupang. Intech & Company had imported the graphics cards through vendor Asus, but this time sold the graphics cards directly to customers by collaborating with Coupang’s Rocket Delivery network. Previously, importers such as Intech & Company, lac

Global experts from around the world and industry officials agreed on supremacy of South Korea’s 5G network technologies at an online seminar hosted by SK Telecom on Wednesday. “Korea’s 5G achievements are special for the world,” said Alex Choi, vice president of Deutsche Telekom, during the seminar. “There are few countries that have 5G speed on 3.5 gigahertz as fast as Korea and coverage as wide as Korea.” Ross O’Brien, editor of MIT Tech Review,

Major retail businesses are offering free counseling services in response to a mental health crisis that has emerged in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Online retailer Gmarket announced plans on Wednesday to offer free psychological counseling for front-line medical staff who have helped fight the COVID-19 crisis. A total of 30 applicants will be chosen to get help from nongovernmental health care organizations, as part of the retailer’s crowdfunding project “Touch,

More employees of LG Electronics Inc. working at its headquarters building in Seoul have been infected with the new coronavirus, company officials said Wednesday, prompting the tech firm to expand its remote working system. So far, five employees of LG Electronics have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past two days, forcing the company to partially shutter the West Building of LG Twin Towers in Yeouido, western Seoul. LG has closed floors six through nine of the building and ordered all

Service exports contributed more to South Korea’s economic growth than exports of goods for the first time since 2015, data showed Wednesday. According to the latest report from the Korea International Trade Association, service exports accounted for 0.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product growth in 2019, the highest percentage since 2014. Korea’s GDP growth stood at 2 percent, and exports of goods accounted for 0.2 percent of that growth. Service exports have i

Hyundai Motor revealed Wednesday the exterior design of its 2021 Sonata N Line. The new Sonata N Line expands Hyundai’s midsize sedan lineup following the launch of the Sonata and Sonata Hybrid in 2019. “The 2021 Sonata N Line will attract more customers to both the rock-solid Sonata lineup and our increasingly popular N Line subbrand. Sonata N Line will appeal to customers who desire sporty styling in a sedan package,” said Lee Sang-yup, head of the Hyundai Global Desi

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has successfully verified an advanced 5G technology with Japanese telecom operator KDDI Corp. as the South Korean tech titan tries to expand its presence in next-generation wireless solutions. Samsung and KDDI joined hands to demonstrate 5G network slicing technology in Tokyo with the Radio Access Network Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform that efficiently controls network resources. Network slicing is considered a key technology for the 5G network

Survey of 3,983 Seoul residents aged 10-89 in July, Aug. on changes in daily lives upon COVID-19

Samsung Electronics Co. on Tuesday unveiled a new consumer solid state drive (SSD) product that boasts enhanced performance for gaming and high-performance PC applications. Samsung introduced the 980 PRO, the company's first consumer SSD based on the fourth generation of the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) motherboard interface with Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) storage protocol. "Optimized for handling data-intensive applications, the 980 PRO is ideal for consume