Though it may come as a surprise, North Korea has been pursuing the development of artificial intelligence technologies since the 1990s through its series of state-run tech software research agencies.　Once recognized as a relative leader in AI computing, North Korea’s AI development is expected to hit hurdles due to strained resources, suggests a new report released Tuesday by KDB Research.The economic think tank under the state-run Korea Development Bank said that North Korea’s AI development w

South Korean internet giant Naver on Tuesday unveiled a new artificial intelligence voice assistant speaker designed in the shape of two main characters from its mobile messenger Line.　Dubbed “Friends,” the smart speaker comes in two versions, each resembling Line messenger’s Brown, a brown bear, and Sally, a yellow chick. Naver's Friends smart speaker (Naver)The speaker runs on Clova, the AI-powered voice assistant platform co-developed by Naver and Line. Friends is designed to be portable unli

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. were among the least environment-friendly IT companies worldwide in terms of their use of renewable energy and harmful chemicals, a report by Greenpeace showed Tuesday.The two South Korean electronics companies each scored a "D-" and a "D+" in overall grades for their environmental performance, the global non-governmental organization revealed in its 2017 Guidelines on electronics products. Google Inc. of the United States, Japan's Sony Corp. and H

South Korea's major home appliances maker LG Electronics Inc. said Tuesday it donated washers equipped with voice-recognition systems to the visually impaired.Under the agreement with the Korea Blind Union, LG said its high-tech washers were installed at 15 welfare centers for the blind across the country.The donation comes in line with the international White Cane Safety Day, which falls on Oct. 15 every year, to raise social awareness of the rights of the visually impaired, LG added. An image

South Koreans used an average 3.83 gigabytes of data with their smartphones per month last year to rank eighth among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed TuesdayAccording to the OECD report, Finland was No. 1 with the monthly data usage by smartphones standing at 10.95 GB in 2016, followed by Latvia with 8.21 GB, Austria with 6.28 GB, Sweden with 4.38 GB, Denmark with 4.37 GB, Estonia with 4.13 GB and Iceland with 3.92 GB.Among the surveyed

US tech giant Apple Inc. plans to start sales of the iPhone 8 in South Korea on Nov. 3, industry sources said Monday, with preorders kicking off later this month.According to the sources, South Korea's three mobile carriers plan to start preorders for the iPhone 8 on Oct. 27.Apple earlier started sales of the new smartphones in the United States, Japan and China last month.While the local price has not been released yet, industry watchers said the 64 GB iPhone 8 is expected to come with a price

Samsung to unveil new tech for ‘post-chip era’ with AI, IoT, data infrastructure at developer forum in San Francisco this week

From an autonomous robot that collects books displaced by customers from bookstore shelves to cable-based robotic arms with humanlike flexibility and control, cutting-edge robotics technologies took center stage at Naver Corp.’s annual developer’s conference Deview 2017 which kicked off in Seoul on Monday.　Naver, which dominates Korea’s mobile and internet scene as the operator of Korea’s biggest portal website, has been looking to transform itself into a tech platform company that develops and

Exports of information and communication technology products increased for the eighth month in a row to hit an all-time high in September on brisk overseas sales of semiconductors and displays, government data showed Monday.A total of $19.2 billion worth of ICT products were shipped overseas, up 32.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT.The monthly overseas shipments of ICT products surpassed the previous high of $17.48 billion record tal

KT Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu (right) and SpaceX Chairman Elon Musk hold hands after a talk on co-launching the Mugunghwa 5A satellite later this month at the headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne, California on Thursday. KT announced Sunday the Korean mobile carrier and the US spacecraft builder will further cooperate on advancing autonomous driving and energy-related technologies. (KT)

Google has adopted a fingerprint recognition module exclusively developed by CrucialTec based in South Korea for its upcoming Pixel 2 smartphone series, according to sources on Sunday. “CrucialTec is preparing to supply its fingerprint solution Biometric TrackPad for Google’s Pixel 2 series,” a source told The Korea Herald. “The Korean company has been a major supplier for past Google phones from the Nexus series to the predecessor Pixel 1.”CrucialTec is a biometric solution developer that was t

South Korea’s science and technology university KAIST has partnered with the World Economic Forum to help Korea and the global community prepare for the major changes and challenges expected to come from the “fourth industrial revolution.”KAIST and WEF signed a memorandum of understanding in Seoul on Friday, agreeing to cooperate in researching issues such as anticipated major labor market shifts as industries adopt next-generation technologies like artificial intelligence.It is the first formal

With news on the Apple iPhone 8’s swelling battery issue spreading in recent weeks, battery makers purported to have business relations with the tech giant are facing a dilemma. (Source: reddit)Due to customary nondisclosure agreements, the battery makers have been remaining mum on news reports speculating on which manufacturer is responsible for the problem.Currently, firms from Korea, China and Japan are known to supply batteries for Apple’s iPhone 8.The US tech giant has so far declined to of

SK Telecom CEO acknowledges room for mobile plan fees, welcomes new system

Olympus on Thursday announced the opening of a new training center in South Korea’s port city of Songdo, Incheon, joining other global health care firms that have set up new training bases in the city’s biotechnology cluster on the back of Korea’s growing medical and biotech sectors.　Olympus Korea's medical training center will help local medical professionals learn to maneuver and operate the firm’s endoscopy devices in an operation room setting, it said.　The Japanese surgical equipment company