South Korea launched an alliance of leading information and communication technology and construction firms on Wednesday to nurture the "smart home" industry that connects artificial intelligence and Internet of Things to home appliances."We can make the world's leading smart home industry with the combination of our home electronics industry, information technology, infrastructure and semiconductors," Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan said at a event to mark the launch at the Korea Electronics Tech

The application of patents for social robots that can interact and communicate with humans has risen sharply in South Korea in recent years with the advances being made in robotics and artificial intelligence, government data showed Tuesday.Social robot patent applications have surged more than 20 percent annually since 2013, and the figure climbed by 75 percent over the past couple of years, according to statistics released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). (Yonhap)Private firm

Samsung Electronics’ facial recognition technology requires more than four years to be solely used for mobile payment, a source from Samsung and industry watchers predicted on Monday. Facial recognition is considered the next-generation biometric technology as it is more convenient than an iris scanner or fingerprint. It can be certified by simply looking at the smartphone instead of positioning your eyes in a small section of the screen or moving your finger around trying to locate the scanner.

Samsung Electronics retained the No. 1 spot in the US home appliance market for a fourth consecutive quarter, a survey by market researcher TraQline showed Tuesday.In the quarterly survey of market shares of home appliance manufacturers in the US, Samsung claimed 19.2 percent for the January-March period, remaining the top supplier of major home appliances in the country.The South Korean company’s dominance in the American market expanded 4.5 percentage points, the survey showed.Samsung first ro

Owing to higher market prices of memory chips, SK hynix, the world’s second-largest DRAM producer achieved record operating profit in the first quarter of this year, the company announced Tuesday. SK hynix posted 6.29 trillion won ($5.57 billion) in revenue on a consolidated basis for the January-March period, with 2.47 trillion won in operating profit and 1.9 trillion won in net income. The operating margin for the quarter was 39 percent and net margin was 30 percent, it said. Compared to the p

South Korea’s Netmarble Games began selling its shares to interested investors Tuesday as the company prepares to go public on Korea’s main bourse Kospi on May 12. The share sales will continue until Wednesday.The Korean mobile game giant is offering 16.95 million shares at 157,000 won ($138) apiece, which is at the top of the initially proposed price range. This pricing scheme would let Netmarble raise 2.66 trillion won and would set the firm’s market capitalization at around 13.3 trillion won.

Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday it has developed an application processor (AP) for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.The South Korean tech giant said it has completed the development of the Exynos i T200 that boasts improved security. AP chips, referred to as the "brains" of electronic devices, play a key role in activating operating systems and applications. (Yonhap)The IoT is a concept in which all tangible objects are connected to the Internet and can identify themselves to other devices

South Korea's LG Display Co. stood as the leading maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for TVs in the first quarter, data showed Tuesday, although overall shipments fell amid the industry's shift to OLED panels.According to the data compiled by industry tracker WitsView, LG Display produced 12.6 million units of LCD panels in the January-March period, down 7 percent from three months earlier. (Yonhap)Taiwan-based Innolux Corporation followed with 9.9 million units. China's BOE Technology

IBM Korea, the local branch of the US-based tech giant, is betting its future on its cognitive computing and cloud service businesses as the world embraces a new age led by futuristic technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and blockchain.The US tech firm is seeking to expand the usage of Watson, its AI-powered cognitive data computing platform, in South Korea and become a strong cloud service provider to local firms with growing data storage and management demand.“L

The startup Discoveryho recently released “FashionSShow,” a bi-directional mobile fashion shopping application. Following the initial release of the Android version in February, an iOS version of the app was released this month. CEO Lee Eun-ho said, “Currently, over two-thirds of the sales of online fashion and beauty shopping malls occur in the mobile environment, and this percentage is expected to continue increasing.”Unlike existing shopping platforms, FashionSShow features video product revi

Sales of the 6.2-inch Galaxy S8 Plus are expected to beat that of the 5.8-inch Galaxy S8, a report showed Monday, reflecting the market's demand for smartphones with wider displays.Samsung Electronics Co. kicked off official sales of the new flagship smartphone series in South Korea and the United States last week. (Yonhap)According to the report released by Yuanta Securities Korea Co., the annual sales of the Galaxy S8 smartphones are expected to reach 50.4 million units, with the Galaxy S8 Plu

South Korea successfully showcased its ultra-high-definition (UHD) television broadcasting technology at an annual media convention now being held in Las Vegas, Seoul's science ministry said Sunday.The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning said it promoted the country's UHD TV broadcasting technology at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2017 before full adoption in May. (Yonhap)Major tech firms, including Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. as well as major broadc

LG CNS said Sunday it will expand its big data business by utilizing artificial intelligence technology and by employing highly trained experts on machine learning algorithms.The company has reorganized its existing big data division, renaming it as AI Big Data business dept., and has appointed Lee Sung-wook, who formerly led the big data project at Deloitte Consulting for last 10 years, as the head of the division.The company plans to hire more experts from in and out of the country. The bluepr

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix said Sunday that it has developed the next-generation graphics dynamic random-access memory, the fastest form of graphics memory in the world. The company plans to mass-produce the chip early next year.Graphic DRAM is designed to handle the enormous demands of graphics processing for graphics-intensive applications such as games and videos played on PCs, work stations and high-functioning game devices. (Yonhap)The latest product, the GDDR6, is a successor to the G

Amid the fast-advancing Internet of Things technology, a new item has joined the list of smart things -- electronic bidet toilets.　South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus and electronic bidet maker Kohler Novita on Sunday said they will introduce the country’s first-ever electronic bidet running on IoT technology next month.An electronic bidet is a high-tech toilet seat cover featuring functions such as a nozzle that sprays one’s bottom with warm water. It is controlled via a remote control attache