Chang Ji-eun, a 27-year-old graphic designer, starts her day with a one-hour pilates class at a premium boutique studio in the upscale neighborhood of Cheongdam in southern Seoul and gets healthy homemade-style soup made with "doenjang," or soybean paste, delivered for dinner. She does both of these through applications on her iPhone.With the use of smartphones growing rapidly, online-to-offline (O2O) startups have sprung up in South Korea in recent years, enabling consumers to use an app or web

LG Electronics Inc. said Thursday it will launch two smartwatches that run on the next Android operating system in the United States later this week.LG's Watch Style and Watch Sport -- which are Google Inc.'s first Android Wear 2.0 wearables -- will hit the shelves in the US on Friday (local time), the South Korean tech company said. LG Electronics Inc. will launch two smartwatches that on the next Android operating systems (OS) in the United States on Feb. 10, 2017. (LG Electronics Inc.)Android

Samsung Electronics Co. emerged as the leader in the global virtual reality market in 2016, accounting for more than 70 percent of 6.3 million VR devices shipped worldwide, a report showed Thursday.The South Korean tech giant sold about 4.51 million units last year, or 71.6 percent of total shipments, the report by analytics firm SuperData showed. (Samsung Electronics Co.)Samsung launched the Gear VR in 2014 in cooperation with the Oculus VR, which connects to high-end Samsung smartphones. The G

SK hynix CEO Park Sung-wook has vowed to boost the company’s three-dimensional NAND flash memory business this year, a remark that is interpreted by market watchers as a strong determination to acquire Toshiba’s NAND unit. On Feb.3, SK hynix submitted a non-binding proposal to purchase a 20 percent stake in its Japanese rival Toshiba’s NAND chip business for about 3 trillion won ($2.62 billion). (Yonhap)SK hynix’s offer nearly doubles the current market value of the Toshiba unit that is around $

LG Electronics unveiled the world’s first smartwatches to run on Google’s Android Wear 2.0 in the US on Wednesday. Android Wear 2.0 is Google’s newest operating system designed exclusively for smartwatches, a follow-up from the first Android Wear 1.0, which was unveiled in 2014. LG said its two smartwatches, LG Smart Sport and LG Smart Style, will go on sale Feb. 10 (local time) in the US market. It plans to soon unveil the devices in the UK, UAE, Taiwan, Russia and Canada gradually. They will b

South Korea's telecom giants are engaged in a war of nerves over the title of "world's first" concerning the artificial intelligence-based Internet TV service, which could hurt customers, industry watchers said Thursday.The controversy revolves around KT Corp.'s TV set-top box with an AI system. The top Internet service provider requested the broadcast advertising watchdog Wednesday suspend deliberation of its planned TV commercial on the new device. Models pose during KT Corp.'s launch ceremony

South Korea will build 240 electric vehicle charging stations at shopping malls and railway stations by the end of 2017 as a way to expand infrastructure for green cars in urban areas, the government said Thursday.According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, 230 EV super chargers will be established at large discount store chains, including E-Mart and Homeplus, in Seoul and other major cities, while 10 will be set up at commuter train stations. (Yonhap)People can enjoy shopping when

Kakao Corp., the operator of South Korea's top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, on Thursday said its operating profit for last year rose 31.1 percent on-year, helped by strong sales of mobile games, music and other content. Full-year operating profit reached 116.1 billion won ($101.3 million), the company said in a regulatory filing.  (Yonhap)Net profit, however, fell 14.7 percent on-year to 67.2 billion won, while sales jumped 57.1 percent to 1.46 trillion won, according to the filing. Last year, Ka

LG Electronics said Wednesday it had broken ground for new corporate buildings in New Jersey, which will serve as a foothold for LG to focus on the North American premium home appliance market. LG will invest $300 million to construct two office buildings on a plot of about 110,000 square meters by 2019. The gross area of the new buildings, 63,000 square meters, is about six times larger than LG’s current office building there and will be able to accommodate more than 1,000 employees. The South

LG Display is reviewing building the world’s first 10th-generation OLED assembly line in Paju, the tech firm said Wednesday. If the plan is finalized, the 10th-generation assembly line -- which is optimized for 65-inch (165 centimeters) television panels -- will be producing the world’s first and largest organic light-emitting diode panels. Currently, LG’s 55-inch (140 centimeters) panels from the 8.5-generation assembly line are the biggest such panels. Since the end of 2015, LG Display has bee

Kakao, operator of South Korea’s top mobile messenger KakaoTalk, has formed a new subsidiary dedicated to developing artificial intelligence technologies in a move to ramp up its capabilities in future technologies.The Korean mobile giant said Wednesday that it officially founded a new subsidiary focusing on AI technology research and development, named “Kakao Brain,” on Feb. 1. Kakao founder and chairman Kim Beom-suKakao Brain will be directed by Kakao founder and chairman Kim Beom-su, who will

Foreign mobile games have become increasingly popular in South Korea as seven foreign apps were among the 20 top-grossing mobile games, according to data on Wednesday.The Tuesday chart of Google Play's highest-grossing mobile game apps in South Korea showed that the augmented reality mobile game "Pokemon Go" by Nintendo came second.  (Yonhap)"FIFA Online 3" of the United States was ranked fifth, with "Clash Royale" of Finland and "MU Origin" of China coming in eighth and ninth each. The Tuesday

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have met again, this time on the battleground for high-end display panels with their flagship QLED and OLED panels, respectively. At the Integrated Systems Europe 2017 that kicked off in Amsterdam on Tuesday, Samsung unveiled the quantum dot light-emitting diode Signage and light-emitting diode Signage IF series for the first time while LG stuck with its organic light-emitting diode brand. The two previously sparred at the Consumer Electronics Show last mon

SK Telecom announced Tuesday that the company successfully implemented the fastest communications speed in a traveling vehicle so far, moving one step closer to an era of connected cars with its 5G network. The No.1 South Korean telecom business said it provided a peak rate of 3.6Gbps data transmission speed for a connected car driving at 170 kilometers per hour at the BMW Driving Center in Yeonjong Island. The driving center has the world’s largest 28GHz 5G test network, established by SKT, Eri

LG Electronics sent out press invitations on Tuesday for the unveiling of its new flagship smartphone G6 at the upcoming Mobile World Congress to be held in Barcelona, Spain. The invitation says the company will host an unpack event for the G6 at Sant Jordi Club on Feb. 26, a day before the tech congress kicks off. The launch event, which will last around 100 minutes, is expected to be attended by around 1,000 reporters, business partners and tech experts, the company said. LG describes the G6 a