SAMSUNG UHD TV SWEEPS AWARD -- Samsung Electronics’ ultrahigh-definition TV lineup, the JS9500, has received the Best of What’s New award, the tech giant said Thursday. U.S. science magazine Popular Science picks the greatest innovations every year in different industrial categories including aerospace, auto and entertainment for the accolade. (Samsung Electronics) SAMSUNG UHD TV SWEEPS AWARD -- Samsung Electronics’ ultrahigh-definition TV lineup, the JS9500, has received the Best of What’s New

Busan’s posh seaside district of Haeundae is getting a hi-tech makeover, with smart streetlamps, GPS trackers for kids, smart parking solutions and traffic lights, and smart energy controllers for buildings and shops. The transformation is being led by Korea’s mobile network operator SK Telecom, which is set to showcase its smart-city technologies and services already up and running in the southern port city on Friday.  Busan city government staffers work at a smart search center for missing chi

South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said Wednesday it is investigating whether Apple Korea, the local unit of the Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker, had wielded undue influence over the repair policy of local service centers.  Apple`s logo. (Yonhap)The latest probe came after six service firms ― all authorized by Apple ― recently revised their unfair repair policy following the recommendation of the antitrust watchdog. “We have found unfair business contracts between Apple Korea and its a

New team to focus on car parts for infotainment systems, self-driving cars

Online game developer NCSoft plans to spend a whopping 60 billion won ($51 million) for dividend payouts to shareholders.The company said in its regulatory filing Wednesday that it would pay its shareholders a cash dividend of 2,747 won per share, which amounts to 60 billion won. Around 219 million shares are eligible for dividend payment. Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft, speaks on the firm`s plan for mobile games next year in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)The firm’s dividend payout this year is 12 pe

In the global tech scene, Chinese upstarts armed with price competitiveness and aggressive marketing are a growing force, often posing a challenge to the traditional, bigger and more technologically advanced players. And in their push to go global, these companies are not shying away from Korea, the home turf of Samsung and LG. Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone-maker often mocked as a copycat of U.S.-based Apple, has recently joined hands with Qualcomm to share patented mobile network technologies,

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OBJECTS -- SK Telecom said Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with network equipment maker Nokia to jointly research and develop a network technology, called the narrow band Long-Term Evolution, which allows low power machine-to-machine communication. (SKT) COMMUNICATION BETWEEN OBJECTS -- SK Telecom said Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with network equipment maker Nokia to jointly research and develop a network technology,

Samsung Group on Tuesday honored 12 Korean and foreign executives who showed the highest achievements among its 400,000 employees over the past year.  The award ceremony for the annual “Samsung Award of Honor” was held at the headquarters in Seoul, with some 350 people in attendance, including the recipients, their families and other Samsung executives and employees. Samsung Electronics vice chairman and the group’s heir apparent Lee Jae-yong also joined the event to celebrate.  Seven executives

Chinese network equipment firm Huawei launched its budget smartphone, dubbed the X3, in Korea more than a year ago, but has struggled to secure customers in a market dominated by Samsung, Apple and LG.Huawei Korea chief executive Kelvin Ding, however, is “not disappointed.” At a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday, he stressed that the company was “doing great in other sectors,” in particular, in its strategic focus segment of the business-to-business market. “Our main focus is the B2B segment,

EXPANDING MOBILE PAYMENT SYSTEM -- Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that rechargeable public transportation cards T-Money and Cashbee are now available on its mobile payment solution Samsung Pay. (Samsung Electronics)

As part of its Internet of Things drive in China, SK Telecom, the nation’s largest telecommunications company, has formed a partnership with WASU Digital TV Media Group, one of China’s largest media businesses Monday, aimed at developing smart devices and conducting joint marketing activities for smart robots and video projectors, the company said in a press release. WASU operates media platforms for mobile and traditional paid-TV services. The state-run Chinese firm has around 1.5 billion subsc

LG Uplus, Korea’s third-largest mobile network operator, said Monday it has developed a smart monitoring system for parking lots that deploys the company’s Long-Term Evolution technology.The parking lot monitoring system utilizing the “narrow band LTE” technology allows long-distance communications between sensors installed in parking lots, smartphones and digital devices, with which users can check vacant spots and find their cars. LG Uplus staffers pose with a smart parking solution utilizing