The Korea Herald

DRAM inventory rebounds on sluggish PC sales

Dec 27, 2012

The inventory of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips has recently bounced back amid a continued slump in the global PC market, spawning concerns on chip price recovery, data showed Thursday.The DRAM inventory of global suppliers stood at 12.2 weeks in the third quarter of the year, compared with 10.4 weeks in the previous quarter, according to the data by IHS iSuppli.The increase, the first in four quarters, comes amid feeble demand for PCs that use DRAM chips as a key component.Despite
Sony in talks to sell battery unit

Dec 26, 2012

Sony Corp. is in talks to sell its battery business to Japan’s state-backed investment fund, said a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. Innovation Network Corp. of Japan hasn’t made an offer for the acquisition, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information isn’t public. Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, has also shown interest in the buyout, the Nikkei newspaper reported Dec. 22. Sony’s Chief Executive O
Online music costs to double in 2013

Dec 26, 2012

The monthly fee for freely listening to music online is expected to more than double next year.The nation’s largest online music service portal Melon has decided to raise its current 3,000 won monthly plan, which provides unlimited access to listen to its music, to 6,000 won, sources said. The price of Melon’s monthly plan to download up to 150 songs will also rise, from 9,000 won to 15,000 won, according to the sources. LOEN Entertainment Inc., which runs Melon, said on Tuesday that the new rat
Telepresence robots allow employees to ‘beam’ into work

Dec 26, 2012

PALO ALTO, California (AP) ― Engineer Dallas Goecker attends meetings, jokes with colleagues and roams the office building just like other employees at his company in Silicon Valley.But Goecker isn’t in California. He’s more than 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) away, working at home in Seymour, Indiana.It’s all made possible by the Beam ― a mobile video-conferencing machine that he can drive around his company’s offices and workshops in Palo Alto. The five-foot (1.5-meter)-tall device, topped wit
Suspension and fines blow to telecoms

Dec 26, 2012

Three mobile carriers banned from recruiting customers and slapped with fines for the first time
Apps that help you stick to new year’s resolutions

Dec 26, 2012

A wide range of smartphone applications can help make new year’s resolutions last longer, especially for popular health-related goals.For those who have decided to exercise more or lose weight in 2013, there are applications such as “RunKeeper” or “DietBet.” “RunKeeper” measures the running distance through GPS. It tracks not only the distance but also the speed and calculates the calories burned. “DietBet” offers a motivational tool with a four-week course designed to help users lose 4 percen
Rumors tip lighter, thinner Apple iPad

Dec 25, 2012

Apple is developing a thinner, lighter fifth-generation iPad sharing some design points with the recently released iPad Mini, a Japanese tech blog is reporting.The Macotakara site also said Apple‘s next iPad Mini would feature the high-resolution Retina display many had expected on the first version, CNET reported Monday.The rumored next full-size iPad is another case of the accelerated product life cycle Apple seems to be favoring; the fourth-generation model was released last month, just eight
Chinese manufacturers sell Apple knockoff cables at bargain price

Dec 24, 2012

Chinese companies are competitively releasing cheap replicas of the Lightning Cable, which is exclusively designed for Apple’s new devices including the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.The Korea Herald confirmed on Monday that multiple Chinese online shopping malls are offering duplicated 8-pin Lightning Cables for about only $2 each, compared to Apple’s original Lightning Cables at $19 per unit.The discount is steeper if the cables are bought by wholesale outlets. Through Alibaba, one of the biggest onl
Kakao Talk use triples in 5 months

Dec 23, 2012

Kakao, the developer of mobile messenger app “Kakao Talk,” said Sunday that its now 70 million users spend almost triple the time using the app on average as they did five months ago. The average weekly use of Kakao Talk reached 302 minutes, nearly triple the 107 minutes of the first week of July. In other words, Kakao Talk users run the app for about 43 minutes every day on average. The phenomenon indicates that existing Kakao Talk users rely heavily on the app to send mobile messages, Kakao sa
Global sales of LTE smartphones expected to triple next year: report

Dec 23, 2012

Global sales of long-term evolution (LTE) smartphones will likely triple next year, driven by South Korea‘s tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. and its U.S. rival Apple Inc., a report showed Sunday.The report by research firm Strategy Analytics (SA) predicted that about 275 million units of LTE smartphones will be sold worldwide next year, which will be three times larger than this year’s annual sales estimate of 90.9 million units.The report expected that the U.S., Britain, Japan, China and Sout
EU: Samsung may have violated antitrust rules

Dec 22, 2012

The European Union’s executive arm, the Commission, has informed Samsung of its preliminary view that the company’s seeking of injunctions against Apple for allegedly infringing “standard-essential” patents in the EU amounts to an abuse of a dominant position.According to industry agreements, companies owning the rights to essential phone technology must usually license it to competitors on what are called fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition commiss
Apple ‘pinch-to-zoom’ patent deemed invalid

Dec 20, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― A filing Wednesday in a high-stakes legal battle between Samsung and Apple revealed that a “pinch-to-zoom” patent central to the case has been deemed invalid.The patent was a centerpiece of a trial that ended in August with a jury ordering Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.Samsung provided U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh a copy of a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office preliminary dete
KT, NISA to aid building data center in Brunei

Dec 20, 2012

Mobile carrier KT said Thursday that it has signed an agreement with the National Information Society Agency to join a development consulting project to build a state-run National Data Center in Brunei.Through the project, Brunei will be able to establish an information center to hold and process industrial data. The total consulting expenses for building the NDC in the Southeast Asian state amount to about 2.8 billion won ($2.6 million), the mobile carrier said. KT added that the consulting pro
Volkswagen Korea aims to sell over 20,000 cars next year

Dec 19, 2012

Volkswagen Korea, the local importer of Germany’s Volkswagen Group, said Tuesday that it will seek to sell more than 20,000 vehicles in the South Korean market next year by strengthening its best-selling car lineup.“We set our 2013 sales target at 23,000 units with 35 percent growth from this year. Next year will be our second take-off for joining the 20,000 vehicle club,” said Volkswagen Korea in a statement.Volkswagen Korea sold 16,613 units through November this year, up nearly 42 percent on-
LG defeats U.S. firm’s patent claims in German court

Dec 19, 2012

A German court has ruled in favor of LG Electronics Inc. on a technology patent suit filed by U.S. technology firm Rovi Corporation, company officials said Wednesday.The ruling handed down Tuesday by a court in Mannheim, Germany said that LG Electronics did not infringe on a patent on organizing preferred channels for televisions.In April last year, the U.S. electronic program guide solution provider filed for an injunction with the German court against LG Electronics to ban sales of its televis