As the automatic translation application “GenieTalk” has taken the No. 1 spot on AppStore’s free popular app chart just one day after launching, early adopters across the nation and overseas are busy posting reviews on social network services ― on both the good and the bad. “GenieTalk,” a free Korean-English translation app developed by the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institution with support from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, was introduced on Wednesday and jumped straight t

South Koreans have a thing for lining up objects. Omok, a traditional board game in which two players compete to first line up five baduk stones, has flourished as a favorite pastime throughout generations.A similar game that requires nimbler hands, smartphones and mobile messenger friends, is now sweeping South Korea, one of the world’s most digitalized countries, as a new pastime.Whether it be a commuter subway or a lunchtime cafeteria queue, it’s easy to spot people squinting their eyes and c

NHN Corp., the nation’s leading Internet portal operator, hosted its literature awards ceremony in Seoul on Thursday to foster creative talent shedding light on the genre. NHN Game Literary Award, an annual event taking place for the third time, was presented to 24 teams of awardees this year, including grand-prix winner Lee Byung-ha, whose work was chosen from a total of 1,500 long and short game scenarios. “At first we were unsure whether we could carry on, but now we see that the game literat

 As the automatic translation application “GenieTalk” has taken the No. 1 spot on AppStore’s free popular app chart just one day after launching, early adopters across the nation and overseas are busy posting reviews on social network services -- on both the good and the bad.“GenieTalk,” a free Korean-English translation app developed by the Electronics and Telecommunication Research Institution w

Nearly 2 in 5 U.S. tablet owners read newspapers and/or magazines on their device, with 1 in 10 reading publications almost daily, a survey found.The poll by comScore for the three-month period ending August 2012 found 37.1 percent of tablet owners read a newspaper on their device at least once during the month, with 11.5 percent of tablet owners reading newspapers almost every day.Kindle Fire users displayed the strongest activity in reading newspapers and magazines on their device, a comScore

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy unveiled Wednesday a smartphone application that automatically translates Korean and English to help ease the language barrier. “GenieTalk” offers translation services through both speech recognition and text. The application is designed to help out those who face difficulties communicating when visiting Korea and Koreans who travel abroad. The app contains 270,000 Korean and 65,000 English words.“GenieTalk senses Korean better and shows higher translation accur

LG Display announced the launch of an 84-inch ultra definition liquid-crystal display panel to be used for next-generation electronic bulletin boards on Wednesday.Claiming to be the world’s first to introduce such displays, the new 8 million pixel LCD panel is 3.5 times brighter and 8 times more vivid than existing electronic boards that use projectors, its officials said.This indicates that electronic bulletin boards will be similar to a television, enabling users to even view 3-D videos. Peopl

Critics raise concerns over strategy of making devices in several sizesWith the rising trend of bigger is better, are wireless gadgets getting too big for the global consumer market?That is the question that comes to mind as major electronics makers push mini versions of their already-released wireless gadgets.Samsung Electronics unveiled the Galaxy S3 mini at an event in Germany last week.The 4-inch Galaxy S3 mini is 0.8 of an inch smaller than the firm’s flagship smartphone Galaxy S3 but has t

South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus Corp. and U.S. tech giant Google Inc. said Tuesday they plan to launch a new program incorporating the two companies‘ television services.The program, called “u+tv G,” will combine the No. 3 mobile carrier’s existing Internet Protocol (IPTV) service with the Android giant‘s “Google TV” service, the two companies said.By setting up a u+tv G set-top box, users who subscribe to the monthly service will get access to 119 channels as well as Google’s signature fea

Apple may announce a new Mac Mini when it unveils the iPad Mini, and a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro may also join them, websites are reporting.The new Mac Mini will come in three models, with two differentiated by processor and storage capacity and the third running as an OS X server, 9to5Mac reported.With the Mac Mini not having an upgrade since 2010, it‘s likely the new models with feature the latest-generation Intel Core processors, larger hard drives and faster graphics, Slash Gear said.The Ma

KT, the nation’s second-largest mobile carrier, said Monday that it would design its products with a signature style to maximize its brand power. The move comes after KT’s outer packaging for home mobile devices won the prestigious Red Dot Design Best of the Best Award 2012 in the productivity sector.The mobile carrier used the word “product identity” to explain how a product becomes a unique entity under the brand name KT. Citing Apple and different generations of iPod, KT chairman Lee Suk-chae

Apple's iOS 6 app on the left, the Swiss Federal Railways SBB clock on the right. (UPI)Apple, which has spent a fair amount of time in courts over copyright issues, says it will pay up rather than contest a claim it copied an iconic Swiss clock.Swiss railway operator SBB took the California company to task last month for allegedly copying its famously accurate rail station clocks for the design of