TOKYO (AFP) ― Japan logged a bigger-than-expected trade deficit of 520.3 billion yen ($6.5 billion) in April as higher energy costs pushed up imports, the finance ministry said Wednesday.The deficit was larger than a shortfall of 477.7 billion yen registered in April 2011, a month after Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami which battered the world’s third-largest economy.It was also bigger than the 470 billion yen deficit expected by economists.Exports in April rose 7.9 percent from a

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. boosted its share of the Chinese smartphone market in the first quarter, retaining the top-vendor status, a report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Woori Investment and Securities Co., Samsung claimed an estimated 28 percent of the Chinese smartphone market in the January-March period, up from 24 percent three months earlier.Samsung’s sales volume in the Chinese smartphone market, the world’s biggest, grew to 9

South Korea should focus on cultivating software talents and relax regulations on the information and communication industry if it wants to survive in the fast-changing global IT industry, a presidential council reported Tuesday.The President’s Council on National ICT Strategies made the suggestions during a report to President Lee Myung-bak, stressing that South Korea, once considered an IT power due to its advanced hardware technologies, is fast losing ground in what is now a software-centered

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Google closed Tuesday its $12.5 billion deal for Motorola Mobility, a key manufacturer of smartphones and other devices that puts the Internet giant in head-to-head competition with Apple.“The acquisition will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing,” the California-based Internet giant said in a statement.Chief executive Larry Page said Google was acquiring “a great American tech company, with a track record of ov

Children soak up more electromagnetic waves in certain frequencies than adults, a recent study suggests.According to the research results published Monday, more electromagnetic waves are taken in by children in and around the frequency band of 1000 MHz, which is used in FM broadcasting, and 1GHz, the frequency band of mobile telecommunication.Also, children who use their mobile phones often are more likely to develop Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the study said.The research team stat

Global display market shrinks in first quarterSamsung Electronics has become the biggest seller of mobile phones, smartphones and LTE phones in the world, according to reports.In the global smartphone market, Samsung continued to show its prowess, edging out Nokia for the first time in the first quarter of this year, Strategy Analytics, a market research firm said.Samsung sold a total of 92.5 million mobile phones, accounting for 25 percent globally, surpassing the 22.4 market share of Nokia, wh

Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest computer memory-chip maker, said Friday it has developed a graphene device that could help revolutionize the capabilities of transistors.Samsung's advanced institute of technology said it has successfully created a three-terminal active device with a graphene variable barrier, which can effectively cut off electric currents in transistors.Graphene is a

Apple’s reported placing of large orders for Elpida Memory’s mobile DRAM chips will not affect Samsung Electronics shares or its global supply chain in the long-run, analysts said Thursday.The effects of the unconfirmed news are likely to be short-lived and limited to boosting the fundamentals of Korean semiconductor players, including SK Hynix, whose production capacity still outweighs that of the Japan-based chip maker.“Elpida’s production capacity lags behind that of Samsung and Hynix, still

Samsung Electronics Co. sold more than 40 percent of all Android mobile phones in the first quarter as the South Korean manufacturer became the world’s largest handset maker, research company Gartner Inc. said. Global handset sales declined 2 percent to 419 million, dragged down by a drop in low-end handsets, Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner said on Thursday in a report. Smartphone sales rose 45 percent, the researcher said. Samsung, which also makes screens and other hardware used in smartph