[THE INVESTOR] Mobile messenger Kakao will end its video service Daum TV Pot and combine it with streaming video service KakaoTV in September.Daum TV Pot features around 270 channels, in collaboration with TV broadcasters, content firms and individuals who run their own online broadcasting channels.Users can share video content posted on KakaoTV on Kakao’s other social network services including KakaoTalk and KakaoStory.Free on-demand movies, Web dramas, and live-streaming videos are available o

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is showcasing its Galaxy S7 smartphone and virtual reality headset Gear VR at the E2 2016, the world’s largest game trade show, held in Los Angeles from June 14 to 16.The Galaxy S7 and its curved-display variant Galaxy S7 edge are the first smartphones that support the Vulkan, a cross-platform application programming interface which can improve the graphics of mobile games by fully utilizing multi-core mobile processors.At the trade show, Samsung also showcased

 [THE INVESTOR] One of Korea’s largest civic groups will be lodging a complaint against the top management of construction and trading firm Samsung C&T, Samsung Group vice chairman Lee Jae-yong and the state pension fund National Pension Service on charges of malpractice and stock price manipulation in the merger of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T in 2015.People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy claimed that the merger between Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T was made to benefit the Sams

 [THE INVESTOR] Korean camera module maker Patron will reportedly be supplying its iris camera modules for Samsung Electronics’ next premium smartphone model, presumably the Galaxy Note 7, according to news reports on June 15.The Korean camera module firm reportedly won a bid months ago to supply the entire volume of biometric modules needed for the upcoming smartphone, which is expected to be unveiled on Aug. 2 in New York City.   Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Note 5Some of renderings of the smartp

[THE INVESTOR] Network operator SK Telecom has begun using the real-time mobile streaming technology “T Live Streaming” in its sports channel, in a bid to reduce latency, the company said on June 14.The T Live Streaming service is an improved model compared to other existing media transmission technologies such as “HTTP Live Streaming,” and “MPEG-2 Transport Streaming,” both of which have been widely-used standards for the past two decades.The next-generation streaming technology reduces latency

[THE INVESTOR] The much-anticipated initial public offering of mobile messenger firm LINE Corp. will not only increase the corporate value of the firm, but also be a great financial boon for top executives of the mobile messenger firm, industry watchers said. Among stock options granted to the firm’s executives, since 2012, 25.6 million shares -- or 14.6 percent of entire shares -- have not been unexercised.Line chief global officer Shin Joong-ho. YonhapConsidering the anticipated offering price

[THE INVESTOR] Tech behemoth LG Electronics has rolled up its sleeves to nurture “white hat hackers,” or computer security experts. The leading electronics firm said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Information Technology Research Institute to foster security experts, on Monday at Best of Best education center, an educational institute for information technology security, in Gangnam. LG Electronics’ Min Kyung-oh (left) and Yoo Joon-sang, the president of the Korea Informati

[THE INVESTOR] The fourth week of June will probably be one of the busiest weeks this year for tech giant Samsung Electronics as it is slated to hold, as well as participate in, a series of meetings and events to entice global investors.The Korean tech giant will be holding a global strategic meeting with the top executives of its global offices from June 21 to 22 at the firm’s head office in Suwon. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics. Around 400 to 500 chiefs and executives of Sa

[THE INVESTOR] LG Chem, one of Korea’s leading chemical companies, has been picked as the exclusive supplier of seawater filters for a desalination plant in Oman, the company said Monday. The LG Group affiliate said it would supply by the end of this year about 20,000 reverse osmosis desalination filters, which can process 250,000 tons of seawater a day, to the plant being built by water desalination plant operator Sohar SWRO in Sohar, Oman.The head office of LG Group in Seoul. (Yonhap)Reverse o

[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic parts affiliate of Samsung Group, is preparing to dive into the integrated circuit packaging industry, according to news reports on Monday.Joining hands with Samsung Electronics, a chip maker, the electronic components firm will likely plan to win new supply contracts of chips for smartphone makers, including U.S.-based Apple. Workers at Samsung Electronics’ chip assembly line in Xian, China, pose with the firm’s NAND flash memory wafer. (S

A group of small investors intend to pay another visit to the head office of Samsung SDS, an information solutions business arm of Samsung Group, to protest the company’s planned split-off of its logistics solution business.Samsung SDS Small Investors’ Group said Monday that it would visit the firm on Tuesday afternoon to express its objection toward the proposed split-off plan.A man passes by Samsung SDS’ head office in Seoul. (Yonhap)“During the previous visit to the company, a Samsung SDS exe

An independent ombudsman committee has been set up to ensure workplace safety at Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor and display factories, the committee said Thursday. The Samsung Ombudsman Committee is led by Lee Cheol-soo, the committee chief and a law professor at Seoul National University, Im Hyun-sool, a medical professor at Dongkuk University, and Kim Hyun-wook, a medical professor at Catholic University.“We have formed a panel consisting of the best experts in the field of safety and welf

Samsung Electronics’ next flagship smartphone, tentatively dubbed Galaxy S8, is likely to come with a 5.5-inch, 4K UHD display, a market research firm said Wednesday. The Korean tech giant would become the first smartphone-maker to pack 4K resolution into its flagship smartphone, even though Sony last year released the Z5 Premium with such a panel. Samsung Electronics’ flagship Galaxy smartphone models. (UBI Research)“Samsung Display showcased a 5.5 ultra-high definition 4K display with a pixel

Network operator KT has been picked as the company most committed to improving corporate governance in Korea, according to a poll conducted by FinanceAsia, a financial magazine based in Hong Kong.The Korean network firm scored 19 points in the “Most Committed to Corporate Governance” category of the poll, followed by KT&G with 17 points and KEPCO with 14 scores. Head office of network operator KT (Yonhap)The Hong Kong-based magazine carries out the poll annually with more than 100 fund managers

Information technology solutions firm SK C&C and network equipment firm CISCO will be working together to develop a software platform that can manage network and security systems.Yang Yu-seok, the head of SK C&C’s information and communications technology infrastructure business, and Park Jae-beom, the vice president of CISCO, signed a partnership deal for the collaboration at C&C’s office in Pangyo on Wednesday.Yang Yu-seok (left) of SK C&C and Park Jae-beom of CISCO pose after signing a partne

Amid mounting controversy over IT solutions firm Samsung SDS’ plan to split its businesses, its chief executive has asked his employees not to be swayed by speculations on the proposal.In posts on the company’s online bulletin board last week, Samsung SDS CEO Chung Yoo-sung told employees to “stay in your position, and continue to carry out your duties.”Samsung SDS CEO Chung Yoo-sung (Samsung SDS)The remarks seemed to be aimed at appeasing employees who could have been agitated by the latest dev

LG Electronics said Tuesday that it would be releasing Twin Wash, a front-load washing machine with an optional washer, in 40 nations including Mexico, Colombia, China, Taiwan and Vietnam. (LGE)

GUMI, North Gyeongsang Province – The loud rattling and fizzing noises of conveyor belts ferrying TV displays along four assembly lines hailed a group of reporters on a visit to tech giant LG Electronics’ A3 factory in Gumi City, North Gyeongsang Province on Friday. In the middle of the 140-meter long conveyer belts, automated robotic arms were tightening screws and assembling the displays -- organic light-emitting diode, light-emitting diode and liquid crystal displays --with circuit boards and

Tech giant Samsung Electronics’ mobile payment solution Samsung Pay has hit the Spanish market, the company said Friday.The contactless payment solution, which works with traditional payment terminals as well as on near-field-communication-based terminals, is already available in South Korea, the United States and China.  A consumer uses Samsung Electronics’ mobile payment solution Samsung Pay. (Yonhap)The launch of the contactless payment solution in Spain marks the first in Europe. “Our goal w

Tech giant LG Electronics said Wednesday that it will run a cash-back event for its organic light-emitting diode TV in Korea this month.During the event, LGE will provide 500,000 won ($421) of cash back for purchasers of its 55-inch OLED TV models, which will bring down its price to 3.8 million won.With the cash back scheme, 55-inch and 65-inch curved screen OLED TVs will also be available at 4 million won and 7.9 million won, respectively.Ultra-high definition TVs, fitted with liquid crystal di