SAMSUNG’S NEW GALAXY -- Samsung Electronics sent out an invitation to the media Wednesday for the unveiling event of its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S7 to be held in Barcelona, Spain on Feb. 21. (Samsung Electronics)

GOHEUNG, South Jeolla Province ― Exactly three years ago on Sunday, Korea launched a rocket dubbed the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-I, or Naro, to put a satellite into orbit and become the 13th country to do so from its own soil.Since then, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Korea’s own version of the U.S.’ NASA, which led the Naro project, has been trying to move on to the next phase ― the development of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-II.Engineers from the state-run Korea Aerospace Research

Global sales of tablet PCs tumbled more than 12 percent in 2015 from a year earlier as a slumping world economy crimped demand for information technology products, industry data showed Sunday.A total of 168.5 million tablet PCs were sold across the world last year, down 12.2 percent from the previous year, according to data by market tracker TrendForce.It is the first time that global shipments of tablet PCs have fallen at a double-digit rate.Apple led the world‘s tablet PC market last year, but

Odds are you may think that virtual reality was developed in recent years. But it has long existed in different forms, arguably stretching back to the 360-degree murals of the 19th century and the stereoscope View-Master made in 1939. The term virtual reality is said to have been coined in the mid-1900s and augmented reality, which overlays 3-D images over the real world, came along in the 1950s. Visitors wear Samsung Electronics' Gear VR headsets at the company's 4-D theater at the CES trade sh

When I first tried Google Cardboard, a virtual reality pair of goggles made out of a few pieces of cardboard and two lenses, at The Korea Herald office in Seoul one afternoon, my coworkers giggled, watching me holding the small brown box up to my eyes and struggling to turn around properly in my chair. But their attention was divided between me and the trendy cardboard goggles, making me feel both embarrassed and flattered. Google CardboardTo be honest, I could have done a review on the Cardboar

Telecommunications firm KT saw its operating profit surpass the 1 trillion won mark last year for the first time since 2012.The Korean telecom firm reported Friday that its operating income swung to a profit of 1.29 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2015 from a loss of 406.6 billion won the previous year. KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the mobile carrier’s new headquarters in January in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. KTWhile revenue was down 0.1 percent to 22.28 trillion w

The members of Samsung Electronics’ mobile business and chip business units will likely enjoy a bonus party this week as they will receive the highest amount of incentives for 2015 at the firm, according to news reports on Wednesday.The company has reportedly informed its executives and employees about the detailed plan for annual incentives, dubbed the overall performance incentive, on the day. Samsung Electronics’ head office in Seoul. (Yonhap)The tech giant rewards its executives and employee

Mobile carrier SK Telecom said Tuesday that the company and Finnish network equipment firm Nokia have successfully conducted a test run of a group communication system, which enables hundreds of users to communicate over the network at the same time. Technicians from SK Telecom and Nokia run a test trial of the group communication system. (SKT)Since the current LTE network hits a communications bottleneck when a large group of people try to make calls or send messages at the same time, it fell s

LG PORTABLE SPEAKERS BOAST UNIQUE DESIGN -- Models pose with tech giant LG Electronics’ tumbler-shaped portable speaker, dubbed the Portable Speaker 360 (left), and a speaker with a wooden body, named the Portable Speaker Classic (right), in Seoul on Monday. (LGE)

While expectations are high for the Galaxy S7 and G5, the new flagship smartphones of Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, respectively, an announcement by mobile carrier SK Telecom on Monday offers hints to a new feature on the handsets. SK Telecom employees work at a laboratory of the firm in Seoul. (SKT)Korea’s leading mobile carrier said that it would deploy an advanced uplink carrier aggregation technology, which will increase the upload speed of the long-term evolution network, up to fo

IT solutions developer SK Planet said Monday it has supported around 250 small and medium enterprises to tap into global markets through its e-commerce platform 11st in the second half of last year. The logo of SK Planet, the operator of e-commerce platform 11st. (SK Planet)The SK Group affiliate has been running its e-commerce platform 11st with different names in global markets -- n11 in Turkey, Elevenia in Indonesia, and 11Street in Malaysia.The company ran a Korean zone on the e-commerce web

South Korea's Foreign Ministry defended foreign envoys here Tuesday from criticism that they are illegitimately seeking to pressure the country's parliament over a bill on law firms.A day earlier, U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert met with Rep. Lee Sang-min, head of the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee, and delivered a protest statement against the revision bill on the opening of South Korea's legal market.It was also signed by British Amb. Charles Hay, EU Amb. Gerhard

Controversy over a Taiwan-born K-pop singer, who became the center of a political dispute between China and Taiwan for holding the national flag of the island nation on a TV show, is affecting the IT sector in Korea.Mobile carrier LG Uplus said Monday that it would “temporarily stop the online commercials for Chinese handset-maker Huawei’s Y6 smartphone,” featuring Chou Tzu-yu, better known as Tzu-yu here, a member of multinational K-pop band Twice.LG Uplus’ online commercial for Huawei’s Y6 sma

Marking its third anniversary Friday, Naver’s webfiction service has shown rapid growth, with the number of subscribers surpassing 5 million, up 53 percent from 2013, according to the Internet giant.The monthly sales of Web novels published on the platform also hit the 100-million won ($82,800) mark.  Naver’s Web novel platform. (Naver)Currently, 150 authors have rolled out 197 Web novels over the past three years. Ninety-seven writers published 117 literary works on the online platform last yea

Kwon Oh-hyun, the CEO and vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, handed a written apology to family members of former workers who contracted deadly diseases including leukemia and various cancers, in Seoul on Thursday. Participating in a meeting with the families of the workers stricken with illnesses at the head office in Gangnam, Seoul on the day, CEO Kwon said “we appreciate your understanding and efforts to solve the issues (related to the dispute involving the former Samsung factory workers)

 LG Electronics rolled out the world’s lightest 15.6-inch laptop, dubbed the Gram 15, in Seoul on Thursday. The new laptop weighing in at 980 grams -- 50 percent lighter than the existing 15-inch products -- features either an i5 or i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256 and 512GB storage options with its price range from 1.55 million won ($1,280) to 2.29 million won.　LGE

LG Electronics announced an investment project on Wednesday to give boost to the firm’s solar energy business. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gumi City government on the same day to beef up its solar panel module production lines in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province.Attendees at the Intersolar trade show held in Germany last year look at LG Electronics’ NeON2 solar panel module. (Yonhap)The tech giant will make investments worth 527 billion won ($435 million) to add six

Taking a step closer toward ending a decade-old dispute, Samsung Electronics and victims of leukemia and their families reached an agreement to take measures to prevent recurrence of the disease at workplaces.The agreement was made during a three-way meeting among the tech giant and two groups representing victims of leukemia in Seoul on Tuesday.Under the deal, they would set up an independent organization to deal with checking working conditions at Samsung‘s facilities.(From left)Baek Soo-hyun,

The domestic market share of Hyundai Motor Co., the country’s largest carmaker, fell to a 15-year low last year amid intensifying competition with foreign and local rivals. According to market reports Friday, Hyundai sold 714,121 cars in Korea in 2015, the most in decades. The company’s market share, however, came in at 39 percent, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous year. Hyundai Motor’s sister company, Kia Motors, sold 527,500 units here last year. The combined market share of the two

Samsung Electronics’ fourth-quarter earnings in 2015 are expected to remain below par, raising market concerns over its deteriorating businesses.Announcing its earnings guidance for the October-December period, the Seoul-based electronics firm estimated that its operating income would stand at 6.1 trillion won ($5.1 billion), down 17.46 percent from the previous quarter. The operating profit missed an average market estimate of 6.67 trillion won, announced by financial research firm FnGuide earl