LG PREMIUM BUILT-IN KITCKEN APPLIANCES -- South Korean tech giant LG Electronics unveiled its premium built-in kitchen appliance lineup LG Studio at the Dwell On Design, the largest interior design fair in the U.S. last Friday. Designer Nate Berkus, who has teamed up with LG to develop the kitchen appliances, speaks at the interior trade show. LG Electronics

COOPERATION FOR 5G — South Korea’s largest telecommunications firm KT said Sunday it has agreed with Europe-based telecom equipment manufacturers including Nokia and Ericsson to work together to develop technologies for the 5G next-generation network and to run joint projects for the matter. KT chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu talks with top executives from Ericsson in Stockholm on Friday. KT

 South Korea’s leading mobile carrier SK Telecom and Internet giant Google have teamed up to develop augmented reality technology. As part of their cooperation, the two had a test run of an augmented reality solution, called the T-AR for Project Tango, during Google I/O, an annual developer conference held last week. SKT explained that that the counterparts combined the mobile carrier’s augmented reality platform T-AR with Google’s Project Tango for 3-D motion-tracking technology, which gives mo

ANYANG, Gyeonggi Province ― Nestling in an IT business cluster in Pyeongchon-dong, Anyang, half an hour south of Seoul, LG Uplus’ new commercial data center ― dubbed the Mega Center ― displays its overwhelming structures.The construction of what will become Asia’s largest data center is around 90 percent complete and slated to open in late August.Housing 24 computer rooms ― on a total of 27,770 square meters ― the data center consisting of an office facility and two data center buildings is inst

South Korea’s leading mobile carrier KT said Thursday it would work with the French Ministry of Digital Affairs to foster ICT businesses.KT chief executive Hwang Chang-gyu held a meeting with French Minister of State for Digital Affairs Axelle Lemaire on Wednesday in France to discuss future collaboration on the rising Internet of Things technology, a network of objects.Hwang and Lemaire talked especially about the Internet of Small Things, a term that depicts technology connecting things with a

Announcing the official release date of its mobile game “Mabinogi Duel,” South Korea’s top online game developer Nexon Korea said Wednesday it would increase its presence in the global mobile game market.“Mabinogi Duel,” a mobile trading card game, will first be made available in Korean from June 9 but will support six more languages ― English, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Germany and Spanish ― through updates in the latter half of the year.The game will be compatible with smartphones running

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Tuesday it would donate television sets for vision and hearing impaired people. The tech giant will provide 12,200 TVs for the disabled in the nation, which is in line with a donation campaign led by the Korea Communications Agency, a state-funded research institute for broadcasting and communications.The agency conducts the campaign to distribute TVs to narrow the information gap between the disabled and nondisabled. LG will start delivering 24-inch T

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics topped a smartphone sales chart in the first quarter of 2015 in Bangladesh with its budget smartphone, the Z1, according to research data Monday.A report released by research firm Counterpoint showed that the Z1, running on the Tizen operating system, enjoyed robust sales in the January-March period and was “the No. 1 smartphone model in the entire country.”The feat came as a surprise, since it was achieved on the home turf of phone-maker Symphony Mobi

South Korea’s leading wireless carrier SK Telecom launched a lifeware brand, United Object, Monday, aiming to increase its footing in the burgeoning market for the Internet of Things, a network that connects objects.The branding came amid SKT’s ongoing efforts to beef up its business for smart devices and wearables, including a wearable band for kids, and a smart air quality monitoring device.“With the new lifeware brand United Object, SKT will try to bring positive changes to customers’ daily l

South Korean mobile carrier LG Uplus on Thursday launched Android TV services running on Google’s latest Lollipop operating system for the first time in the domestic market.The collaboration is the latest between the Korean mobile carrier, which also provides Internet Protocol TV services, and the Internet giant in their efforts to grow streaming TV businesses.The two counterparts introduced the first IPTV services embedded with Google applications and content in 2012.The new IPTV services, whic

Top executives of South Korea’s largest telecommunications firm KT and Stockholm-based mobile carrier TeliaSonera met in Seoul Thursday to discuss collaboration on the next-generation 5G network and the Internet of Things, which connects objects over networks. Providing telecom services for more than 72 million subscribers across 17 North European and Central Asian nations, TeliaSonera is the largest mobile carrier in Northern Europe and launched the Long-Term Evolution service for the first tim

South Korea’s top mobile carrier SK Telecom said Wednesday it wished to work with more global tech giants, such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, to grow smart home businesses down the road. “SKT would like to have Samsung and LG as partners for the company’s Smart Home, an open platform for home devices,” said Cho Young-hoon, senior vice president of the telecom firm’s smart home task force, at a press meeting held in Seoul Wednesday.He added the partnership with the two tech giants, i

The head of South Korea’s top online game firm Nexon said Tuesday game developers should come up with creative and fun games, warning against the fear of making mistakes. “The fear of making mistakes is the enemy of innovation and it is the enemy of great art,” said Owen Mahoney, chief executive of the Tokyo-headquartered game firm, lashing out at fast-follower strategies widely deployed by Facebook game developers and mobile game developers.“To build great games that capture our imagination, im

South Korean tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have been ramping up efforts to find new cash cows with their quarterly R&D expenditure-sales ratio reaching an all-time high during the January-March period this year, according to their quarterly reports released Monday.Despite a sales decrease in the first quarter this year ― from 54 trillion won in the first quarter last year to 47 trillion won ― Samsung spent 3.8 trillion won ($3.5 billion) for R&D. This only slightly down from

South Korea’s largest mobile carrier SK Telecom said Wednesday that the sales of its portable projector for smartphones, Smart Beam, reached 200,000, a record high in the global market for pico projectors. Launched in February 2013, the cubical projector measuring at 4.5 centimeters has been released in 12 countries including China and Brazil and around 100,000 units were sold annually, according to the Korean telecom firm. “The Smart Beam, which is also being sold at in-flight duty-free shops o

Telecom equipment supplier Ericsson-LG said Wednesday that it would make all-out efforts to lead the next-generation network market, often called 5G, with its improved services and hardware.“Ericsson-LG’s efforts to complete the establishment of a networked society will produce meaningful results from this year,” said Martin Wiktorin, chief executive of Ericsson-LG, at a press meeting in Seoul, adding the company would transform itself into a leading software and services provider, contributing

Global tech giant Samsung Electronics plans to unveil its new tablet PC lineup ― Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 and S2 9.7 ― next month, according to news reports.With powerful specifications for the new tablet PC models, including a 64-bit Exynos processor, 3 GB RAM and a Super AMOLED display, Samsung reportedly aims to outpace its arch rival Apple, the leader of the world’s tablet market. Analysts forecast, however, Samsung’s attempt to outgun Apple in the tablet PC market may be a long shot.“It is doubtfu

Chief executives of Samsung Electronics plan to work at the company’s overseas offices including those in Silicon Valley and New York on a regular basis, aiming to transform the Seoul-based tech giant into a truly global company.“The tech giant’s CEOs from next month will start working at one of the company’s overseas offices once every two or three months to better understand the global market trends,” a senior Samsung official was quoted as saying.Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smart

With heir apparent Lee Jay-yong filling the management vacuum left by his ailing father, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, South Korea’s largest conglomerate is trying to find new growth engines, acquiring foreign ventures at an increasing rate and jumping into new business areas.Since last May when its chairman was hospitalized due to a heart attack, Samsung has conducted eight mergers and acquisitions, almost equal to the combined number of M&As done by the conglomerate in 2012 and 2013.Many of th

The power succession from Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee to his son Lee Jay-yong is underway through the conglomerate’s plan to strengthen the heir apparent’s governance of its major units. The restructuring plan started in earnest with the de facto holding firm Samsung Everland’s acquisition of the fashion business division of Cheil Industries in 2013, the remainder of which was taken over by battery-maker Samsung SDI in March 2014. Theme park operator Samsung Everland changed its name to Cheil I