Unlike tech-savvy readers who have jumped over to e-books in the mobile era, there are people who still feel nostalgia for paper books, and some still love going to secondhand bookstores. One of the biggest draws of visiting a secondhand bookstore is probably the joy of accidentally discovering a rare treasure in the piles of dusty, faded old books, especially one that is out of print.  At a secondhand bookstore in Gaebong-dong, Guro-gu, Seoul, books are priced by weight. That’

It’s been nearly a year since Japan imposed restrictions on its exports to South Korea of key high-tech materials used in chipmaking, the economic pillar of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. At the time, Korea panicked. But one year on, Korea has made significant efforts to reduce its dependence on Japan, which is a close neighbor but also a rival on many fronts, by diversifying its import channels and localizing its materials technologies. On July 1 last year, Japan abruptly moved

Samsung Electronics announced Wednesday that Sebastian Seung, an artificial intelligence expert, will head its AI research arm, strengthening its prowess in the sector. The computer engineering professor at Princeton University will lead Samsung’s 15 R&D centers in 13 countries, including Korea, and seven AI centers, to develop future technologies. The scholar joined Samsung as chief research scientist in 2018 soon after Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong announced his plan to recruit to

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Tuesday highlighted the importance of timing again during his visit to the consumer electronics headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Lee met with Kim Hyun-suk, CEO of the consumer electronics business, and other top executives to discuss artificial intelligence and internet of things strategies, sales expansion of the premium lineup and reinforcing online businesses. “The business environment is testing our limits,” Lee said.

Despite a steady growth in the number of 5G mobile network subscribers who pay higher bills than with LTE services, South Korea’s plan for its full-fledged commercialization seems to be facing delays, according to industry sources Tuesday. The so-called “real 5G,” which requires operation of the higher-frequency bandwidth of 28 gigahertzes to make data processing 20 times faster than the 4G LTE, is still not ready for commercialization, due to unexpected circumstances such a

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong visited the company’s semiconductor headquarters in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, to check on its operations, the tech giant said Friday. The heir apparent discussed Samsung’s road map for next-generation semiconductor development, including memory and system-on-chips, strategies for manufacturing facilities and materials and long-term measures to respond to the COVID-19 impact. Lee also visited the chipmaker’s research and de

Samsung Electronics said Friday it has been selected as the 5G network infrastructure supplier for Canada-based telecom firm Telus, laying the groundwork for its presence as one of the primary vendors in the country. Telus, founded in 1990, has 13.4 million mobile subscribers with annual revenue of C$14.4 billion ($10.4 billion). Canada plans to invest C$40 billion to deploy 5G networks across the country in addition to C$200 billion investments made in establishing wireless networks, freq

The first satellite built by KT SAT in 1970 at its center in Geumsan, South Chungcheong Province (left), and engineers at the Geumsan Satellite Center in South Chungcheong Province (right). The center operated by KT SAT marked its 50th anniversary on Thursday when the division of mobile carrier KT announced it plans to launch the sixth communications satellite by 2024 at the earliest. “Koreasat 6A will be able to handle the sharp increase in data traffic in the 5G era,” the company

LG Electronics said Thursday a study found its flagship steam-based home appliance Tromm Styler is capable of disinfecting viruses in masks. According to a recent test by a research team at Chonnam National University, the anti-virus clothing care course of the Tromm Styler removes over 99.99 percent of viruses such as influenza A, adenovirus, herpes and porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, the company said. The PEDV is another type of coronavirus, which is different from the novel coronavirus

  Many readers must have mistakenly dropped the dustbin of a vacuum cleaner at least once while cleaning it out. Worse still, all the dust, hair and unknown particles that are stuck together have to be dug out manually so they can be thrown in the trash. While technology advances among vacuum cleaners have been pronounced in recent years under the lead of manufacturers like Dyson, my try at using Samsung Electronics’ Clean Station for Jet vacuum was extremely satisfying. While, ad

Chinese TV makers are set to outperform their South Korean rivals in the global TV market as they have shipped more products in the second quarter amid the COVID-19 impact, according to a market researcher Tuesday. According to UK-based market tracker Omdia, Chinese TV manufacturers are projected to have shipped out 15.14 million units from April to June, much higher than that of Korean tech firms Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics. The domestic manufacturers here are estimated to have

South Korean chipmakers are forecast to fare well through the third quarter of this year despite aggravating economic conditions amid the prolonging COVID-19 impact, owing to robust demand for memory chips upon the growing noncontact market, according to industry sources Sunday. The country’s semiconductor exports jumped 22.6 percent from June 1 to 10, compared to a year earlier, according to data by Korea Customs Service. In May, the total semiconductor exports rose 6.6 per

Some Samsung Galaxy smartphone users have complained over the unwarranted banner advertisements on default applications like the weather app. Multiple complaints have been posted by users on the Samsung Members site, lamenting about the discomfort of being exposed to banner ads on the weather app in Samsung’s Android-run Galaxy phones. One screenshot posted by a user showed an image of a red pepper ad with the phrase: “Why hot weather brings appetite for sour and spicy food.&rdq

Samsung Electronics is highly likely to hold its annual “Unpacked” event for the Galaxy Note lineup online for the first time on Aug. 5 due to the prolonging COVID-19 impact, according to news reports Tuesday. The Galaxy Note Unpacked event is usually held in New York every August. At this year’s event, Samsung is expected to unveil four new gadgets: Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Fold 2, Galaxy Z Flip 5G and Galaxy Watch 3. The Galaxy Note 20 is forecast to be released in two ve

Samsung Electronics dodged a major blow Tuesday when a local court refused to grant prosecutors a warrant to arrest Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong. The Samsung heir faces accusations of involvement in a merger and accounting fraud involving key affiliates. Having served one year behind bars earlier, it’s a sigh of relief for South Korea’s largest conglomerate as it has avoided the prospect of once again losing guidance from its de facto leader. Samsung appears likely to focus on pla

It was three years ago that the psychological threshold for smartphone prices passed the $1,000 mark with the launch of Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone X, with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 following the next year. But more recently, phone manufacturers have suffered declines in demand for high-end phones costing over $1,000 as the global economy slowed. They consequently shifted their business focus to less premium or midrange phones. This year, the market has already seen multiple

The Fair Trade Commission said Friday it has terminated an investigation into the battle between Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics over the technological competitiveness of their TVs. The antitrust agency said the two companies have decided to drop the case and pledged to refrain from negative marketing.  LG on Wednesday withdrew its complaint filed against Samsung in September, and Samsung followed suit on Thursday. Samsung declined to comment, but the two reportedly have reache

Shockwaves were sent across Samsung Electronics as the prosecution sought an arrest warrant against Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong over the merger of two affiliates in 2015. The tech giant has been making active moves under Lee’s lead to accelerate businesses amid challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and trade war between the US and China. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office’s request to arrest Lee and two former Samsung executives, Choi Gee-sung and Kim Jong-joong

Samsung Electronics plans to release a limited volume of purple Galaxy S20 smartphones devoted to South Korea’s top boyband BTS on July 9, according to news reports on Thursday. The purple color symbolizes BTS and its fan club Army. The anniversary of the day the fan club was officially named in 2013 falls on July 9. A video clip that hinted at the launch of the BTS edition Galaxy S20 was posted on Twitter and Instagram last week. The video delivered the message, “Find your

Samsung Electronics will support 28 science and technology projects by providing 38.85 billion won ($31.88 million) this year, the tech giant said Thursday. The company has selected 14 projects in basic science, eight in materials science and six in the information communications technology sector to offer its funds. Samsung has provided a total of 758.9 billion won for 589 research and development projects in the three sectors since 2013 as part of corporate social responsibility. This ye