Apple's 2015 Worldwide Developers Conference kicked off Monday in San Francisco.The conference hosts developers for a preview of what's to come in software for Apple products. But it's also, often, a place for Apple to announce new products and initiatives.Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a keynote address where he announced, among other things, a new music streaming and Internet radio service called A

Apple is bringing its Metal graphics toolkit to Mac, the company announced Monday at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.Metal, announced at last year's WWDC, lets developers take advantage of tighter integration between the graphics and processing tasks performed by the iPhone and iPad's A7, A8 and A8X chips. The goal was to juice its mobile gaming offerings with speedier perfo

LG Electronics will help gamers take their experience to a new level with the new LG 4K ULTRA HD monitor (Model 27MU67) which will be rolling out this month in select markets worldwide.The 16:9 aspect ratio 27-inch class monitor, which is specifically designed to provide a premium gaming experience, boasts a large viewing area and a 3840 x 2160 screen resolution for an eye-popping 4K visual expe

Samsung Electronics is set to release a premium SUHD TV that is designed by a globally famous industrial designer Yves Behar.Samsung announced on June 8 that it will release 82S9W, the highest premium model among its SUHD TV lineups, in Korea, first in the world.The 82S9W SUHD TV was given the CES Innovation Award at the CES 2015 which was held in Las Vegas early this year. Instead of being hu

LG Electronics announced on June 8 that it has marketed the “Disney Mobile on DoCoMo DM-01G,” a new smartphone themed on Disney characters, in Japan.The Disney Mobile on DoCoMo series has been called the “Disney phone” which has been released by Japan’s mobile carrier NTT DoCoMo and Walt Disney Japan.The new model, developed by LG Electronics, is the eighth in the Disney Mobile on DoCoMo serie

Daum Kakao announced on June 8 that its investment subsidiary K Venture Group will absorb a user experience design specialist Tangram Design Lab as a subsidiary by acquiring a 51-percent stake.Tangram Design Lab, founded in 2008, has specialized in software and product designs. It has won the iF Design Awards, one of the world’s three most renowned design awards, for seven straight years startin

As more and more people stayed at home without going out due to the fast spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the number of those who went to major theme parks, discount stores, model homes, department stores, baseball stadiums, and movie theaters during the past weekend dampened.After showing signs of recovery in recent months, domestic demand is now at the risk of falling aga

Samsung Electronics plans to offer a mobile payments function in a smartwatch to be launched in the second half of the year, South Korea's Electronic Times newspaper reported on Monday citing unnamed sources.Samsung would use near-field communication (NFC) technology to support mobile payments on the smartwatch, the report said. This is the same technology Apple Inc uses for the Apple Pay functi

The ripple effect of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is spreading throughout Korea's retail industry, including department stores, discount stores, restaurants, and cosmetic shops.Amid rising concerns about possible infection by the MERS virus, an increasing number of consumers are avoiding crowded places, dealing a blow against the sales of offline stores, including department store

Six U.S.-based steel makers have filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission that the steel products imported from four countries including Korea are sold at unfair prices in the American market.The Wall Street Journal reported on June 4 that the steel suppliers including United States Steel Corp., Nucor Corp., Steel Dynamics Inc., ArcelorMittal USA, AK Steel Corp., a

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors plan to release a variety of new cars in and outside Korea in the second half of this year. They suffered sluggish sales in the first half of this year due to lack of new models. They hope to reverse the situation by releasing up to ten new models in the second half.They expect their "A-S-K" trio, consisting of Avante, Sportage and K5, to play a key role in overcom

Janne Kyttanen, 3D industrial designer, used the structures of spider webs and silkworm cocoons to inform the design of a sofa that he 3D-printed in a single piece.The mesh is configured to provide maximum strength from as little material as possible, mimicking the layouts of natural structures like spider webs and silkworm cocoons. “With 3D technology, we can express forms only found in nature,

Apple’s brand-new smartwatch “Apple Watch” will be released in Korea starting from June 26. Prior to Apple Watch’s debut in Korea, a string of popular apps such as KakaoTalk and Kakao Taxi appeared on the app store for Apple Watch.Apple announced on June 4 that its Apple Watch will be available in Korea, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, and Taiwan. The consumers of these countries c

SK Group has officially taken part in a bidding to acquire Beijing Tongyi, a Chinese lubricant business unit of Royal Dutch Shell.Tongyi is China's No. 1 lubricant maker established in 2006 by Royal Dutch Shell by acquiring a 75-percent stake in Beijing Tongyi Petroleum Chemical Co. According to oil refining industry sources on June 5, SK Lubricants, SK Group's lubricants unit, has participated

The 2015 Global TransporTech, a Korean exhibition to publicize the superior quality of Korean-made automobile parts and components to international buyers, opened its curtain at Songdo Convensia in Incheon on June 4.This year marked the ninth anniversary for this annual exhibition. This year’s event attracted 141 exhibitors and 222 buyer companies from 37 countries worldwide. The Korea Trade Inv

Samsung Electronics denied rumors about its possible merger with Samsung SDS.Lee Myung-Jin, head of IR Group at Samsung Electronics, said in an investor forum held at Hotel Shilla on June 3, “Despite market rumors about the possible merger between Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDS, we have no such plan at all.”Lee added, “I know what I am saying is not enough to calm down such rumors but I h

Gyeonggi Institute of Science & Technology Promotion (GSTEP) joined hands with Skolkovo Technopark, known as Russia's Silicon Valley to facilitate over 10,000 ICT companies in the Gyeonggi-do province to make inroads into the Russian market.GSTEP unveiled on June 3nd that GSTEP President Kwak Jae-won signed an MOU agreement with President Renat Batyrov on June 2nd(local time) at Skolkovo Technop

The prospect of a merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, which had seemed a slam dunk to everyone following the deal, has suddenly dimmed as an American hedge fund with a 7-percent stake in Samsung C&T declared opposition to the union. An official with Elliott Associates L.P., a New York-based asset management firm, said on June 4, "[The proposed takeover of Cheil Industries by Samsung C

Economics experts are calling for the Korean government to ratify a “potentially damaging” Korea-China Free Trade Agreement signed on June 1.An editorial piece in the influential newspaper Joongang Ilbo slated the new deal, claiming that “industry insiders’ expectations are quickly ebbing.”The editorial also read, “Korean companies must draw up a new business strategy aimed at China’s domestic

Hyundai Motor suffered more than 10 percent in its U.S. car sales last month, while Kia Motors achieved record-high monthly sales there during the same period.Hyundai Motor’s flagship models such as Avante and Tucson became outdated, making it lag behind in the competition against other car makers of the United States, Japan and Europe who enjoyed strong performance thanks to low oil prices and