The first notebook computer I ever used was a bulky (by today's standards) Toshiba which, at the time seemed like a great upgrade from the IBM PC I was using in the office. Over the years, notebook or "laptop" computers have gotten steadily smaller and sleeker. About eight years ago I purchased a Samsung X-10 multimedia notebook and have been using Samsung notebooks ever since with few problems. Consequently, I take note when Samsung comes out with a new series or model.
According to PCWorld, the new Samsung 9 Series Laptop "Out-Sleeks Apple's MacBook Air." According to the article, it is slightly thinner and lighter than Apple's notebook (0.64 inches thick versus the MacBook Air's 0.68 inches; 2.89 pounds versus 2.9 pounds),has more memory (4GB versus 2GB), and is made of aircraft-grade Duralumin material (twice as strong as aluminum). It boots Windows in under 20 seconds, has 160-degree viewing angles, and otherwise seems tailored for premium laptop users who care about both form and function.
Sounds very nice and these new products will make the choice between a notebook and a notepad touchscreen device very interesting for many consumers in the months to come.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Korea Leads World in Mobile YouTube Viewing
As I predicted in a December 2009 post, viewership of Youtube video on mobile devices has skyrocketed in South Korea. An article in the Joongang Daily notes that more Koreans now watch YouTube on mobile devices than do people in any other country around the world. On the third anniversary of YouTube's launch in Korea an executive of that company noted that mobile views grew nine-fold last year. He also noted that YouTube is now being used to deliver Korean content, including popular soap operas, to a global audience. YouTube Korea has signed partnerships with Korea's top three talent agencies, under which the agencies provide premium content for YouTube, while YouTube provides them with useful information such as the number of viewer hits.
A Note on Broadband Availability in the U.S. (Guam)
I just returned from a pleasant three night vacation trip to Guam. The weather was pleasant and the palm-lined beach and warm Pacific waters were beautiful. However, I cannot offer the same compliments about the broadband internet service.
The night before our departure to Guam, we stayed in a small motel in Gangnam in order to be ready for a morning departure from Incheon International airport. As is common in Korea these days, the motel offered an extensive array of cable television channels and had a computer installed on the desk with an LCD monitor and fast internet access, all included with the modest price of the room.
On arrival at the hotel in Guam (one of the major hotels on Tumon Bay), we plugged the internet cable into our notebook computer, only to be greeted with a page informing us that internet access would cost $10 per day via the cable or $5 per day if we chose to use one of the available wireless channels. Clearly, we had left Korea and were in the U.S.
The night before our departure to Guam, we stayed in a small motel in Gangnam in order to be ready for a morning departure from Incheon International airport. As is common in Korea these days, the motel offered an extensive array of cable television channels and had a computer installed on the desk with an LCD monitor and fast internet access, all included with the modest price of the room.
On arrival at the hotel in Guam (one of the major hotels on Tumon Bay), we plugged the internet cable into our notebook computer, only to be greeted with a page informing us that internet access would cost $10 per day via the cable or $5 per day if we chose to use one of the available wireless channels. Clearly, we had left Korea and were in the U.S.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Mobile Broadband is the Future
There is some interesting news these days out of the recently concluded World Mobile Congress in Barcelona. Samsung and the other major manufacturers of smart phones have announced plans to release cheaper smart-phones that will be accessible to the masses of users around the world. This is hardly surprising since the general logic of the digital information revolution is that semiconductors, screens and other modular devices continue to become more powerful and cheaper over the long run.
Eric Schmidt of Google gave the keynote speech in Barcelona. As he noted in a recent article for the Harvard Business Review, we are on the cusp of a big mobile revolution that requires three developments.
Eric Schmidt of Google gave the keynote speech in Barcelona. As he noted in a recent article for the Harvard Business Review, we are on the cusp of a big mobile revolution that requires three developments.
- Development and deployment of fast mobile networks for the future services.
- Development of mobile money, and
- Increasing the availability of inexpensive smart phones in the poorest parts of the world.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Renewable Energy Exports and Korea's ICT Sector
What does renewable energy have to do with Korea's Information Society? The answer is partly provided by an interesting article in the Joongang Daily this morning, entitled "Renewable Energy Sector Booms, but also Lags." According to the Knowledge Economy Ministry and Solar & Energy, total sales in the local renewable energy market reached $7.2 billion last year, a 58 percent surge from the previous year. Exports jumped 77 percent to $4.5 billion, mainly boosted by demand for locally made solar power generators and related equipment. The number of firms and employees in the renewable energy sector increased accordingly. A Ministry official, noting that the renewable energy sector consists mainly of three sectors --solar, wind and biofuel--suggested that “What Korea should focus on is to integrate existing technology from sectors such as semiconductors and liquid-crystal displays with solar power energy, and also shipbuilding with wind power."
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