Gizmodo: korean

South Koreans Discover 'True Blue' Material for Better OLED Screens

Jack Loftus — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST

OLED screens are pretty awesome all around, but they have more than a few Achilles Heels to overcome before they're accepted into the mainstream. That said, one of the hurdles has allegedly fallen this weekend, thanks to new research out of South Korea. According to the AP, South Korean scientists have developed an efficient "true blue" material that, while sounding like a 1991 Madonna album, is actually a pretty important step forward for OLEDs.

You see, OLEDs, for all their potential greatness, have a heck of a time producing the blue light necessary to produce great images (red, green, blue light makes TVs happy!). Red and green light works fine, but blue remained elusive. That's where the South Koreans come in.

The discovery was the work of Pusan National University chemistry professor Jin Sung-Ho, who said the discovery was an important one for advancing the energy efficiency of OLEDs. For gadget lovers, it's yet another piece of the puzzle that, when completed, will mean powerful, beautiful OLED TVs are a mainstay in homes across the world. [AFP]

Low-End Korean GPS is Basically High-End 7-Inch Screen PMP, for $190

Kit Eaton — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:40:00 EDT

The normally navigation-focused guys over at Navigadget have spotted something interesting: The "low end" Easycar U7 GPS system heading for Korean drivers at the moment is basically a pretty high-end media player with a 7-inch touchscreen. As well as helping you navigate, the 0.75-inch deep gizmo plays audio and video files, has a text reader, photo-viewer and accepts digitally-broadcast TV. Check out the gallery to see it in action, and go mad when you learn it costs the equivalent of just $190.

Where did you see a fairly thin PMP with a 7-inch screen and all that functionality for that small an amount of cash? I know there's exchange-rate shenanigans happening, but it sure makes most GPS systems over here seem like a rip-off.

Let us know your take on this guys: Are the Koreans just lucky buggers, or are the GPS makers over here ripping us off?
[Navigadget]

Coway's Daan Air Purifier Freshens a Room While Freshening a Room

Jason Chen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:20:00 EDT

These Daan air purifiers from Coway are some of the best looking air purifiers we've ever seen. The ones we've had are like Danny Trejo: workmanlike in its ability to get the job done, but very very ugly. The Daans are the opposite of ugly, and can cover a 161 sq. ft. room with a single unit, or more if you stack a few together. There's even a bonus mood lighting function in case you somehow trick a lady into coming home with you, which seems as likely as you importing one of these from Korea. [Appliancist]

Emotion Mask Brings Kekekekeke To Life

Jason Chen — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:30:00 EDT

This "Mask of Emotion" was made at the Hongik University in Korea, which explains why their emoticons are very Asian, as opposed to the more :'( style us westerners use. It's supposed to be hide your personal emotion while displaying whatever one you choose, which is limited to happy, kinda happy, very happy, sad, another kind of sad, and angry. Don't expect to see anyone wearing this on the street unless you're roaming the streets of Hongik University. [Mask of Emotion via Make]

Hardbox External Hard Drive Hides Your Illiteracy With a Book Called Hardbox

Jason Chen — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:10:00 EDT

This Hardbox enclosure from Korean company Sarotech looks even more book-like than the Western Digital MyBook drives that have been around for a few years. There are two status indicator lights on the front, behind which sits 3.5-inch SATA drives that connect to your PC via USB. It's great for hiding the fact that you don't have any books but have loads of external hard drives. That is, until someone looks closer and realizes you've read a book called Hardbox. Maybe Hardbox means something different in Korean. [Sarotech via AVING via Oh Gizmo]

Cellink T USB Thumb Drive Stores, Links

Jason Chen — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Here's a weird USB thumb drive called Cellink T from Korea's Human C&C which looks like a normal thumb drive at first, but flips out into a two-pronged cellphone connector. One of the ports still goes into your computer's USB drive, naturally, while the other slides into a cellphone (Korean, naturally) in order to transfer files or charge the battery. There's actually a microSD card reader in there too, which makes the whole package even more convenient to carry around for grabbing stuff off your phone. [AVING via DVICE]

iRiver M10 and D5 Players Bring Glossy Black Back in Fashion

Jason Chen — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 14:30:31 EDT

Set to be revealed at SEK in Korea, the iRiver M10 and D5 both have a glossy black look found in other players like the iRiver Clix 2 (but not in the MPlayer). The M10 will be a navigation-centric device, with a gigantic knob on the right and a DMB tuner, which probably means it's going to stay put in Korean waters for now.

The iRiver D5, on the other hand, is a Nintendo DS-Lite-like flip device that works as an electronic dictionary as well as a music player. Somehow we don't see electronic dictionaries taking off as music players over here in the US like they did in Korea, so we'll have to chalk both these up to Korean envy. – Jason Chen

iRiverfans [via Dapreview]

All LG Prada Phones Get Free Insurance

Jason Chen — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 16:55:29 EDT

Is the gigantic price tag on the LG Prada not enough to convince users that it's a "high end luxury phone"? Then how about free insurance if the phone breaks, even if it's due to the owner's stupidity?

LG's 60,000 customer policy goes into effect immediately, and will give you up to 200,000 South Korean Won if you break your phone. The bad news: 200,000 Won is only $215. The phone is $700. Try not to break your phone. – Jason Chen

LG Offers Free Insurance for Prada Phones [Chosun]

Vista Not Quite Working With Some MP3 Players

Jason Chen — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:30:06 EST

Apparently iTunes and Vista aren't the only things not playing well together. Several Korean manufacturers have issued statements that a few of their players aren't quite working with Microsoft's new operating system.

Three companies so far—Samsung, Cowon, and iRiver—have noted that a few of their players are incompatible with Vista. Each company will release new firmware to customers to update the players. If you have any of these players, it's best to run a dual boot Vista system first while your MP3 kinks are getting worked out. – Jason Chen

MP3 players not working well with Microsoft's new operating system [YonhapNews via Mobile Mag]

Busty Racing Girl Mousepad

Jason Chen — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:45:23 EDT

Why mouse on anime boobs when you can use real girl's boobs? Five different versions available, all with Korean racing girls. And no, we still don't know where you can buy them. – Jason Chen

Racing Girl Mousepad [Mygear.co.kr via Funposel via Slashgear]

The Vega Revealed: A UMPC-Like Device That Runs Windows XP

Jason Chen — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 15:11:23 EDT

That mystery Korean UMPC we showed you a few weeks back has just been de-mystified. It's called the Vega, and runs the full-blown Windows XP Operating System on it. Best yet, it costs about 700,000 Won ($700).

The UMPC-like device has an AMD Geode LX800 CPU, Windows XP Home (bleh), 256MB of RAM, a 30GB hard disk, WiFi, USB, a 4.3-inch LCD, GPS connector, and USB connectors for a keyboard and TV over DMB. It's available in September in Korea, so UMPC fans—all 58 of you—may want to wait and check this out when a full announcement comes August 10th. Maybe this non-UMPC UMPC will perform better than the ones we've reviewed. – Jason Chen

Vega (Korean) [AVING via Navigadget via Carrypad]

Eintech LM-500Series Personal Translator And PMP

Jason Chen — Tue, 30 May 2006 08:30:46 EDT

"Not man enough to grow a mustache, Zack?" Learn that English phrase and many more with the Eintech LM-500Series personal language tutor and PMP.

Not only does this translator/dictionary provide hours and hours of dialogue lessons, conversational english quizzes, and animation dialogue, there's also the brains of a PMP bolted in. With a 640x480 screen, DivX, XviD, and mpeg4 support, you can be watching "Joanie Loves Chachi" instead of actually doing your studies. You can even listen to MP3s and WMAs while reading the lyrics, which we suppose would teach you some English as well.

Rounding out the package is voice recording, e-book format support, photo album, simple video game support, calculator, stereo speakers, and a qwerty keyboard.

Available in Korea. – Jason Chen

LM500SERIES [Eintech via Digital Lifestyle Magazine]