It's time for another link round-up. Stuff I was interested in this month.
Ha, so China is making a killing selling air purifiers to clean the air that China polluted while making... air purifiers? This isn't supposed to be how the cycle goes.
Yeosu is a great little city, and I think it's cute that they claim not to know why people why to visit it. Bold marketing move, because now I want to visit even more.
Finally, here are two articles (Korean) about a topic that grinds my gears. Many Korean portal sites block search engines from accessing and indexing their content. I don't mean scraping content from rival portals, I mean governmental, corporate, and education portals. Sites that exist specifically to distribute useful, sometimes vital, information. This public information languishes behind these no-robots restrictions.
Thanks for reading. See you next month.
Techie stuff
- From Uganda to Korea—teaching English, one chat at a time - App puts Korean students on videochat with African English speakers.
- VR play fails to meet expectations-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily - More "360" than "VR"
- Naver's online map service adds new Dokdo photos - because you needed this.
- Korean AI Go player misses final four - "Dolbaram lost to Japanese AI program DeepZenGo." Ouch.
- YouTube Korea Blog: 2017년 2분기 유튜브 화제의 광고 TOP 10을 만나보세요 - YouTube Top 10 ads for Q2. Not that interesting so didn't do a post. Nothing like this.
- [Graphic News] Kakao Taxi dominates cab-hailing market - Not surprising there, Kakao at 90%. But Uber grabs 11% somehow! Not only did I not realize Uber is still running (must be referring to their Black service?), but also didn't realize Kakao's 90%, Uber's 11%, and Tmap Taxi's 10% add up to 100%.
- SKT, Starbucks partner for AI-based coffee order service - Speak to a machine to order your drink? I have enough trouble getting the human barrista to understand me.
- Seoul restarts procedures to offer free, ultrafast Wi-fi in subway stations, cars
- Korea to further expand free Wifi zones
- Seoul to get tough on 'discriminatory' Google, Facebook
- Visually impaired file suit against online retailers - Seeing (no pun intended) as navigating most online retailers' sites here is difficult even for sighted people, I can't imagine them improving accessibility enough for the visually impaired to utilize them.
- [Newsmaker] Korea’s FTC head faces flak for calling Naver founder ‘visionless’ - This guy seems to have a thing for Steve Jobs. And an inferiority complex I think, since Naver is weathering the internationalization transition pretty well with plans for more, so I don't know what he's expecting here.
- ‘Move & Kakao’: Begin Your Story | Korean Startups News
- Take your startup on exchange to Campus Seoul
- Naver's AI-backed Translation Service “Papago” Adds Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian to its Catalog | Be Korea-savvy
- Two YouTubers to be accused of child abuse videos - Looks like Korea has their own version of the assshat DaddyOFive pranks. No sympathy for these losers. How can you treat any kids like this, but especially your own? Feel terrible for the kids here, and feel terrible even that they will lose their parents now, as sick as they are. No good here.
- Samsung gets DMV's OK to test autonomous cars in California
- KOREA HTML5 - Take a look at Korea's "HTML 5 readiness" page. Proving that even utilizing the latest standards, Korea website design can bring all your favorite gaudiness to the 21st century.
Society / Culture / Etc.
- Those Texts Between Samsung and S. Korean Journalists | ké radar - Call me crazy, but I don't see a whole lot wrong here. There's a fine line between nepotism and networking.
- Korea making overseas pitches for PyeongChang Olympics - Things that make you go "aww": "It's not Pyongyang but PyeongChang." But I don't know if their plan to capitalize the "C" is the way to go.
- Japanese exchange trip to Korea seeks friendly ties - Wonder if they'll visit Dokdo.
- [Eye] The guilt of a South Korean cram school mogul - MegaStudy founder, from his luxury office, talking about how the hand that fed him is limp now.
- A dire need for 'Office of Tourism'
- UberEATS is now taking orders - but only in Itaewon and Gangnam-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily
- Uber launches food delivery service in Korea
- Shaman ruled not guilty of fraud - This month's "Most Korean" article, for sure. Creepy.
- An army of linguist fans are behind BTS mania-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily - Interesting look at the fansub community. Interesting to consider just how much the popularity of K-pop is made possible by the grassroots efforts of fans. A common complaint among international fans is the lack of English subtitles for even the most mundane "behind the scenes" or reality type programs. Average Joe translators fill that void and have their own little economy of it.
- NOTICES :: V LIVE Fansubs - And look at that. V Live, arguably the site that benefits the most from the army of fansub translators, has now opened their fansub submission page out of beta.
- KWF -Notice - K-Pop World Festival 2017 Twitter Choice Award
- Lionsgate signs to open 'Hunger Games' theme park on Jeju Island - Good luck with that. Who is asking for a "Now You See Me" land? I see this going the way Paramount Park in Songdo went. Big walls promoting the site's construction, but nothing happening behind them.
- The Mosquito Trucks of Childhood Past: Where Are They Now? | ké radar - Well seeing as one drove through my neighborhood just last week, I'd say they're right here still.
- Missile-Threat.pdf - The fact sheet distributed by the Guam authorities in response to North Korea's provocations.
- Over 980 Peeping Toms caught this summer: police - These articles always include a mandatory bug-sniffer tool photo, but I wonder how effective those things really are, especially since most hidden cams probably save rather than transmit the video and the perp comes to retrieve it later.
- Extra charges to be levied for hospital treatment, drug stores during Chuseok holiday: govt.
- Keep the Disabled Out: Tyranny of the 'Normal' | ké radar
Links with a picture
- Gordon Ramsay is the new model for Korea's famous 'Cass' Beer | allkpop.com/buzz - Ah the refreshing taste of money in his pocket. Great rebranding job by OB though. Tasteless piss? No, "light and refreshing."
Quotes
The purchase of air purifiers from China grew the most of any item. In the first half of 2016, only 7,141 air purifiers were bought online from China. That figure jumped to 78,750 between January and June this year, an 11-fold increase.
Online foreign buying booms-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily
Ha, so China is making a killing selling air purifiers to clean the air that China polluted while making... air purifiers? This isn't supposed to be how the cycle goes.
There is no doubt that Yeosu, with its beautiful shoreline and exotic dishes, is a cool city to visit. Even so, a recent tourism boom there has many people scratching their heads, including those who promote tourism in the city.
Mysterious tourism boom in Yeosu
Yeosu is a great little city, and I think it's cute that they claim not to know why people why to visit it. Bold marketing move, because now I want to visit even more.
Finally, here are two articles (Korean) about a topic that grinds my gears. Many Korean portal sites block search engines from accessing and indexing their content. I don't mean scraping content from rival portals, I mean governmental, corporate, and education portals. Sites that exist specifically to distribute useful, sometimes vital, information. This public information languishes behind these no-robots restrictions.
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