Google rules Korea's cloud storage market

This was interesting. On smartphones, Google seems to dominate by double the cloud storage usage in Korea. Well, by number of users anyway.

You can see (below) the number of people having installed the app in the top numbers, and the amount of data in megabytes transferred through the app per month in the lower numbers. Looks like a lot of people are using Google Drive and Google Photos. 755만명 for Drive is 7.55 million people, or two Busan's worth. 

Smartphone cloud storage usage in Korea. Image: Platum

Or are they? If you want my opinion, two things jump out at me.

1. Drive and Photos are installed by default on most Android phones. Maybe people just lazily use them instead of downloading a local app like Naver Cloud (in 3rd place here).
   
   
2. Look at the amount of data. 37MB for Google Drive? Seems on the average a lot of people are transferring just a few simple files. Naver Cloud is at 372MB/month. That's either some heavier duty usage, or maybe some users are storing videos there and streaming them to the phone (once in the cloud, the resolution may auto-reduce for streaming depending on the connection). Or maybe a few super heavy duty users are being drowned out by the masses who don't store cloud data at all. I don't see the survey details here and I'm too lazy to look it up. 

A similar survey was done last year with similar results but greater discrepency (just 17MB for Google Drive, up to 578MB for Naver Cloud).

That survey revealed something else not entirely surprising. People who use Google Drive tend to stay in the Google ecosystem, and Naver Cloud users in the Naver ecosystem:

Google Drive & Naver Cloud: other often-used apps. Image: Platum

No surprises there. Anyway take all this with a grain of salt.

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Crossed Flags emoji 🎌 is pro-Korean in Korean, Japanese elsewhere?

I came across this description of Unicode character U+1F38C:

Two Japanese Flags, crossed at the base. Except on Samsung devices, which display two South Korean flags. [Crossed Flags Emoji]

Sure enough, the page demonstrates the differences among manufacturers:

"Crossed flags" emoji by manufacuter. Image: Emojipedia

You can't accuse Samsung of being unpatriotic.

However I couldn't duplicate the Korean flag on my Korean (KT) Samsung S5 Prime. Nor could two coworkers on a Korean Galaxy S6 or a Note 4. Pasting it into KakaoTalk showed the usual Japanese flags. Same result in any app I tried. I wonder if anyone else can get the Korean flags here? Because all I'm seeing is the Nisshoki instead of a Taegukgi.

What do you see here?: 🎌 


Mildly related: Find the Missing Gay Emoticons on Samsung's Galaxy S8 | ké radar

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Some Naver Dictionary humor

Naver Dictionary draws on many sources, usually legitimate, for both its Korean and English definitions. But a friend pointed out to me that Urban Dictionary is one of those sources. So you can search for all sorts of dirty things and get results right alongside other more tame definitions.

Here's an example search for a "Cleveland Steamer."
'Cleveland Steamer' 의 검색결과 : 네이버 영어사전

Naver Dictionary results include Urban Dictionary definitions. Image: Naver

What seemed interesting was the "Related Meanings" section on the right which included a Wikipedia link to "corprophilia" (love of poop, but you knew that already). It's likely just getting that automatically from Wikipedia, since doing a Naver Knowledge search for this term brings up the Wiki article for Coprophilia which itself includes the term.

It even cites a "real usage" of the term from an ancient 2008 comment on a BoingBoing post:

Wigwam Jones says:
September 26, 2008 at 11:45 am
Guy was into Cleveland Steamers. Then he gave himself a Filthy Sanchez and fled into the woods, screaming.
[Wade Davis: an Inuit elder and his shit knife / Boing Boing]

Fascinating stuff, for sure. I'm actually not against including Urban Dictionary content here, although the average Korean might have to translate the definition. Still they'd get an idea of what a phrase means. I do that myself sometimes on WikiTree, with a grain of salt of course.

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By the way, Naver has its own Open Dictionary. It's mildly similar to Urban Dictionary but vastly less vulgar. Although also vastly more cheesy. I think some people are just making up words to define just to boost their own ratings.

I mean who is going around saying "clawsome," which it claims is "cool + awesome"?

Image: clawsome : 네이버 영어사전

The example sentences they give for it are even funnier.

That movie was clawesome!
Your girlfriend was clawsome!
It is clawsome to go to swimming pool.
My car is clawsome!

Maybe winning a prize out of one of those claw machines could be "clawsome" but I sure wouldn't call someone's girlfriend clawsome, unless I was Pierce Brosnan from this Bond scene.

Or maybe I'm just some old fogey, because it does appear on Urban Dictionary. It also seems to be the name of a K-pop dance cover group, "Dance Team Clawsome" (댄스팀 클라썸). You can oogle them at their Facebook 여성댄스팀 클라썸 - Clawsome. Looks like another Waveya knockoff.

Thanks for reading. Have a clawsome day.

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Links for March 2017

I can't make up my mind how to share links I find interesting. I've been posting them to my Twitter sporadically, but I'd rather just do it here. Maybe I'll keep this up, maybe not. What do you think is best for a blog? Monthly/weekly link roundup like this? Treat the blog feed like a Twitter timeline: one link = one post? I like other blogs that do this. We'll see.

 Anyway here's some stuff I found interesting over the past month or so.

• Facebook Clashes with SK Broadband over Data Traffic | Be Korea-savvy
• Naver introduces AI-based content curating app ‘Disco’
• 북한인권정보센터 Visual NKDB
  Extensive interactive map of North Korean human rights abuses and locations
• K-POP Cover Dance on Twitter: "Announcing the Twitter Popular Choice Award for KPOP Cover Dance Festival 2017! Find out more #KCDF2017 https://t.co/nAACv94TlC"
• Coupang Join Our Team - Coupang
  Coupang hiring in the USA
• COOLJAMM Company to release iOS version of its HumOn
  Neat app. Used it the other day, didn't even know it was made by Koreans. You just hum a melody and it notates it for you. Not perfect, but better than any other similar app I tried. Or maybe I just have no pitch.
• A vision for success: Taking LED glasses made in Korea to the world | Google in Asia
• KAKAO FRIENDS
  Kakao Friends store now lets you order, and ships, internationally in English. Buy your hearts' desires of Ryan dolls.
• WannaCry shuts down Toefl test in Seocho-gu-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily
• Art gives final touches to casino resort Paradise City
  I don't know if it's just me, but most public "art" in Korea seems terrible. Tacky and feels totally out of harmony with its surroundings. I appreciate the effort, but I wonder if any true artists were consulted about piece placement/locations. I expect a certain degree of gaudiness from a resort/casino called "Paradise City," but these pieces seem less like the "final touches" of a beautiful complex and more like the "let's put something here" of a middle aged businessman with no eye for taste. But hey, everybody's a critic I guess.
• CATCH LOC | Location creates new value
  FAMY is a Korean-made real-time family location tracker. It seems interesting that this sort of app works in Korea, but Google Maps' shared locations do not. I used to think the limitations placed on map data in foreign datacenters was responsible, but after extensively using the location sharing feature when it was built into Google Plus, I'm skeptical that maybe Google just finds it easier to say "sorry, doesn't work in Korea" then face any potential questions. After all, Waze still works just fine. Speaking of which...
• Waze - Official Blog: 안녕하세요 대한민국 (Hello Korea!)
  "Korean-speaking Wazers, we're speaking your language, literally, with the launch of the first-ever Korean Voice on Waze. And thanks to the dedication and hard work of local Korean Waze Community members, we're not just giving you turn-by-turn directions, we're narrating street names, too." 
• Are You a Tourist in Korea? This Could Be Your Best Taxi App during Your Stay! | Korean Startups News
  "Honest Ticket (어니스트티켓) has announced the inception of pre-paid taxi app for foreigners and visitors in South Korea ... Honest Ticket automatically calculates and shows the price on the taximeter upon entering the destination. If a user pays for the demonstrated amount in advance, there will be no additional fee charged, alleviating the concern of getting overcharged. Users will be able to use the app in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese."
• Kakao Taxi customers can hail a cab in Japan-INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily
  The partnership will enable users of the KakaoTaxi app to call cabs in Japan and JapanTaxi users to book cabs in Korea.
• Cinderella is a cautionary tale in Korea - Korea Times
  "They expected her to be the president. But they had elected a princess to do the job. So, when Park continued to act like a princess who had come back to the palace, it was only a matter of time until the whole charade came crashing down."

A funny blast from the past now, all the way back to 1988. I'll let you decide if much has changed:

The litany of complaints about pushy pedestrians, boorish Korean photographers and reckless bus drivers who seem to harbor a death wish for anybody and anything not on their bus, has reached encyclopedic stature in the days since the Games opened.
South Koreans Win The Gold Medal For Rudeness - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

A lot has changed, at least in English usage. Who would ever say today things like:

• I thought people in the Orient were supposed to be so polite.
• appears to be a general indifference to one`s fellow man

Sounds almost classically poetic now.


And one of the most interesting reads of the month here:

Lee invites South Korean voters to consider Moon’s rhetoric: “Let’s take a look at Moon’s past utterances and even what he said recently. As a defector and representing a human rights organization made up of defectors, it’s chilling listening to these remarks and feeling the glances of those who share Moon’s views. We defectors feel like we are standing before an executioner. That’s why we are trembling.”
Lee said, “If [Minjoo] takes over this time, we have a ‘murderer’s row’ of candidates that will succeed Moon:  Ahn Hee-jung; Lee Jae-myung; Park Won-soon, etc.  We will reign for the longest haul and conservatives will surely be totally exterminated.” At the time, some conservatives did react to Lee’s half-threatening language. Liberty Korea’s presidential candidate Hong Joon-Pyo said, “That gives me chills. That reminds me of Cambodia’s Killing Fields.”
Defectors Claim At Least 3,000 Will Seek Exile if Moon is Elected: Full Text of Defectors’ Statement for Seeking “Collective Asylum” | Noon in Korea

I tried looking up on both Naver and Google news to see if 이애란 박사 has followed through with the promise to leave South Korea if Moon was elected, but there seems no articles with her mention after May 22. Probably just a symbolic statement.

Still, it always seems interesting to me that when people discuss how the South should treat North Korea, the opinions of actual defectors is almost never mentioned.

And something cute:

"LaLaLand in Seoul"

서울서 라라랜드 찍는다면 여기 pic.twitter.com/hYbqkZChsB

— trkth (@soundvoc) June 2, 2017

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Cute Korean Lego sets

Recently I saw an advertisement for a cute promotional Lego set of a KT (Korea Telecom) phone store.

KT Phone Store

KT phone store Oxford blocks set. Image: KT Smartblog

I like the various little phone cases you can choose from hanging there on the wall. Here's a better looking short video that shows off the set:

These aren't "Lego" exactly, but cute knockoffs from Oxford Blocks (yes, a Korean company). They put out a lot of cheaper sets, though the quality is decent (important when you see the prices of actual Lego here). What I like though is that they put out all sorts of cute Korea-specific block sets.

It got me thinking about some of the others I've seen, and I had the bright idea to show some of them off here. These are some of my favorites. Click the caption links to see more, usually including builds.

CU convenience store set

Image: BGF Retail

SK EnClean gas station

Image: SK엔크린 옥스포드 블록장난감 3천포인트 특권 선물받기~ : 네이버 블로그

Kyobo bookstore

Image: 듀듀 : 교보문고레고 옥스포드블록 교보문고 콜라보레이션 블럭 교보문고 미니샵 

Real Men military barracks set

"Real Men" (진짜 사나이) was a popular military reality show, which included unofficial White Male Ambassador to Korea Sam Hammington among its cast.

Image: [옥스포드] 진짜사나이 : 네이버 블로그

I like how in this upclose shot you can see that they're watching some kind of K-pop girl performance in the barracks. Talk about authenticity:

Image: [옥스포드] 진짜사나이 : 네이버 블로그

Traditional Wedding ceremony (전통혼례)

Image: 옥스포드 블럭 여름방학 갖고 놀 블럭~~ : 네이버 블로그

Gyeonghoeru Pavilion (경회루)

Image: toytoytoy.co.kr [옥스포드/경회루KH3363/한국문화유산시리즈/경회루/소블록]

CJ "Healthy Ham" picnic set with with cherry blossoms

Image: CJ 더건강한햄 옥스포드 블럭 3탄 벚꽃놀이 획득 : 4.27 부터 선착순 5,000개 : 네이버 블로그 

LG Twins baseball team locker room

Image: [옥스포드블럭] LG Twins 라커룸 블록 : 네이버 블로그 

Kakao Friends camping set

Image: English Play :: 카카오프렌즈 스토어 오프라인 매장을 다녀왔습니다

Korean traditional house "hanok" (전통한옥)

Image: 영계남편 사랑이야기

These are just the tip of the iceberg, really. There are lots more out there, many of which were only produced for a short promotional time. But most you can still buy, either direct from Oxford, or the tie-in company, or various online sellers on G-market for example.

Also check out:

• OXFORD – Korean castles & battleships
• #옥스포드블럭 • Instagram photos and videos

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Politicians get funky for Pres. Moon, and other Korean election leftovers

This was a pretty wacky campaign video that ran in support of Moon Jae-in (yes, I'm a little late on this). It features a few fairly prominent politicians busting some dance moves, or trying to anyway. If you ever wanted to see the in-his-60s mayor of Seoul breakdance (yes, breakdance), now's your chance, at around the 0:52 mark.

The roster of people appearing is:

• 안희정 - Ahn Hee-jung - Governor of Chungcheongnam. Also now known for his kissing Moon in that wacky photo (below). If memory serves, he also actually ran against Moon in the primaries. Just don't ask your doctor for a 충남주사 [The pun seems to come from combining 충남지사 "Chungcheon Governor" with 주사 "drunk behavior"].
• 박원순 - Park Won-soon - Mayor of Seoul
• 안민석 - An Min-suk - National Assembly member
• 진선미 - Jeon Seon-mi - National Assembly member
• 이재정 - Lee Jae-jeong - National Assembly member
• 고민정 - Ko Min-jeong - former KBS TV newscaster
• 박기량 - Park Ki-rang - Cheerleader with Lotte Giants baseball team
• 김부겸 - Kim Bu-gyeom - National Assembly member. I believe he also ran against Moon in the primaries.

충남주사 안희정, 세계적 스타 됐다 | 2MOON好.COM

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🗹 Election leftovers 🗹

Now for a few completely different things (mostly links I put on Twitter).

Facebook's reminder to vote

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Failed conservative candidate Hong Jun-pyo aka "Hong Trump" (홍준표 aka 홍트럼프) and CNN presenter Richard Quest. I can't be the only one who sees the resemblance, am I? 

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Google had an extensive blog post about all the Korea-election goodies they produced, including their Now cards, election info, and of course that YouTube logo.

Google 한국 블로그: 여러분의 소중한 한표를 응원합니다.

And of course they had an election doodle:

2017년 대한민국 선거

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A TV channel here in Korea called Super Action had a movie marathon this afternoon, the theme of which was "굿프레지던트" (Good President) which I can only assume was a nod to President Moon's straight-to-work approach, distinguishing him I guess from the former "Bad President". To celebrate, movies featuring "good presidents" aired. When I tuned it, it was Air Force One followed by Independence Day. Moon is no Harrison Ford... or is he? 

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Finally, just a photo I feel sums up my feeling about this whole Park-Trump-Moon season:

A worker sprays water onto the statue of King Sejong for a spring cleaning at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 10, 2017. King Sejong, the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), created the Korean alphabet, Hangul, in 1446. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon). Source: Pictures of the week — AP Images Spotlight

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