Hasta La Gadget!

Wireless charging might seem perfectly suited for smartphones and tablets, but the city of Gumi, South Korea is putting the tech to use with something a little larger: buses. A pair of Online Electric Vehicle (OLEV) motorcoaches, which recharge by driving over specially-equipped asphalt, are now running a public transportation route in the city, and it’s said to be the first network of its kind open for regular use. Rather than stopping periodically to jack in, coils on the coaches’ underside pick up power through an electromagnetic field created by road-embedded wires. Currently, the vehicles have a roundtrip journey of 24km (roughly 15 miles) when completing their stops.

Since the system operates so long as 5 to 15 percent of the path is electrified, there’s no need to rely on a completely rigged-up highway. What’s more, the solution is only triggered by passing OLEVs, which means that normal cars can share the same street. If this all sounds familiar, that’s because the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has been hammering away at the technology for several years. Now that it’s made it this far, the city has plans to add ten more buses to its fleet by 2015.

Filed under: Transportation

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Via: ExtremeTech

Source: PhysOrg

While Samsung hasn’t been shy about its desire to build a new smartwatch, we’ve had few clues as to what that wristwear could look like. However, Moveplayer has uncovered a trio of Korean design patents that, combined, could represent a design template. Registered between March and May, the patents show a watch with both Android-style controls in the middle and a prominent flexible display. The device looks plausible, but we wouldn’t leap to conclusions — companies frequently patent designs that won’t necessarily ship. There’s also no clear connections to a previously filed Gear trademark associated with wearable technology. If Samsung ever releases a watch in this mold, though, it will at least seem very familiar.

[Thanks, JunK]

Filed under: Wearables, Samsung

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Source: Moveplayer

When something particularly bad or painful happens, some people just withdraw and never come out of their cocoons. They can recover slowly or they can get worse and one day decide that they want nothing more than to end it all.

So many of the latter go to the Mapo Bridge in South Korea to do just that. Between the years 2007 and 2012, more than a hundred people jumped from the bridge in attempts to end their lives. They might not have gotten the help they needed previously, but you can at least convince them otherwise at the last minute. That’s what the Seoul City government is trying to do in collaboration with Samsung Life Insurance.

Instead of constructing high fences or a suicide barrier on the bridge, they added interactive handrails that address passersby directly. They’re embedded with motion sensors to detect the presence of anyone near them, so when someone passes by, the handrail lights up with an inspiring quote or message that were written with the help of psychologists and suicide prevention specialists.

A sample message is as follows: “How have you been? Have you eaten? If you need to talk, why don’t you talk to us?” This is then followed by a number for a suicide hotline.

Since launching the project, the Seoul City government claims suicide rates from the Mapo Bridge have dropped 77%. This potential lifesaver is just ingenious, and while it won’t solve the underlying problems of potential jumpers, it could convince them to get the help they need before taking their lives.

[via CRAVE Australia via C|NET]

You gotta spend money to make money. Samsung knows that, which is why the Korean powerhouse will be spending about 5 trillion won (roughly $4.5 billion) to build five new R&D centers over the next three years. All of the facilities will be in the company’s homeland, with a $1 billion research center set to open in southern Seoul late in 2015. At that particular building, it’s expected that some 10,000 employees will take up residence, focusing primarily on design. Samsung also plans to dedicate new R&D centers to materials and component development, as well as chips and displays. In 2012 Samsung dropped a company-record 11.9 trillion won (about $10.5 billion) on R&D, and there’s no sign that it’ll be slowing down anytime soon. In fact, its research budget is up about $1.4 billion from 2011. Sure, there might not be as much of an immediate windfall from the investment, like you might see from an advertising blitz or lawsuit, but we’re willing to bet it keeps Sammy competitive for much of the foreseeable future.

Filed under: Misc, Samsung

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Source: Korea Times

The FCC can be cruel sometimes, showing us devices we’re unlikely to see in the US without significant changes; this is one of those moments, unfortunately. A Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 has once again surfaced at the FCC, this time as the SM-T315 with built-in cellular access. However, it’s not optimized for American use — while there’s AT&T-friendly HSPA data, the LTE inside is only meant for a handful of other countries, like South Korea. As such, this model won’t be coming stateside unless there’s a frequency change. We’re not totally surprised at the lack of US-ready LTE when AT&T already offers the Galaxy Note 8.0, but it would be nice to have a little more variety in our 8-inch LTE slates.

Filed under: Tablets, Samsung

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Source: FCC