Korean company UMID has announced their entry into the burgeoning sub-netbook category of computers. This laptop weighs just 315 grams (a little over a half-pound) and is just a shade bigger than the Nintendo DS. Still, the insides still pack quite a punch. The unit contains a 1.33GHz Atom Processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 32GB of storage via SSD. It also features WiBro, WiMAX, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The unit also has a 1.3-megapixel camera and a 4.8-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen. The tiny netbook can run XP, Vista or Linux. The company has yet to release word on pricing or release date.

South Korea has unveiled it’s first space launch vehicle, imaginatively named the KSLV-1. From an aesthetic standpoint, the thing is definitely a rocket. If you were to doodle a rocket in the binder of your eighth grade notebook, it’d probably look something like the KSLV-1.

The rocket, upon launch, is going to release Korea’s first satellite into the final frontier. The satellite will purportedly exist for "science and technology" reasons. Care to get any more vague guys?

The rocket will not be launching until April or June of next year due to a technical cooperation with Russia. It’s the cold war space race all over again. Awesome!

Forget the Presidential election. This is what could really change the world. A Korean research institute has purportedly discovered a way to make hydrogen thirty times cheaper to produce. This would, in turn, make clean energy thirty times cheaper to produce. This could be big, folks.

Dr. Sen Kim of the S&P Energy Research institute claims to have achieved the separation of hydrogen using just 0.1kwh of energy compared to the norm of 4 – 4.5kwh using the electrolytic method. Dr. Kim says "manufacturing the H2 by our method will lower the cost of H2 as much as 20 – 30 times" compared to the standard method. This could pave the way for in-home hydrogen fueling stations and solve the problem of clean energy once and for all.

Of course, we’ve heard these kinds of claims before. Still, it’s nice to know these are great minds at work on the problem. Click the link for the news story and decide for yourself.

South Korea is planning two robot theme parks by 2013 – one in Incheon and the other in Seoul. The Commerce Ministry "announced a proposal to build two parks by 2013 for $1.6 billion" but there seems to be a bit of red tape (isn’t there always?).

If you can’t build them there, bring them to Kansas. I am sure we can fit a Wizard of Oz theme in here somewhere.

Just released in Korea, the iRiver NV PMP is a beautiful example of consumer design. It’s specifications are pretty nice as well:

• GPS via SiRFStar III chip
• T-DMB (for those who get it, of course)
• 7-inch, 800X400 screen
• Small display on the control wheel
• 1.3-megapixel camera
• Great format support (OGG, MP3, WMA, XviD, AVI, AAC, etc.)
• Two SD slots

It’s going for $536, but with the question remains whether it’ll ever make it to the US.